Concert visuals made easy! Visibox allows performers to quickly add video, images, and cameras to their performance. Turn your shows into immersive, multi-sensory experiences. spaceage.tv
wow ! i am speechless, thinking of adding visuals to my live performance, didn't know where to start, but now I do ! i am a little uneasy with the idea of bringing a computer on stage, is there any ways to avoid that ?
Hi @elybeth! Visibox runs on macOS and Windows computers. So if you want to bring Visibox on stage, you'll need some sort of a laptop to run it on. I recommend a MacBook Air. As of this writing, Apple just introduced the M4 Air, so you can pick up an M1 or M2 MacBook Air relatively inexpensively. If you're worried about the logistics of managing a computer on stage, many artists will hand off this duty to the sound person, or an off-stage tech who can worry about ins and outs of running the video. All that said, we've done everything we can to make it easy for the on-stage artists to control the visuals themselves. Check out the other videos on our channel for information about video projectors, controllers, etc. etc. We've also got a lot of great how-to articles on our website at spaceage.tv
Dont pay for this subscription garbage! I would have payed for it but saw it being a subscription scam. Im so glad I didn't pay for this because through research I found that QLab is waayyyyy better in every aspect and its free. You can pay for more features but for what you'll need most likely not.
What about the screens for on stage? Amient light is a PITA. I would like to get to no truss lighting. Imagine a clean stage. Looking at screens, scrims, and equipment, painted with the right paint and texure, to allow a short throw projector to shine but ambient to get rejected. LOL I should just use cheap LED screens and get a case. There are lots of new tech for screens with sawtooth textures to show bright from on direction and reject from other angles. Does black work better than gray or white. I would love to see a video on screens and paint, on a lighted stage. Its easy to make it work in a dark home theater. Now try that in a bar with windows. Thanks for the video. I am a pro and watched every minute of it. You can always learn something.
Hello, This video found out to be very useful about display spanning, but I want to setup a video playing (spanning) across my 4-Projectors (Left-Wall, Front-Wall, Right-Wall and Floor Wall), basically an immersive CAVE Setup, can you please guide me how can I achieve that with a very similiar setup, it would be a great help? Thanks in advance...
Amazing video! So helpful! I own a dance studio and I am hunting for the best projector for our dance shows. We want to be able to project digital visuals on the syke while our dancers are performing on stage. We are looking to cover a large area like approximately 25 feet by 15 feet. Do you have a recommendation for the best projector for me to purchase?!! Any suggestions would be helpful!
The larger the projection image, the more diffused (dimmer) the picture will be. So you'll want a brighter projector. Also, the larger the projection image, the further the projector will need to be from the wall. So you might want a short or ultra short throw projector. The shorter the throw of the projector, the flatter your projection surface will need to be. Traditional cyclorama backgrounds are curved, so if that's what you're projecting on, a conventional-throw projector might work better if you've got the space. If you're doing a permanent installation in your own studio, you can ceiling mount and you'll have a lot more control. But if you're looking for a projector to bring to a 3rd party venue, an ultra short throw will be less likely to be in the way of the dancers. Ultra short throw projectors can be a bit bulky though. And you might find a more portable short throw that would work for you. Okay, that's a lot of information. Here's the short version: Get a minimum 4,000-lumen short- or ultra-short-throw projector. The brighter the better. 1080P is probably fine. A laser projector will be a bit more rugged and last you longer, but anything will do. Respected brands include Epson, BenQ, Optoma, ViewSonic, Sony, and Panasonic. Hope that's helpful. Also, check out Visibox! It's a great way to project visuals during performances. It's also a nice system for audio playback. spaceage.tv
Are there dangers having a projector pointed at you while you're performing? You're going to be essentially looking at that bulb light for a whole set, yeah? I'm thinking of projecting over myself live.
I've certainly played a lot of shows with bright lights shining in my eyes. It can be irritating, distracting, and headache-inducing. For better or worse, it also creates a level of disconnectedness from the audience. Projectors are just a more focused, super-bright light to contend with. Bright lights in general, and laser projectors in particular, could potentially damage your retinas. Maybe sunglasses would help? 😎 The further you are from the projector, the more dispersed the light will be, but ultimately, you'll need to test it out and see what works for you. I suppose you could also use a light meter and do some research on the dangers of retinal damage. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144654/
That's pretty cool! A while back I had an idea that I wanted to be able to have a band, but if one or more of the members wasn't available, we could replace them virtually like this. But adding video to it is brilliant! I like the idea of this software that is custom made for this application. I've had an idea for years to do a TV show theme song band - and I want it to be able to scale. If it's a larger room and I can fit a full band I'll do it, but if it's smaller I want to be able to do it solo. But I also want classic TV commercials in between songs - plop plop fizz fizz, Prince spaghetti "Anthony!" etc. This has got my idea gears spinning . . .
