Automatically producing an optical blend mask individually adapted to a projector and its position to a projection surface of the projection system

1. A method for automatically generating an optical blend mask ( 7 ), arranged in a beam path ( 8 ) of a projector ( 2 ) in a projection system ( 1 ) comprising at least two projectors ( 2 ), comprising the steps of:

determining an actual state of the projection system ( 1 ) by a calibration,

determining an individual distortion of the projector ( 2 ) by using a front or rear projection surface ( 11 ) inserted in the beam path ( 8 ) between the projector ( 2 ) and a projection surface ( 3 ) using patterns ( 13 ) from which projected points are derived;

determining orientation and position of the front or rear projection surface ( 11 ) within a blend mask plane with respect to a local reference coordinate system,

calculating ideal blending for a partial image ( 4 ) to be projected by the projector ( 2 ) in such a way that the ideal blending is positioned and/or transformed on the blend mask plane,

adapting the ideal blending to compensate for a soft focus in the beam path ( 8 ),

applying the determined, individual distortion of the projector ( 2 ) to the ideal blending, and

determining data for generating an optical blend mask ( 7 ),

wherein the optical blend mask ( 7 ) generated according to the determined data is used at a location in the beam path ( 8 ) of the projector ( 2 ) at which the front or rear projection surface ( 11 ) was positioned when determining the individual distortion of the projector ( 2 ).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining the individual distortion of the projector ( 2 ) includes the following method steps:

projecting the patterns ( 13 ), from which the projected points are derived,

recording the projected points derived from the pattern ( 13 ) by using a camera, with position and alignment and/or orientation of the camera in the local reference coordinate system being known,

determining the projected points derived in the local reference coordinate system,

recording of the determined projected points derived in the local reference coordinate system,

calculating the distortion of the projector ( 2 ) based on the recorded projected points derived.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the calculation of the ideal blending also comprises the method steps of iteratively optimizing the data of the generated optical blend mask ( 7 ), wherein ideal imaging of the blending on the projection surface ( 3 ) is simulated and compared with an expected blending using the data of a previously generated optical blend mask ( 7 ) so as to reduce discrepancies between the ideal image of the blending and the expected blending.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data for generating the optical blend mask ( 7 ) includes information about a number of pixels arranged horizontally and vertically in the optical blend mask ( 7 ) and their intensity on the optical blend mask ( 7 ), with which a brightness reduction is performed.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data for generating the optical blend mask ( 7 ) is determined for two or more optical blend masks ( 7 ).

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data of the generated optical blend mask ( 7 ) is used to control a printing method for producing a printed optical blend mask ( 7 ).

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

transmitting an image to be displayed via the projector ( 2 ); and

controlling the transmitted image to be displayed via the generated optical blend mask ( 7 ).

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the projection system ( 1 ) includes a frame positioned in the beam path; the generated optical blend mask ( 7 ) or the front or rear projection surface ( 11 ) each being receivable in the frame; markings on the frame forming the local reference coordinate system.