Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard generates a complete, ready-to-use multi-projector scene from a handful of inputs. Instead of placing projectors one by one, the wizard calculates the correct number of projectors, their positions, and the required throw ratio in seconds.

Opening the wizard

• Open the ☰ menu (top right) and choose 🪄 Setup Wizard, or
• Type wizard anywhere in the 3D view.

The wizard opens as a compact docked panel on the left — it doesn't block the 3D view, so you can orbit and inspect the scene while you configure. Every parameter lives in that one panel (no steps); long explanations are tucked into (?) help icons so you can see it all at a glance. The planned layout is shown as a translucent ghost preview directly in the 3D scene that updates with every change, so you always see the real outcome (no separate 2D sketch needed). A Live Plan widget floats next to the panel with the projector count, throw ratio, distance, light-on-screen share, and a feasibility check. Use Preview to inspect generated objects while keeping the panel open. When you're happy, click ✨ Create scene to finish. Lengths are in metres.

Locking parameters

Like dedicated projector-calculation tools, the wizard treats surface size, throw ratio and distance as a triangle (throw ratio = distance ÷ image width). Exactly one corner is always the derived one:

The Model lock is separate: it keeps your chosen real projector when you create the scene again, instead of reverting to a generic model (and a chosen lens locks the throw band to its zoom range).

Sliders next to the size and distance fields make sweeping values quick.

A live triangle under the throw section shows the relationship at a glance: the locked parameter is the highlighted anchor, the computed one is marked solved, and the equation TR = D ÷ W updates with your numbers. Below it, a class band places the current throw ratio on the UST · ST · Standard · Long scale (ultra-short < 0.4, short 0.4–1.0, standard 1.0–2.0, long ≥ 2.0) so you can see at a glance what kind of lens you're asking for. Fixing the projector is just another way to fix the throw ratio — the lens's ratio range becomes the anchor.

Parameters

Under Advanced options:

Recommended projector

The panel shows a Recommended projector card: the best real model whose lens covers the required throw ratio, ranked by how well it meets the brightness target. Set a Favorite vendor to bias the recommendation toward a brand. Click Use & lock this model to adopt it (this also turns on the Model lock, so it remains selected the next time you create the scene).

Click ☰ Browse full catalog… to open the full searchable list in a modal — filter by vendor or search text, and toggle Matching only to show just the models with a lens for the current throw ratio. Pick any model to use it; pick it again to clear back to a generic projector. The candidate pool is every real projector spec the app knows: your custom projectors, the library models you've used in scenes, and the platform catalog when available.

When creating a scene — choose what happens to your current scene:

• Replace scene — removes all existing objects first (you'll be asked to confirm if the scene isn't empty; undoable with Ctrl+Z)
• Add to current scene — keeps existing objects and adds the new layout at the origin
• Cancelling both prompts aborts creation and leaves the scene untouched

The Live Plan summary also reports pixel density (px/m), the blend-zone width in metres and pixels (the number the media-server operator needs), the total canvas resolution the blended array forms (e.g. 3× 1920 @ 15% → 5184 × 1080 px), light-on-screen share, the brightness need for the lux target (as spec lumens incl. derating), and audience shadowing (how close to the screen standing viewers would enter the beam — front projection gets an Audience Eyepoint in the scene), plus feasibility warnings. Copy spec at the bottom of the widget copies the whole summary as plain text — ready for a quote, an e-mail, or the content hand-off.

The wizard chooses the fewest projectors whose required throw ratio fits a realistic lens range (0.19–4.0 — ultra-short throw is always permitted, so UST lenses like 0.23 in the library can be matched), and sizes each image so the requested blend overlap is fully delivered.

How each surface type is planned

Flat screen — projectors are evenly spaced along the screen, each covering its own section plus the requested edge-blend overlap (images are sized so the requested overlap is delivered exactly). They top-mount level above the screen (or at your Mount height) and use lens shift instead of tilting.

Curved screen — each projector stands on its section's centre ray at screen mid-height (or at your Mount height, recentring via lens shift), aiming radially at the surface — a clean perpendicular hit with no keystone, so the images tile the arc evenly. Image sizing uses the exact concave geometry: the surface curves toward the projector at section edges, so the wizard sizes each image to reach the full screen height at the edge depth — no uncovered corner wedges. On arcs up to 180° projectors may also stand beyond the curve's centre (the normal long-throw install for gently curved walls — standard lenses instead of UST); wider arcs keep them inside the curve, and sightlines around the arc's own ends are checked. Tall cylinders stack a second ring: one ring per height band, each aiming radially at its own band, blending vertically — same rule as tall flat walls. With orientation on Auto, tall curved bands automatically switch to portrait when that fills the surface better.

Immersive room — placement is key: each wall is planned independently and projectors mount as close to their wall as the chosen lens band allows (default 0.38 ultra-short throw — never closer), straight in front of their section, with symmetric counts per wall pair; beams stay in thin shells along each wall so nothing throws across the room. Walls are covered edge to edge with the end images stopping flush at the corners — no corner overlap between adjacent walls. The optional floor (CAVE) is tiled by units mounted just under the ceiling, above the wall row, aiming straight down. Tall rooms automatically switch to portrait so projectors keep hugging the walls. If the room geometry or your distance limit forces the projectors below the chosen lens band, the feasibility chip says so instead of silently planning lenses that don't exist.

Grid / floor — overhead projectors aim straight down and tile the floor with edge blending, sized from the mounting height you give as max distance (always landscape, so the footprints line up). Here the mounting height and the lens are independent: by default the wizard plans with a comfortable short-throw band (0.38+), and locking the throw ratio (e.g. to 0.8) keeps the height where you set it and simply tiles the floor with more, smaller images — the height is never derived from the lens. Tilings are capped at 60 projectors; if a long lens over a large floor would need more, the feasibility chip says so (raise the mount height or widen the band).

Dome — every projector (including the top unit) mounts on the springline cove just inside the rim — never in the middle of the floor, that's the audience area — and cross-fires: each unit covers a petal or band on the opposite side of the dome, edge-blending with its neighbours. Each unit's throw ratio comes from the exact frustum over its assigned patch, so the union provably covers the whole dome with standard lenses (no fisheye, no UST). Four layouts are available (single ring to the apex, ring + top unit for the polar cap, two stacked rings, two rings + top); Auto picks the feasible one with the fewest units. Orientation is resolved per rig — tall petals often go portrait. If a forced combination can't be covered with standard glass (e.g. a landscape-only single ring on a full hemisphere), the feasibility chip says so instead of leaving dark holes.

Tall flat walls — when one row cannot reach a feasible lens (or wastes most of its light), the wizard stacks two rows: the top row mounts above the screen shifting down, the bottom row below it shifting up, blending vertically. (With orientation on Auto, portrait columns are chosen instead when they're cheaper.)

Click ✨ Create scene to build the layout. Projectors are created, aimed, and grouped automatically; for rooms each wall gets its own projector group and planning camera. The wizard closes when creation finishes. Its settings are remembered if you reopen it to make another version.

Tips:

• Creating a scene is undoable — including Replace scene (Ctrl+Z restores the previous scene); Ctrl+Enter starts creation immediately.
• The completion toast offers a one-click equipment-list export.
• Your wizard settings and locks are remembered between sessions.
• The panel is non-blocking — orbit and inspect the scene (and the live ghost) while you configure.
• Everything the wizard creates can be adjusted afterwards with the normal transform tools.