# Projected "Ghost Steps" - Free Ghostly Footprint Application



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Greetings,

I've recently run into a few forum members that were looking to create projected ghost footprints, and figured I could offer the community something to achieve this effect in a dynamic (aka configurable) fashion.

Thus "Ghost Steps" was born. This free (yeah, you heard me) web-based application allows you to easily setup a series of animated ghostly footprints to meet your haunting needs. The application is free (for now) because its functionality is so basic. I'm open to adding more functionality, but the further down that road we go the closer we get to something people would need to pay for.



http://www.vexfx.com/ghoststeps/​
When you first open the application you are met with a simple (read bland) interface and a single animated footprint. In the bottom right of the screen is a help button that will display a quick list of basic controls, which I will explain here to help get you started.

*Controls: * (keyboard & mouse)


To add a new footprint press the "+" key.
To remove the selected footprint press the "Backspace" or "Delete" key.
To move a footprint around the screen simply click and drag it to where you would like it to live.
To rotate a footprint click and drag on one of the square "handles" that appear when a footprint is selected.
To scale a footprint hold down the Ctrl key (Command on Mac) then click and drag on one of the square "handles" that appear when a footprint is selected.
To flip a footprint left/right double click the footprint you wish to flip.
To hide the user interface (and just show the final footprint animations) press the Tab or Esc Key.
To move the projection surface, click and drag.
To rotate the projection surface in 3D space press the Command/Ctrl key and drag the projection surface.
To roll or zoom the projection surface press the Shift key and drag the projection surface.
To trigger playback of the projection sequence (when not in auto repeat mode) press the spacebar.
To change footprint color click the "Style" button and use the Red, Green, and Blue color sliders to pick a custom color.
To change between available footprint types click the "Style" button and click the footprint icon

*Interface: *(3 text entry fields on the top left of the screen)

"Save" Allows you to save your footprint sequence as an XML file.
"Open" Allows you top open saved XML sequences.
"Step Delay" Changes the delay (in milliseconds) between each step in the sequence. Lower numbers mean faster steps.
"Repeat Delay" Changes the delay (in milliseconds) before the sequence resets and plays again.
"Auto Repeat" Toggles automatic playback. When enabled, the sequence will restart after the "Repeat Delay." When disabled, playback must be triggered via the spacebar.
"Master Scale" Changes the scale (in %) of all active (and any new) footprints. If you change this number all footprints on the screen will scale to match, so save any adjusting of individual footprint scale for the end.
"Reset 3D View" Centers the projection surface and returns it to a flat 2D position.

*Legal:*


This work is being shared for free under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.
Attribution - Provide credit where possible.
Noncommercial - You may not use this work for commercial purposes without consent or expanded licensing.
No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

For now the application is quite basic, but has enough functionality to quickly get the job done. I'm open to adding more features in the future. (I'm sure a big request will be saving and loading saved sequences)

Please let me know what you think, and I would love to know if you use it in your haunt!


----------



## SuperCreep31 (Nov 22, 2009)

Wow! Great idea and great application! Nice work!


----------



## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

This is pretty darn cool, Thank you for this. Gotta figure out a cool way to use it now.


----------



## Sytnathotep (Oct 10, 2011)

HA! That is cool as hell! Excellent work.


----------



## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

This is fantastic. The image of the feet may need changing. The projector will most likely be mounted at an angle to the ground. My projector is not high resolution and will be mounted up on a tripod. The image I see in your example is as if the projector were mounted at a 90degree angle to the ground. the foot prints can be less distint, more like an oblong bright spot. It will have to be at a distance to keep people from blocking the projection and ruining the illusion. the feet will have to be rather small to allow for them to be projected over a large area.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

@Aquayne:
That is all very true. One thing that can help is the "keystone" feature on most projectors, that allows you to adjust images that are projected at oblique angles.

Having a HD projector with a good keystone feature is a big help, but I know not everyone has that luxury.

Inside the application, you can scale individual footprints to help with distance changes. Right now scaling maintains aspect ratio, but that may be something that can be user toggled in future updates. (so you can squash footprints that project over a large area) It may also be possible to setup a 3D transform of the entire sequence to account for different perspectives.

There is a long list of features I'm slowly building upon, (Saving and loading sequences, triggering the sequence via key-press rather than a timer, custom colors, and different footprint styles.) and I'm sure it will grow quickly with your help!

Thanks!


----------



## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I wonder if the use of well placed mirrors could solve the keystone issue? It would be quite extreme in the configuration I have described.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Mirrors are usually great to get a video source coming from somewhere that mounting a projector is difficult (ceiling, up in a tree, etc), or changing throw distance. In this case I don't think mirrors would be the easiest solution.

I've already started testing a version of the application where the entire surface that the footprints appear on can be rotated in 3D. This will account for any distortion with the projection. It just makes things a bit more complex, so I'll need to change the UI a bit. 

Unfortunately I'm heading out of town tomorrow, so it will be a little while before the 3D updates go live.


