Any free projection software out there?

[ishboo]

I am diving into architectural lighting and projection for the first time pretty much in a few weeks. My school has this "Fine Arts Week" full of music, theatre, and art displays. Part of that I am making an architectural lighting display in our lobby and I want to include some projections on the outside of the building. My budget is non-existant so i was wondering if anyone knows of any decent software that can handle projections. I'm not looking for any crazy features just a good way of managing my projections.

 

[ruinexplorer]

Well, what are you trying to do? When you speak of managing your projections, that is rather vague as to whether you need a software or a hardware solution. You may want to look and see what you already have installed on your computer and see how it works with an exteded display (not a mirrored display).

 

[ishboo]

I'm mainly looking for something with a little more power than powerpoint or some media player. I don't want the tacky play icon in the side of the screen when the projection starts like I have seen happen too many times. Also, it would be really nice if there would be some way to control the size of the projection coming out i.e. if I wanted to project onto something circular it would be nice to mask the video onto something circular.

 

[owaits]

Sounds like Screen Monkey would be ideal for you. It is free but has the power of professional live video software.

You mention that you want to project onto a circular screen. This is easy with Screen Monkey, you just create a new display profile and set one of the layers to be circular. You can also adjust the layer size to fit your screen.