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I've been cogitating on how to integrate the elements needed for a "high performance" projection room with the aesthetic demands involved in turning our living room into a home theater. I've finally hit upon how I can get everything I want...IF an automated curtain controller can do this....
Imagine staring at the screen wall. The screen is covered by typical center-opening curtains when not in use, which open up when you want to watch a movie on the screen. Now, typically what happens with an automated curtain is the motor is at the end of the curtain rod, and that end of the curtains stays put as the motor pulls the other end of the curtains toward it, opening the central portion of the curtains to reveal the screen.
So you end with the curtains being bunched to the side of the screen.
But instead of the curtains ending up bunched to the side of the screen, on the screen wall, when I press the "open curtain" button, I want each side of the curtain to travel all the way around the corner to end up covering the side walls - moving the curtain right off the screen wall to the side walls.
(among other benefits, this will allow me to use more of my front wall for a wider screen, since I wouldn't have to worry about curtain stacking room to the side, not to mention benefits of killing light reflections from the side walls, etc).
Now, I know you can get automated curtain rods that can go around corners.
So I know that in principle a curtain can be pulled around a corner. But that still usually involves one end of the curtain being stationary, on the side wall,
while the other end is pulled toward it. But I need the whole curtain sheet to move. Below is a very crude Sketchup representation of what I want, the purple blocks representing the curtains first covering the screen, and the second picture showing the "curtains" moved on to the side walls.
Does anyone know if this is possible to automate? Thanks.
Imagine staring at the screen wall. The screen is covered by typical center-opening curtains when not in use, which open up when you want to watch a movie on the screen. Now, typically what happens with an automated curtain is the motor is at the end of the curtain rod, and that end of the curtains stays put as the motor pulls the other end of the curtains toward it, opening the central portion of the curtains to reveal the screen.
So you end with the curtains being bunched to the side of the screen.
But instead of the curtains ending up bunched to the side of the screen, on the screen wall, when I press the "open curtain" button, I want each side of the curtain to travel all the way around the corner to end up covering the side walls - moving the curtain right off the screen wall to the side walls.
(among other benefits, this will allow me to use more of my front wall for a wider screen, since I wouldn't have to worry about curtain stacking room to the side, not to mention benefits of killing light reflections from the side walls, etc).
Now, I know you can get automated curtain rods that can go around corners.
So I know that in principle a curtain can be pulled around a corner. But that still usually involves one end of the curtain being stationary, on the side wall,
while the other end is pulled toward it. But I need the whole curtain sheet to move. Below is a very crude Sketchup representation of what I want, the purple blocks representing the curtains first covering the screen, and the second picture showing the "curtains" moved on to the side walls.
Does anyone know if this is possible to automate? Thanks.

