Mapping Festival 2013
Mapping Festival 2013 is about to get under way in Geneva so get tickets NOW. There’s something for everybody- installations, VJing, and workshops on mapping and stage design from the likes of Boris Edelstein, Joanie LeMercier, and Phillipe Chaurand.
“The Mapping Festival is a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to audiovisual arts and digital cultures. As the sole broadcasting space of this magnitude in Switzerland, the festival is now also recognised internationally, and this with the richness of programming. Mapping Festival offers every year audiovisual performances, installations, clubbing parties, live performances, architectural mapping, as well as workshops and conferences.
Thanks to this unique diversity aspect, the festival is recognised throughout the world as an major event, a real experimental meeting space, for creation and exchange with its innovative thinking in the field of audiovisual arts.
Now in its eighth edition, the Mapping Festival has steadily grown and has become one of the leading events of its kind in Europe.”
Museo Nazionale del Cinema uses projectiondesign
As part of a wholesale technological overhaul in one of Europe’s most evocative museum spaces, projectiondesign has supplied 40 of its high-performance DLP® projectors to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, Italy. The projectors were provided by and supported by Italian distribution partner, AGMULTIVISION and installed by Italian System Integrator OVRIT VIDEO. Image courtesy OVRIT Video
Housed inside the Mole Antonelliana, (more…)
NYX Atelier #01
The lighting design arm of NYX Visual, NYX Atelier recently did a private showing of “Tetraedre”, a projectionmapped sculpture for Vincent Coutelin’s private collection. The team painstakingly created the entire structure out of scrap materials and glue. They used a Panasonic 6k and a combo of Madmapper and Modul8 to drive the visuals. Nice work!
NYX Atelier #01 from NYX Visual Label on Vimeo.
Rubik’s Cube RGB Wall is Astounding
When I was a kid in the early 80′s, I had the particularly nerdy priviledge of participating in the first Rubik’s Cube-athon at Magic Mountain in California. 2,000 or so fanatics got to compete to see who could solve the cube the fastest and while my sub-one minute time garnered me a T-shirt, I sadly wasn’t even close. Fast forward to today and the cube is being used for far more fascinating devices- as witnessed in the Cube Works Studios Rubik’s Cube walls and murals. I know I know- it’s not digital…it’s not even electronic…but it’s a superb representation (in all it’s analog glory) of exactly what we see when we look at an RGB display. For a little primer, check out the Bayer Filter info….Pointillism is nothing new. Seurat, Signac, and even old Vincent Van Gogh himself were practitioners of the technique- but this…this is just fantastic!
The Cube Works is a Toronto-based art collaborative that specializes in using the ubiquitous cube for stunning, cutting-edge works of art. Smaller pieces have up to 4,000 of them and the record breaking Macau Skyline Mosaic has a whopping 85,794! In the projection and LED world we fret about pixelmapping and overlap of exacting dimensions…imagine having to flip a cube around to juuuuussst the right combination in order to physically replicate a 3×3 pixel grid! INSANE!
Peruse more of the work of Nick Hall and the Cube Works at their website and on their Facebook page.
The photos speak for themselves:
Integrated Visions to launch Form and Substance, a Group Exhibition
Exciting news from Brian and Michelle over at Integrated Visions- they’re opening a group exhibition entitled “Form and Substance” at the Gowanus Ballroom on the weekend of May 10-12. It’ll feature works by Joanie LeMercier, Claudio Sinatti, Domingo Zapata, and more. Here’s an excerpt fro the release note:
“Integrated Visions Productions is excited to announce an additional creative path for 2013. In the wake of the success of the ‘Codex Dynamic’ group exhibition at the 2012 DUMBO Arts Festival (see PF article), which received the festival’s Grand Prize and Best in Show awards, we’re focusing on more intimate artwork.
We’ve developed a series of projection mapped paintings, combining fine art painting techniques with cutting-edge, projection-mapped animations to create a hybrid medium that we see as the first new terrain being explored by working artists in the 21st Century – akin to Impressionism and similar upstart movements at the turn of the last century.
