Looking for mini projector???

RichardH

Detail Decepticon!
Hey all, I am thinking mini projector for transfer so I can get a little more realization paintings. I'm not familiar with any projection equipment. I tried the computer app that works with a portable usb camera and it was a struggle to use. I can't watch the screen and draw along with it very good at all. My computer wasn't fast enough to use for that. I could draw but there was a time lapse from when moving the pencil to it showing up on the screen.
I can turn the lights off, so a low lumen one would work but I would need it to focus down to a 5x7 size and up to maybe a 16x20.
Does anyone use one and would recommend one that would work. I could make a holder for it to use over my table and it would be adjustable for distance also.

Any suggestions?????

Thanks
Richard
 
Are you looking to project files, prints, or drawings?
Am i correct in assuming that you want to draw your own picture and have it projected to your surface in realtime? like an old overhead projector.
Would simply scanning the finished drawing and then projecting it work?
 
Are you looking to project files, prints, or drawings?
Am i correct in assuming that you want to draw your own picture and have it projected to your surface in realtime? like an old overhead projector.
Would simply scanning the finished drawing and then projecting it work?

Yes and no! I want to project a photo or image from the computer onto the paper or board I am going to paint. I now use transfer paper or coat the back of the photo and place it over the paper and redraw the outlines or textures of the reference.
I'm not wanting to project what I paint just project the reference and then paint it. I know they make mini projectors and some a very costly but I don't know if they will reduce the image down to a 5x7 or biggest I would paint 16x20.
Hope this explains what I'm trying to do. I know some use a projector to do this and wanted to know what they use.

Thanks
Richard
 
I was googling around amazon a lot about those mini projectors and seems to me they are running very hot and they die very fast. All are chinese I suppose. I wonder what is going on with brands like panasonic,lg and so on with projectors. If they make mini ones...
 
I was googling around amazon a lot about those mini projectors and seems to me they are running very hot and they die very fast. All are chinese I suppose. I wonder what is going on with brands like panasonic,lg and so on with projectors. If they make mini ones...

There's plenty of them on Amazon but I don't think they will reduce the image enough for me to transfer . I think they are used mostly for projecting on a wall or screen using the computer for the image. If it can be imagined like a darkroom photo enlarger then it is what I am thinking. I wish I had kept my enlargers with all the lenses I had, I could make one but they are gone.
 
Once your screen is mirrored you can just open the picture in any photo viewer or editor and scale it onscreen, the size change will be reflected.

I use a UC-40, mine happens to be erisan but they go by a million brand names and can be had for about $60-80, found it looking never used in a local pawn shop for $35. It is surprisingly decent and i can get a comfortable picture even with a small lamp on in the room.

The usb and SD card readers are practically useless since theres no way to make the image anything more than a preview in the top left 1/8th of the screen area.
It immediately needed to have the bios flashed with some software i had to go hunting online for from a different company in order to work with certain inputs, though the procedure was pretty easy. This might not be the case with new ones.

Heres the deal, if you have HDMI outputs you can mirror your screen, or windows 8.1 or higher (and wifi) or a mac thats 2011 or newer or an iphone then you can use miracast (windows) or airplay(mac) to mirror your screen wirelessly to the projector.
If you have an old windows desktop you can get a graphics card with HDMI output for about $30
If you have none of those then the projector must have a VGA input....no matter what the projectors ads say about using your computer.

The minimum focal distance is about 4.5ft which gives you probably a 30 inch "screen". The max is IDK, seems to still be able to draw a fair focus at about 14ft and give you about a 130 inch or so "screen"
So set it up at 4.5 ft and just scale onscreen to whatever size you like.
 
Now we are talking about what I would like to have to transfer what I want to paint. I know artist use them but it usually is to enlarge since a large format printer would need to be used for the reference if transferring with graphite on the back method. I started a picture that I wanted to do at 16x20 size. I had to get an app that tiled my reference picture and the printer tiled it to 16x20 using 6 sheets of paper. That was a very aggravating job of matching the tiled pictures together to make that size. I'm sure there is something out there that is used to do what I want to do. Just have to keep searching or make one.

Thanks

Richard
 
You're pretty much flogging a dead horse here Richard, I don't think there is a prijector in existence that can project your image at 7"x 5" such that you can adjust focus to be able to see it, if of there was it woukd need to be very close to your work so you would be looking over the top and all around it to try to follow your lines, projectors are predominantly made to project a larger picture than you would get on your usual screen.

The problem with projectors is that you have to pay attention to their output resolution, I've had one of the Chinese cheaper at $50 and the resolution was 240 x 300, to explain what this is that just kike your telly projectors make picture up of dots so you 300 dots across and 240 dots up, when the image is amplified so are these dots which are usually referred to as pixels, the whole image becomes "pixolated" so all you see is a blur and it would be impossible to follow your lines with any accuracy.

