# Projection Control for Dummies



## actorgeek (Sep 24, 2010)

So, I've been asked to explore the world of projections for my high school's production of "The Effects of Gamma Rays on the Man in the Moon Marigolds". I have no idea what I'm doing. We are looking to control two projectors that play separate video feeds, mostly of still images, maybe some video, but also looking into the possibilty of playing live actors as well. Basically I'm looking for what would be the simplist software to do this with. I'm also looking for something relatively low costing or free.


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## shiben (Sep 25, 2010)

Qlab is your best bet. It is easy to use, supports video and still images, and is fairly cheap. You can download it for free and play around, to run video you do need to get a license. However, for a school you can buy them for about 200 bucks, and you can rent them for a dollar a day. The rentals are also good on as many computers as you want, so you can have it at home, the school, the TD's office, etc. It accepts up to I want to say 8 camera inputs, and supports up to 8 patchable outputs. Building cues is pretty much drag and drop. You can also do audio (free) and MIDI control (costs money for that, again 1 dollar a day rental, 199 for the license to buy). The biggest issue is that it is a mac only program, so you do need a mac, and you want to have a pretty beefy machine (Read: Mac Pro) if your going to be handling a lot of videos and high rez images. 

One warning. There is NO CHEAP WAY to do projection well. Even having a powerpoint on a classroom projector is usually fairly expensive, as you need to get a projector, computer, software, etc. If you want live camera input, you are really into a high cost situation. Good projectors are expensive. Computers that can send to multiple projectors are extraordinarily expensive, even the graphics cards are expensive. Software is also very expensive. QLab has some decent features and is fairly cheap, but if you need to live edit and blend, get ready to drop a minimum of 2 grand on Catalyst (also needs a mac pro, minimum on the machine is about 4-5k)(and other options exist, I know, but I dont have minimum price points for them), plus a video mixer if you want that. I cant emphasize this enough, the show I am working on now tried to do projection cheap and fast. Its been a straight up nightmare. Remember your three things, and pick two. Fast, Good and Cheap.


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## ruinexplorer (Sep 25, 2010)

A free control software that has been mentioned on this forum before is Screen Monkey. I have yet to try it out, but it seems to work for other students and I believe that it runs on PCs instead of Mac.

The question that I have is that you seem to be looking at doing something somewhat complex, do you know if you have all the necessary components? As Shiben stated, video/projection can add up in price quite quickly, even if you do get a relatively cheap control system. I'm not saying that it can't be done with what you have, but it may take jumping though some hoops and potentially choosing what you can live without.

If you can tell us some of the equipment that you already have and what inputs and outputs are available, we may be able to help guide you to your goal.


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## museav (Sep 26, 2010)

Just to add, you may want to look at this as consisting of three basic components, the first being the playback or source, the second being the signal routing and switching and the third being the actual projection. You may find some approaches that combine more than one of these elements, such as source generation and signal routing, in one device, but that may also depend on the sources and signals involved.

One major factor in the overall cost often relates to the physical aspects of the projection. The size and format of the projected images, the projection path available and so on. I am working on a project right now where they will have a couple of computer inputs on stage, one in the booth and a single input from a multi-camera production system (which is not part of the projection system cost). The control will let them select the source, turn on and off the projector and raise and lower the screen. Nothing fancy there except that the size of the space, projection paths available, lighting conditions, available screen location, video formats being used, etc. are leading to a single projector and screen system that would likely cost around $200,000. Add in the related signal switching, routing and control and the total estimated cost is over $250,000. Now that is an extreme example, but it shows how the specifics of the situation can affect the related cost and why it is so important to understand all the related aspects of each specific application.


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## actorgeek (Sep 26, 2010)

Thanks for the help. The live video feed is a pretty out there idea, and the director knows that, he just asked if I could look into that possibilty. I know nothing about the equipment being used as far a projectors go and whatnot. I'm guessing they will be typical classroom projectors because the performance space is small and the school already owns them. I'm just working on the actual design of the images and video. The rest of it goes to someone with way more tech knowledge.

I do know that everything will be PC compatible. The school is VERY anti-Mac. The recently installed MacLab now suddenly becomes the blame for networking problems that have been happening for years.


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