The Venue: Points of Attention and Settings

Lighting Conditions

When creating a video mapping project, managing lighting is crucial for achieving impressive results. The darkness of your projection environment directly impacts the visibility and vibrancy of your projections. It’s important to control ambient light because excessive light can diminish the visual impact of your projection. Ideally, you should aim to create an environment as dark as possible to increase the contrast between your projection and the background. However, the level of darkness required will depend on the brightness of your projector. A brighter projector can perform effectively in lighter conditions, but it’s always best to minimize ambient light as much as possible. Remember, your goal is to make your projection stand out, not to have it fade away in an overly bright environment.

Dealing with Existing Lights

Sometimes, you’ll need to deal with unwanted peripheral lights, such as streetlights or illuminated signs. In these cases, there are several strategies you can employ. You might try to block or divert these lights using screens, curtains, or other objects. Alternatively, you can integrate these light sources into your projection, using them to add depth or contrast to your work.

During a stage performance, like a concert, lighting can present a unique challenge for video mapping. Stage lighting is often dynamic, constantly changing based on the mood of the performance, which can interfere with the visibility of your projections. Additionally, stage lighting equipment, such as spotlights and projectors, can cast visible shadows on your projection surface, disrupting the effect of your video mapping.

To navigate these challenges, one solution could be to incorporate the lighting design into your video mapping. By working closely with the lighting team, you can coordinate lighting changes with your projections to create a visually harmonious show. For example, you can program moments of low light to highlight the most important parts of your projection.

Additionally, using high-brightness projectors can help counteract the effects of stage lighting. These projectors are capable of displaying visible images even in less-than-ideal lighting conditions.

Setting Up a Video Mapping Scene

The Positioning of the Projector

Setting up a projector for video mapping requires careful attention to several key factors.

1. First, the placement of the projector is crucial. It should be positioned to cover the entire area you want to illuminate. It’s important to ensure that the projector is stable and that there are no obstructions that could block the light.
2. Next, you’ll need to adjust the projection angle and the projector’s zoom to ensure that the image properly covers the area. This may require several trials and adjustments to get the settings right. It’s also crucial to adjust the projector’s focus so that the image is sharp across the entire surface.
3. It’s important to note that setting up a projector for video mapping may require technical skills and experience in video mapping. If you want to learn more about configuring projectors for video mapping, you might find it helpful to consult our section dedicated to video projectors.
4. It is essential to validate the projector’s position before drawing the shapes. If you move the projector after drawing the elements, you’ll need to redo almost the entire video mapping setup.

Drawing the Shapes

It’s important to precisely define the projection area(s) for your visuals and adapt them to the surface on which you’re projecting your mapping.

In the HeavyM software, designed for quick use by non-specialist users, simple yet precise drawing tools allow you to accomplish this step. The faces are the geometric shapes you’ll use to outline your mapping and where you’ll later integrate visual effects.

The software includes predefined shapes, or you can draw them point by point.

You can follow the video tutorial below, or the step-by-step instructions that follow.

Creating Faces

Predefined Faces

To simplify your work if you only need basic shapes, you can use predefined faces. You can add a square, triangle, or circle by dragging them from the toolbar above the workspace. From the drawing area, you can also add regular polygons with 5 to 10 sides from the right-click menu.

Custom Faces

To draw a face point by point, you must first activate the Draw tool.

(‘Draw tool’) from the toolbar or with the shortcut [CTRL/Cmd + F].

Para start drawing a shape, simply click where you want to place your first point in the workspace. To add more points to your face, you have two options:

• Simply continue clicking where you want to place new points, which will add points without tangents and draw straight lines.
• Or click and, while holding the click, drag to create ‘mirror’ tangents on the new point. This way, you’ll draw a Bézier curve, where you can adjust the curvature using the tangent handles.

When you want to finish drawing a face, simply click on the first point again or press Enter to close your path, or press Escape to close the path and exit Draw mode at the same time.

All paths must be closed, so they need a minimum of 3 points (plus a center!), but there is no maximum limit. Additionally, you can freely mix straight segments and curves within the same face!

Using a Photo as a Background

In HeavyM, you can import an image to use as the background of the Canvas. This is especially useful if you have an idea of where your projector will be positioned: take a photo of your structure from that position and use it as a reference. Then, simply place your shapes precisely on the photo of your volume. This way, you can prepare your mapping remotely, without being at the performance location.

To enable the background image display, activate the option in the menu View → Show Image. You will see a default image appear. Simply click the option again when you want to disable it.

Note: The background image will not appear in the projection; this option is only for the creation phase. If you want to display an image in the projection, you need to use a player.

To continue

Everything You Need to Know About Projectors

This guide was written by HeavyM, a company specializing in video mapping since 2013.

For any questions, comments, advice, etc., please use this contact form: **https://help.heavym.net/hc/requests/new**. Response guaranteed within 24 hours.