| Projector | |
|---|---|
| |
| Category: | Functional Block |
| Status: | Functional |
| Fits small ship | |
| Fits large ship and station | |
| Data Controls: | [edit] [purge] (?) |
The Projector is a block that makes a grid's blueprint visible and weldable in the world. Welding up the projection lets players build grids quickly, so they do not have to place blocks manually from memory. It was introduced in Version/01.058.
For a similar DLC block that can project a miniturized hologram as decoration, see Console Block.
In this article, we use "grid" as short word to mean space ships, rovers, space stations, Mechas -- anything you can build.
The Projection[]
The projection is original-sized, non-solid, and translucent like a hologram.
- The projector’s main strength is that the game treats projected blocks as unwelded placed blocks, which enables you to weld up a blueprint quickly.
- The projector's main weakness is its inability to project subgrids, you need to project subgrids separately.
A large projector projects large grids only; a small projector projects small grids only; a large projector on a station projects station grids only. Related tips: If you ever need to attach a small subgrid to a large main grid, see Rotor for a workaround; if you ever need to convert a projected grid from station to mobile, see Info Screen.
Welding a projection uses up the same amount of materials than welding up manually placed blocks. You can use handheld welders or faster block welders.
How to Unlock[]
In order to unlock this block in survival you need to unlock the light progression tree, which can be done by grinding (just under functional) and welding an interior light on the drop pod.
Usage[]
Copy and Paste in Survival Mode[]
In survival games, you cannot simply copy and paste grids for free. But making blueprints, projecting, and welding them up, is a legitimate in-game equivalent to copy&pasting grids. You still spend the materials and welding time as expected in a survival game.
Self-Repair Projector[]
Build a projector on a ship and project its own blueprint onto itself. This makes it easy to weld it back up where it was damaged!
On large ships, pair the self-projector up with internal self-Welders with conveyor access. Strategically place these welders so they automatically repair the most important ship parts in a battle (at least until you run out of components).
Limitations:
- Each subgrid need its own repair projector.
- Blueprint the ship with its self-projector off if you want to 3D print it, so the two projections don't clash.
Mass Production / 3D Printer[]
A custom 3D Printer setup quickly builds replaceable mobile grids for you: fighter squadrons, drones, Player Built Weapons and missiles, portable turret emplacements, etc.
Advantages are that it's fast and efficient. Disadvantages are that 3D printers are large and expensive and need to be custom built.
What Else Is a Projector Good For?[]
- Quick building of stationary grids: Project and weld repetitive segments of tram tracks, bridges, prefab rooms, space station segments, standard airlocks, repetitive hallways, etc.
- Building Guide: Use the non-solid projection as visual guide while laying out something matching of similar proportions.
- Decorative hologram:[1] Similar to a Console Block, you can project any shape that you can build, non-solid and translucent, for great effect. The only downsides are that the projection is full-scale original size and it's a bit performance heavy.
How Do I Build a Projector?[]
Place the projector so the front circle has two bars and the top circle has four bars.
To place the projector right side up, remember:
- The front has two bars pointing at a circle.
- The top has four bars pointing at a circle.
- All other sides have just circles.
The projector requires access to any Control Panel and any Power source.
Here some tips how to best build the projector:
- To project a small-grid ship, drop a small Landing Gear so it magnetises to the ground; then add Battery, Control Panel, and the Small Projector to the landing gear.
- To project a large-grid ship, drop a large Landing Gear so it magnetises to the ground; then add Battery, Control Panel, and the Large Projector to the landing gear.
- To project a space station from another space station, build the Projector anywhere on the station, and then use the space station's terminal and power.
- To project a space station from scratch, project the station from a large-grid ship. Then turn the finished mobile grid into a station using the button on the station Terminal's Info tab.
Why Can't I Weld "unsupported" Blocks?[]
Projected blocks that don't touch solid blocks are called unsupported. Unsupported projections cannot be welded because they are hanging in "mid air" and would fall down or drift away. You can weld only supported blocks, which then provide support for their neighbouring blocks, which makes them buildable, and so on. Fully or partially welded blocks of the projection count as supported, solid blocks, as do any blocks of the grid the projector is on. To be able to see what the game considers supported, use the Show Only Buildable setting described in this article.
