Edgeblend and multiple depths

[nikolai]

Hi

We use watchout in theatre and there is one big roadblock the comes up from time to time.

As far as I know, the edgeblend, masks, geometry correction etc. is locked, so you have one setting pr show.

How would you solve this simple scenario; 
2 front projectors edge blend on a large wall/cube or whatever on stage.

Then mid-show,  this wall/cube is moved 5 meters upstage or downstage.

Now, edge blend and warping is messed up.

In most other software, we would be able to solve this in the mapping section (qlab has surfaces, resolume can do it, and so on), but I can't seem to find a good way in WO.

I have thought about adding the displays without overlapping, and then use virtual displays to do the overlap for each position.

the blend would then have to be made with some gradient png files or something, and geometry with corner pins on the virtual displays.

This seems a bit hackish though.

Then I thought about a 3d model of the wall, that would solve geometry, but that does not solve the edge blend
Is there another way or have dataton designed themselves into a corner with the fixed settings in the display window?

 

[jfk]

14 minutes ago, nikolai said:

Hi

We use watchout in theatre and there is one big roadblock the comes up from time to time.

As far as I know, the edgeblend, masks, geometry correction etc. is locked, so you have one setting pr show.

That is not correct. You have the option to custom edge blend using the Mask tab of the display defintion.

[nikolai]

18 minutes ago, jfk said:

That is not correct. You have the option to custom edge blend using the Mask tab of the display defintion.

Yes. but only once pr "show"

So I can not have one mask, then fire a cue and have another mask in order to react to scene changes??

 

Maybe an example will explain it better:

This watchout demo video:

https://www.dataton.com/academy-video-watchout-6-3d-mapping-with-multiple-projectors

What if the car had two positions on stage during a performance... 
I did see a demo video with the dataton house rotating around its centre axis, what about X/Y/Z movement??

[jfk]

Yes, Dataton demonstrates real time tracking of a 3D object's X/Y/Z movement in their trade show booth. First time was in February 2018 at ISE, again in June 2018 at InfoComm, again at ISE last month and will show it at INFOCOMM 2019 in June. That method relies on BlackTrax for the tracking system. While the 3D object is rotating, it is actually not on its center axis. During the demo you can grab the model and move it off axis anywhere in the covered area, you can tilt it, stop it, etc. and even as it continues to rotate in the new position,  it stays properly aligned.

That said, there may be an easier way if the two positions are nailed down. You can run it as two shows. If setup correctly, you can change shows seamlessly, the shows need to pause for the transition, and it should only take about 2-5 seconds paused to make the change. And with some clever programming, you can even have a cue in the first show that starts the second show. So from a work flow perspective, it sounds like it may meet your description.

[nikolai]

Thank you for clearing that up.

I have not been able to make a moving 3dobject edge blend (yet)

As for the scenario with the moving set piece, yes we could use two shows, but what if there where 5 positions, then we need 5 shows, and the workflow perspective this becomes a nightmare.

I conclude that this is a missing feature in watchout, hoping it will be addressed in version 7.

As of now, I'm testing a setup using virtual displays to make the different overlaps and using a "gradient wipe tween" to do the edge blend, and corners tween to do geometry. 

 

[zackboyd]

He's right though, this is a limitation...

It could be a feature add if the 'mask' function was added to virtual displays....

The tracking doesn't fix when the object is larger than the projector's raster. When there's a blend on a surface, if the object moves the physics of the rasters change and need to be accounted for.

[nikolai]

5 hours ago, zackboyd said:

He's right though, this is a limitation...

It could be a feature add if the 'mask' function was added to virtual displays....

The tracking doesn't fix when the object is larger than the projector's raster. When there's a blend on a surface, if the object moves the physics of the rasters change and need to be accounted for.

True, that is a great way to solve it. Give virtual displays some of the same options as normal displays. masks and geometry and we are good to go.
Would be a very powerful feature in my opinion.  

[cowboyclint]

7 hours ago, zackboyd said:

He's right though, this is a limitation...

It could be a feature add if the 'mask' function was added to virtual displays....

The tracking doesn't fix when the object is larger than the projector's raster. When there's a blend on a surface, if the object moves the physics of the rasters change and need to be accounted for.

I agree with all of this.