Projection

[vincecr]

I am doing a show that requires projection. The first thing I am debating is between rear projection on front projection. We are projecting on a black spandex scrim and I am not sure that front projection will work with that. The front projection though is easier for us so it will be the preference if we get it to work. Now we are also looking at projecting on more than one screen. What hardware would we need to get in order to project on to more than one screen using a software like Q-labs. Lastly, is there a windows equivalent to qlabs that can project on more than one screen like q labs does.

 

[BrockTucker]

I can't answer your questions about qlabs, but you'd want to front project onto a scrim. Think about with conventional lighting, light a scrim from the front and it's opaque, from the back and you see through it. Projecting onto anything black is going to lead to a very dim image, so I hope your projector is bright bright bright.

 

[vincecr]

O Good point but Do I want it to be opaque or see through for projection.

 

[museav]

O Good point but Do I want it to be opaque or see through for projection.

Opaque for front projection and translucent, not transparent, for rear projection. A black surface will provide good image contrast but low image brightness and poor color rendition. Open weave Sharkstooth scrim is often limited for rear projection and even in some cases for front projection because as you stretch the fabric you get rather large openings in the weave, which means a lot of the projector's light and the image passing through rather than being displayed on the scrim. There are some specialty scrim materials available that may work better for projection.

Not knowing how large the images are or how much ambient light might be hitting them or how much of the light may pass through the 'screen' material, you could indeed need a very bright projector to get a usable image.

Are you always wanting to display the same image on both screens? Or might you want to display the same images on the two screens at some times and different images on each screen at other times? Or would you possibly spread a single image across the two screens? The combination of these capabilities that is desired can define what hardware or software may be required.