We quickly realized that there exists a global community of artists and technologists working at the intersection of the traditional media of painting and sculpture and projection mapping, and we began to contact our favorite practitioners and curate a group exhibition.
Form and Substance, North America’s first group exhibition dedicated to projection mapping as a fine arts medium, will take place the weekend of May 10-12, at the Gowanus Ballroom in Brooklyn, New York. The Frieze Art Fair, the enfant terrible of the global festival circuit, takes place in New York over the same weekend, making this a unique opportunity to make a global impression.”
If you’re in NYC or anywhere near on that weekend- this is one NOT TO MISS.
Electrosonic for Caltrans
It’s a fact that LA has the craziest traffic on the planet outside of NYC. I used to commute to Hollywood on a daily basis from the San Gabriel Valley and I can tell you- it’s not a party…at least not a party that’s fun to attend. Apart from the wackos and endless commuters, who takes care of the mundane? Which roads are open? Which ones are full of holes? Where is the traffic the worst? That job falls to Caltrans- and it’s not an easy one. So I was fascinated to see the following press release from our friends at Electrosonic about upgrading the District 7 Command Center video wall.
When Caltrans District 7 began the first phase of a multi-phase AV system upgrade at its Los Angeles facility, it contracted with Electrosonic to create a brighter, more reliable video wall for traffic monitoring that takes advantage of the latest in projection technology.
“Caltrans District 7 has more than 400 cameras on the highways of Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. “They can review camera feeds 24/7 in the facility and when there’s a traffic event – road damage or an accident – they can magnify that feed on the videowall. The videowall is integral to 24-hour traffic management.”
The existing videowall comprises a 12-screen center unit in a 4×3 configuration flanked by a pair of 6-screen 3×2 units. The giant wall features 80-inch diagonal screens in the center and 52-inch screens on the sides.
The standard format of the wall has single-camera feeds (more…)
Chris Shen- Infra
I have a friend experimenting with low-rez video (of the tube variety) and I said I’d look into some ideas…little did I know it would lead me to Chris Shen’s fascinating work- Infra. A TV made from discarded remote controls. There’s so many great things about this piece that it’s hard to know where to start. Hacking, tinkering, re-purposing, and a smidge of nostalgia all rolled into one glorious low-rez display that has to be seen with infrared goggles. Love it! Personally, I use the Harmony 720 (actually three of them) and though I tried really hard- I could not find one in the photos. When I purchase a new monitor or TV, the remote is usually the first thing I toss- knowing full-well there are better alternatives out there. Kind of makes me think why the manufacturer bothers at all with a lame remote, but that’s a discussion for another day. The whole thing is wired to a Peggy 2, courtesy Evil Mad Scientist Labratories. Be sure to read the write up HERE.
From his press release:
In 1955, Eugene Polley (1915 – 2012) designed the first ever wireless remote control for the Zenith Radio Corporation. At the press of a button, the remote would magically flash an invisible light from across the room and turn your TV set on, off, or change channels, all without you budging from the couch. It was an invention that changed the nature of television.
To kick off 2013 at 18 Hewett Street, Protein is proud to present interactive artist Chris Shen’s original artwork INFRA, a largescale installation that marks the (more…)
Lightbox from NYX Visual
NYX Visual Label has done some pretty impressive work in the last year, and they’ve expanded their studio offerings with NYX Atelier, focusing on the design and production of permanent digital art installs and light devices for private and public clients in Europe. Louis de Castro tells me “LIGHTBOX is a semi-modular, custom build LED ceiling that was designed by NYX Atelier for the reopening of Paris underground music venue “Panic Room” in January 2013. LIGHTBOX was developed by NYX Atelier 
along with Vincent Coutelin, our technical director, and Romain Belloche, our light designer, both overseeing the fabrication and visual programming aspects of the installation.