----------



## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I envy you ability to create such an amazing illusion.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Ghost Steps has been updated with a lot of new functionality.


*Save*: Save your sequences as XML files
*Open*: Open your saved sequences
*Auto Repeat Toggle*: Disable continuous looping playback of the sequence. (For use with triggered playback)
*Triggered Playback*: The spacebar can now be used to trigger playback of a sequence.
*3D Rotation of Projection Surface*: Ctrl or Command click and drag the projection surface to rotate it in 3D space.
*Dragable Projection Surface*: Click and drag the projection surface to move it horizontally or vertically.
*Zoom or Roll the Projection Surface*: Hold shift while clicking and dragging the projection surface.
*Reset 3D View Button*: Click the "Reset 3D View" button at any time to center the projection surface and have it lay flat again. This makes adding new footprints or moving footprints easier.
*Auto Footprint Flipping*: As you add new footprints they will alternate between left foot and right foot. (Saves you some time!)
*Custom Footprint Color*: Click the style button and use the Red Green and Blue color sliders to make any color footprint you desire.
*Custom Footprint Type*: Click the style button to open the style manager, and then click the footprint icon to toggle between barefoot and shoe print styles. (More to be added in the future)
*New UI Toggle Keys*: Now that spacebar is dedicated to triggered playback, the UI can be hidden/shown with the Tab or Esc keys.
There have also been a number of other updates to optimize performance.

This application is still in beta, so please help report any issues you may run into!

Enjoy!


----------



## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

This is great! Now to find a spot to use it in my haunt.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

*Further Updates:*

Toggling "Auto Repeat" should now work much better.
Pop-up help text updated to better reflect UI element names.
When adding new footprints, each new footprint will inherit the rotation of the previous footprint. This makes setting up curved paths a lot easier.
New footprints will now be added at the mouse position, rather than at the center of the screen. This speeds up path creation.
3D perspective is now more accurate when rotating the projection surface.
Miscellaneous bug fixes and performance updates.
Thanks again to everyone who has reported bugs or requested features!


----------



## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I have not downloads it yet, it sounds fantastic. You seem to have thought of everything.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

*Minor updates:*

When the UI is hidden, the mouse cursor will also hide after a second of inactivity. The mouse cursor will appear again once the mouse is moved or the UI is displayed.
Version number is now shown at the bottom of the screen.
Splash screen animation added.
Standalone version of application created and updated to better support fullscreen display.
Site updated with more detailed information on controls and UI, added download link for offline version contained in a ZIP.
A few performance and code optimizations.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Is anyone else out there planning on incorporating Ghost Steps into their Haunt or Halloween display this year? We would love to hear how incorporating our product is working for you, and if there is anything we can do to make things easier.

Happy haunting!


----------



## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

I don't know where I've been, but that's really, really cool. I'm impressed.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Thanks Xpendable!


----------



## weezllane (Sep 22, 2010)

If I can somehow incorporate this into my haunt this year, I will let you know. I have a soft spot for anything that utilizes projectors and this idea is absolutely delightful. Good luck with it.

Did you use After Effects for the footprints?


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

@weezllane: Yes, the footprints were created in After Effects. It's hard to tell when they are so small on screen, but there is a lot of animation going on in those lil footprints.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

How are everyone's Halloween projections coming along? We'll be setting up ghost steps at a couple parties here in LA this season.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Anyone planning on using Ghost Steps this Halloween?


----------



## Newguy (Sep 11, 2014)

I know it's an old thread, but found your great program here and I'm going to use it this year.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

Awesome! If you get a chance record some video, as I'd love to see your implementation. Happy haunting!


----------



## BTH (Jul 2, 2006)

I plan on running this this year. I was involved when ghost steps was just an idea. I have plastic prints and bought the board to run with leds. I was just never really happy with the effects back then, so I dropped it. Now VEX has created this program and I think I want to try...... Since I am sooo old school, can the program be saved on a dvd and played that way? Should I just find an old computer to run it from? Has anyone done this, I haven't seen any demonstration videos.


----------



## VexFX (Sep 27, 2011)

It was originally designed to be played on a computer so you can tailor the prints to your environment while hooked up to a projector, but you can use screen capture software (any of your choosing) to save the output and burn that to DVD or a digital file.


----------



## Newguy (Sep 11, 2014)

Making it into a video is likely what I'll do too. So far, my macbook doesn't like to run the app for very long. It just seems to pause.


----------



## BTH (Jul 2, 2006)

What sounds really nice, is to program it while it is set up in place. I figure I need to keep it away from my fog as well. If I use a stand alone computer for this, will I be able to copy the program to say a thumb drive and install it to my dedicated computer that way? Guess I better start looking for a computer.


----------



## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

Did anyone use this in their haunt or other? I'm curious how it turned out. Guess I'm still a lil confused on how it will look like footsteps and not oblong bright spots as mentioned in previous posts. I'm excited to try to use it and have it ready for 2015 but any advice, tips, ect that haunters have noticed would be greatly appreciated....and of course, thanks to you Vex for sharing.


----------

