Requirements
The requirements for using Material Plane using the production hardware can be divided into 4 parts:
Material Plane Hardware
For the production hardware, the most important requirements are the actual hardware. The following items are required:
- Sensor
- Dock
- One Base for each mini you want to track
- wide-angle lens, depending on setup (see below)
Various kits are available that contain at least the required components for up to 8 players.
Regarding the bases: you will have to determine how many you think you will need. You will want to have at least one for each player character, and maybe some extra for other minis that have to be tracked, such as familiars or important NPCs.
You can track monsters, if you want to, but for most people this is not necessary (since you probably don't want to share the monters' vision with the players) and a lot of people choose to just place the minis on the display without tracking them.
Because the sensor is essentially a camera, you will need to take the distance between the sensor and your display, and the size of the display into account. If the display is too large, the sensor might not be able to see the entire display. It is possible to install a wide-angle lens into the sensor (or have it pre-installed) to allow you to use bigger displays, or to move the sensor closer to the display. Please read the Display-Sensor Distance section carefully.
Optional hardware:
- Pen to add more interaction options, such as opening doors or panning the map
- Base adapters to allow the tracking of bigger minis
- Base or sensor charging dock expansions so you can charge more bases at the same time, or charge the sensor on the dock
- Square or Round magnets to easily mount minis to bases
Virtual Tabletop
Material Plane runs on a virtual tabletop. Currently only Foundry VTT is supported.
To use Foundry VTT, you need to purchase a license, and you need some way to host the Foundry server. For information on how to setup a Foundry VTT server, please refer to the Foundry VTT Knowledge Base. Alternatively, you could using a hosting service such as The Forge, Molten Hosting or Foundry Server.
Horizontally Mounted Display
You'll need a TV, or some other display (monitor/projector) onto which the virtual tabletop is displayed.
For the Material Plane hardware (both DIY and production) you do have to consider the size of your TV, due to the limited detection angle of the sensor, see Display-Sensor Distance section below. Virtually any display will work, however, some older models (especially plasma and LCD displays with CCFL backlight) can emit infrared noise which might interfere with the sensor. To remedy this, you could add infrared-blocking foil to the display. Modern displays should not cause any issues.
Suitable Environment
Because of the way the sensor works, any infrared light around the TV can be interpreted as a base. For this reason, ambient infrared radiation and reflection should be avoided.
- Sunlight
- Infrared Emitting Lights
- VR Headsets
- Wii Sensor Bar
- Remote Controls
Display-Sensor Distance
In order for the sensor to detect minis across the whole display, the sensor needs to be located at a minimum distance above the display. The minimum distance depends on the size of the display, where a bigger display requires a larger distance.
A wide-angle lens can be installed in the production sensor when your display is too big and/or the distance to the ceiling is too small. The lens can either come pre-installed by selecting the option in the sensor product page, or it can be bought separately.
The table below gives the minimum distance between the display and sensor. Measure the distance between the top of the display and the desired sensor mounting location (ceiling, microphone stand, etc).
Look at the row with your display size:
- If the measured distance is smaller than the value in the 'With Lens' column, your setup is incompatible with Material Plane.
- If the distance is larger than the value in the 'With Lens' column but larger than the 'Without Lens' column, your setup requires the wide-angle lens.
- If the distance is larger than the value in the 'Without Lens' column, the lens is not required, but can still be used to decrease the distance between sensor and display.
Placing the sensor too far away from the display will result in reduced accuracy and potentially more jittery movement. For optimal results you should place the sensor as close to the minimum distance as possible (with some wiggle room for alignment). If you do not need the wide-angle lens, it's better to not have it installed.
Please note that these are just approximate values, assuming a 16:9 aspect ratio display and perfect sensor positioning while ignoring any manufacturing tolerances. Try to err on the safe side by subtracting a few cm/inches from the measured distance between display and sensor.
| Display Size | Production (No Lens) | Production (Lens) |
|---|---|---|
| 32" | 109cm/43" | 88cm/35" |
| 40" | 134cm/53" | 108cm/43" |
| 43" | 144cm/57" | 116cm/46" |
| 50" | 166cm/66" | 134cm/53" |
| 55" | 182cm/72" | 146cm/57" |
| 60" | 198cm/78" | 159cm/63" |
| 65" | 214cm/85" | 172cm/68" |
| 70" | 230cm/91" | 185cm/73" |
| 75" | 246cm/97" | 198cm/78" |
| 80" | 278cm/110" | 223cm/88" |