Hello redditers

I am trying to figure out how to make a rotating disco ball that reflects or projects specific shapes but I have no clue where to start.

The idea is, I can create a disco ball that somehow when the lights reflect onto the walls they are in the shape of people dancing. As the ball rotates, so do the people, as if like a flip book or stop motion like effect. I ideally would like the light to be inside the ball.

The way I imagine this to go is, I would have a hollow ball, and each of the mirrored tiles would have a cut out of the figures along each strip of the circumerance of the ball? there would be a motor attached to the light and ceiling so the ball rotates to a certain speed.

I have also heard things about projection mapping and those sorts but I worry that is tooo far out of my depth.

I have zero lighting or any technical experience for that matter so any advice or research direction is greatly appreciate.

i all, I'm an indie developer from Italy and I also run video at live events. I kept needing something between "fullscreen video player" and a full mapping suite, so I built Lumask.


- The canvas is the projector's whole output, 1:1 in pixels
- Rectangle, ellipse and free polygon masks, each with its own soft edge
- Up to 8 sources at once, videos and images in their original format
- Content can stay linked to its shape when you move, rotate or resize it
- Magnet snapping between shapes, test grid, fades, saved layouts
- Native Mac app, no account, works offline


It's not trying to replace MadMapper or Resolume for 3D warping. It's for masking surfaces fast at a gig: stage panels, trade fair booths, TV sets.


€19.99 on the Mac App Store, no subscription: https://apps.apple.com/app/lumask/id6822277006


What would you need from it next? Quad warping? Syphon/NDI input? Honest feedback welcome.

I have a basic single projector (and a laptop) and I'd love to learn projection mapping/live visuals/DJing in my free time. I love going to rock/metal concerts and I've always wanted to be a part of the crew.

What do I start with? I've read about TouchDesigner, MapMap and Resolume as three popular softwares for this kinda work.

I have absolutely no knowledge of projection mapping. I used to be a 3D animation artist a decade ago and I dabble in video editing/after effects time to time. But this seems like a completely different beast. I'm finding it a bit overwhelming but I really want to learn at least some basics to begin with.

Hello! Long time fan of projection mapping but have yet to really dive into a project myself. But my wedding will be in June of next year and the venue has given us access to 3 ceiling mounted projectors that I would love to utilize!

Little background about myself, I have some decent understanding of photoshop and similar software, and to a slightly lesser extent After effects. I don't currently have access to either software but have a pretty good Photoshop alternative i use. Im fairly technically/Engineering inclined so those kinds of concepts aren't lost on me. Here's some relevant info I have.

Venue: It's a studio style space all the walls are effectively giant solid white screens, with the walls sloping gently into the floors (no hard angles at the floor level). The projectors are lined up to face one full wall, this wall is what we plan on having as our backdrop for the ceremony. We do not have the ability to move their locations just rotate them, although they are positioned in a way that they could be used as one giant 48:9 aspect ratio screen.

Equipment: I'm not entirely sure of the model of projectors being used currently but all at least have 1080p resolution. Anything higher isn't really needed for our purpose anyways. The contrast is decent enough for most things to be very visible even with the rest of the room lit up. My PC is a 2022 15inch Razer Blade laptop, 2040 nvdia, 16gb ram (i can provide more details if needed). The laptop has 2 USB c ports and an hdmi port.

Theme: My husband and I are pretty big fantasy/gaming nerds, so we are going to be dressed as 2 kings, (our invitations are custom made MTG proxies). We're going for a fantasy/sci-fi crossover vibe. And my idea for the artwork is to have some type of vinework and trees that make 3 separate portals, ideally the portals and trees will be "cut outs" with the background effectively being blank. I want it to look less like a giant screen and more like a music festival stage/play. The middle portal will most likely be simple portal animation on loop (think Rick and Morty or Stargate), and the two side portals will be slideshows showcasing us and our family+friends.

