Building a portable projector setup for RPG mapping

[FoxWander]

I'm working on an even more portable setup once my 3m pocket projector shows up next week.

Emphasis mine- PLEASE post about this when you get it. I've been very curious to see how one of these would work for gaming.

We (my wife and I) have a game setup with an elevated map platform and lights underneath that allows for good visibility on character sheets and books but fairly dim everywhere else. I think even the low lumens of a pocket project could work, but I haven't seen one in use yet. I would be very interested in seeing the results you get with the 3M projector.

PS- Thanks for pointing out the pics of your setup. Nice, simple and portable. I like it.

 

[FoxWander]

Also- I had another idea for a portable projector setup that would be excellent for toting around a con. Do something similar to falcarrion's pole mount but rig it to a folding hand truck. Put your books in a plastic crate at the bottom (makes them easy to move and gives stability) with the pole mounted projector against the back. Put your laptop bag on the crate. Attach a power strip and extension cord and hook everything up. Then when your ready to game all you have to do is wheel the whole thing up to the edge of the table. Extend the projector mount to the right height and plug in the extension cord and your good to go!

The idea came from a lan party computer rig a friend of mine had years ago. He had both his server and gaming computers mounted on a hand truck and hooked to one monitor with a switch. Everything was connected to a 20 port router, power strip and wind-up extension cord (that were also attached). He would just wheel the thing in, plug it into the wall and we were set. Everyone would hook to his router, he'd switch to the server and set up the game, then switch to the other computer to game. Worked great! Shows what you can do with a hand truck and some imagination, as far as portable electronics setups go.

 

[falcarrion]

Ok I have added more pics of my stand. Basicly it is a ceiling projector mount, mounted to a small piece of wood. On the other side is what I beleave is called a pipe flange. The flange just screws onto the pipe thread.

 

[falcarrion]

Emphasis mine- PLEASE post about this when you get it. I've been very curious to see how one of these would work for gaming.

We (my wife and I) have a game setup with an elevated map platform and lights underneath that allows for good visibility on character sheets and books but fairly dim everywhere else. I think even the low lumens of a pocket project could work, but I haven't seen one in use yet. I would be very interested in seeing the results you get with the 3M projector.

PS- Thanks for pointing out the pics of your setup. Nice, simple and portable. I like it.

I should be getting it on monday or tuesday this week and then the testing begins. I'll be testing it projecting down on my table set up and projecting up from under the table. Once I have tested it I'll post pics. I may even test double projector projecting. One projecting down on map area and one projecting up on the map area. This might make for a very intresting looking map area.

 

[OnlineDM]

falcarrion - Thank you so much for the pictures and additional details! I get it now. You screwed a pipe end plate to one side of the block of wood and you screwed the ceiling mount for the projector to the other side. Simple and beautiful! This is definitely the direction I'm going next.

As an update for everyone, I've put up another blog post now that my projector has arrived and I had a few minutes to play with it (though I'm getting ready to leave for a business trip, so I won't be able to fiddle with it for the next couple of days). The problems I'm seeing with my current setup are:

• 800 by 600 resolution isn't high enough - the monster tokens look totally pixellated
• The tripod projects the image way off center - as you guys pointed out, the image doesn't spread out evenly from the center of the lens
• The tripod does get in the players' way somewhat.

On the bright side (no pun intended), 2,500 lumens seems to be plenty, and MapTool is great. My next steps are to swap this projector for a higher-res one and to try building a single-pole mount.

 

[falcarrion]

Your problem might not be the projector as much as the laptop your useing.
Try hooking up a monitor to the laptop and see if you get the same result.
The pixeling looks more like your zooming in too close in the maptool software.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

 

[OnlineDM]

@Falcarrion: You might be right about the zooming, but that's the zoom level I need if I want one-inch squares (which I'll need in order to let players use their minis). I'm open to suggestions on how to fix this problem, especially if there's a software-based solution rather than hardware-based.

Things look fine when I use a computer monitor rather than the projector, but that's probably because the monitor is maybe 17 inches and the laptop is projecting something more like 40 inches (I haven't measured it yet).

 

[JDragon]

That 40' or so image you are getting, is that with the throw distance you expect to get with your final setup? I'm guessing it is, but figured I would throw it out there.

As for other options as I mentioned I'm using photoshop which seems to work well for me. I have custom files and patterns set up to make putting maps together faster. They are set up for the size I'm able to work at with my image size vs resoultion.

The nice thing with photoshop or Gimp a freeware version of software very similar to PS is the fact they have layers you can work in, including unhiding as you go to revel more rooms, secret doors etc.

 

[falcarrion]

I also use maptools on my setup and haven't had a problem.
when dragging it onto the the map are you bringing it in as background?
also what is the demension of the map in pixels?

 

[Ferrety]

My projector stand is somewhat portable. For setting it up, I need a sturdy ladder and a ceiling. As for the stand I use autopole with an simple arm:

It's quite easy to setup, if the ceiling is low enough. Autopole is telescopic, so I first extend it to ceiling, and then climb to attach the arm. At first I was going to use two autopoles, but the stand is stable enough with only one and also easier to use. If you wish, I can get some better pictures/more info.