I am building this elevator simulator for my Christmas event. I need to display the video on 5 screens simultaneously, one looking forward and two on either side. I can't find a video wall controller that will do 1x5 vertical for any sort of reasonable price. I have a pc with a six output video card and enough horsepower to accomplish that. Would a current or coming soon version of Visibox allow that?
Hi, this is just what I'm looking for. I am thinking of playing videos behind me while I perform my songs. Sometimes each screen will have a clip of me playing the different instruments making up the backing track and sometimes the whole area will be showing the videos that go with the theme of the song. One question I have is where do you get the stands to mount the screens on. I thinking of using 3 vertical screens. Great video.
Hello! The TV stands in this video are the "Perlesmith Mobile TV Cart with Wheels" from Amazon: a.co/d/hQwVyb8. They're not quite road-worthy, but they're inexpensive at USD ~$65/ea. Also, TV's VESA mount points are centered horizontally, but not vertically. So, although functional, it's a little awkward. Just keep that in mind. Let us know how your setup works out. We love seeing people's audiovisual creativity!
Hey, I'm revisiting VisiBox, and I'm still struggling with this. I understand that it currently takes over the Stream Deck, until there's a better way. Would it be possible to have a toggle in VisiBox to fully deactivate its control over the Stream Deck? I want to control VisiBox just from the app without any MIDI, and I want to use my Stream Deck for OBS without any VisiBox buttons for now. Would this be possible somehow, thank you!
If the Elgato software is running, Visibox should not take over the Stream Deck. Elgato's software does allow you to send MIDI messages. So you can use the Elgato software to send MIDI to Visibox via inter-application MIDI. We've tested this on the Mac and it works great. It sounds like you just want to control Visibox directly (without MIDI). That should certainly work too. If you are still having problems, please contact us through our website spaceage.tv/contact and we can help you get this working.
Thank you very much for this reply. The expected behavior makes sense. In Windows, for me, the Elgato Stream Deck app doesn't overwrite VisiBox on the Stream Deck, which causes an annoying overlap where one button activates both the Stream Deck app and VisiBox. Thank you, I just received your email reply to try to solve this. I truly appreciate it 🙏
This is the exact information i was looking for. Thank you so much! Does anyone know the legality of using very short clips (like, GIF size) of video content that you don't own? (for example, a band's video) for use in a video backdrop for tribute band. Thanks for any advise. Excellent video.
Yes. Because Visibox needs to display visual content in a window, it is a standalone application, not a plugin. It can be used in conjunction with other applications via inter-application MIDI though.
There are several filters and effects that you can add to Clips. Real-time manipulation is still on our roadmap though. There are also retrigger actions that act like effects. A lot has been added to Visibox since this video was made. You can read the Visibox manual at manual.spaceage.tv or just download Visibox and try it out!
I thoroughly enjoyed this learning episode, thank you for the time, information and humor shared. I am hoping you or someone can assist me with a task. I have a projector screen 5x7m big for a auditorium stage which needs a full screen projection on and I would like to know what is the best and yet affordable way of doing it. The directors of the dance performance wants the screen to be used as a backdrop with predominately static imagery and 3 or four short motion clips. I want to know can I use a 16:9 ratio projector to keystone the imagery completely on the screen? Which of the two would be best, short or a far lens mounted on top front of the screen? There will be stage lighting so the imagery needs to be bright and contrast high enough. The projector screen material is Spandex. Do you have any tips on image output and export from computer to ensure a good fit on a screen that size? I appreciate the assistance and thank you kindly in advance. Warm Regards. P.S I have 1 week and a half to source the projector that will give a decent visual effect for their needs.
You could certainly use a more professional audio interface than I have here. And a better audio interface will provide better digital-to-analog converters and cleaner line-level outputs. However, the issue isn't the signal being strong enough. The DI box allows you to "direct inject" (DI) the audio signal into a conventional microphone input. It does this by impedance matching, providing a balanced audio signal, and usually providing some signal level adjustment or pad. Since so many performers use backing tracks these days, most clubs can take a line-level output in one way or another. Usually, they have their own DI boxes for this purpose. The DI box allows a sound person to just grab a couple of mic cables and plug them in. Providing your own DI is more about being prepared for all eventualities and ready for anything. And if I've learned anything over the years about playing live venues, it's that you need to be ready for anything.
Why not just use an LED screen instead? It’s a lot brighter, and cheaper without the additional purchases of a projection screen and specialized programs for mapping.
