Scenic projection blending advice

[Eriksrocks]

Hi, my high school is doing Theophilus North this spring, and we would like to use scenic projection as a backdrop because we will have a very minimal set, and due to the space we are using, won't have any cyc lighting available. We will have two identical projectors available to us that are either 2200 lumens or 3000 lumens each (I will double check the actual specifications when I can). I was hoping to hang them on first electric and do front projection onto our sky blue cyc at the far upstage wall. I haven't worked out the exact throw distances and angles needed yet but so far it seems to check out in my head, and this is really the only way it would possibly work as there is no room for rear projection, this is a small space, and projecting from any other position would either be far too short of a throw or far too direct of an angle. My hope is that we will be able to push the acting areas downstage enough that the projection will be able to clear the actors heads.

Anyways, what I really came here looking for advice about is how to blend these two projectors to get one seamless projection. First, is it even feasible? It is possible to do edge blending with what are essentially standard consumer projectors? I assume that as far as hardware, any computer with at least two independent video outputs will work. What I'm really looking for are recommendations for the software needed to accomplish this. Are there any solutions out there that are free or low cost? We really don't have a budget for this so I'm hoping to do it with any hardware or software that I can scrap together.

Any suggestions in this area? I really haven't done anything like this before so I'm not exactly sure what questions I should be asking. Any other things I need to know?

Thanks.

 

[Amishplumber]

Matrox dualhead2go Multiple Monitors for Laptops | Multi-monitors
along with some very careful mounting and focusing is how I'd go about it.

Then playback everything from a computer running QLab.

 

[Eriksrocks]

What about edge blending? I looked into QLab but AFAIK QLab doesn't have any edge blending capabilities.

 

[ruinexplorer]

If you have the dual output from your computer, either onboard or using a Matrox unit, then you could use VPT 6.0 which has a free version for either Mac or PC. It can only do edge blending to make a wide screen, not a tall screen or tiled screen. It does take some playing around with to make it work well, but it is extremely powerful for the price.

 

[Eriksrocks]

That looks like a great suggestion, thanks. QLab is appealing because of the simplicity and the fact that we would probably end up running our audio cues off that as well (so they could be synced up and run by audio op), but I think we're gonna definitely need the edge blending and possibly image mapping capabilities.

 

[Esoteric]

Pro Presenter with the edge blending module. I believe it runs $800 total.

 

[Eriksrocks]

Pro Presenter with the edge blending module. I believe it runs $800 total.

Unfortunately way out of our budget. QLab is at least feasible because we could rent what we need for $2/day. A free solution, assuming it does what we need it to do, is even better. This isn't really a permanent upgrade to our gear, more a one-off for this show, and I'm going to be both the designer and operator, so price is really the determining factor here.

Thanks for the suggestion though.