Thanks to Vincent we had the chance to travel to Shenzhen, China to purchase all the parts and electronics required but also to visit the fantastic factories and suppliers that now allow us to be more flexible than ever on the products and technologies we decide to use on each project.
LIGHTBOX from NYX Visual Label on Vimeo.
The development of the installation also featured a fullfiling partnership with young French company, Chromateq, that supplied us with the DMX controllers and LED Player Software offering great control and customization on a simple package.
Not having the possibility budget wise to create a completely new designed software and controller we turned to them for providing a complete solution that would allow us to concentrate on the design, technical sourcing and fabrication but also provide great tools for developing rich content following the artistic vision for the piece.”
Make sure to check out NYX on their site as well as other projects that have been featured here on Projectionfreak.
Castle Nightclub Gets a Rig from DCBolt Productions
Devin Wambolt over at DCBolt Productions gave me the heads-up on this crazy nightclub install they just completed. The club is Castle Nightclub in Chicago and they premiered the system for a huge NYE bash this year. Devin reports: “We are using three different types of LED’s in this system, (aside from the house lights) LED panels, LED strips, and LED modules. Our LED strips are (32x) SMD5050 LED pixels per meter, our Modules are (5x) SMD5050 LEDs per pixel, the LED panels are 6 millimeter pitch SMD2835 LED pixels. The led strips and modules are run by MADRIX Ultimate for real-time dynamic playback. The LED panel screens are being driven by a custom configured Resolume Arena setup.
Some pretty impressive work, and I’ll be sure to check it out next time I’m in Chicago!
The Ice Book- Super Intricate Projectionmapping Paper Models
When I was a kid, Saturdays were sometimes spent going to work with my Dad. He was an architect and since it was a weekend, we had the run of the place. I invariably would gravitate to the drafting room which, at his place, was huge! Lots of workstations, cabinets with every kind of colored pen/pencil/tip combo, electric erasers, all manner of paper, model making supplies, etc. Basically, everything that a small curious boy could get in trouble with! The thing that fascinated me the most though, were the scale models of all the buildings they were working on. Super intricate detail, all the way down to the little people cutouts and hand railings, as well as street signs and various decorative flora. So I was thrilled to come across the work of Davy and Kristin McGuire, an artistic duo out of the UK that does small-scale paper modeling combined with projection techniques. They form The Ice Book and direct, design, and perform their original video/model mashups for everything from installations to live theater shows, dance performances, interactive video performances and everything in between.
Their paper models are extremely detailed and exquisitely cut. Adding the element of projection just completely brings them to life. They use After Effects and Final Cut to render the final video, and (no surprise here) Madmapper to map the sets. So often on this site I focus on large-scale scale work, only to realize the really detailed stuff is every bit as intriguing!
A couple of their pieces stand out- ‘Psycho- Homage to Hitchcock’ as well as ‘The Hunter’.
Here’s some fascinating examples via their Vimeo page:
Psycho - Homage to Hitchcock from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The Hunter (Theatrical Installation) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The idea of an interactive pinboard at home is just so strikingly obvious….I think I’m going to start assembly immediately! Now to make it so there can be date-relevant info displayed along with fun remembrances and package it up in a mappable environment…hmmm……
Pinboard from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
Electrosonic Acquires Global Immersion
London (December 11, 2012) – Electrosonic is pleased to announce its acquisition of Global Immersion, a leader in the design and integration of high performance digital immersive theater attractions. Global Immersion will continue to serve the planetarium, institutional theater and giant screen markets.
The acquisition, completed on December 10, 2012, positions Electrosonic as the only company to offer digital immersive solutions across the theme park, museum, giant screen cinema and planetarium markets.
“This is a significant strategic move for both companies, and I am excited by the prospects presented by the acquisition,” says Jim Bowie, President of Electrosonic Group. “As a single operation, we will service an even broader range of markets, bringing further innovation and an expanded offering to our customers. Our goal to attract and develop the best industry talent has been one of the drivers of the acquisition. Together we will lead by consolidating our strengths and delivering the best visual systems in the world.”
