PCRail Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 It turns out that video mapping is a lot more complicated than I thought. YouTube videos of mapping projects show some fantastic displays: multiple powerful projectors transform structures into something that they are not, like medieval castles. Nice, but out of my reach. I still wanted to give this a try. My typical California ranch-style home has the garage right on the street, almost no driveway. The house itself is not visible from the street. Projecting onto the structures is not a reasonable option. I still wanted to understand the technology and software so I tried a simplified version of mapping that only involved rear projecting (3000 Lumens lamp, not LED $700) onto a screen suspended in the garage door opening. I focused on learning how to control software, Madmapper 4.0 (I’m into them for about $500 for lisc). I also wanted to see how to get it all to work with Light-o-rama sequences. I feel like I’m almost graduating Mapping Kindergarten. I’m not a particularly quick learner. The resulting show was well received, especially by my younger audience. I used quite a few digital video effects from AtmosFX (about $100 worth of their packages.) I used Madmapper in a way it was not built for. The software is designed to directly display the project video from the app. It’s still not clear to me if the app offers options for output other than putting the app in play mode and directly sending the output to a projector. I screen-captured the project (Snagit) and created a new MP4 (Adobe Premiere Elements) with my sequence audio and the captured mapper video. I think Auld Lang Syne is my favorite. There are 8 other songs on my channel with mapping. The screen always begins as the wall of the living room, matrix fireplace, digital chimney and windows. Scenes change inside and outside of the windows. Sometimes the wall disappears and sometimes the view is from outside looking through the windows, into Santa’s workshop. I first started with Madmapper about a year ago, without a specific project in mind. That’s not a good way for me to learn software. At the beginning of November, I decided to try this garage door project for the Holidays. I spent quite a few hours working with Madmapper between November 1 and mid December. For some reason, I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. Other parts of the project were neither complicated nor time consuming. I’m interested in hearing from anyone else who’s trying video mapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcroc Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Thank you for the details. Very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sillypins Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I have Madmapper too, but have not done a serious project yet. I have generated simple stock content on multiple surfaces (mapped) and applied simple transforms. I am stuck at generating content, like you, didn't realise how complicated it would be. I run video in my display currently and generate that content through Wondershare Filmora. As I get more time and adventurous, I intend to map the front and side of my house. Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCRail Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Thanks for replying to this post. I'm really interested in communicating with other Madmapper/LOR users. I haven't found the Madmapper forum useful. I'll try to share what I've learned . I'm not sure what you (Sillypins) mean by generating content. The content that I used included .jpeg photos, gif files, MP4 files (audio is not relevant here) like AtmosFX digital effects and videos I took of family and neighbors. The beauty of this type of software is the open-ended content. I use Adobe Premiere and Photoshop Elements to get the content looking right, before I pull the content into Madmapper. By the way, I'm using Madmapper 4.04. My older laptop will not run this software. Pay attention to system requirements. I found the process of exploring this software to be both frustrating and stimulating. At this point, after a couple of months of concentrated effort, I have enough control that I can begin to imagine and create. I'm looking forward to improving my existing mapping projects and imagining new ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sillypins Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 As far as generating content, I have now experience in adobe or photoshop. I have used jpegs and mp4s but as far as generating my own content, I'm not there yet. I follow the mapping groups on FB and in awe of some of the projects they are doing. That's why I bought into MM. Running two projectors, a 3,000 lumens for the dedicated video screen during the show and 6,000 lumens for the actual projection onto the mapped surface of the house (side and front) when I get to that point. A friend at Texas Instruments suggested stacking several lower lumens projectors to achieve higher lumens end result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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