I’d love to hear about everyone’s creative process, especially from those who have been projection mapping for a while. When you begin building a new show or sequence, where do you start? Do you choose the song first and let that guide the visuals, begin with a storyline or scene idea and find the music afterward, or simply wing it and see where the project takes you? How do you decide what happens throughout the sequence? Do you map it out ahead of time, develop the storyline as you work, or not really use a storyline at all? I’m also curious about how you continue learning and coming up with fresh visual ideas. Whether you use After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Illumibot, or another program, where do you find inspiration for new effects, techniques, illusions, or ways to use the features within your software? I use After Effects. My process usually starts with the music. I choose songs that relate to that year’s Halloween theme and build the visuals around them. Since I started projection mapping, my themes have included general Halloween, witches, pirates, ancient Egypt, mad scientists, silly skeletons, and this year’s Wild West theme. I thought it would be interesting to hear more about how everyone approaches the creative side and turns an initial idea into a finished show.

Any helpful videos on learning to do shows in Photoleap or Davinci (which ever is more beginner friendly)? I want to attempt to do my own Halloween show this year, i usually purchase.

📬 Newsletter #1 is out! If you're in here, you're already ahead of the game — but issue #1 just dropped: a featured house (Simon Bolton's "Thriller" 🔥), the revamped vendor directory, and what's coming as we count down to Halloween (115 days!). Give it a read 👉 https://mains-newsletter-96c0fb.beehiiv.com/p/welcome-to-holiday-projection-hub-newsletter Got a house to show off or gear for sale? You know where to post it. Let's make this the best season yet. 🎃

OK, so this is like asking someone their favourite toothpaste, or the best drill, or preferred mixed. But. After bouncing around groups, FB, Reddit, YouTube etc, I am pretty much landing on After Effects and LumaMap to create my scenes. I was tempted with MadMapper, but not sure that it will be worth the cost if I can use the other two. (change my mind). I do have multiple paid AI solutions, and I do realize I can bypass LumaMap but thought it would save a fair bit of re-generating and LumaMap (my assumption) is designed to correctly do this. I saw some posts that it is better to create a 3d model to use in AE so you can do some effects along the model, which interests me. So I'd probably do a photogrammetry if my testing period is successful! At the end of the day, I'm looking to replicate some of what I have today with my XLights sequences, and will have my scenes synced to music. Feel free to express your opinion, tell me why I'm wrong, or why you prefer what you use. I haven't bought any of them yet.

Software and content drive so much of this. So many tools and options on how to make a show. Got questions, just ask. Tried something cool, share with the group.