Inspired by my recent acquisition of an NMB keyboard with “space invader” switches, I mocked up a Space Invaders themed keycap set.
link here:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?;msg=1567623;topic=25674.840I liked the concept but, in my mind, the space invader sprites seemed lacking because they weren’t animated like they are in the video game. The more I saw the keycaps, the more I wanted to fix that “flaw”. I wanted to use traditional keycaps so that they could be put on any existing keyboard with the proper switch type, so I conceived of using polarized images on a keycap. I don’t know if it’s possible with current technology, but I thought of printing multiple layers on a keycap, that would individually “light up” when the proper polarity of light was shone through the bottom of the key by an LED. Being limited to the two frames that are printed, etched, or laminated on the keycaps at the time of manufacture, the animations are going to be primitive. My initial idea was to have an animated keyboard with Pac-Man chasing a ghost, like the image below.
But then I thought that polarized light might not provide the correct colors. Then I conceived of using a dual-colored LED with two-toned color filters on the keycaps, similar to the color filters used by cheap 3-D movies and secret message filters on board games. Legends on one half of the key would be one color, while legends on the other half of the key would be a different color.
Then I thought of a more practical application. Imagine having a backlit JD40 keyboard with legends that change to match the layer.
The first image below is my concept of a set of polarized keycaps. I tried to keep the alternate set of legends visible because I thought that some light would still pass through the legend if the keycaps were real. I abandoned that conceit when I produce the mock-up for a set of color-filtered keycaps, to better convey the concept. But now I wish I’d kept both sets of legends visible on the color-filtered set to get feedback from someone who is color-blind. I used red and blue for the color-filter concept, but obviously, there are other sets of colors that could be used also.
Concept for JD40 keyboard with backlit, polarized keycaps
Concept for JD40 keyboard with 2-toned color-filtered keycaps
Is there anyone in the GeekHack community who can state whether it is possible to produce a key with multiple polarized layers that allow the key to display multiple legends or images when backlit, either by printing differently polarized images on top of each other or by printing polarized decals and putting one decal on the top of the key and one decal on the underside of the key? What about making a key with 2 color filters that allow the key to display one or more legends when backlit by a two-colored LED? Is it possible to have a more complex filter and use multi-wavelength light to create interference patterns to obscure or modify part of a legend(s)?
