DIY'er gets busy with automatic projector calibration

While you may not think a 4+ minute clip involving a monotone narrator, flashes of light and lots of sensors could hold your attention (okay, so maybe that came off a bit more riveting than we'd hoped), we'd bet the one posted after the jump could. The video demonstrates a fairly svelte automatic projector calibration system, which relies on very little hardware (and time) to work its magic. Essentially, the low-cost method utilizes rear-mounted optical fibers wired into light sensors, which can channel gray-coded binary patterns through a USB connection. From there, a PC determines precisely how the projection should be outputted for the target surface to be completely filled with an undistorted image. We know, it's tough to wrap your head around, but all the enlightenment you could ever want (on this subject, anyway) is just a mouse click away. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via HackADay]

[Lurch @ Nov 16th 2007 7:18AM]

Wow, that's really impressive. Such a 'simple' idea too!

[Meus @ Nov 16th 2007 7:58AM]

Simply brilliant!

[Mike @ Nov 16th 2007 8:10AM]

Very cool. Looks like a fun project to work on.

[Charlotte @ Nov 16th 2007 8:18AM]

OMG. That's ... incredible! Too cool for words, really. When can I have one for my living room?

[steedums @ Nov 16th 2007 9:12AM]

that is rediculously awesome. can they come calibrate my projector?

[Jared @ Nov 16th 2007 9:25AM]

Wow, that really is cool. Being an Imaging graduate it always brings a smile to my face when people come up with such practical innovations.

Naturally I have to bring up the point that your loosing resolution (and light) anytime you don't project to the native resolution. Furthermore there will likely be some odd artifacts that will pop up when the real pixel distance and virtual pixel distance aren't divisible by themselves. Though I suppose most of those artifacts could be dealt with in anti-aliasing.

Over all, very cool, and I could see this being extremely useful for "on the go smart boards" or other similar devices.

[Chris @ Nov 16th 2007 11:00AM]

They need to use IR for the calibration sequence -- it would be even slicker if you didn't see the flashes.

[Incursion @ Nov 16th 2007 11:24AM]

This is the same guy who created the Wii finger tracker: http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/11/work-your-wiimote-with-your-fingertips/

Pretty smart guys at Carnegie.

[hh83917 @ Nov 16th 2007 12:25PM]

That's so cool, and very futuristic. However, you still have to put those sensors behind the projected surface which is a bit cumbersome if you were to move the surface around and there's the long cable in the way. If I were to move the projected surface around, I wouldn't want the cables in the way. And, I can see company selling more expensive (they are already expensive) projector screens with sensors in the future.