# Projection Mapping Ghost Effect 2014



## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

Hi Everyone! First let me say, I am new to this forum so apologies for posting this in mid March! About as far away from Halloween as one could get 

I always thought I was a little "special" in that I am completely obsessed with Halloween and the magic and awe that it can bring through story telling and special effects. THEN, I found this forum and have found that not only am I not alone, but I may not be the "most" obsessed mortal among us! 

In this thread, I want to share how I used projection mapping to do a really cool special effect at my front door last Halloween.

First, here is the video:






In the next post, I will show some details how I got this done.


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## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

Hi everyone, the video above was just added to YouTube so if you are tuning in right away you may need to way about 30 minutes for the video to show up. Looking forward to everyone's feedback!


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## joshua17ss2 (Jan 10, 2008)

Which projection mapping software did you use for this?


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

Very nice.  I would love to know how you did it.


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## booberry crunch (Aug 14, 2014)

Sweet effect! Please do tell


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

^^^ Like they said  Very cool!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That's a fun effect!


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## elputas69 (Oct 27, 2014)

Pretty cool! Share the knowledge...


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

So come up to the lab
and see what's on the slab. 
I see you shiver with antici...



...pation.

come on dude!


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## joshua17ss2 (Jan 10, 2008)

I dont know if this is the software that they used to accomplish this, but it is the one i tried out a while back and didn't end up using at the time, there is a free program called VPT 7, used with a computer and a projector can achieve this same effect. It allows you to chose what areas the video plays on from a single projector.


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## matrixmom (Aug 20, 2011)

That is very unique. I hope you don't get a lot of tot or you are going to be pressing that button a lot !


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## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

Hi everyone, sorry for the late reply! Had a crazy week at work this week. 

To be perfectly honest this was pretty much my own home grown technique. No mapping software. I have always ebjoyed trying to pull off crazy stuff with little to no money. We had just purchased our house only two weeks before Halloween so we were pretty much broke.  This project cost me $zero! (Already owned a projector)

Here's how I did it:

I took our home theater projector ($350 used on eBay) and found a suitable location near the upper corner of the foyer behind the front door. I mounted it there where no one could see it when the door was open. 

Next I hooked up my laptop via hdmi and projected a static blue image that filled the whole projection area. This allowed me to see what kind of coverage I had in the scene (I made sure I set the scene as I wanted it in the final product with props and everything first). Then using my laptop I drew red lines around the objects in real time while I sat in the foyer. Basically, I pre "mapped" the room through trial and error manually drawing over the objects. It isn't that hard because you can see your mouse pointer projecting on the scene directly. 

Once that was done I spent a week animating over the top of the red wire framed image I created with Adobe after effects. I'm lucky because my company pays for a subscription to Adobe creative cloud so I have access to Adobes creative software. I used Adobe premeire to add the music and sound effects. 

After animation and editing was done, I exported the video to a raw file and ran that full screen in power point on the projector. That way, I could use a wireless mouse to "click" the presentation to go from the music box music loop animation to the full haunted animation sequence. Power point was then set to restart the music box loop after the haunted sequence. 

The video also contained sound for the front yard (left stereo channel) and sequence audio for the foyer. I hooked up my laptops sound output to our home theater audio system.

I'm already planning an ambitious project for this year. Hoping to get a head start! Later on when it's not that middle of the night, I'll post the raw video I made that was mapped on to the surface of the scene!


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## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

joshua17ss2 said:


> I dont know if this is the software that they used to accomplish this, but it is the one i tried out a while back and didn't end up using at the time, there is a free program called VPT 7, used with a computer and a projector can achieve this same effect. It allows you to chose what areas the video plays on from a single projector.


Nice! You say it's free!? I'll have to check that out!!


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## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

And here is the video of the animated projection mapping sequence:


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## morrisdirector (Mar 15, 2015)

*Final sequence video:*

Sorry the link didn't seem to work the first time. Here it is:


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## deadSusan (Jun 26, 2013)

Very nice.


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## rkkcarver (Sep 22, 2014)

Awsome


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