AVSmartz is always on the lookout for useful tools to help others do their jobs better.  We've launched the AV Tech Tools page to provide a listing of some of the tools we've found useful from time to time. If you have any tools or resources that you think others could benefit from, send us a note and let us know.

Projector Calculator: The good folks over at Projector Central provide a free projector calculator to determine the throw distance, ratio and screen size for a particular projector.  While a general rule of thumb for the proper throw distance is 1.5 times the width of the screen, sometimes every inch matters so it is nice to have a tool to allow for accurate calculation.

Custom Shapes: With over 100 million downloads, most people have heard of the OpenOffice suite of products that directly compete with Microsoft Office.  They are both great products; one is just free, open source and continuously improved; the other costs more than $500.00 dollars and costs again each time it is upgraded. If you are interested in lighting design in OpenOffice simply use the Draw program and use some of the custom shapes provided by Mark Lautman.