Preferred Projection Software

[Marcus Petrella]

I'm wondering what people's preferred software for running projections is, mine is QLab because of easy of use, relatively low price point, and personal familiarity with the software.

If you have an opinion, please share your preference and why.

Thanks

 

[josh88]

I really like Analog Way's Ascender software, but thats a browser based system that tags along with their processing/switcher. It just makes it super easy for edge blending or manipulating. But thats a bit of a step up from most systems I've seen in theatre and carries a cost that goes with it.

 

[Marcus Petrella]

I really like Analog Way's Ascender software, but thats a browser based system that tags along with their processing/switcher. It just makes it super easy for edge blending or manipulating. But thats a bit of a step up from most systems I've seen in theatre and carries a cost that goes with it.

A quick look at Analog Way’s website, I see why you like this. Do you you have a go to option for working with organization on a limited budget?

 

[josh88]

The company I worked for that used the ascender had a whole rack set up that we were using to feed imag and content across multiple screens and projectors as well as edge blended projects, mostly for large corporate events. I loved it for the control software and the plethora of inputs and outputs.

Honestly, budget and multiple projectors (or even just one) I still just go to qlab with a video license and something like a triple head to go or a black magic videohub or whatever combo you need for however many projectors you want.

 

[ruinexplorer]

A lot depends on what you hope to accomplish with your projection. I personally like Isadora for its flexibility. I haven't had a chance to play with the latest release yet, but looking at what others have accomplished, it should be amazing.

That being said, Isadora can seem intimidating at first, being node based software, or as I have called it, Object Oriented Programming Environment. It is not as simple as a cue based or timeline based programs.

 

[Jaixom]

Sorry to partially resurrect an older thread, but I've just been asked last-minute, to do some research and figure out specs/prices for projectors/screens what we would need, to do the start of immersive projections in our Drama Studio space at my school. We went to talk about the tech needs for next year's budget, and of course out tech coordinators want more info, and now the teachers have asked me to quickly do some research.

I'm guessing we'd need 4 identical projectors, the appropriate software to edge blend, and what ever combination of cabling/interface is needed to make this work... it's all well over my head as the extent of projections for theatre that I've done have mainly been using keynote, or a combination of simple video and the video functions of QLab 3 years ago.

Bearing in mind that we are a school, and I've also had problems running more than 2 connected projectors on my 2017 15" MacBook Pro... which I thought could handle 4 displays, but maybe it was the Thunderbolt-to-VGA adapters that were my problem.

Thanks in advance!
Jaime

 

[RonHebbard]

Sorry to partially resurrect an older thread, but I've just been asked last-minute, to do some research and figure out specs/prices for projectors/screens what we would need, to do the start of immersive projections in our Drama Studio space at my school. We went to talk about the tech needs for next year's budget, and of course out tech coordinators want more info, and now the teachers have asked me to quickly do some research.

I'm guessing we'd need 4 identical projectors, the appropriate software to edge blend, and what ever combination of cabling/interface is needed to make this work... it's all well over my head as the extent of projections for theatre that I've done have mainly been using keynote, or a combination of simple video and the video functions of QLab 3 years ago.

Bearing in mind that we are a school, and I've also had problems running more than 2 connected projectors on my 2017 15" MacBook Pro... which I thought could handle 4 displays, but maybe it was the Thunderbolt-to-VGA adapters that were my problem.

Thanks in advance!
Jaime

Calling @ruinexplorer Would you mind coming to our OP's aid?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Kotli512]

I agree with @ruinexplorer. After using Qlab for years (and continuing to on many smaller projects), I will say that Isadora's benefits definitely scale exponentially on the project. For just running a couple of video cues to a single projector/display, Qlab is probably the best and easiest option. But Isadora, once you get past the new style of workflow and programming, is extremely powerful and can make running complex projections/displays fairly easy because of how individual 'cues' are set up.

 

[Jaixom]

thanks for the responses. We're purchasing the full licence for QLab as it will pretty much be more than enough for our needs (secondary school theatre programme). I'm looking at Isadora myself in my own time, looks like I've got a bit of playing around to do. The interactive aspects are what interest me as something that we could POSSIBLY do/offer/teach to the more tech-minded senior students (we get them from time to time).