Projection Mapping

Every laser in Modulaser has a projection area: a four-corner quadrilateral that defines where content appears in physical space. Drag those corners to scale, rotate, warp, and keystone-correct the output to fit a wall, a building facade, a stage element, or any flat surface your laser is aimed at.

By default, a new laser's projection area is a small square in the middle of its scan field. Until you stretch the corners outward, the laser only paints into about 30% of the area it can physically reach. Shaping this area to fit your projection surface is the first step when setting up a new laser.

Shrinking the projection area gives the galvos less distance to travel per frame. If output flickers, distorts, or loses corner accuracy, a smaller projection map is often the first profile-safe fix to try. See Improve Laser Output for the scan tuning side.

Before You Start

You'll need:

• A laser added in Output Settings, with a DAC assigned. See your DAC setup guide if you haven't done this yet.
• The laser armed, so it physically emits. You can reshape the projection area whether or not the laser is armed, but you won't see anything on the wall to align against until it is.
• A physical surface to project onto: a wall, screen, facade, or stage element.

Fitting to a Surface

This is the main flow. You'll work between two tabs of the Output Settings window: Settings (to toggle a built-in test pattern) and Projection Map (to drag corners). Changes apply live, with no Apply or Save button, and corner positions persist with your project automatically.

1. Open the Output Settings window from the gear icon in the Output Groups panel, then select your laser in the left panel.
2. On the Settings tab, turn on Test pattern. The laser projects a built-in alignment grid so you have something to align against. Your show content is paused while the test pattern is active.
3. Switch to the Projection Map tab.
4. Drag corners until the test pattern aligns with the edges of your target surface. Switch the drag mode to Sides if you'd rather move whole edges at once.
5. Use the numeric corner inputs for fine adjustments.
6. If straight lines in the pattern look bowed on the wall, switch the Mapping mode from Linear to Perspective. See Linear vs. Perspective for when to choose which.
7. Switch back to the Settings tab and turn off Test pattern.

If you're projecting at a steep angle, the keystone distortion will be significant. Pull the far corners wider and the near corners narrower until the output looks square on the surface.

To start over, click Reset on the Projection Map tab. The projection area returns to the default centered square.

For multi-laser setups where each laser covers a different section of the same surface, set each laser's projection area to its corresponding region. Route the same content to all lasers through output groups and the corner mapping handles the rest.

Troubleshooting

• Test pattern is on but nothing appears on the wall. Confirm the laser is armed, the correct DAC is selected, and any hardware safety interlock or key switch on the projector is engaged. See your DAC setup guide.
• Output is a tiny square in the middle of the wall. That's the default 30% projection area. Drag the corners outward to fill your target surface.
• Straight lines in my content look curved. Switch the Mapping mode from Linear to Perspective.
• A corner won't drag where I want it. The editor blocks drags that would make the quad concave or self-intersecting. Reposition the other corners first, or click Reset and start over.

The Projection Editor

The editor is a canvas with the projection quad on the left and an inspector panel on the right.

The inspector panel gives you:

• Layers list: the projection area at the top, with any blind zones listed below. Click a row to select it.
• Drag mode: switch between Corners (move individual corners) and Sides (drag entire edges).
• Mapping mode: switch between Linear and Perspective. See Linear vs. Perspective below.
• Corner inputs: numeric X/Y fields for exact positioning. Values are normalized to the scanner's full field, where 0 is one edge and 1 is the opposite edge.
• Power reduction (blind zones only): sets the dimming amount for the selected zone, from 0 to 1.
• Mirror X / Mirror Y / Reset: quick transforms for the projection area.

Editing

Click a corner and drag to reshape, or switch to Sides mode to drag entire edges. Drag inside a quad to move all four corners together.

Hold Shift while dragging a corner for proportional resize: all corners move symmetrically around the center. To delete a blind zone, select it and press Delete or Backspace.

The editor enforces a convexity guard, so you can't drag a corner into a position that would make the shape concave or self-intersecting.

Canvas Navigation

• Space + drag, right-click drag, or middle-click drag to pan.
• Scroll wheel or trackpad pinch to zoom toward the pointer.
• Cmd + = / Cmd + - to zoom in and out.
• Right-click the background to toggle a context menu with Fit View.

Linear vs. Perspective

The Mapping control on the inspector panel decides how content is warped to fit your four corners:

• Linear (default): bilinear interpolation. Fast and works well when the projection quad is roughly rectangular, but straight lines in your content can bow at strong keystones.
• Perspective: a true 3×3 homography. Straight lines stay straight regardless of how skewed the quad is. Use this whenever you're projecting at a steep angle or onto a surface that requires significant keystone correction.

If your output looks "right" with Linear, there's no need to switch. Reach for Perspective the moment a straight line in the source content starts to look curved on the wall.

Blind Zones

Blind zones are per-laser safety masks. Each zone is a four-corner quad with a configurable power reduction between 0% and 100%.

• 100% reduction: hard exclusion. The beam is blanked inside the zone and the path is split cleanly around it.
• Partial reduction (anything below 100%): the beam stays visible but intensity is scaled down. Use this for dimming near cameras, reflective surfaces, or zones where full power isn't safe.

Each laser can have multiple blind zones, and they stack: where two zones overlap, the highest reduction wins at that point.

To add one, click the + button in the Blind Zones section of the layers list. The new zone appears centered in the viewport. Drag it to cover the area you want to mask, then set its power reduction in the inspector panel.

Common uses

• Audience protection: mask the area where the audience is standing.
• Camera protection: reduce power where a lens might catch a direct beam.
• Equipment masking: block output over projectors, lighting fixtures, or other gear.
• Venue constraints: respect architectural features or house rules about where beams can go.

Visual feedback

In the editor, a zone's fill opacity reflects its power reduction: a 100% zone appears nearly opaque, a 20% zone is mostly transparent. The selected zone gets a distinct stroke color. The projection area shows a graticule overlay and a label with its current dimensions.

Previewing Your Mapping

The Beam Window renders a 3D preview of your laser beams projecting onto a virtual wall. It uses the same mapping and blind-zone reduction as the real output pipeline, so the preview matches what the laser actually outputs.

Each laser's scan angle, rotation, and position affect how the projection appears on the wall. Adjust these in the laser settings to match your physical setup, and use Beam Window to verify alignment before going live.

Tips

• For multiple lasers on the same surface, set up one laser's projection area first, then duplicate it (right-click the laser in the left panel, Copy, then Paste projection map).
• The editor shows blind zones visually, but to see their effect on actual beam output, check Beam Window.
• Once you've dialed in a venue, export your laser configuration from the Output Settings window. Corner positions persist with the project automatically, but a portable export gives you a known-good starting point at the next show.