moving head projectors and mapping

[mowgli]

Has anyone got any experience using moving head projectors?

Are they accurate enough to be able to let's say map on to something then move away and on returning to the original position retain the mapping accuracy?

Thanks

[deepvisual]

they are usually short throw.
assuming you mean the High End models.
they are kinda accurate, but not crazy.

[many2]

It really depends on the actual yoke. I managed to map some automated stage elements with large projectors on custom yokes that were built by Brothers Brothers and Sons from Denmark. http://brothers-sons.dk/

That was like 7 years ago though, and looking at the website they do not seem to offer that solution anymore. It used to be called a V-Base. The mapping/warping itself was managed by Hippotizer machines.

I'd guess that Barco's DML-1200 would be precise enough, but I haven't used it for mapping yet so I cannot be totally sure.

Had I to do that again today, I would probably use Christie projectors mounted on ZAP yokes. They are now sold as a kit.
http://www.biglites.com/PROD/schede.asp?codice=9
and
http://www.christiedigital.com/en-us...tie-yk200.aspx

Once you have proper equipment, then you will have to learn the tricks of the trade, like how to deal with hysteresis.

[garybizzo]

Not to be a pain, but the answer is 'it depends'....

I haven't found the DL-3 to be 100% accurate in returning to a stored position, but that may be an issue from my local units being several years old.

The bigger issue I'd say is that the DL-series are relatively low-res, so the pixelation of any mapped edges is going to be very visible if it's off by even a hair.

The other issue we often find with moving-yoke projectors is that they're often the heaviest thing on the truss, so any movement of the head is likely to come along with a bit of image shake until the force of the movement dissipates. Of course, this is easy to solve by placing the proj on something heavy and solid, rather than your average lighting truss....

I'm afraid I answered your problem with two more, sorry!

[many2]

Originally Posted by garybizzo

The bigger issue I'd say is that the DL-series are relatively low-res, so the pixelation of any mapped edges is going to be very visible if it's off by even a hair.
The other issue we often find with moving-yoke projectors is that they're often the heaviest thing on the truss, so any movement of the head is likely to come along with a bit of image shake until the force of the movement dissipates.

Resolution and instability are two very important issues indeed, and I completely agree. The project I was referring to in my post was a permanent indoor installation, so instability wasn't really an issue.

[sleepytom]

They are also really expensive. The DL3 is basically a Sanyo XP200 - which is a £3000 video projector. If you have the budget for DL3s then you can spend the same money on a big pile of XP200s - unless you specifically need to move the projection whilst displaying content then it will almost always be cheaper to go with multiple projectors pointing at your different positions.

[garybizzo]

I suspect for a permanent installation, rather than buying a DL3, you could buy a pair of 8K projectors and a server computer, make both projection shots directly and have a nice bit of cash left at the end. Also saves the headache of DMX programming (and removes the need for a DMX controller) on top of the video cueing.

Don't get me wrong - DL3 are a nice bit of gear and I do use them willingly, I just think they're often used needlessly where a better-quality projector would have worked just as well.

[deepvisual]

DL3s - if you have them, use them.
if you dont, get something better.