LED screens 101

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 19:15:54 +0000

The following is a re-print from the good folks at LiveDesign. It’s a great article on LED screen technology originally done by Fabio Aversa of Eurodisplay.com. Looks like it’s only up for a month then it’ll have to go into digital oblivion, so read it while you can! While you’re at it, have a look at Eurodisplay’s website- it’s chock full of great info about LED’s, LED technology, and outdoor displays.

Technorati Tags: computers, digital media, display, entertainment technology, LED, LED wall, multi-display, native resolution, pixel

Infected Mushroom’s Big Balls

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:17 +0000

Psychedelic trance artists Infected Mushroom needed a trippy show….so who would you call? V Squared Labs, natch,….and VV delivered a big pair of balls. Literally. Two huge orbs flank one another against a white cyc and the artists duel it out under the influence of Touchdesigner. From some other shots you can clearly see one of them using a KS-1974 from SmithsonMartin to mix. Stay tuned for a review of this groundbreaking console!

Technorati Tags: computers, digital media, DJ, entertainment technology, media server, projection mapping, Software-based control, videomapping, VJ

Coolux Pandora’s Box 5.1 Released

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:19 +0000

Pandora’s Box Version 5.1 has been released and is available at their DOWNLOAD SITE. This latest release offers a range of new features including AES 256-bit Media Encryption. To protect exclusive content from being copied or misused, users can choose between code based encryption generated within the Pandoras Box interface, or dongle-based encryption that would allow content to be played only during certain pre-defined times or on certain machines.

The new version 5.1 features are:

- NEW MATRIX PATCHER
The Pandoras Box Matrix Patcher introduces a new Map-View making it possible to re-locate individual pixels for creative setups when working with conventional LED processors such as Barco, Daktronics, Galaxia/Winvision, etc. When working with uncommon LED-fixture shapes, this new feature will be a time saver when it comes to repositioning pixels to fit the actual LED design.

- TIMELINE KEY PRESETS
Another major new workflow feature is the update-preset function. Pandoras Box users can now store and recall any amount of timeline keys as presets and update their data to all instances. This feature will significantly reduce the time needed to program the timelines for complex shows.

- LIGHTS & SHADOWS
The Aeon FX Engine now supports multiple lights as well as real-time shadow projection onto 3D object layers. This is yet another step toward making it easier for users to realize larger parts of the content creation and compositing process in the Pandoras Box itself. This new feature makes it easy to add a beautiful sense of spatial depth to 3D objects.

- MEDIA ENCRYPTION
coolux’s new media encryption technology will allow customers to protect exclusive content from being copied or misused, using AES 256-bit encryption algorithms. Users will have the choice between code based encryption generated within the Pandoras Box interface, or dongle-based encryption that would allow content to be played only during certain pre-defined times or on certain machines.

- DYNAMIC and 3D WARPING
The Pandoras Box’s Warper has become more flexible. The Version 5.1 continues coolux’s quest for warping excellence through allowing users to animate and control the Warper via keys in the timeline. This new development is perfect for realizing projects that involve the tracking of moving head projectors and moving sets, where the warping has to change in a seamless way according to the different positions.

3ds Max files can now be directly imported and used for warping. In addition to this, the Warper mesh points can be moved and worked with along the Z axis as well. Warping specialists will be able to apply global planar textures to multiple meshes.

-StreamiX
With this flexible desktop streaming and capturing tool, Pandoras Box users are able to easily stream content from one computer to another. For example: During a presentation, the presenter’s computer could be connected to a Pandoras Box system, which would get the presenter’s slide show presentation on to a big screen/projection etc. without the need for an additional capture card.

- ASIO audio tracks
All Pandoras Box 5.1 playback products will support ASIO audio tracks. The number of ASIO tracks available to each playback product will depend on the number of video layers.

- CURVE EDITOR
The Curve Editor includes improved value references, different mouse modes and an improved zoom function. The value references create a more comfortable overview for the users, who can now choose between a select, a move and a zoom tool when working with the curve editor.

Technorati Tags: computers, coolux, media server, Pandora's Box, projection control, signal processing, Software-based control

Leviathan Dart Case Study

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:46 +0000

Quality production of any kind, projectionmapping or not, always requires so much more than people think. This video is a great example of that. We ran a piece a while back on Leviathan’s Dodge Dart campaign for Union Ad Works that showed a ridiculously cool projectionmapping featuring the once-lowly auto. The Dart was reborn onto a sleek, mesmerizing projected soundstage complete with rich colors, 3d backgrounds, and zooming landscapes. This video gives a bit of a peek behind the scenes into what it took to pull off a well done piece of work- great camera work, Touchdesigner, and Panasonic projectors…..what more could you want?

