Gobo

A gobo is a thin disc, made of metal or glass, that sits in front of the lamp in a gobo projector. Light passes through the open or colored parts of the disc and throws that image onto a surface. Businesses use gobos to project a logo on a sidewalk, a monogram on a wedding dance floor, a safety marking on a warehouse floor or a message on a patio.

How big and sharp the projection looks depends on three things: the gobo's size, the lens, and the throw distance, which is how far the projector is mounted from the surface. Gobo art also needs care, because thin lines and small text that look fine on paper can disappear once they are projected large.

Say an event lighting company called Lantern Hall Events gets a couple's monogram as a phone photo and needs it 6 feet wide on the dance floor from a 20 foot mount. The art has to be cleaned up and sized for that exact room before the gobo is made.

aiKit's Gobo Proof Studio, in early access for a small group of accounts, checks the logo's resolution, sizes the art for the real distance and lens, sends a proof your customer approves from a phone, and makes a CMYK print file for the gobo maker.

Related terms

See it in practice