I plan on doing it as one giant looping video in the 48:9 aspect ratio and doing extended desktop, but if there is a better way to go about it I'm all ears! Actually any problems you forsee or ideas you wanna throw my way please do! Thanks in advanced everyone!

I own an event space in Dallas and want to start projection mapping. I’m brand new to this and need help with what to buy. The wall I want to start with is an 80 foot long white wall.

Hey everyone! I've been working on an iPhone app called Beam Boop that uses AI + a projector to create scenes in real spaces.

Traditional projection mapping can involve quite a bit of manual setup. We're exploring a more approachable way for people to experiment with creating and projecting scenes in their own spaces.

Here's a short demo showing one example.

Welcome to try Beam Boop~I'd love to hear from people with projection mapping experience: What do you think of this approach? What would you want to improve, or what would you be curious to try yourself?

https://reddit.com/link/1x4ia2u/video/p9idwnq8n4vh1/player

It’s been about three months since I opened FieldLux to everyone, and I wanted to share a quick update before the next stage.

FieldLux is still focused on helping you plan projection systems before getting on site, including projector placement, throw distance, brightness, pixel density, overlap, lenses, surfaces, and project handoff.

Over the past few months, I’ve added DWG/DXF workflows, new projector placement tools, Play Dock for multi-projector preview and blending, lux/luminance/pixel-density analysis, rear projection, per-surface materials, lighting fixtures, atmospheric effects, and a lot of projector and lens data improvements.

Cloud Share has also become a much bigger part of FieldLux. You can now send clients or crew a read-only version of the actual 3D project, including measurements, projector specs, layers, PDF reports, and walk mode.

You can try a real shared project here:

https://app.field-lux.com/#server-share=0ae9e8b5-c83b-4f73-abb9-86a8fed7e692

Just open it in your browser. No install required.

Over the last three months, I’ve also received real installation cases and feedback through DMs and Discord. Seeing people actually use FieldLux on real projects, and hearing that it helped with planning and installation, has easily been the most rewarding part of building this.

Next month, I’m planning to launch the new FieldLux website and announce the subscription plans.

The pricing will include weekly access for short projects, plans for individual designers and freelancers, and plans designed for studios and companies.

FieldLux will remain completely free for everyone through November, so you can keep using the full beta until then.

I’ll share the full pricing and launch details with the new site next month.

FieldLux: https://field-lux.com
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/JpeQ7Hgsnd

Had a couple people ask in previous post; I got a server box for about $135 (MTVIKI). Added a couple dryer vents form Menards ($9 each). Then used self-adhere waterproof flashing (Menards $20) to close it up. Three sides open/lock. Door is very clear and provides lots of area to move shelf up/down. Cutting the circle/hole in the metal wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. I used a drill to make a pilot hole. Then jig saw with 'thin metal' blade (Menards). Took about an hour to assemble. Another hour to cut holes. Another hour to tape up and spray w/ matte black spray paint. Not sure there's much else to say about the project.

Got the hardware this week. I'm an architect, so 3D is in my wheelhouse, and my house is white batton, so I figured, this would be a fun weekend project. I'm building the housing out of an old 2x2x2 server box. Cut some holes in it and added some dryer vents for cooling. The glass door on front is pretty clear, and it all locks. I got the projector for $200, dead pixels down the right side, but I'm not using the full width right now, so no problem I figured. it's the PA622U. I traced house in autocad. Then I'm 3ds max to model a 1pt perspective house. Then some Ai assets I created. Then finally, make the video in Magix Vegas and play on SD Video player. It's probably an unusual workflow, but it's what I have avaialble professionally. This was all a test. I may do more of the house, or run dual projectors at some point, because I'm really happy with the results.

I live in Wisconsin and the winters are cold, snowy, etc. Can anyone show examples of what they do to protect their projectors from the elements?