Founded in 2007, Global Immersion is renowned for its work with highly specialized and technically-complex digital immersive theaters. The company has won multiple project and business awards, and has established a solid base of digital immersive theater attractions worldwide. Its project portfolio includes the California Academy of Sciences, Adler Planetarium, Moscow Planetarium, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Peoria Riverfront Museum and Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
Martin Howe, CEO of Global Immersion comments “I am delighted with this transaction with Electrosonic. It allows us to further expand our activities and develop our product and service offering, opening up new doors and bringing with it many synergies. The planetarium and giant screen markets are undergoing significant change as the digital revolution pace quickens. Electrosonic offers a range of benefits that our customers can immediately enjoy. Its international reach and broad technical expertise and capacity mean that we can more cost-effectively service a wider range of customers in more locations, while building upon our shared reputation for quality, performance and support.”
Here at Projectionfreak, we’re proud to have Electrosoniclamps.com as a sponsor! Check out their website by clicking on their advert over on the right for all your OEM and replacement lamp needs! If you think you might like to jump on the sponsorship bus, get in touch with Projectionfreak- admin(at)projectionfreak.com….
ScreenLab 0×02 Residency at MediaCityUK
Yikes! When do you ever get a chance to see the likes of Joanie Lemercier, Kyle McDonald, and Joel Gethin Lewis in the same room demonstrating real-time video artwork? At the ScreenLab Residency that’s where! Through the ScreenLab 0×02 residency, artists Kyle McDonald, Joanie Lemercier and Joel Gethin Lewis worked together with students and researchers at MediaCityUK and an advanced technology center on the main campus (Dig this place: The Centre for Visual Environments). It features the Octave, a truly astounding setup which is detailed HERE. Together they developed interactive artworks that provided a unique experience for each visitor by creating artificial worlds using sound and visuals that react to their movement.
The results of the residency were unveiled at a launch event on Wednesday 5 December which formed part of the University’s As Yet Impossible series of lectures, bringing together future thinkers to challenge audiences and give them a glimpse of how science and the arts can combine to shape the world. The really cool thing is that most of the work is openly available on Github- Here’s Kyle’s, Here’s Elliot Woods’ (curator and open source contributor to vvvv). The following is the Livestream broadcast (jump to :41-ish for the true start):
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Obscura Permanent Projectionmapping at the Hive
Projectionmapping artists Obscura recently installed a HUGE permanent projectionmapping rig for The Hive, a night club in Copenhagen. The decorations for the walls were modelled in SketchUp and transformed into flat shapes using the Pepakura Software. The different fragments were then laser cut in thick cardboard. Assembling the pieces wasn’t easy, but with patience and small nails, acrylic foam and other remedies they were put onto the wall and fastened.
They used six 4000 lumen Acer projectors for covering the two walls. They were mounted below the ceiling to cover 11 by 3 meters on each wall. The connections were made using HDMI cables. The longest stretch was approximately 15 meters – about the furthest you can go without amplification.
A Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon 5870 graphics card was connected to two TrippleHead2Go devices. On the machine, Madmapper handled the precise mapping of pre rendered graphics to the physical shapes. But apart from that we created a box with buttons that allows the employees to switch between the different prerecorded video loops. The box was created using an Arduino board that communicates with Max/MSP on the computer. Max/MSP handles the timing, fading and switching between modes and forwards a midi signal to MadMapper which then reacts by switching between between presets. Also it was a requirement that a VJ should be able to connect to the system. The VJ switches to a setting on the Arduino box and plugs in a DVI cable. This mode is handled by a Blackmagic capture card that forwards the VJ signal into Milumin. Here the VJ signal is adjusted to the dimensions of the walls (the signal is tiled and mirrored) and the output from Milumin is then via Syphon put into MadMapper.
So once again we see a prime example of how a little thought and ingenuity go a long way. Expensive components and complex gear need not be the purvey of video, mapping, or permanent installs, indeed- you can get some pretty astounding results with less. Nice work Obscura!
