Yes, I know the VFD Displays, but the heating wire are not shockproofed.
I use a darken gray filter over all.
The SAA1064 have 3 bit of adjustable brightness.(3mA,6mA,12mA)
I never will use a Dot-Matrix Display, because its not easy for your eyes on longer drive.(you see all with pixels....)
A mechanical AirCoil (sin/cos) is the best way. But I never found it to buy !!!
The electronic driver its not the problem (Melexis,Philips).

Sascha