To get enough resolution to fill your needs you would need to looking at full HD (1080p) and that's when it starts to get big money, generally the higher the resolution the higher the price, for an HD mini projector you would looking at upwards of $300 or $400, for normal size projector of similar picture quality your looking at $2000+, unless you want to use your projector continuously like watching your tv on the largest living room wall or produce huge murals for customers, you would just be throwing money away.

As far as 5x7 projects go or even up to the largest print your printer can handle, you could create a feint line drawing from your image in Photoshop and print this directly onto your substrate, that's what @musicmacd does.
 
You're pretty much flogging a dead horse here Richard, I don't think there is a prijector in existence that can project your image at 7"x 5" such that you can adjust focus to be able to see it, if of there was it woukd need to be very close to your work so you would be looking over the top and all around it to try to follow your lines, projectors are predominantly made to project a larger picture than you would get on your usual screen.

The problem with projectors is that you have to pay attention to their output resolution, I've had one of the Chinese cheaper at $50 and the resolution was 240 x 300, to explain what this is that just kike your telly projectors make picture up of dots so you 300 dots across and 240 dots up, when the image is amplified so are these dots which are usually referred to as pixels, the whole image becomes "pixolated" so all you see is a blur and it would be impossible to follow your lines with any accuracy.

To get enough resolution to fill your needs you would need to looking at full HD (1080p) and that's when it starts to get big money, generally the higher the resolution the higher the price, for an HD mini projector you would looking at upwards of $300 or $400, for normal size projector of similar picture quality your looking at $2000+, unless you want to use your projector continuously like watching your tv on the largest living room wall or produce huge murals for customers, you would just be throwing money away.

As far as 5x7 projects go or even up to the largest print your printer can handle, you could create a feint line drawing from your image in Photoshop and print this directly onto your substrate, that's what @musicmacd does.


Hey Malky
Yeah, all I've come up with within my price range is a artograph tracer. I can print a 4x5 picture and use it to transfer. Through Amazon, they are very reasonable. They make one that will reduce 80% and enlarge for larger size. I have some very old film camera lenses that I don't use anymore and might just try making something with them. Lots of adapters so I can reverse the lens if needed for the size I want. Something to play with.
The Artograph tracer style would work OK for me. I have a project coming up that I need accuracy on the project. My granddaughter is getting married this month and she wants me to paint her future husband portrait for a Christmas present. So, I'll have plenty of time to fill the trash can full with rejects. :eek:lollollol
Check out the Artograph ones and since you are more knowledgeable on things of this nature, let me know what you think?????
Maybe can skype later in the day if you are around.

Later
 
I would not recommend the Artograph tracer. Images are soft and although you said a dark room is fine, with them it needs to be super dark. I've had success with mine but would not mind a digital one.
 
I would not recommend the Artograph tracer. Images are soft and although you said a dark room is fine, with them it needs to be super dark. I've had success with mine but would not mind a digital one.
That's good to know Andre. With the wattage of the lamp, I can see where it would be a problem. I'm not familiar with the digital ones. I thought someone on here would have or use something to transfer. Artograph makes one with 2 250 watt lamps and I'm sure it would give enough light to see but that's a lot of heat inside the unit. A LED lamp would be better. The digital ones are expensive for me to think about, being this is just a hobby, to me. If I was just going to paint a large painting, then there are cheap ones that might work but I don't know enough about projection to fully understand what I am reading on their info instructions.

Thanks for the info.

Richard
 
Hey Malky
Yeah, all I've come up with within my price range is a artograph tracer. I can print a 4x5 picture and use it to transfer. Through Amazon, they are very reasonable. They make one that will reduce 80% and enlarge for larger size. I have some very old film camera lenses that I don't use anymore and might just try making something with them. Lots of adapters so I can reverse the lens if needed for the size I want. Something to play with.
The Artograph tracer style would work OK for me. I have a project coming up that I need accuracy on the project. My granddaughter is getting married this month and she wants me to paint her future husband portrait for a Christmas present. So, I'll have plenty of time to fill the trash can full with rejects. :eek:lollollol
Check out the Artograph ones and since you are more knowledgeable on things of this nature, let me know what you think?????
Maybe can skype later in the day if you are around.

Later

I'm well familiar with the Artograph tracer, I've had one although not the digital one that they make, but either of these would be your best choice.

I've tried several projectors including the tracer ones and I just found the whole process with any one of them too time consuming and messy, these days I just print out all my images the same size as I want to paint them, I normally print one on plain copy paper for transfer purposes and two and two on good quality photo paper one these as my reference and the other I use to cut landmark shapes and dark areas.

