DIY "Thank You" Window Projection

Show your thanks to all the amazing heroes keeping us safe from coronavirus (Covid-19) by projecting in your windows.

Share your projections with the hashtag #ProjectThankYou

The animations are 100% free for personal use. For commercial use please contact info@lumabox.com.

The projector I’m using:
(Newer model)
US – https://amzn.to/39ocqJE
UK – https://amzn.to/39kOC9x

The budget projector I mention under £75/$70
US – https://amzn.to/2wLLeaG
UK – https://amzn.to/3cfAIr8

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It helps me keep this channel going and providing tutorials like this for free.

You’re going to need a projector. You don’t need an expensive, high specification projector to do this; you can use a budget projector..

I’m using a MacBook Pro and connecting it using a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable. Check which display outputs you have coming out of your machine and which connections you have in the back of your projector to decide what cable you need.

You want to cover the glass in your window with paper. Ordinary white printer paper is perfect. Try to get as snug a fit as possible without too much much creasing or bulging.  

Then wait for the sun to go down…

Plug your projector into a power source and position it in a table, shelf or other flat, stable surface facing the window. Try to get it roughly pointing towards the centre of the window. You also want the projector to be above the level of the window sill, otherwise the window sill cast a shadow on the window and block our projections. 

The most basic way to do this is simply to mirror your computer screen with the projector and play the video. To turn on Mirror Displays on a Mac, go to System Preferences>Display and in the Arrangement tab, make sure Mirror Displays is on. Windows users need to right click on the Desktop and choose Display Settings. Under Multiple Displays, choose Duplicate. 

If you play a video and go to full screen mode, it outputs from the projector. However, you will probably encounter the problem of the projection being much bigger than the window and skewed. 

One way around this is to position your projector more centrally to the window and as square on to the window as possible. If you are lucky, you might find the perfect position. There are also often some settings on the projector that allow you to distort the output to compensate the distortion produced by projecting at an angle. 

However, there is a better solution and that’s a bit of basic projection mapping with my user-friendly free projection mapping software called MapMap…