Just got my projector and setup. Mapped my house and made these two story style projections for Halloween. Each is three mins so I'm only posting a quick snapshot of each. So far, really happy with the results. The audio is pretty low as I kept the volume low on the speakers. I have a FM transmitter to use once I'm fully ready to go.

[self Promo] In this Tutorial We will be covering how we can use real-time interactive projection mapping by human body detection and then using animations and custom animation as well with Surfabeam Projection Mapping App available for both Android and iOS/macOS and Windows .

For Android : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.secundumreality.surfabeam&pcampaignid=web_share

For iOS : https://apps.apple.com/pk/app/surfabeam-projection-mapping/id6755757897

Windows and MacOS Links available on Website

Website : https://www.surfabeam.com

#projectionmapping #surfabeam #videomapping #digitalmapping

We premiered our first projection project last night at Blink Festival in Cincinnati OH. Lidar camera connected to touch designer with color effects and feedback effects running everything. Projector is a 13k Sony.

Hey guys, Jake here, the creator of Lazy Lighting.

Wanted to show ya'll a brand new feature on iOS (Android coming this week). Depth Mode. Instead of mapping an object surface by surface, you take one photo of it. The app removes the background, calculates a depth map on the device, and gives you depth-aware visuals that follow the object's real shape. Here's me showing it on some LEGOs.

How it works:

Step 1: Mapping → Add shape → Depth Detection

Step 2: Take a photo from roughly where your projector sits

Step 3: Check the cutout, then line the shape up with the real object

Step 4: Select your depth specific visual

It works best on objects that stand out from their background: pumpkins, skulls, statues, props and small sculptures. Photos are processed on your device.

Next step is making a bunch of depth optimized visuals. Let me know what you want to see!

On a recent job I needed to trace a facade straight through the projector, so I vibe-coded a small Blender add-on for it. It works well enough for me that I'm sharing it here.

What it does:

- Opens a fullscreen viewport on the projector, looking through your projector camera.
Press [Home] to get back to the full frame.

- You draw lines on the projector screen and they land in 3D on your model or scan.
Where there's no model, they land on a flat Z or Y plane.

- Turns those lines into meshes, so you get facade pieces cut to the real shape of the building.

- Light test: a sun moves around the model so you can check shadows (Solid or EEVEE).

It needs Blender 4.2+. The fullscreen-on-projector part is Windows only; tracing works everywhere. Free, GPL.

GitHub: https://github.com/gltshhh/projection-trace-tool (the zip is under Releases)

It's as-is: I'm busy with projects, so for now I can't offer support or take feature requests.
Issues and forks are welcome, though.

Mostly I hope it gets some of you into 3D modeling. Once you have even a rough model of the building, mapping gets a lot easier.

HoloMapper v0.4

HoloMapper v0.4 is a major update focused on new creative tools, improved media handling, better performance, Linux / SteamOS compatibility, and overall stability.

New Features

• Camera Hand Tracking Track one or two hands using a webcam and use them to interact with supported Cam effects and animations.
• ISF Shader Support Import and use ISF shaders directly in HoloMapper, with automatically generated controls for supported shader parameters.
• Webcam Input Add a live webcam feed as a HoloMapper layer and use it with warping, masks, Chroma Key, effects, and other layer tools.
• Audio Output for Video Video layers can now play audio with improved synchronization during playback, looping, and Timeline use.
• Split Bezier Warp Bezier handles can now be adjusted independently for more precise control over curved surfaces.
• 4K Output Support Added support for higher-resolution 4K projection output.

