Live drawing, multiple projectors?

[DavidAhumada]

I am in design discussions for a show, and we are thinking of using a fabric based set, with projections. I'm a little new to projections, and will have plenty of questions as the process moves forward but an idea that has been brought up is to allow the actors to "draw" their backgrounds... basically like having a chalkboard wall. What we have discussed is projecting what the actors draw onto a scrim or other fabric. I still need to work out what projectors are available, where they would be placed, etc.... but we are a bit away from that. (We are considering at least one rear projection set up, others may have to be front projection due to space constraints.

What I am wondering is....are there any suggestions on programs or methods to do the live drawing into projection? Are there programs out there that would work better than others?

This will be at a college, and we have access to both PC and Mac computers as well as POSSIBLY an Ipad. Still need to look into rules around adding programs to borrowed units however.

Thank you in advance,

David

 

[ruinexplorer]

You may have seen in some classrooms an Interactive Whiteboard. Essentially, you can either interact with projection or completely add your own. There are a variety of applications depending on your budget.

 

[vman]

I did the following for a show (not sure if this is what you want).

I had an artist that has a small, bright blue light in his hand. We capture this artist with a camera and feed the captured signal to a software called Processing (open source). In Processing i wrote a sketch that detects the blue light and paint the pixels into an image that is shown by a projector.
The artist also had a 6 butten remote. With the buttons he could determine the color that is used. One color was only transparent to allow moving the light without generating pixels.

 

[DavidAhumada]

I guess more what I'm thinking about is being able to use a tablet, draw live and have it show up projected behind the actors. Most likely using an I-pad, as they can be checked out from the university, and we need to stay within a fairly conservative budget. If you think of an improv show where the actors are creating the scenery, thats kind of the goal here. We are thinking of having a single projector for sure, we have been discussing up to three projectors, that would project onto three different surfaces.

 

[Amiers]

I pulled this from a google search of networking a ipad to a projector. I am betting if your school has ipads they might have an apple tv laying around if not they are only 100$ and after demoing it in the show you could possibly get the university to buy a few more since it is a great way to teach.

Link with more info

For a wired connection to an existing Projector;-
VGA - Dock Connector to VGA Cable
HDMI - Dock Connector Digital AV Adapter Plus HDMI cable

For Wireless connection to an existing Projector;-
VGA - Apple TV plus Kanex ATV Pro cable
HDMI - Apple TV Plus HDMI cable

The wireless solutions require an iPad 2 or later for video mirroring.
Set up the Apple TV on your network and connect to the Projector.
On the iPad double tap the home button, slide the revealed window at the bottom of the screen to the right, select the Video Mirror button, select Apple TV.

 

[cpf]

Another idea:

1. Set up one of those screen-sharing apps between the iPad and your computer.
2. Fire up photoshop/GIMP/whatever on the computer
3. Create a mirrored window (PS can do this, not sure about anything else) on a second monitor to project what's being drawn without all the controls and toolboxes showing up.

Bonus is that you have complete control over the look of the drawing: you can use any PS brush & settings you want, you're not limited to whatever the iPad drawing app supports.

 

[arexlame]

I pulled this from a google search of networking a ipad to a projector. I am betting if your school has ipads they might have an apple tv laying around if not they are only 100$ and after demoing it in the show you could possibly get the university to buy a few more since it is a great way to teach.

Link with more info

For a wired connection to an existing Projector;-
VGA - Dock Connector to VGA Cable
HDMI - Dock Connector Digital AV Adapter Plus HDMI cable

For Wireless connection to an existing Projector;-
VGA - Apple TV plus Kanex ATV Pro cable
HDMI - Apple TV Plus HDMI cable

The wireless solutions require an iPad 2 or later for video mirroring.
Set up the Apple TV on your network and connect to the Projector.
On the iPad double tap the home button, slide the revealed window at the bottom of the screen to the right, select the Video Mirror button, select Apple TV.

I second ameirs idea, that way you only have to get a free drawing app for the iPad, maybe a stylus if that helps the drawing process, and if you use the Apple TV solution, it's light, portable, convenient and hopefully relatively cheap way to achieve your vision.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Chris15]

I would caution heavily against relying upon anything operating on WiFi in a show critical capacity such as this.
Run a cable and sleep easily at night...

 

[Joshua Sedgwick]

I would caution heavily against relying upon anything operating on WiFi in a show critical capacity such as this.
Run a cable and sleep easily at night...

If going the WiFi route, I would use a dedicated router in the booth.
Otherwise, I agree with Chris15