ProjectionTools Changelog
ProjectionTools 5.0.0
The new major release with amazing new features and improvements.
See details about the new major release here.
ProjectionTools 4.3.0
The new minor release ProjectionTools 4.3.0 is available. The last release before our next major release. Below is an overview of the new features, improvements and bug fixes.
Resolume Exporter
A new production proven exporter allows to patch Resolume Arena advanced output profiles with warping data generated by ProjectionTools.
It was successfully used in the recent shows Magdeburg in Light and Festival of Lights.
Automatic frustum generation
More flexible and deterministic Frustum generation in Mapper3d.
It can now align to projection normal and roll. Generator settings are permanently stored in the project.
Additional new features and improvements
- Mappers can fit standard mappings to calibration data
- Code markers can be searched in the complete camera image during find position, e.g. coded LEDs
- Posfinder:
- timestamp for images that have been loaded from the disk
- same workflow for code marker and coded LED detection
- Own marker type for Coded LED markers
- Cleaned up reference points generation. It now uses current screen settings ommitting the screen assistant dialog.
- This makes marker generation more flexible, for custom screen setups, not covered by simple screen assistant.
- Also on standard screens, markers are now generated line-wise top to bottom.
- Camera handling dialog now does cleanup of positions that where removed or whose camera where exchanged
- ColorMatch with Barco F70 Pulse 2.0 support.
Fixes
- Fixed exception handling for uncalibrated webcams
- Fixed resource leak in camera database handling
- Fixed several issues related to non ASCII characters in project path
- Uncalibrated canon cameras are now listed with correct type in new project wizzard
- Camera settings dialog now shows calibration: none for uncalibrated cameras
- Fixed camera not shown in 3d view
- Posfinder now distinguishes multiple Coded LED markers/coded LEDs in one ROI correctly
- Camera handling dialog now manipulates only align or creator cameras, depending from which application it where started
Deprecated
- Nthusim exporter deprecated, since company is no more existing and support ended April 2018
ProjectionTools 4.2.0 released
The new minor release ProjectionTools 4.2.0 is available.
Below you can find an overview of the most important innovations.
Projection mapping support
Now it is possible to calibrate arbitrary screen shapes like mockups and buildings, which include creases and discontinuities.
By providing a 3D model of the surface, ProjectionToolscan calculate projector positions, lens-distortion and blending after capturing the usual test-patterns. This results in a correct projection on any complex surface.
The new application MapperPM generates and exports a new type of data.
Furthermore we introduce scanning of unknown 3D surfaces as an experimental feature.
Coded LEDs
Creator and Align now support Coded LED Markers which allow to find and identify reference points in the complete camera image. Due to the controllable LEDs, which can be embedded into the screen or other projection surfaces, it is not necessary anymore to define regions of interest previously.
Initial camera positions can now be calculated faster. The result is successful even if camera or screen are moved significantly between subsequent calibration runs.
Demo version
Try out the new Demo version of domeprojection.com ProjectionTools on your own machine! Easy usage: You can use a webcam.
- Explore the possibilities for creating beautiful 2D projections
- Try out 3 tools: Creator, Mapper2D and PatternGenerator
- For testing purposes only: no support for 3rd party solutions (which the full ProjectionTools package supports)
Additional new features and improvements
- Adaptive thresholding and dynamic brightness control
- Triangulate new reference points
- Adjust origin using three reference points
- Creator: Generate 3D / Position Combination:
– new description of default value: “automatic”
– new triangulation only mode added - New Project wizard changed:
– includes now custom mesh import
– camera settings (including camera database selection) on one wizard page - Enable ring detection by default
- Colors indicating recognition quality now gradually change from green to red
- Recenter marker ROIs
- Added recent files to menu (all tools)
- Posfinder: allows to center view on reprojected markers
- Unrotated cutting rectangles by default
- Reference Image auto-relative
- User warning, when no source image is selected in preview exporter
- User information, when marker control didn’t work
- Creator, Align and Mapper no more blocked from running parallel
- Improved window layout for small screen resolutions
- Improved GUI update performance
- Basic reference mesh fixing
- Clean reference mesh import/export roundtrip
- Custom mesh support in project wizard
- Add markers manually on imported reference mesh
- Faster camera communication
- Synchronize PatternGenerator to Creator for faster dotpattern capture
Fixes
- Adding 2 positions with uncalibrated cameras not possible anymore
- Camera database: can now be changed in New Project wizard, camera list updates accordingly
- Fixed: Uninitialized marker settings
- Fixed: Test recognition parameters ignoring global dotpattern
- Fixed: Missing information when loading project with unsufficient channel licenses
Improved integration
- New Unity exporter supporting domeprojection.com unity plugin
- domeprojection.com SDK exporter: multiple gamma settings supported
- MPCDI 2.0 support
- MPCDI dithered Alpha and Beta map export
- Dedicated Pixera Exporter
Extended equipment support
- Universal URL based IP-Power control
- Data import for Disto X3 / X4
- Barco F80-4K support
- Support for new IDS and AVT camera types added
- Webcam support added (uncalibrated single camera only)
ProjectionTools 4.1.0
The following innovations have already been made available in ProjectionTools 4.1.0.