For your future son in law's in portrait I would recommend you do the same as I've done with my attempt at Andre's snake, I'll be starting a thread on that within the hour so look out for it, I'll explain there how I intend to check for accuracy, then you'll understand why a projector doesn't help much with my method.
 
I'm well familiar with the Artograph tracer, I've had one although not the digital one that they make, but either of these would be your best choice.

I've tried several projectors including the tracer ones and I just found the whole process with any one of them too time consuming and messy, these days I just print out all my images the same size as I want to paint them, I normally print one on plain copy paper for transfer purposes and two and two on good quality photo paper one these as my reference and the other I use to cut landmark shapes and dark areas.

For your future son in law's in portrait I would recommend you do the same as I've done with my attempt at Andre's snake, I'll be starting a thread on that within the hour so look out for it, I'll explain there how I intend to check for accuracy, then you'll understand why a projector doesn't help much with my method.

Yeah, I do the same with the transfer that you do now. I am able to get my room dark, so I might get the Artograph tracer just to try. They are very reasonable and I might be able to find a LED lamp that would work to get more light output if there is enough room in the unit to replace it with a larger wattage.
Looking forward to seeing the SBS of it. I hate snakes but it will be interesting to see how you do it. I've even had nightmares of snakes crawling on me. I had one not long ago when taking a nap. My wife must have heard me moaning or something and she thought I was having a stroke. I couldn't seem to wake up from it. I finally woke up from it and she was talking to 911 about sending a ambulance to check on me. That was a nightmare dream.
So, I'll follow along but won't paint one. :eek::eek::eek:
 
The uc-40 is 1080p. At 4.5 ft distance projecting a 30 inch screen and then scaling it down on your computers screen will let you project 3x5's or 2x3's no problem. Just because the projection area is 30 inches doesnt mean the image must be.
I used it to project a life sized field mouse into a nature mural.
 
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Actually i never tried that whole pressing play from the info screen thing to make a usb image g full screen....so i may have learned something from this video.
 
I dont have a dark-ish room that I can get the detail on camera but tonight I can take a picture of an image projected at 3 inches. Shows fine to the eye with all the daylight spilling in but not on camera. You can definitely see the pixels up close...but its very useable and from memory Id say not as soft as an artograph tracer, definitely not as soft as an artograph EZtracer. I havent used either of those in three years though and then it wasnt for detail so......

Better yet I have a cheap trick for you that can cut the projected area down to whatever you want and give you razor sharp focus from a couple of feet.
 
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@Robbyrockett2 For the record Robbie my main point here is that unless any projector from the most expensive ultra HD right down to the EZtracer has be kept in exactly the same place using exactly the same settings to allow any ability to check for accuracy, Richard wants to do a portrait of his future son in law and that needs be all about accuracy, for an animal of any kind a patch, an ear or a stripe could be a little out of and not be that noticeable but a human eye slightly bigger or a bottom lip too thick or thin would stick out like a sore thumb especially to those closest to the subject.

I've had a really good Phillips pico projector, a Chinese excremente projector and the EZtracer and the one thing they all had in common which did my tits in was that they all forced me to work in the dark which I hate, not to mention that when projecting some to make a bigger image also makes the lines you want to follow thicker making it hard to decide where within the projected line to place the pencil line, so what ever benefit anyone else might see in a projector, I just don't see any, I understand how to get an image to project smaller but again I see absolutely no point to that at all, or at least I don't see how it could benefit me personally, my printer can do the job fine.
 
@Robbyrockett2 For the record Robbie my main point here is that unless any projector from the most expensive ultra HD right down to the EZtracer has be kept in exactly the same place using exactly the same settings to allow any ability to check for accuracy, Richard wants to do a portrait of his future son in law and that needs be all about accuracy, for an animal of any kind a patch, an ear or a stripe could be a little out of and not be that noticeable but a human eye slightly bigger or a bottom lip too thick or thin would stick out like a sore thumb especially to those closest to the subject.

I've had a really good Phillips pico projector, a Chinese excremente projector and the EZtracer and the one thing they all had in common which did my tits in was that they all forced me to work in the dark which I hate, not to mention that when projecting some to make a bigger image also makes the lines you want to follow thicker making it hard to decide where within the projected line to place the pencil line, so what ever benefit anyone else might see in a projector, I just don't see any, I understand how to get an image to project smaller but again I see absolutely no point to that at all, or at least I don't see how it could benefit me personally, my printer can do the job fine.


Malky, I used to do my best work in the dark but that is another subject matter. lollollollollollol

I think I'll just keep doing the same thing like most of the rest do here. Make copies and trace or cut up for mask. I just had a brain fart and was wondering if many used the projectors.
 
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