Changes & Improvements

• Migrated a large portion of HoloMapper's effects and animation processing to the GPU for improved performance.
• Reworked and improved many existing Preset animations.
• Improved the Window Input capture system.
• Improved video playback and compatibility with different media encoding formats.
• Added Hardware / Software video decoder selection, globally or per video source.
• Improved video/audio synchronization and playback reliability.
• Assets now apply to the selected layer instead of automatically creating a new Quad.
• Added the ability to delete unused Assets.
• Added a color picker / color wheel and improved Soft Key controls for Chroma Key.
• Added Per Grid Cell animations.
• Added Circle Grid support and a 0-width Grid option for invisible grid-based effects.
• Added a Square option for quickly setting Quad surfaces to a 1:1 aspect ratio.
• Improved Circle depth effects.
• Added Rainbow color support for Text.
• Added Auto Rotate with a custom center point.
• Improved Preset and Cam effect selection and previews.
• Various UI improvements and cleanup.
• Added expanded Diagnostics information and export for easier troubleshooting.

Linux / SteamOS

v0.4 includes a major Linux and SteamOS compatibility and setup pass.

• Improved HoloMapper operation through Steam Play / Proton.
• GE-Proton11-7 is currently the tested and recommended compatibility layer.
• Added a built-in Linux Compatibility Support installer through HoloMapper's Steam launch options.
• Added Linux Setup status reporting for installed and active Proton versions.
• Improved Webcam and Camera Hand Tracking compatibility under supported Proton configurations.
• Added clearer guidance for Ubuntu webcam permissions, projector setup, and Steam Deck use.
• Steam Deck support is intended for Desktop Mode with an external display configured in Extend mode.
• Simplified the Linux Setup interface and removed the previous experimental Linux webcam bridge approach.

Some features may behave differently depending on the Linux distribution, Proton version, hardware, and drivers.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed multiple Timeline playback, visibility, scrubbing, and synchronization issues.
• Fixed several video rendering and playback issues.
• Fixed multiple Window Input capture issues.
• Fixed Bezier Warp and Point Creation issues, especially when editing curved surfaces.
• Fixed issues where adding warp or line points could alter existing Bezier curves.
• Improved protection against unstable or invalid warp geometry.
• Fixed several Chroma Key preview and sampling issues.
• Fixed various Preset rendering issues, including glow, color, and visual artifacts.
• Fixed multiple UI and dropdown issues.
• Improved resource handling and general runtime stability.
• Many additional smaller fixes and improvements throughout HoloMapper.

Known Issues

• Extremely aggressive or invalid Quad warping can still cause unstable geometry.
• With several synchronized videos playing, heavy editor activity can occasionally cause brief visible frame separation before automatically resynchronizing.
• Linux / SteamOS support remains experimental and some features may behave differently than on Windows.
• Window Input may not work on some Linux / Proton configurations.
• Webcam and Camera Hand Tracking compatibility can vary depending on the Proton version, Linux distribution, permissions, hardware, and drivers.
• Some Windows-specific integrations and capture features may have limited or unavailable functionality on Linux.
• Steam Deck currently requires Desktop Mode; Game Mode is not supported.
• Hardware video decoding and other GPU-dependent features may behave differently depending on the system and graphics drivers.

Thanks to everyone testing HoloMapper and reporting issues. v0.4 includes a large amount of backend work designed to make future updates, effects, media features, and larger projection projects more reliable.

Hey y'all, I just recently got into projection mapping, but I'm having trouble finding reliable software. I've messed around in Map Club, but the videos I import either don't play or stutter really badly. I can't seem to get MapMap or VPT8 to install or download. I played with Lazy Lighting, but with my current hardware setup, it drains my phone battery, and I need my iPad for work and leisure so I can't just leave it running. I guess what I'm getting at is are there other free or affordable software options I can look into? I'm really just messing around, trying to pick up a new skill, and looking to level up my holiday decorating. I am about to try the free demo of HeavyM.

So, I am doing a project in my school, and I am going to use video mapping. I do not know what software is most suitable for me (or the cheapest), unfortunaly I am not rich and can't afford software that costs $300 to $500, and for that I was wondering which kind of program you can recommend to use, preferably free or cheap. Looking forward to your help.

Mapped some birch trees for a small festival this weekend, using a NEC P525UL and a custom software I've been building up for my own personal use.