Video processor to avoid light in presenter's eyes?

J

Jason Lavoie

Junior
Jan 13, 2011
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Ottawa
I first saw this stuff at infocomm a long time ago and figured it must have come down to the affordable range by now but google cant find it for me (or maybe all the related search terms are way too generic)
they had a system with a camera that would sit on top of the projector and some sort of video processor that would mask the outline of the presenter so that they didn't get any light in their eyes or excel tables on their shirt.

has anybody worked with these? any pointers on pricing?

Jason
 
Re: Video processor to avoid light in presenter's eyes?

Never seen anything like that, and doubt it would work very well.

One thing that can mitigate that problem somewhat is one of those super-wide projectors that can be mounted level with the top of the screen and only needs to be a small fraction of the screen width to fill the screen. Depending upon desired image height the presenter can stand within a few feet of the screen and not interfere with the image.

The only other solution I know of is rear projection, but I'm sure you've already suggested that.
 
Re: Video processor to avoid light in presenter's eyes?

Milt Hathaway said:
Never seen anything like that, and doubt it would work very well.

One thing that can mitigate that problem somewhat is one of those super-wide projectors that can be mounted level with the top of the screen and only needs to be a small fraction of the screen width to fill the screen. Depending upon desired image height the presenter can stand within a few feet of the screen and not interfere with the image.

The only other solution I know of is rear projection, but I'm sure you've already suggested that.
Click to expand...

it worked really well (at least at the show). in real-time it would modify the video to place a black outline of the presenter. at least one booth also had it setup so that extending a finger would allow you to use it like a pointer and execute actions like clicking and dragging.
I figured that enough time had passed that it would be everywhere by now. this was definitely 4-5 years ago that I first saw it.

oh, and yes if there was an easy way to deal with the issues we would already have worked on it. the projector is 45' back and is at a really low angle, and the screen goes from 4' off the ground right up to the ceiling. and it is definitely not going to move.

Jason
 
Re: Video processor to avoid light in presenter's eyes?

Found the patent.. (2002) Analytics for US Patent No. 6,361,173, Method and apparatus for inhibiting projection of selected areas of a projected image by Vlahos, Paul ;Dadourian, Arpag ;Vlahos, Petro
And a review of the infocomm launch (2003) iMatte Inc. Launches Breakthrough Presentation Product

10 years on and the technology hasn't caught on?
all I could find is their own product at iMatte but that seems like a much more integrated system than I'm looking for.. I figured for sure they'd have licensed this to a ton of other companies by now.

Jason
 
Whoops. no wonder it hasn't caught on..

So I emailed imatte about their system. and I have to say it's the first time in a long time I've almost literally fallen off my chair..

the system (active screen for touch controls, camera, video server. no projector) can be yours for the low, low price of only $99,950
wait for it...
wait for it...
and that won't even do anything for you without the software license, which is $24,950 just for the first year! (it gets cheaper after that lol)

Something like this that was possible 10 years ago should be really easy and cheap to do by now. I figured it would have been licensed to every projector manufacturer and available as a $5-10k option
but alas, they tell me that they have not licensed the technology to anyone. and judging from their website they're happy with a few big contracts rather than taking over the world.. I wish them luck.

So there you have it... nobody has heard of it because, well, because it still barely exists yet.
the patent only has another 8 years left on it, so if they don't make a move by then I'd expect a lot of competition to suddenly spring up :)

Jason
 
Re: Whoops. no wonder it hasn't caught on..

If the presenter is standing still, I know a guy who can do this. He wrote his own software and basically blanks out parts of the image, having the projector go to black in certain parts of the image.

I worked with him last year on a performance were he projected a video onto a empty stage and masked out everything except the head of a person talking in the video, and placed her head on the surface of a white ball on the stage floor. Pretty cool.
 
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