Permanent mapping installation at The Hive from Obscura on Vimeo.
Electrosonic’s A/V Systems Expertise Showcased in Five Thea Award-Winning Projects
Electrosonic is pleased to announce that it has taken part in five projects that have captured Thea Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Presented by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), the Thea Awards recognize and honor excellence and breakthrough innovation in visitor experiences, attractions, exhibits and places.
The 19th annual Thea Awards will be presented April 6, 2013, at a gala dinner at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. TEA is an international non-profit association representing the world’s leading creators, developers, designers and producers of compelling places and experiences.
Electrosonic played key roles in five very diverse Thea Award winners.
Working directly for Walt Disney Imagineering, Electrosonic performed the AV systems installation of the “Radiator Springs Racers” ride at Disney California Adventure Park. Winning in the Attraction category, the ride puts visitors in the driver’s seat for a thrilling race through the world of Disney-Pixar’s “Cars.”
Electrosonic’s close working relationship with Universal Studios has resulted in another award winning attraction. Electrosonic handled AV system design and integration for another winner in the Attraction category: “Transformers: The Ride 3D” at Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Hollywood. The attraction is an immersive, next-generation thrill ride that puts participants in the middle of the ultimate war zone with the famed Transformers.
Winning in the Museum category is Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary, for which Electrosonic provided AV system design and integration services. The dynamic new facility celebrates Canada’s sports heroes and legends in a dozen galleries with compelling media and displays.
Working for WET Design, Electrosonic performed the projection system design and integration for WET’s contribution to Living Screen display at the “Big-O Experience” water sculpture at Yeosu 2012 International Expo in Korea, a winner in the Event category. The unique multimedia installation fused a breakthrough concept and cutting-edge technology to dazzle visitors.
Finally, Electrosonic was hired by Thinkwell Group of Burbank, CA to provide design, engineering and installation services for the “Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter” in London, which netted honors in the Studio Tour category. At this venue, visitors experience the “making of” process used to bring the extraordinary characters, worlds and events of the books alive on the big screen.
Check out their projector lamp website while you’re at it- there’s a link on the right—-> or click Electrosoniclamps.com.
Massive Video Wall Scoreboard for Pacers
Right here in my hometown! In fact, I got a peek at it before opening night and it looked cartoonishly huge even without being powered up. I might get a chance to get to rig an event around the behemoth this weekend so I’ll snap some more photos….but for a write up, check out Commercial Integrator’s web article.
The new scoreboard features twin 1080p HD video screens (Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision™ 6mm LED), each measuring 50 feet long – extending nearly foul line to foul line – by 21 feet high, about 2,800 square feet in total space. In addition to the HD screens running the length of the court, the rectangular scoreboard is capped by a pair of 25 feet by 14 feet full 1080p HD video screens facing each baseline. Completing the interior portion of the Bankers Life Fieldhouse upgrade is a pair of LED video displays, one in each balcony end zone. The displays measure 23’ by 10’ and provide fans with stats, replays, and other game-related information.
Through ANC Sports’ VisionSOFT operating system, the new audio and video upgrades work with the arena’s existing LED ribbon and digital courtside signage systems.
ANC also updated the aging audio system, head end and broadcast control room. The new control room was built out complete with a full 3G broadcast infrastructure with 1080P signals and production equipment to provide unprecedented image quality. ANC’s unique 64-bit operating system maximizes the clarity of the scoreboard as the operating system does not scale its content, enabling the video screens to display 1:1 resolution.
projectiondesign F35 Panorama
Edge-blending just became obsolete. Well, at least SOME edge-blending that is. Projectiondesign just released the F35 Panorama, a projector with a 21:9 aspect ratio. Funny, because just today I was looking at an ad for a 21:9 monitor and it seemed strange to me that you wouldn’t just use two monitors, given that monitors are pretty cheap and most graphics cards can handle it anyway…..but this- this is just crazy when you think about it. It’s still a single chip DLP, but up to 7k! Now if they can work this into the F85 series…..or if I can just upgrade my Optoma in the basement….
