Audience Layout Planner

Every spot on the ground is scored on four things and takes the worst of them. Distance: measured as a multiple of image width (W). Inside about 1.5 W the picture fills too much of your vision and the top edge forces you to crane; beyond about 6 W subtitles and detail get hard to read, and past 8 W it's a screen in the distance rather than a cinema. Off-axis angle: projected fabric screens dim as you move off centre, and the picture foreshortens; ±30° is comfortable, ±45° is the practical edge. Look-up angle: the line from your eyes to the top of the image should stay under about 35°. Sightline: how much of the picture survives the heads in front. Each row ahead whose heads rise above your line to a point on the screen hides a slice of it (head width over row spacing), using the eye and head heights for each seating style and any ground slope — so low seating in front and a rise toward the back both help.

Capacity counts one person per grid cell at the chosen density, best cells first (green, near the centreline, around 2–3 W back). The front-projection beam is traced from the lens to the bottom of the image; wherever that line drops below head height, that strip of ground is marked keep-clear. Rear projection needs the throw distance behind the screen instead.

Treat the results as a planning guide, not a guarantee — real crowds bunch, bring prams and eskies, and sit where the ground is dry. Use it to right-size the screen, test the site, and decide where the projector tower and aisles go.