Rule of Thumb for Video/Still Content Resolution?

[Moderato Maestoso]

Hi guys,

This is a rather abstract question, but is there a general rule of thumb for rendering still and video content at certain resolutions for certain projection sizes?

I'm looking at creating a cyc projection (rear projection onto the cyc) that will be approx 10m (90-ish ft) wide (by not very high - it will be behind large set pieces). I'm wondering if I can get away with 2 projectors at 1920x1080, which is nominally 3840x1080, but taking 300px soft edging margin into account leaves a final render size of 3540x1080.

Considering the War of the Worlds original tour res for the CG was 2770x576 for a 100ft wide screen, that's quite an improvement on that, BUT, it's not even film res in terms of width, which is 4k wide. Using multiples of 1920 would make creating (and testing the content on PC screens) easier obviously... But will it be sharp enough?

Additional, possibly relevant info - I'll be using resolume arena for the media server, with double Nvidia cards in the box.

Many thanks,

Martin

[AHYoung]

The best resolution is the one that exactly matches your displays, so your sums stack up, however its only the best resolution if your playback machine is smooth and reliable at this res, and its pretty high. Its better to see a smooth 1920 / 540 Image scaled up than one that's dropping frames. generally the bigger the image the further away the viewer is so the relative resolution is similar.

 

Im also in favour of wherever possible keeping everything within a standard 1080p50 frame as you can play back on pretty much anything and use something like a datapath x4 to do the splits and overlaps {assuming you can blend onboard the projectors} and you can also use standard switching. this will become apparent when you address the need for a backup system...

[Moderato Maestoso]

Thanks very much for the reply. I have no concerns about the media server handling 2x 1080p video streams. It's a custom build box that is a monster :)

I have to say, it was nice to get a reply from someone that didn't immediately say "get Catalyst/Hippotizer"! That is way out of my budget, and Arena has all the control I need for a scripted show - DMX, OSC, MIDI, and key mapping.

The overlaps can be done either in the software or in the projectors.

Cheers,

Martin

[Jivemaster]

From the first post 10m is NOT 90ft it's more like 32ft.

[Moderato Maestoso]

Sorry - brain fart. I meant 10m (32ft), NOT 90ft :)