The easiest way to ensure that your projection has supported --and hence buildable-- blocks, is to build a temporary row of cheap unwelded blocks (e.g. light armour blocks) from the projector's grid to any ghost block of the projection. If the blueprint contains docking blocks, positioning the projection's Merge Block / Connector over a Merge Block / Connector on the projector's grid also makes them count as supported blocks.
How do I weld the projection?[]
Combine a projector with conveyored block welders to create and advanced assembly line (2014)
Tip: It can be beneficial to make your HUD transparent in the Options so you can see the big picture better. Or sit in a control seat on the projector grid.
- Sit in a seat on the projector’s grid, or stand and interact with the projector’s Control Panel, respectively.
- Press (V key) to switch into third-person view and use the scroll wheel to zoom out so you can see the build area.
- Press (K key) to access the Control Panel of the projector.
- Click Blueprint and double-click a blueprint from the list: The projection appears.
- Zoom out to check whether the projection is in a stable position: Is the projection’s connector near an auto-locking connector? Does it have solid ground below its wheels? etc.
- Use the Horizontal, Vertical, and Forward Offset sliders to position the projection.
- Use the Pitch/Yaw/Roll sliders to rotate the projection, if needed.
- Press (ESC key) to close the Control Panel.
If you can't start welding up the projection now, the projected blocks are "unsupported".
- Build a row of temporary armor blocks from the projector's grid until they touch blocks of the projection. Touched blocks are supported blocks.
- Start welding the first supported block of the projection, which will highlight the next supported block to weld, and so on.
- Verify the grid won’t fall, then cut loose the temporary row of blocks that have been supporting the welded grid.
- Name the new grid on its Info Screen.
To improve performance, after you're done, click Remove to unload the blueprint, and switch off the projector while you're not using it.
Optional Settings[]
In the Projector's control panel, you find the following optional settings:
- Show Only Buildable -- If your projection is very busy and blocks are hard to see, make sure you don't miss welding any blocks: Enable the Show Only Buildable checkbox to hide unsupported blocks, so you can focus on finishing the others.
- Keep Projection -- If you want to mass-produce the same thing, or repair a ship by projecting it onto itself, enable the Keep Projection checkbox. If you want to produce many different things and choose a new blueprint every time anyway, disable this checkbox.
How do I Check My Build Progress?[]
A ship with a built-in projector that projects its own blueprint onto itself flies into a welder wall for repairs (2014)
While welding a blueprint, open the Projector's control panel, and look in the bottom right. A scrolling info panel shows build progress expressed in "blocks built / blocks total" format. It also lists the exact blocks remaining to be built, which is helpful to verify whether it's complete. If you see that, for example, a gyroscope or reactor are reported missing, you must find them and weld them up before cutting the grid loose.
Tip: If you are willing to use scripts, ProjectorInfo is an immersive LCD script that shows how many blocks have been welded.
Best Practices[]
Don’t drop it[]
For mobile grids, position the projection somewhere where the resulting grid stands safely after it's finished.
- If you are near another grid that has a free connector in the right orientation for the projection's connectors, align the connectors, so your newly built grid can auto-lock and recharge there.
- Or, if the projection has a free merge block, project it to align with a merge block on the projector's grid.
- If it’s a rover, project it so the wheels are above flat ground.
- Don't project a ship floating in mid-air in high gravity with thrusters and Inertia Dampers off.
Use a welder pit[]
A welder pit is an array of Welder Blocks. Either you move the projection into the welders’ area of affect, or you move the welders over the projection.
Welding by hand may be more precise, but is limited by the player's small inventory size. Using a handheld welder is very slow compared to a conveyored Welder Block, which also has a much wider area of effect.
See also 3D Printer for more welder pit ideas.
Optimal mass production[]
If you designed the blueprinted grid in zero gravity, it's possible that the projection ends up upside down when loaded into the projector.
