Projector-Light Image Render

[Anonymous]

Rendered projected image onto a screen/surface - resulting image has dark corners. Would expect crisp edges.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Stephen Scott

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I'd like to help with these borders around your projected light.  Most likely you aren't accounting for the falloff field difference from the hotspot/beam.  Is this a standard light?  You might try just padding the image border in a 2D app with black and using that texture so that the falloff area isn't affecting your image.  Or you could use "Overshoot" most likely on the light.  Does that work for you then?  Thanks for the information.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response.

Using standard-target light/projector.

This exercise is meant to replicate/verify a specific image size using a specific projector-lens relationship so I need a zero-falloff light to cast a borderless image. Is a zero-falloff light feasible in Max?

The 'Overshoot' setting floods the whole scene so that does not work.

Thanks,

Stephen

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

You can get a hard edge if you pad your image with a black border in an editing application. Or, if you're comfortable with the Listener you can use the following command with a light selected and make sure the hotspot and falloff have the same value.  Remember though if you use the spinners in Max afterwards it will reset the 2 number difference between them.

$.falloff = 43.1

$.hotspot = 43.1

Best Regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I forgot to mention that you should replace 43.1 which whatever value you'd like.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Sorry, but what is the 'Listener'?

In my system the projector / light interface does not allow equal Hotspot and Falloff settings.

Thanks,

Stephen

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

It's true that the default spinners won't allow this, but it's possible to route around it in one of the MaxScript areas called the listener.  

You can find more information here, but a a quick step by step is basically this:  right click on the white area of the lower left corner of your UI and click "Open Listener Window".  Then type those commands above (or paste them), select them so they are highlighted, and use the numkey Enter to run those commands.  

Change the 43.1 to whatever you prefer and then select them and press Numkey Enter again.  This will allow you to bypass the automatic falloff differences.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hmm... looks like code. scary!

Is this a 'system' override or a 'file' override?

Thanks for your patience,

Stephen

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

It's a light override, so a file thing.  It won't affect your lights in all your other scenes.  Please let me know if you have troubles.  I'm here for you 'til the end.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

It works! Now I get to do this for 40+ additional projectors-in this scene.

Thank you!

Stephen Scott

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Thanks for the update!  I tried to create a script that would adjust all the lights values like this at once, but every time it moved to a new light it would reset that difference between the hotspot and falloff.  I did try though!  It works fine when done 1 by 1 however.   I'm glad it's working for you, regardless.  

EDIT:  I am concerned that it will reset the old lights difference when moving to the next lights.  That's the behavior I am seeing on my end.  I wasn't aware that there were multiples that weren't instanced, this may not work perfectly in that case if they are all in the same scene.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Can't use instances since I need to show different test-grids so that others can ascertain which projector is hitting which screen.

Looks like it's going to be a laborious process as the setting immediately jumps back if I select something else then return to the light.

Seems to me that Autodesk might want to consider adding a "No Falloff" option otherwise the projector-light function is not very useful for real-world visualizations. Is that something that you can request?

Thanks again,

Stephen

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I think the key here will be to either put a black border around all your images (like a film strip has) or use Overshoot which for me does exactly what you are looking for.  Image below.

I know you'd mentioned that for you this made the image go wider but for me this doesn't happen.  I think together we can get to the bottom of this.  You can always put in a Feature Request, but I think Overshoot does exactly this.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

The purpose of this exercise is to match geometry from projection studies using real-world lens-image setups. Adding black borders to the test grid would mean I am not projection the correct image in relation to its lens.

'Overshoot' feature does not seem to work here (for me) as it floods the entire scene.

Left, no Overshoot. Right, Overshoot 'on'.

Stephen

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous

What kind of light are you using?  A spot light?  If not, try a spot set to rectangular and adjust the image aspect ratio.  If you'd like I could create a private folder for you to upload your file into and investigate it personally.  I have attached my scene below, maybe you can check it out as a reference to see what is different.  Happy to help in any way possible!

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Target spot with rectangular 1.6 aspect ratio.

Here's your file with my test pattern. Grid Image on the right needs a hard edge and no other surface illumination as happens with Overshoot 'on' in the left image.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Which version of 3ds Max are you using and which SP please?  When you rendered the same map I had plugged in, were the edges clean?  Any chance I can get my hands on this test pattern and a simple stripped down file?  

Best Regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Can you just include only the object you want to hit?  That should get around your overshoot-hitting-everything issue.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

2014. Don't know what service pack.

The original site is from Revit. It was over a gigabyte!

This exercise involves showing the customer coverage of image projections on building walls - overshoot washes out adjacent images.

I've removed everything from the original file except for the projector light - don't know why the file is so large.

[Anonymous]

2014. Don't know what service pack.

The original site is from Revit. It was over a gigabyte!

This exercise involves showing the customer coverage of image projections on building walls - overshoot washes out adjacent images.

I've removed everything from the original file except for the projector light - don't know why the file is so large.