Point a webcam. That's the setup.
The part of projection mapping everyone dreads — dragging corners around until the pixels line up — is the part Magic Beamer does for you.
Calibrate
Magic Beamer projects a series of structured-light patterns while your webcam watches. In seconds it knows exactly how projector pixels land in the room — including lens distortion. If the projector gets nudged mid-show, a quick re-align fixes it without redoing anything.
Detect
One flash of white, and Magic Beamer finds every object that catches projector light — tracing real contours, not just rectangles. Review what it found, drag any vertex, or click an object it missed and Magic Beamer segments it from the camera snapshot.
Map
Detected shapes become ready-made surfaces, masked to their outlines and pinned to the right output. Drop in video, stack effects, and you're mapping — minutes after opening the box the projector came in.
Everything after the mapping is where it gets fun.
Stackable GLSL effects + ISF import
Chain effects per surface with live wet/dry on every one. Import shaders from the huge ISF ecosystem — the same format VDMX built.
Audio-reactive everything
Bind any parameter to bass, mids, highs, level, or beat. Tap a tempo and drive LFOs with no audio input at all.
MIDI & OSC learn
Touch a knob, wiggle a controller, and it's mapped. Faders, scenes, blackout — one mapping table for both protocols.
Scenes with crossfade
Snapshot looks per surface and recall them on hotkeys 1–9, with smooth timed crossfades between scenes. Built for live sets.
Multi-output + edge blending
Drive several projectors with per-output corner pin and gamma-aware edge blending for seamless overlaps.
Plays nice with your rig
Syphon input brings frames in from VDMX, TouchDesigner, or Magic. Magic Beamer maps whatever your favorite tools generate.
Where Magic Beamer sits.
Every tool below is excellent at what it's for. None of them combine automatic setup, effect depth, and a pay-once price.
| Magic Beamer | HeavyM | MadMapper | Resolume Arena | TouchDesigner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free / $129 once | $33–67/mo or $338+ lifetime | ~$399 one-time | ~€799 one-time | Free / $600 commercial |
| Camera auto-calibration | ✓ Built-in | — | Spatial scanner (pro workflow) | — | Manual (CamSchnappr) |
| Auto surface detection | ✓ Flash + click-to-segment | — | — | — | DIY |
| Shader import (ISF) | ✓ | — | GLSL materials | FFGL / Wire | GLSL (build it yourself) |
| Time to first mapped surface | Minutes | Minutes | An afternoon | An afternoon | A weekend |
Prices as listed by each vendor, July 2026. Feature notes reflect shipping versions; corrections welcome.
Your show shouldn't depend on someone else's server.
No cloud, ever
Magic Beamer runs entirely on your Mac. No account, no login, nothing that stops working if a company disappears. This niche has been burned before — we designed against it.
Your files are yours
Projects are plain, readable JSON. Media stays where it lives on disk. Open a project in ten years and it's all still there.
Run at real events
Magic Beamer was built by one person to run his own engagement party's projection wall — then kept getting sharper. It's software made by someone whose own night depends on it not crashing.
Pricing that respects the room.
Free
$0
- The full editor — every effect, generator and binding
- One output
- Audio reactivity, MIDI & OSC, scenes
- Projects save and load — nothing expires
- Small watermark in a corner of the output
Full
$129 one-time
- Everything in Free, watermark removed
- Multiple outputs + edge blending
- Camera calibration & auto surface detection
- Syphon input & ISF shader import
- One year of updates included, yours forever
Beta testers lock in $79 early-bird pricing · 50% education discount · No subscription, no DRM heroics — an offline license key.
The things you'd ask.
Is it really Mac-only?
Yes, for now — Magic Beamer is built Mac-native first, the platform most VJs and event pros already run, and Syphon support means it slots straight into VDMX/TouchDesigner rigs. Windows is on the public roadmap; sign up below and tell us it matters to you.
What do I need for auto-calibration?
Any webcam that can see the projection area — the one built into your MacBook works if you can point it at the wall. No depth camera, no special hardware. Calibration takes about thirty seconds and survives bright rooms and webcam auto-exposure.
Isn't Electron slow for live visuals?
The rendering pipeline is raw WebGL running on the GPU — the same shader work every native tool does — with a compositor built for exactly this job. Electron carries the UI, not the pixels. We'll publish benchmarks rather than ask you to take our word for it.
How does the license work?
One purchase, one offline key, no activation server to fail on show night. Your license includes a year of updates; after that, the version you have keeps working forever and you can optionally pay to upgrade — the model pioneered by tools like Ableton, because the alternative is a subscription and nobody wants that.
I have a projector and zero content. Can I still make something?
Yes — Magic Beamer ships with generators and stackable effects that produce audio-reactive visuals from nothing. Map the shapes, tap a tempo, and the wall moves. Bring your own video whenever you're ready.