Projection Mapper - Easily warping your desktop

I am currently working on setting up an interactive table to work for my Game Design class. After much struggling with the placement of the projector and a mirror inside the table box... I concluded that my projector is simply not going to be able to deal with the keystone effect by itself. So, since life is going to be difficult enough for the students just dealing with the interactive part of the table I thought that they should not worry about perspective correction issues. 

After talking to a colleague of mine I learned about a tool named MadMapper for mac that can be used in these cases, and a great resource, www.projectorcentral.com, in which I may be able to find some simple piece of software that would do the job for me. The truth is there are some tools that do that... and a lot more... for a (not so) reduced price. Interestingly, I though I was looking for a very trivial tool that would just do a simple perspective correction but all I found is amazingly sophisticated to create 3D projection mapping, VJing and spatial augmented reality. So, after spending one afternoon looking for a solution and trying out very complex trial demos... I decided to spend one afternoon just coding a simple program with OpenCV that would do the job.

Projection mapper is a very simple tool for MS Windows that is designed to aid in the creation of interactive installations or any other situation that requires the use of projections at very difficult angles. In these cases the projector keystone correction is generally insufficient and the perspective warping  needs to be done via software. Projection Mapper basically reads the primary screen buffer and allows you to project it and correct the perspective via software on a secondary monitor.

Download Projection Mapper from NeurorehabLab Tools - Overview (m-iti.org)



Comments

Michael said…
There's no instruction guide. How does it know how to correct the keystone effect correctly without user input of the physical space?
Michael said…
Nevermind, figured it out. Great program, love it!
Unknown said…
This software is the closes thing we have found to working for our setup. Our projector is at a strange angle and all we need to do is adjust the 4 corners so that it will work. When trying out your software, it adjusts fine and saves the numbers to the console window, but then I don't know how to keep those settings so that it works for everything else displayed on the desktop. Am I missing something?
Dear Sonya, once you have calibrated the 4 corners of your projected image you have to press the space bar to get the software to mirror the primary screen. Then, you just need to place it in the correct monitor by using SHIFT + WIN + LEFT keys.

Be aware that primary and secondary monitors need to have the exact same resolution for it to work.
Anonymous said…
Hi there.. This is almost the exact thing that I,m looking for.. But my desktop screen doesn't appear..
Anonymous said…
Wish there was a version for mac, this is exactly what I need to project from a weird angle using a projector with no keystone abilities.
Anonymous said…
Hi I really need to work but I am only running my PC on one screen (VGA Projector) can it still work?
Anonymous said…
When I set my corner points green borders keep endlessly generating its very psychedelic and then the applications keep moving in to the center screen until they disappear as I say only way to describe it is like a kaleidoscope... Please help. Matt
This software requires you to have two screens. The first one with the normal content, and the second one where it corrects the perspective. It is not possible to do so with one screen only.
Anonymous said…
Great thanks for the reply. I will add a monitor to my projection setup. Thanks again I really appreciate it!!. Matt
Unknown said…
Hi Sergi,
Is it possible to use the mouse on the screen that has been calibrated? If I tab out of the program then it goes back to the original settings, but otherwise I can't use the mouse without changing the calibration again.
Hi. You can use the mouse, but the problem is that the cursor is not rendered in the secondary monitor. So basically you do not know where you are clicking.

Maybe you can try this software "spot the mouse" to see if it helps in combination with projection mapper: http://www.snapfiles.com/downloads/spotmouse/dlspotmouse.html
Anonymous said…
Any chance you might release the source code to this tool so people can modify it for their specific needs?
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Anonymous said…
Would it be possible to modify the framerate? When projecting video it's very choppy.
Unknown said…
My projection mapping program kept crashing tonight for our small town's New Year's countdown. Your program saved the show! Thank you!
Unknown said…
Hello, the tool itselft is great, it is exactly what I needed. Thanks for developing such a simple and useful app. The framerate is too low for preojecting dynamic content. Is there a way to increase the framerate? Best regards
Unknown said…
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