# Acoustic Screens

In many projects, loudspeaker arrays are integrated invisibly into the venue architecture — placed behind LED walls, projection surfaces, fabric, or custom-designed panels. These are referred to as **acoustic screens**, and they play a critical role in both the aesthetics and acoustic performance of a HOLOPLOT system.

#### What is an acoustic screen?

An acoustic screen is any physical surface that is placed directly in front of a HOLOPLOT array. Examples include:

* LED video walls
* Fabric coverings
* Acoustically transparent panels
* Custom venue-specific installations

While screens allow for clean visual integration, they can affect sound transmission depending on the material, thickness, and angle. Without compensation, this can lead to changes in frequency response and sound level across the beam.

#### Screen-aware beam optimization

HOLOPLOT Plan takes screens into account during the **beam optimization process**. Once a screen is placed in the design, every beam emitted from the array behind it is automatically optimized with compensation tailored to that screen’s acoustic characteristics.

Each screen type has its own defined effect on sound transmission. These effects are measured and accounted for by the optimization algorithms, ensuring that **system performance remains consistent and reliable**, even when arrays are fully concealed.

No manual EQing or filter adjustment is required — the compensation is built into the beam’s design itself.

#### How to use acoustic screens in Plan

Available from Plan 2.3 and onwards.

**Add a screen to an array**

Screens are added directly to arrays in your HOLOPLOT Plan project. This tells the optimization engine that the array is placed behind a physical screen and that compensation should be applied automatically to all beams from that array.

**Select a screen type**

In order for screens to appear in your HOLOPLOT Plan project, their corresponding `.json` file must be placed in the **custom\_screens** folder on your computer.

#### Upload a custom screen

**macOS**

1. Quit HOLOPLOT Plan if it is running.
2. Open **Applications** and locate **HOLOPLOT Plan.app**.
3. **Right-click** (or Ctrl-click) on **HOLOPLOT Plan.app** and select **Show Package Contents**.
4. Navigate to:\
   `Contents > Resources`
5. If it does not exist yet, **create a new folder** named `custom_screens`.
6. Place your screen’s `.json` file inside this `custom_screens` folder.
7. Restart HOLOPLOT Plan — your custom screen will now appear in the screen selection menu.

**Windows**

1. Quit HOLOPLOT Plan if it is running.
2. Navigate to:\
   `C:\Program Files\HOLOPLOT Plan\resources\custom_screens`
3. If the folder does not exist, **create it manually**.
4. Place your screen’s `.json` file inside the `custom_screens` folder.
5. Restart HOLOPLOT Plan to load your custom screen.


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