BlendBuddy

The problem

When you’re setting up a massive multi-projector edge blend or widescreen video wall for a live event, even slight differences in color temperature, lamp age, or gamma between adjacent projectors will completely ruin the illusion of a seamless image.

Video engineers and projectionists were traditionally stuck trying to eyeball color balance under ambient stage lighting, or hauling expensive, fragile hardware colorimeters up onto scaffolding during rushed rehearsals.

The solution

I created BlendBuddy to make display color calibration fast, portable, and accurate right on the show floor. Running on macOS and iOS, BlendBuddy used live camera sensors to sample RGB balance, Delta-E variance, and luminance across adjacent projector blend zones in real time.

Engineers could walk the room with an iPad or monitor feeds directly from a video workstation, getting instant feedback to dial in matching white points across every screen in the rig.

BlendBuddy optical alignment: abstract representation of dual-projector beam convergence, edge-blend overlap zones, and RGB white-point calibration.

Key capabilities

Real-time color sampling: Instant RGB, gamma, and luminance readouts across multiple points of interest
Edge-blend convergence: Side-by-side Delta-E color comparison for seamless projector seams
Workstation & mobile workflows: Shipped on macOS for engineering racks and iOS for handheld in-venue walkthroughs

Status

Archived software product originally developed and shipped under ShowBlender LLC (2015–2022). Technical notes and release history remain preserved in the ShowBlender archive.