Rotating Projector Screen

[Henry Parr]

Hey guys,

 

I'm fairly new to vectorworks so this might be an easy answer. I've created a video screen using the video screen tool, but I cant find a way to rotate the screen to form a 'diamond' shape. Is there an easy way of doing this while still retaining all the info about the screen and projector?

 

Thanks

[Kevin McAllister]

I'm not sure there is a way to do this. How are you going to achieve what you're looking for when you implement it in reality?

 

For an image cropped to the diamond screen you could edit the screen image you're using in Vectorworks to do the same.

For a moving mirror to shift the beam you'll probably have to fake it with a textured object in VW.

 

 In my experience most projectors want to remain fairly level so its unlikely you're rotating the projector. Or perhaps its an LED screen you're working with so that's not an issue.

 

Kevin

[danm01]

You can't do it with the plug-in. The projection plug-in generates the screen object for you, and it doesn't allow for 3D rotation. Your best bet is to create your own screen object using an extrude or other 3D object and add the content using a texture. Don't forget the screen border. Then separately add a projector using the plug in, and once you've got it lined up use the "hide screen" checkbox.

 

As Kevin pointed out, most large event projectors aren't happy being angled like this. It's a heat management thing. You can do it, but it will kill your lamps quickly. More than likely you will want to keep it horizontal, and do the math to figure out the actual projection raster by superimposing your "diamond" on a 16x9 (or 4x3 or 16x10) rectangle.

 

Some machines do allow for 90 degree rotation, which may work in your favor. The plug-in has some "side" versions of the stock projectors, but if you're using custom objects you will need to create another version of your projector symbol and re-jigger the lens placement numbers in the attached VS-ModData record.

 

I did a quick and dirty version in the attached file.

 

-Dan

 

 

Rotated screen example.vwx