Projector
| Projector | |
|---|---|
| |
| Function: | The projector block projects saved blueprints of ships so that they... |
| DLC? | Vanilla |
| Fits small grid | |
| Mass: | 130.4 kg |
| Hitpoints: | 422 |
| Power: | -0.0001 MW |
| PCU: | 50 |
| Size: | 1x1x1 |
| Time to Build: | 12 sec |
| Fits large grid | |
| Mass: | 526.4 kg |
| Hitpoints: | 2382 |
| Power: | -0.0002 MW |
| PCU: | 50 |
| Size: | 1x1x1 |
| Time to Build: | 20 sec |
| Data Controls: | [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.
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.
Usage
What's a projection?
The projection of a grid is original-sized, non-solid, and translucent like a hologram. Each projected block costs 1 PCU.
- 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. 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.
Related tips: If you ever need to attach a small subgrid to a large main grid, see How to connect small and large grid blocks for a workaround; if you ever need to convert a projected grid from station to mobile, see Info Screen.
How to weld the projection
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 optimally positioned 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. Now 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.
- Optionally, enable Show Only Buildable to hide unsupported blocks, so you don't miss welding any blocks.
- Optionally, enable Keep Projection if you want to mass-produce the same thing, or repair the same ship repeatedly. If you produce many different things and choose a new blueprint every time, disable this checkbox.
- Press ESC key to close the Control Panel.
If you can't start welding up the projection now, the projected ghost blocks are "unsupported".
- Build a row of temporary armor blocks from the projector's grid until they touch ghost 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.
- Finally, 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.
How to "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 and rebuild grids. You still spend the materials and welding time as expected in a survival game.
How to build self-repairing ships
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! The only limitation is that each subgrid need its own repair projector.
Make sure to blueprint the ship with its self-projector off.
On large ships, you can even pair the self-projector up with internal self-Welders that have conveyor access to pull components. Strategically place these welders so they automatically repair the most important ship parts in a battle (at least until you run out of components).
How to mass produce ships
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.
How to build a welder pit
A welder pit or welder wall is simply a room or wall with multiple Welder Blocks and a projector. Either you move the projection into the welders’ area of affect, or you move the welders over the projection.
Welding by hand is limited by the player's small inventory size and is very slow compared to an array of conveyored Welder Blocks which has a much wider area of effect. See also 3D Printer for more welder ideas.
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, then switch the projector off and finish building.
- Decorative hologram:
Similar to a Console Block, you can project any shape that you can build[1], 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.
Troubleshooting
Incorrect grid size?
If the projector does not work and a message says incorrect grid size, it means the blueprint and your projector must have the same size. Project a large-grid blueprint on a large-grid projector, and a small-grid blueprint on a small-grid projector.
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 too, 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 the docking blocks "supported" blocks.
Is this thing on?
The color of the Projector indicates its status:
- Red: switched off or no power
- Green: powered, no blueprint, idle
- Cyan: powered, configured, projecting
How to check build progress
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.
Enable one or more of the following Projector settings:
- Mark Missing Blocks
- Mark Unfinished Blocks
While you are 150 m close to the grid, the projector will highlight the blocks with a HUD signal in red or yellow. In multiplayer, it's possible that players don't see the same signals and need to toggle the setting off and on themselves.
How to 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. 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 to the same station, then group actions on one ship trigger the docked sister ships' blocks as well! Which can have negative consequences if you inadvertently toggle refuelling or recharging off.
So if you maintain a fleet of mass-produced drones / fighters / PBWs from the same blueprint,
the safest method is to use 
Timers to group actions.
Another problem is, if the cockpit is among the first blocks welded up, and the cockpit toolbar references projected blocks that have not been built yet, they can appear as a broken symbol on the cockpit toolbar. If this happens to you, build the cockpit last (that is, rotate the projection).
How to not drop it
For mobile grids, position the projection somewhere where the resulting grid stands safely after it's finished.
- Don't project a ship floating in mid-air in high gravity if the blueprint was taken with thrusters and Inertial Dampers off.
- If your projection is 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 the projection is a rover, project it so the wheels are an inch above flat ground.
How to optimise 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 is on top of the projector when you load the blueprint.
If an asymmetrical Pivot is hampering smooth production, you need to move the Grid Pivot before blueprinting; see Grid_Pivot for how to do that.
Multigrid Projection Limitations
Projectors cannot project Subgrids. If the blueprint contains subgrids, only the largest grid is projected. It's as if 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 are unweldable.
There are two solutions for this:
- Single Grid Blueprint method:
- Return to the actual grid and move all subgrids into positions where they do not touch any other subgrid.
- Temporarily merge the subgrids to the main grid.
- Take a new full blueprint, project it, and weld it up.
- Finally, unmerge and grind off the temporary merge blocks to restore the subgrids' mobility.
- Separate Grids Blueprints method
- Return to the actual grid and make separate blueprints of each subgrid, using the ctrl-shift-B shortcut.
- Project and weld up the main grid.
- Add projectors on the main grid that contain the subgrid projections. Project each subgrid into its exact spot on the main grid, and weld it up.
- Finally, attach the subgrid Heads.
Read the articles about Rotors/Pistons/Hinges for details on how to re-attach Heads.
In this video, Kelevra explains how to project separate subgrids in detail:
Gallery
Construction
To place the projector right side up, look at marked sides (from release 1.206 on):
- The front has a solid colored circle.
- The top and the bottom have an arrow pointing forward.
- The back has a Control Panel.
- Left is labeled L, and right is labeled R.
The projector requires a Power source on its grid to function.
Here some tips how to build a projector:
- To project a small-grid ship, drop a small
Landing Gear so it magnetises to the ground; then add 
Battery and the small-grid 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 and the large-grid 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.
Recipe
 Projector | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Large Ship/Station Required | Large Ship/Station Optional | Small Ship Required | Small Ship Optional |
 Steel Plate | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
 Motor | 1 | — | 1 | — |
 Large Steel Tube | 2 | — | 2 | — |
 Construction Comp. | 4 | — | 2 | — |
 Computer | 2 | — | 2 | — |