For optimal mass production, the projection must be positioned well right away relative to the Welder Wall or 3D Printer, requiring the least amount of manual adjustments.
Also, think of community members downloading your blueprint from the workshop, each of them will have to align the projection to their 3D printer as well.
The point around which the projection rotates when you fine-tune the position is called Grid Pivot. By default, the Grid Pivot of the blueprint will be positioned on top of the projector when you load the blueprint.
If an asymmetrical Pivot is hampering your production, you need to move the Grid Pivot before blueprinting; see Grid_Pivot for how to do that.
Multigrid Projection Limitations[]
Subgrids are not supported in Projectors. If the blueprint contains subgrids, only the largest grid is projected. It does this because it assumes that the largest grid is the vehicle, and the subgrids are "just wheels" that can be easily added later...
If you use Subgrids for any constructions that are more complex than a wheel, the grid projection will be incomplete. The subgrids won't be projected --and hence unweldable. There are two solutions for this:
- Single Grid Blueprint method: First, ensure that all subgrids are in positions where they do not touch any other subgrid. Then temporarily merge the subgrids to the main grid. Then, take the full blueprint, project it, and weld it. Finally, unmerge, and grind off the merge blocks to restore the subgrids' mobility.
- Separate Grids Blueprints method: Make separate blueprints of the subgrids, using the ctrl-shift-B shortcut. Build the main grid, then project each subgrid onto its spot on the main grid, weld them, and then attach the subgrid Heads. Read the articles about Rotors/Pistons/Hinges for details on how to re-attach Heads.
Tip: If the ability to project multigrids is important to you, join this forum conversation: Topic: multigrid support for projectors. In the meantime, check out available mods such as Viktor's Multigrid Projector mod.
How Do I Restore the Projected Ship's Groups and Toolbar?[]
The toolbar of a ship can have Control groups defined and block actions assigned that reference blocks on the same or connected grids. When you blueprint the ship, the groups and toolbar settings are stored and also exist in the projection. But for mass-produced fleets and PBWs, the safest method is to use Timers instead of groups.
If the cockpit is among the first blocks welded up, referenced projected blocks that have not been built yet can appear as a "broken" symbol. If this happens to you, build the cockpit last (rotate the projection).
Groups are recreated from the blueprint correctly, but there's the issue that group names are not unique. If you have built several ships from the same blueprint, and the ships are docked (using Merge blocks or Connectors) to the same station, group actions on one ship trigger the docked sister ships' blocks as well! Which can be dangerous if you inadvertently toggle refuelling or recharging off.
If you maintain a fleet of drones, or fighters, or PBWs from the same blueprint, the safest method is to use Timers to manage unique groups of actions.
Recipe[]
 Projector | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Large Ship/Station Required | Large Ship/Station Optional | Small Ship Required | Small Ship Optional |
 Computer | 2 | — | 2 | — |
 Motor | 1 | — | 1 | — |
 Large Steel Tube | 2 | — | 2 | — |
 Construction_Comp. | 4 | — | 2 | — |
 Steel Plate | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
Programming[]
Interface name:
- IMyProjector
Fields:
- int ProjectionOffsetX
- int ProjectionOffsetY
- int ProjectionOffsetZ
- int ProjectionRotX
- int ProjectionRotY
- int ProjectionRotZ
Terminal properties:
- X -> Single
- Y -> Single
- Z -> Single
- RotX -> Single
- RotY -> Single
- RotZ -> Single
Actions:
- OnOff->Toggle block On/Off
- OnOff_On->Toggle block On
- OnOff_Off->Toggle block Off
- IncreaseX->Increase Horizontal offset
- DecreaseX->Decrease Horizontal offset
- IncreaseY->Increase Vertical offset
- DecreaseY->Decrease Vertical offset
- IncreaseZ->Increase Forward offset
- DecreaseZ->Decrease Forward offset
- IncreaseRotX->Increase Pitch
- DecreaseRotX->Decrease Pitch
- IncreaseRotY->Increase Yaw
- DecreaseRotY->Decrease Yaw
- IncreaseRotZ->Increase Roll
- DecreaseRotZ->Decrease Roll