A unique projector designed for advanced meeting rooms and collaborative spaces in which users are sharing a variety of graphical image content both locally and remotely, the F35 panorama boasts an exceptionally wide image aspect ratio of 21:9 or 2.37:1. In an office environment with an average ceiling height, this enables images as wide as 4m (13’) to be created without the need for edge-blending the output of two separate projectors.
Furthermore, the F35 panorama’s flexible input configuration means that it can project simultaneous side-by-side images from two separate high-resolution sources, fill an entire screen from a single source, or simply set up a video conference call next to a computer presentation.
Anders Løkke, Marketing Director, projectiondesign, comments: “We have introduced the F35 panorama to address (more…)
Electrosoniclamps.com on Projectionfreak
We’re happy to offer a quick way to buy projector lamps from Electrosoniclamps.com – Over on the right there is a graphic with Electrosoniclamps.com’s clickable graphic that’ll take you directly to their site. Just think….when perusing Projectionfreak.com for ideas for your next projectionmapping, videomapping, or maybe even reading a review or two, you’re one click away from getting high quality OEM lamps for everything from Barco to Viewsonic! Their site is crazy for lamps- OEM, Economy, calibration service, recycling, same-day shipping…you name it! There’s special discounts for Volume and Trade buyers too. So be sure to head over and have a look!
Codex Dynamic at DUMBO Arts 2012
DUMBO Arts Fest 2012 kicked into high gear with the side and underside of the Manhattan Bridge projectionmapped with “Codex Dynamic”, a work curated by Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker. Two site-specific, large-scale, mapped projections rotated with a selection of single-channel video artworks by internationally renowned video artists. The exhibition seeks to conjure artistic inquiry relating to the subjectivity of space, time and the effect they have on our perceived reality. The DUMBO Arts Festival is a three day celebration of arts, music, and performance that takes place “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpasses” every year with world-renowned artists displaying everything from painting to video to dance and music.
Of course, we’re particular to the video aspect (more…)
projectiondesign at the London Transport Museum
Who doesn’t love trains and transport museums? I thought so. No one.
We go to a lot of ‘kid-centric’ venues for entertainment (obviously- with our kids). But like any concert or theatre show I attend, I’m drawn in to the details of production. Museums and the like are pretty much the incubators for ‘multi-media’ as it were so there are no shortages of projectors and display devices- right down to the signage. So I got a thrill when I read about the London Transport Museum’s use of projection…. and their weapon of choice? Norway’s projectiondesign of course. They are celebrating 5 years of constant use. 5 years! Projectiondesign’s projectors are renowned for their utility when it comes to permanent and semi-permanent installs, as thoroughly featured by the following:
From the press release:
Situated in Covent Garden Market, London’s most frequented tourist hot spot, the London Transport Museum utilises projectiondesign F3+ and F1+ series projectors throughout the museum’s exhibit areas to tell the story of transport within London. The projection system was installed and maintained by global systems integrator, Electrosonic in 2007 and has been working non-stop ever since. “In 1933, Chief Executive, Frank Pick’s mantra was ‘fitness for purpose’ and he believed that good design was essential. This principle applies to the design of technology in our gallery,” explains Rob Lansdown, Chief Projects and Infrastructure Officer at London Transport Museum. “We use projection to show how this unique design culture was developed across the company’s entire range, from vehicles and architecture to information signs and publicity. Our requirements in 2007 were for high-resolution projectors that would be stable over time as well as produce outstanding image quality in various ambient light levels and, which required minimum maintenance over the lifetime of the exhibit. We are very pleased with how well the projectors have performed.”