Make sure to stay tuned for some coverage of the upcoming Amon Tobin ISAM tour, which has been redesigned and reworked with help from the experts at Leviathan.

Technorati Tags: computers, digital media, entertainment technology, interactive video, Panasonic, projection, projection mapping, Touchdesigner, videomapping

Avolites AI

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:30:30 +0000

Avolites has formed a strategic partnership with Immersive LTD and they now manufacturing a suite of products under the name AI- meaning their high end media servers. AVOLITES MEDIA Ltd. will release Ai media servers through the existing AVOLITES international distribution network. Meanwhile Immersive Ltd. will continue in their successful business of event production, experiential design and content creation for an expanding and diverse, high profile market.

AVOLITES MEDIA Ltd. will design, develop, manufacture and distribute the Ai media server range. Immersive Ltd. and AVOLITES MEDIA Ltd have unique businesses, which
complement each other.

They have formed a strategic alliance and are committed to working together. This relationship of co-operation, communication, feedback and support will be channelled into product design and development. In an alliance that is defining the future.
Here’s a product sheet
It looks like the rack mount version is the AIS-T4, with Avolites Media Ai software, Ais-T performs smooth playback of multilayer 4k resolution content with up to six full 1080p HD outputs arranged in a timeline timecode sequencer. Users can build and create their show in a 3D Stage Visualizer and use the powerful mapping capabilities to allow rapid, precise mapping and warping onto any 3D surface. Tightly integrated support for 3D displays, LEDs, moving lights and other visual elements allow designers to merge video and lighting with unprecedented control.

They’re also releasing the Sapphire Media console, the AI-SM, in August, as well as a dedicated server console- the MSC-1. Exciting stuff from Avo and I can’t wait to get some more info. Be sure to check back for an update!

Technorati Tags: Avolites, digital media, entertainment technology, HD, media, media server, multi-display, signal processing, Software-based control

One for the weekend

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:02:59 +0000

Pause Fest in Melbourne this weekend

Renata Deszo

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:34:23 +0000

I wasn’t sure if I had ever run her stuff before, but Renata Deszo does some great work- as an example, here is the mapping she did for the International VLS Video Mapping Trophy final show at Heavent Paris October 26, 2011. There’s also some great architectural mappings as well. Renata, who goes by the moniker ‘Rendez’, has a bunch of really great examples of her artwork and technical prowess at this website. Make sure to check it out!

Technorati Tags: architainment, CG, digital media, media, projection mapping, Video Artists, videomapping

Electrosonic at the European Parliament Visitor’s Center

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:30:11 +0000

London (May 1, 2012) – The Parlamentarium, the new visitors’ centre at the European Parliament in Brussels, uses a variety of interactive multimedia exhibits to take visitors on a unique and personal journey into the heart of European Politics. Electrosonic engineered and installed the main exhibition audio-visual hardware for Stuttgart-based designer ATELIER BRÜCKNER. The Parlamentarium is the first visitors’ centre fully accessible in 23 languages, and to-date has attracted over 120,000 visitors from across the globe.

Guided through state-of-the-art exhibitions by a personal electronic multimedia guide, visitors see how policy decisions are made and how they influence Europeans’ daily lives. All signage and media is presented in 23 languages, which had an enormous influence on how AV techniques were used throughout the centre.

Electrosonic won the bid for the project in an open Europe-wide competitive tender; the
scope of work consisted of the detailed design, supply, installation, set up and commissioning of the media hardware for different themed exhibition areas. These areas include a pair of 360º theatres, nearly 100 LCD panels, an innovative voxel display featuring 13,000 LED globes, 140 computers, multichannel audio, 40 km of signal cables and 18 racks of equipment. Electrosonic also integrated RFID hardware for customised, language specific handheld Multimedia Guides supplied by NOUS of Austria; they consist of repackaged Apple iPod Touch units augmented by RFID technology to provide customised interactivity, including exhibit activation in the visitors’ preferred language.

The first series of exhibits orients visitors to the European Parliament and outlines the European Union’s history. Among them are “Prologue,” featuring a 33-foot long table with models of the principal European Parliament buildings backed by a five-bar LED ticker tape-style display from the UK’s Message Maker Displays, and “Treaty Tables,” showcasing a number of 40-inch table-format LCD touchscreens, which outline the documents that have produced the current EU.

“Today and Tomorrow” features an interactive “Calendar” with a sliding LCD panel that reveals information about each week’s principal events, plus an LCD touchscreen panel to access bios of the 754 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Three “Polling Booths” allow visitors to ‘vote’ on current issues, and then compare their opinions with those of other visitors and MEPs on the LED “Results Ceiling” display.