The upgrade involved ProjectionTools itself, PatternGenerator, ColorMatch, nWarp and the domeprojection.com SDK.
Automatic detection of cutted dots
In Creator and Align you can choose a new calibration pattern of rings, which allows to automatically detect cutted dots. In this way, the dot-pattern less often needs to be adjusted manually. The detected full dots are stored as a dot pattern for following calibration runs.
Colored blending and black-level correction
Mapper3d supports colour tweaking of blending and black-level correction. This improves software blending and the results of black-level correction in difficult situations.
Tight integration with several 3D engines
The domeprojection.com SDK, which supports static and dynamic warping, is adopted by more and more 3D engines. It got updated to support the new coloured blending and black-level correction feature (see above). In addition, Mapper3d received a dedicated domeprojection.com SDK exporter making the export step much more convenient.
Additional new features and improvements
- Exporting of reference points
- Creator & Align: Only the image all points is projected on screen when simulating a project.
- Points that are not part of the dot pattern aren’t detected anymore during image processing (allows later removing of points by editing the dot pattern and avoids false detections).
- MPCDI exporter: possibility to adjust the level – for better compatibility with systems not supporting the highest level 4
- Dedicated VI-grade VI-GraphSim exporter added
- Preview 3D exporter: quicker previews by selecting reduced blending resolution; choosing custom environment texture
Fixes
- Transfer to align copies camera settings as well.
- Markers no more disappear when dragging while camera live mode is activated.
- Creating projects with uncalibrated cameras works again.
- Fixed randomly broken frames using AVT GigE cameras.
- Align command line version reports errors as return-value and in console instead of message boxes.
- Barco Pulse exporter regards individual upload checkmarks.
- Fixed slight preview error in Brightness-Adjust Widget.
- Fixed pipeline and modifier stack steps potentially getting shuffled when moving them up/down.
ProjectionTools 4.0
The following features and workflow improvements have already been available in ProjectionTools 4.0.
Speed improvements
- Much faster handling of screen scans and reference mesh mappings
- Fast align for projectors that have not significantly moved since last calibration
Workflow enhancements
- Modifier stack in Mapper3d for non-destructive manipulation of calibration data
- Creator: dedicated Reference Points Editor with more flexible marker import
- Align projects: more streamlined setup
- Improvements of visualizations and handling of the Dot Pattern Editor
- Combination of multiple mappings in one project
- Direct control of active markers
- Show projector outlines on projection screen: aligning projectors quickly after exchange
- Black-level chip oversize preview added
- Existing projects: projector resolution change possible
- Default dot pattern: determined by resolution and aspect ratio
- One installer for the complete set of domeprojection.com ProjectionTools, allowing to select the appropriate configuration according to the owned license (SingleCam AV / Pro AV / Pro Sim)
Increased accuracy
- Blending and black-level-correction: calculation with floating-point precision
- Black-level-correction
- Advanced based on measurements regarding uniformity and contrast of projectors
- Using smooth black-level correction transitions where possible – better results with overlaps of more than two projectors
- Compensation of projector shadowing
- Improved Posfinder visualisation accuracy
- More precise fadeout control
Extended equipment support
- AVT Mako cameras
- Barco Pulse exporter
- AV Stumpfl Wings exporter
- dataton Watchout exporter
- Coolux Pandoras box exporter supporting non-presplit content
- nWarp exporter