F1+ projectors are installed in a specially designed ceiling mount to project a massive 12-meter floor canvas. The exhibit takes advantage of projectiondesign’s high brightness, accurate colour capabilities and 24/7 failsafe operation. Visitors can see the collection of 5,000 posters and art collection for themselves as they walk through the exhibit. projectiondesign F3+ and F1+ series projectors are used to communicate the story of London in major exhibits such as Victorian transport, World’s first underground, Pioneer tube, Travel revolution, Growth of suburbia, London in the 1920s and 1930s, London transport at war, London Icons and Transport futures.
“Our museum has no moving parts, so through projection, we are able to visualise the scale, size and complexity of London’s transport,” adds Lansdown.
“The building is an English Heritage grade II listed former Victorian flower market, which relies on natural cooling and heating. As with all technology, heat is an issue for us, and Electronsonic designed specially mounted projection systems.”
projectiondesign F22 in World’s Largest Ship Sim
A while back I featured a story on the Swire Marine Training Center, which uses 24 projectiondesign F82′s, their flagship big-gun projector. This one though, uses a whopping 48 smaller projectors (projectiondesign’s F22) to simulate two 360 degree bridges. Farstad Shipping built the sims to train people on the massive rigs being deployed to support Australia’s natural gas boom. From projectionDesign’s website:
Farstad Shipping, the owner and operator of Offshore Simulator Center AS (OSC) of Ålesund, Norway, is a leading supplier of support and services to the international oil industry. The Perth project is the OSC’s most ambitious installation to date and was opened in December by the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg.
The offshore training simulator is the world’s largest of its kind, located in Perth, Australia. It is built to simulate two large, 360 degree bridges, using 48 of projectiondesign’s F22 wuxga DLP® projectors. The aim is to have the bridge personnel train to operate large-scale mechanical hardware, such as winches, by working together with other bridge personnel and rig cranes in a team effort, in an environment as close to a real life as possible.
The images were seamlessly blended together to produce a full 360-degree image that was some 7 meters high and 15 meters in diameter. The “half a teacup” shaped screen incorporates similar technology to that used in IMAX cinemas, and Joel A. Mills, the OSC design director, explains: “The visual simulation aspect of the system is fully integrated with the hardware on the ‘bridge’, which is all Rolls-Royce marine equipment and which behaves exactly as it would if you were really at sea. As soon as the simulation starts, you are convinced not only that you are surrounded by water but that the water is actually moving and that you are moving with it.” Mills continues; “a lot can happen when you are servicing an oil-rig in a remote, offshore location, especially if the weather is bad. So the simulator gives us the opportunity to re-create those adverse weather conditions. As the waves grow larger, the movement of the vessels within the 3D environment is mathematically and physically resolved so that their response is exactly as you would expect to find in the real world.”
The projectiondesign projectors were chosen due to OSC’s need for total consistency in terms of brightness, optics and colour matching, reflecting the mission-critical nature of their work. Joel A. Mills explains: “Rather than using a few large, powerful projectors, our requirement is for a large number of relatively small devices that can nonetheless deliver very high-performance imaging over a short throw distance. The F22 is perfect in this respect – bright, consistent, rugged and reliable.”
Arkaos Stage Server
From Arkaos:
ArKaos is proud to announce the official release of the ArKaos Stage Server at PLASA 2012 (Stand no 2-R23 in the White Light zone) where it will be shown for the first time in Europe.
The new Stage Server is an affordable, easy-to-use media server for creating and controlling video content. It offers the perfect solution for live entertainment, theatre, educational, audio-visual and worship applications.
Easy to operate
Designed for quick and easy set-up, ArKaos Stage Server is probably the easiest server currently on the market to learn and use.
It operates using MediaMaster Express in ‘Simple Mode’ and offers LED mapping over Ethernet and two Full HD outputs which, combined with the powerful ArKaos graphics engine, produce smooth visuals. These can be easily triggered using just a few DMX channels on your lighting desk or notes on a MIDI controller.
The ArKaos Stage Server also ships with a vast library of high quality digital media from the world’s best visual content providers. All you have to supply is your creative imagination!
