Draper, Inc.

March 31, 2021 - In large spaces with high ceilings getting your projected image far enough down for the intended audience can be tricky. In the past, this was accomplished by adding black drop above the image—sometimes a great deal of it.

While this is a fairly straightforward solution, it does have its drawbacks. Introducing a lot of additional drop above the image can be tricky, especially with tab-tensioned screens. In addition, all that black fabric is a visual barrier that isn't aesthetically pleasing.

Draper® offers two solutions to this problem, allowing you to lose the extra screen drop for good.

Ropewalker

Ropewalker eliminates the need for extra black drop between the screen and tall ceilings by integrating a screen and lift together in one ceiling-recessed box. Here's how it works: When the "down" command is delivered via switch, remote, or third-party control system, the viewing surface unrolls from an inner case. Once the surface is fully deployed, the entire screen is lowered to "show" position by the outer case utilizing stainless steel aircraft cables.

Ropewalker delivers an image size up to 18 feet wide to a position up to 34 feet below the ceiling, putting it right where it needs to be: in front of your audience, whether in a ballroom, gymnasium, house of worship, or other large venue. Ropewalker comes in both tab-tensioned and free-hanging versions, so it is available with every single Draper viewing surface, including award-winning 8K-ready TecVision®.

Acrobat

Although designed specifically to raise and lower projection screens, Acrobat is quite versatile. With a 1,000-pound lifting capacity, Acrobat can be used to lift a variety of other products, including scoreboards, lighting systems, and speakers. Using Acrobat, you can lower a screen up to 34 feet below the ceiling, putting the image in easy view of your audience without needing a large amount of black drop above the image. The Acrobat's generous 1,000-pound lifting capacity means it can easily lift all standard Targa XL, Premier XL, StageScreen®, and Paragon E and V sizes.

Steel cables with integrated safety straps ensure product safety when lifting projection screens, lights, backdrops, and more in convention centers, stages in gymnasiums, and houses of worship.