How to Use Masks in Projection Mapping

Masks allow you to control exactly where your projection content appears, creating precise boundaries and cutouts.

Understanding Masks

In projection mapping, masks are created using opacity and surface boundaries. You control visibility by adjusting where surfaces are placed and their opacity levels.

Basic Masking Techniques

Surface Boundaries: The edges of your surfaces act as natural masks. Position surfaces to include only the areas where you want content to appear.

Opacity Gradients: Use multiple surfaces with varying opacities to create soft mask edges. Overlap surfaces with decreasing opacity for smooth transitions.

Layer Stacking: Stack layers with different opacities to create complex mask shapes. Higher opacity areas reveal content, lower opacity areas hide it.

Creating Cutouts

Negative Space: Leave areas without surfaces to create cutouts. The absence of a surface creates a masked area.

Multiple Surfaces: Use multiple small surfaces arranged to create a shape, leaving gaps for masked areas.

Frame Organization: Use frames to group surfaces that create a single masked shape, keeping your project organized.

Advanced Masking

Animated Masks: Change surface positions or opacities over time to create animated masks that reveal or hide content.

Complex Shapes: Break complex mask shapes into multiple quad surfaces. Each surface covers a portion of the desired area.

Blending Edges: Use overlapping surfaces with opacity gradients to create soft, blended mask edges instead of hard cuts.

Practical Applications

• Project onto specific architectural features while avoiding windows
• Create content that appears to emerge from or disappear into surfaces
• Design installations where content respects physical boundaries
• Create layered effects where different content appears in different areas

Map Club's surface and opacity controls give you precise masking capabilities. Experiment with surface placement and opacity to achieve the exact masking effects you need.