The big show at the Parlamentarium is the 12-minute 360º presentation, “A Parliament for Europe,” where visitors can listen to debates, watch votes and learn the legislative process. Fourteen Panasonic PT D6000ELK projectors produce an edge-blended image across a total screen area of approximately 1,600 square feet. Information on the MEPs is available via 36 19-inch touchscreens set into visitors’ desks. Another 360º show, “Europe in Daily Life,” is shown in a second theatre with a similar projection configuration, plus 22 touchscreens in custom housings with 15.4-inch widescreen portrait orientations.

Electrosonic supplied a Dataton WATCHOUT system to provide the synchronized playout, edge-blending and warping required for the shows; the system also delivers timecode to the NOUS media guides to synchronize the multi-language commentaries.

“United in Diversity” features the “Ground of Stories” exhibit where a 2,260-square foot floor map of Europe is embedded with 600 RFID tags. Visitors run 12 trolley-like mobile displays over the map to learn more about certain places. Each mobile display uses a webcam in its base to show an image of what’s on the floor; when it detects a tag, the monitor displays detailed information about the location in the visitor’s own language. The long-lasting, battery-operated mobile displays were built by exhibit fabricator Bruns and fitted out by Electrosonic.

A 131×1-foot ticker tape-style display from Message Maker Displays in the UK surrounds the exhibit, showing continuous European statistics and opinion poll results. Overhead a “Sky of Opinions” voxel display, developed by Latvia-based Atlantic Star under sub-contract to Electrosonic, uses 13,000 spherical LED-based elements arranged in a three-dimensional array that mirrors the map on the floor. The LEDs interpret the data presented on the ticker in colour and graphical form.

Electrosonic delivered, installed and fine tuned the hardware in collaboration with no less than nine other companies, on a working site that brought together 700 workers. The contribution of Electrosonic’s engineers was decisive to overcoming the many conceptual and technical difficulties inherent to a project at the cutting edge of pedagogy and technology.

In most cases, Electrosonic mounted all source equipment in racks in a dedicated control room. To meet the need for continuous updating, a dual media server system with RAID storage is networked to all machines.

Among the equipment furnished by Electrosonic were media servers, video source and interactive computers from DVS in the UK; NEC 40- and 46-inch displays; Fohn and KEF loudspeakers; and Cisco network switches.

Electrosonic continues to support the European Parliament Visitors’ Centre with a five- year service contract, including preventative maintenance visits, telephone support and a two-day call out response time.

Technorati Tags: computers, digital media, Electrosonic, entertainment technology, interactive video, monitors, multi-display, projection control, signal processing, Software-based control

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MeshWarpServer- My New Favorite Toy….

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:24:11 +0000

My Dad was an architect. Well, first he was a draftsman, then an architect. When I was a kid, I used to hang out in my Dad’s office on the weekends (he pretty much worked ALL the time)….but I remember very clearly playing with all the models that were there. They had every imaginable scale of every kind of building- little cars, little people, tiny shrubs, fake grass, miniature trees. Combine this with all kinds of architectural drawing gadgets, erasers, and pens of every hue, and you had a little kid’s dream world…or a parent’s nightmare….

So it was with great pleasure that I came across this video of Martin Fröhlich’s MeshWarpServer that shows projectionmapping in a whole new way. Well, you should watch the video first then read on….

So for all of you that want to absorb the technical details, the following video really goes into depth. MeshWarpServer is powerful stuff. There are many features beyond just mapping, as you’ll soon see:

I plan on overdosing on MWS and doing a full write-up…(just as soon as I get time), but I seem to have inherited my Dad’s work addiction. Make sure to check it out and give it a test drive!

Plus it’s just fun to say “Meshwarpserver….Meshwarpserver…“

Technorati Tags: media server, multi-display, pixel mapping, projection, projection control, projection mapping, Software-based control, videomapping

Cinema 4D Overload!

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:00:01 +0000

Great. It’s not like I don’t have enough to do this week….now I have to peruse every single minute of Nick Cambell’s outstanding tutorial videos from NAB a couple of weeks ago. Nick runs Greyscalegorilla.com and is a master of C4D. His site is a treasure trove of great info. Be sure to check out the whole series which also features Chris Smith, Kevin Aguirre, Colin Sebastyen, Rob Garrott, Dave Glanz, ….good lord my head is going to explode. Just do yourself a favor and watch. To make it easy- I put a link on our Tutorials for Projection Page.

Technorati Tags: digital media, entertainment technology, graphics, media, Software-based control, Video Artists