Safe and reliable
The ArKaos Stage Server has been engineered to ensure rugged reliability for confidence under every performance condition. For extra security, the fast recovery system by Acronis allows extremely simple reset of the server from the boot menu.
Expandable
The ArKaos Stage Server hardware can be extended to support a large range of live video inputs and, for further functionality, can be expanded to run with MediaMaster PRO by means of a simple software upgrade.
High performance, affordable price
Designed to appeal to those with smaller budgets but high standards, the ArKaos Stage Server retains its high level performance and specifications yet at a price that will fit most customers’ budgets.
In total, ArKaos Stage Server offers the ideal combination of scalability and creativity at an unbeatable price, to bring creative media within the reach of all levels of expertise and budgets.
The ArKaos Stage Server and the MediaMaster software are distributed in the UK by White Light Ltd. Further information about ArKaos’ products can be found at www.arkaos.net
ArKaos Stage Server at a Glance
Technical excellence:
• Two Full HD outputs • Fast recovery system by Acronis • LED Mapper included • Kling-Net Mapper included • Professional DMX connectors
Peace of mind:
• Simple to use • Quick to set up • Easy to learn • Professional performance • Unbeatable price
Ideal for:
• Clubs, disco bars, live entertainment • Theatre, education, worship • Audio-visual, conferences
Projectionmapping Inside the LV21 Lightship
Tom Beg is an MA student at UCA, Rochester and sent me some photos and info about his last project. The LV 21 is a decommissioned lightship currently moored at Gillingham Pier, County Kent, UK. He worked in conjunction with an event called the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend to produce content featuring Morse code as visualized by dots and dashes. I’ve seen lot’s of projectionmapping done on ships, but very little IN a ship, let alone the content being ABOUT the ship. He used four Optoma HD600X-LV projectors for the overall shoot. Photoshop and After Effects were used for the animations and for the mapping. These were played back through Cyclone HD Media players (very cool little units, BTW). All this adds up to a fairly ‘lo-fi’ solution but as Tom states “I think this project proves that creating interesting work through projectionmapping isn’t out of reach for the everyday man. You don’t need expensive equipment and specialist software if you have good ideas and the right location”. True dat.
Make sure to check out his online portfolio at TomBeg.com. Very interesting stuff indeed.
Mapping Festival 2013 Registration
If you didn’t get to the Mapping Festival this year, make sure to plan for next year! The dates for the next edition are set: May 2nd through May 12th 2013! So they are pleased to announce the open call for submissions. The dates are Aug.15th- September 20th, 2012, (AV performances, AV installations, workshops, conference) and October 1st- 31st (VJing, Videomapping)
This call is open to everyone working in all disciplines of audiovisual art and digital culture. Whatever you’re imagination and creativity can muster! Submit your audiovisual performances, installations, workshops, or other audiovisual multidisciplinary projects to be presented at the Mapping Festival!
Christie Digital’s Mini Holodeck
At SIGGRAPH last week, Christie Digital unveiled the HoloStation, a “compact personal visualization solution” that can be tucked into the corner of an office rather than taking up an entire room (like their CAVE system). While the concept of multi-projector holodeck style rooms is nothing new, this one is the first I’ve seen that’s packaged from a company for one-user interaction. The system, which the company hopes will be used for feature film previs as well as trade-show and biomedical applications, uses four of Christie’s LED-based Mirage WU-L projectors. The projectors are mounted overhead, with proprietary lenses that throw the images downward, onto three screens that wrap around the user’s viewing angle. Because the projectors use LED illumination with an expected life of 60,000 hours, Christie says the system should run for seven years without requiring a replacement of the light source.
The system pushes up to 15 million pixels (7.5 megapixels per eye) at a 120 Hz refresh rate (60 Hz per eye), Christie reps said. It utilizes NVIDIA Quadro Plex graphics processing and a head-tracking system and other software from WorldViz.
OK. Not quite a full-blown Holodeck on the Enterprise, but it’s a good start. Gaming would certainly benefit…maybe we could incorporate some mapping to round out the experience…….
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