@@michelebucceri Well, when you buy a projector you also need to buy a light bulb for it, and several replacements in case the bulb or projector explodes. Plus, projector screens can be very expensive and the scrim can wear down easily. And you’d need a lot of projection mapping programs to get the effects you’re after, so the money it costs for each program adds up quickly. On top of that, since projectors and specialized lightbulbs consume a lot of power, the power bill for your gig is likely to be quite high…and because of the added heat, you run the risk of fire damage to ceilings, walls, or other surfaces. LED Screens don’t require special programs, bulbs, replacements, or scrim, despite being priced a bit higher at first. And the power draw is lower so the power bills will also be lower, plus maintenance doesn’t need to be carried out as frequently.
Yes! The Roland SP404mk2 should control Visibox just fine. You may need to do some MIDI configuration and you may want to turn off the sounds coming from the pads that you're using to control Visibox. But you should be able to connect the SP404's USB part to your computer's USB and Visibox should recognize it. Then open the MIDI Map window, select the SP404 from the drop-down menu, and hit "learn" next to the functions that you want to control. Hit the pad on the SP404, and Visibox should recognize the MIDI note that the 404 sends. We've got a free 14-day trial, so you can download Visibox and see how it works with your SP404. Reach out through our tech support form if you have any issues.
Great video, it really helped. I noticed you mentioned obtaining an Epson 535W on the used market in answer to one of the other commenter’s questions about a budget “throw-it-in-the-van” solution. I was wondering what you thought about the ultra-short throw, comparably priced Epson 585W or 595Wi? Stage space is a premium for us, and I was wondering if there is a reason the 535W might be a better choice. Are ultra-short throws bulkier because of the mirror? Or more delicate?
Pretty sure the 585 cannot throw from the ground, so you'd have to mount it to something to throw from above. Curious what you ended up landing on projector wise?
Thanks SO much for this! Great info 👍 For applications where cameras are recording a performance, is there a feature or way of ensuring the projector image isn't flickering on camera? Would that have to do with refresh rate? Are laser projectors better/worse for flicker? I've been searching but not finding much info Thanks!
I have only had anecdotal experience with this but I'll share what I know. In short, I haven't had any problems with flicker. The longer version: In the US, our AC power alternates at 60Hz (60 cycles per second). In Europe it's 50Hz. Therefore the standard TV framerate was based on those rates, ending up as ~30fps (frames per second) in North America and ~25fps in most of the rest of the world. These days, most projectors will use a framerate of either 30 or 60 in the US and either 25 or 50 elsewhere. Also, most TVs and projectors these days use "progressive" frames (as opposed to "interlaced"). That's the "P" (for progressive) on 720P or 1080P. You may have recording problems using interlaced projectors because the interlacing in the projector may be out of sync with the camera. But as long as you've got a "P" projector and your recording device is also recording at a similar rate as your projector, you should be just fine - which is to say, use a US-model camera to record a US-model video projector. I get the feeling that this was more of an issue with older analog equipment than it is with current digital stuff. These days, you can, for instance, hold your phone up and record your TV just fine without flicker. You should have a similar experience with your projector. But there was always nasty drift when you held your VHS camcorder up to record your CRT TV - for those of you who can remember that. That was an analog interlaced TV being recorded by an analog interlaced recorder. These days everything is digital and progressive and we don't have those problems. I don't believe laser projectors will be any better/worse for flicker. At least that's been my experience. If anyone has better information, please correct me!
Hi! Thank you for this video. I am working on a project where we are projecting onto a pepper skrim on a stage that will be lit. It's a dance piece. I was just wondering if you had any recommendations for the lumens that I would need?
Scrim projections! Very cool. For anyone who doesn't know, a scrim is a piece of meshed cloth (sometimes called a mosquito curtain) which can appear either transparent or opaque depending on how it is lit. I don't have experience with that yet. But brighter is just about always better. Remember that the scrim is translucent - which means that some, if not MOST of the light that you project onto it will go THROUGH it rather than appearing to the audience. So you're reducing the practical lumen level by losing light to the holes in the scrim. My gut feeling is that 4 to 5,000 lumens is going to be the minimum that you'd need.. and depending on the production level, you'll probably need more than that to be happy. Let me know how it goes. I'd love to learn more about scrim projection.
This was great. Thank you. I need an ultra short throw projector that can go on the ground behind a stage platform and shoot up to a big 10 x 12 screen. The one a company is trying to rent to me is $1500 per week. just to rent. Can I buy one for around $1500 that could do the same thing? I don't need home theater bells and whistles- i need actual theater capabilities. I'm guessing I'd need better lumens since there will be other lights on stage. Thanks!
Funny you should ask! I just picked up a factory-renewed LS100 from Epson a few weeks ago (via eBay). It's 4,000 lumens, which is very good for an ultra-short laser projector. And it was just $1500. Looks like you can still find them on eBay (be sure you're buying directly from Epson). This thing is BIG though. I also picked up a Pelican iM2875 case to haul it to SXSW and NAMM in the coming months. It's road-ready now, but the case cost another $375. 🤦♂
