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Makers & DIYProjection mapping for props, builds & displays.
Light up a 3D print, give a build animated eyes, glow up a booth, or wrap a model in moving texture — all from your browser, with nothing to install.
You already build things. Projection mapping is the layer that makes them move — turning a static object into something that glows, blinks, breathes, and stops people in their tracks.
Who it's for
This is for the people who make: makers and DIY creators, cosplayers, prop builders, and anyone putting together a display or convention booth. If you can build the object, you can light it up — no VJ background required. Because it all runs in the browser, there's no software to install on your shop laptop.
What you can do with it
- Light up a 3D-printed prop so it pulses, shifts color, or looks powered-on.
- Add animated faces or eyes to a build — a mask, a robot, a creature — so it blinks and reacts.
- Map a tabletop diorama with moving water, fire, or shifting daylight.
- Glow up a convention booth or display so it pops on a crowded show floor.
- Project textures onto a model — wood grain, circuitry, lava, code rain — without painting a thing.
Map a prop or object
- Place your object and aim the projector at it. Set the piece where it'll live and point the projector at the face you want to light.
- Open SquirrelCast, start blank or from a template. Begin with an empty canvas or grab a template as a starting point.
- Add your own image/video or a generative effect. Import your media or drop in one of the built-in animated effects.
- Drag the corners (and mask) to fit the object's face. Pull the four corners to line up, then mask off anything that shouldn't catch light.
- Go fullscreen — the object comes alive. Project full-screen and watch your build move.
Scenes save locally in your browser, and you can export the project to back it up or carry it to another machine before a show.
Maker ideas to try
Animated face on a build
Give a mask, droid, or creature blinking eyes and a moving mouth — masked to fit exactly where you want light.
Build a scene →Living diorama
Map moving water, flame, or drifting clouds onto a tabletop scene for a display that never sits still.
Browse templates →Booth that glows
Wrap your convention booth or shelf display in animated texture so it stands out on a busy floor.
Build a scene →You can stack visuals too: SquirrelCast ships with 24 built-in effects — some of them audio-reactive, so a prop can pulse to music — and you can layer them with your own imported images and video. Mix a generative glow under your own texture, mask it to the object's face, and you've got something nobody else has.
Honest note: SquirrelCast is the fastest way to map and animate, but it isn't a hardware-control rig. Hardware triggers — MIDI, Arduino, and game controllers — are on the roadmap, not available yet. Today it's keyboard, mouse, and audio reaction. If you need physical-button triggering, it's coming, but it's not here now.
New to mapping? Start with the FAQ for projector and surface tips before your first build.