mirroring

Tired of lugging your laptop from class to class? Try teaching and presenting with your iPad 2 instead! The iPad 2 can connect to a projector through a VGA adapter, just like your laptop. You can open PowerPoint and Keynote presentations in the Keynote app for iPad. Here’s what you’ll need:

iPad 2
Keynote app for iPad ($9.99)
Apple VGA Adapter for iPad ($29.99)
PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, emailed to yourself, loaded to Chalk or synced to your iPad using iTunes and Keynote

Once you’ve navigated to your presentation online (or in Keynote), click to open. If loading from the web, click again on “Open in Keynote.” Keep in mind that some formatting may be lost in translation from PowerPoint to Keynote, or from your laptop to your iPad. See this guide from Apple Support on best practices for creating a presentation on a Mac for use on an iPad. Some quick tips:

The simpler your presentation, the more likely it will open properly on iPad.
Swipe or tap iPad’s screen to switch slides.
Presenter notes will show up on iPad, but you must select that option from the menu at upper right.
Use simple fonts; unrecognizable fonts will automatically be replaced with Helvetica.
Resize images before inserting them in your presentation; this allows for quicker download.
Do not plan to transmit audio; currently projection from iPad 2 only works for video.
The first generation iPad does not support projection or mirroring.

You may also use iPad 2 to present media groups or slide shows in LUNA. LUNA mirrors from iPad 2 seamlessly! Contact the VRC if you’d like a demonstration.

Unfortunately, iPad is not yet fully compatible with ARTstor but you can access some ARTstor functionality on iPad with their mobile app.

PLEASE NOTE: Your iPad displays all passwords character-by-character as you enter them. Right now there is no way to change this option. Wait until you have logged in to Chalk, email, LUNA, or other websites before connecting iPad 2 to the projector.

If you have any questions about teaching with iPad 2, or if you’d like to borrow an iPad 2 and adapter to try out the possibilities, please contact the VRC.

Have you had trouble getting presentations to look good in CWAC classrooms? Are images too dark, or the wrong size? The following tips will solve most projection problems and work best for MacBook Pros. Knowing how to adjust your resolution, mirroring and color profile will help you when presenting outside of CWAC, too, since every projector is a little different.

Please Note: In CWAC, we recommend turning off at least the first two rows of lights closest to the screen for maximum color accuracy and brightness.

We now have VGA and HDMI connections (with adapters for Mac!) You might consider trying HDMI for the best color and clarity.

First, select System Preferences from the Apple menu at the top left of your Finder toolbar. Then click on Displays.

When this window opens, you can check “Show displays in menu bar” if you would like a shortcut to Displays in your Finder menu. Next, adjust your ExtronScalerA (Projector) resolution. We recommend 1900 x 1080 (or as high as your monitor will allow) at 60 Hz.

Now adjust your Color LCD (Laptop) resolution to 1440 x 900.

Go back to the VGA Display window and select the Arrangement tab. Check or uncheck the box as you prefer (if you would like to project exactly what is on your laptop screen, check Mirror Displays. If you would like to show a Powerpoint presentation with presenter notes, or drag only one window to the projector screen at a time, uncheck this box).

Finally, click on the Color tab. Switch profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. This should correct images that are appearing dark or muddled. If sRGB IEC61966-2.1 is not showing up on your list, be sure that the box “Show profiles for this display only” is NOT checked.

For a MacBook, settings are the same as above except the Color LCD (Laptop) resolution should be set at 1280 x 800.

Click here to read more about this topic. If you have trouble setting up a different kind of laptop, or if you have any questions, please contact the VRC or AV Services.