ProjectorCal

Every pattern, sorted by what it adjusts

Patterns are grouped by family: geometry and alignment, focus, brightness and levels, color, motion, HDR and tools. Select one and its sheet explains which settings to look for in your device’s menu, with their usual names (Saturation or Color, Tint or Hue, Color Space), the steps to follow, and what you should see when it is right.

Many patterns have options in the same panel: 75 or 100 percent level for color bars, fine, medium or coarse lines for a grid. The display type chosen in the toolbar (projector, Mac display or TV) decides which patterns are shown.

• All 78 patterns, including HDR, motion and advanced patterns
• Filter by family in the sidebar

The full library, HDR included

In Pro mode, the library adds edge markers, pixel 1:1, convergence, safe areas, zone plates, ringing, motion and HDR patterns. HDR patterns are sent in true HDR to the display through EDR, encoded in PQ (ST.2084); the sheet says so in a green banner.

78 patterns in 7 families

From preparation to verification, one step at a time

The assistant walks you through the whole calibration in 7 phases and 33 steps: preparation (place the projector, warm it up for 20 to 30 minutes, turn off the lights, pick the right picture mode), geometry and focus, base image, color, a second pass, HDR, and verification. Each phase shows its progress.

Each step says what to look at, what to adjust on the device, and a tip from experience. You enter the value you settled on, then move to the next step or skip it. Progress is kept between launches.

• Show the pattern on the device from the step itself
• The value you enter is saved in the current session and variant

What the Mac actually sends to the display

Before calibrating, ProjectorCal checks the signal: native resolution, color profile, target display, refresh rate, desktop scaling and HDR. When something is wrong, it says what and how to fix it. In the screenshot, the Mac sends 2624 × 1696 to a display whose native resolution is 3456 × 2234, and the diagnosis gives the three ways to fix it.

Start from what you see

Pick one of 10 symptoms: blacks look gray, the image is too dark, colors look wrong, the image is soft, HDR does not turn on, motion judders, edges are cut off, the image is keystoned or crooked, colored fringes, the image flickers. ProjectorCal lists the possible causes, the most frequent first, each with what to do and a link to the step of the walkthrough that fixes it.

Keep your settings and compare them

Each session holds variants. For each one, enter your settings in a form modeled on the device menu: picture (brightness, contrast, sharpness, color, tint, picture mode), white balance (color temperature, red, green and blue gains and offsets), gamma, color management. Rate the variant out of 10, then compare two variants side by side with the differences highlighted.

A logbook keeps your notes over time, and each pattern has its own note.

• Profiles, sessions and variants
• Export a session as JSON
• ⌘P project or stop, ⌘] and ⌘[ next and previous pattern, ⌘F freeze

If you own a probe

Without a probe, color calibration stays a judgment by eye. With one, measure a gray scale with your usual software, then import the file: ProjectorCal tells you which setting to correct and in which direction. Accepted formats: CGATS .ti3 files from DisplayCAL or ArgyllCMS, exports from HCFR, and CSV files with a level column plus XYZ or xyY values. The app does not drive the probe itself.