Coolux Pandora’s Box 5.1 Released
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:
(more…)
Avolites AI
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!
Electrosonic at the European Parliament Visitor’s Center
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, (more…)
White Kanga Modeling Projection System v1.0
Check out this extremely cool interactive model from White Kanga. Touchdesigner figured heavily in the creation naturally, and it’s a great example of how this powerful software can be utilized for very different aspects of a project. Peter Kirn, of CDM, talked with the project’s creators, Rafal Bielski, about the ins-and-outs- check it out on the CDM page!
Realtime projection+servo+augmented reality.
Rafal Bielski : Programming, CG
Arek Rekita: Progamming, Devices
Rafal Osmolski: Support
In a Thousand Drops….Refracted Glances
I recently came across the work of Aleksandra Dulic and was blown away! Aleks has been designing and creating animation/video artwork for over 15 years, with various artists. This piece, from 2008, is a fascinating blend of spatial audio along with motion-tracked video output. With Kenneth Newby and Martin Gotfrit, they created a vast, fragmented projection space that reacts when participants walk nearby… showing various body parts of over 100 different people from all walks of life.
From their website: “in a thousand drops… refracted glances is an audiovisual environment that constructs and deconstructs bodies through processes of stitching, repetition, collage, animation, stretching, contraction, multiplication and reduction. As a result of these processes (more…)
Nuit Sonores from AntiVJ
An oldie but a goodie. From Romain Tardy and AntiVJ (with Yannick Jacquet (legoman), Olivier Ratsi, Joanie Lemercier) comes Nuits Sonores, stage design and VJing for the Nuit Sonores Festival in Lyon France, 2009.
Electrosonic at NHM Los Angeles
When I was a kid, my elementary school used to take “field trips” to the NHM in Los Angeles, and I looooved the dinosaur and prehistoric section…..so it was nice to see that they’ve revamped the whole thing with the help of Electrosonic:
Los Angeles 18 April, 2012) – Visitors to the Dinosaur Hall in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County experience the wonder of the prehistoric creatures in a totally new way with innovative exhibits featuring audio-visual systems provided by Electrosonic.
Twice the size of the old galleries, the recently-opened 14,000 square-foot Dinosaur Hall displays specimens – including the world’s only T. rex growth series of baby, juvenile and adult skeletons – mounted on unique platforms and preserved and articulated using modern methods. The skylit L-shaped Hall is flooded with natural light; a glass-sided mezzanine runs along the short side of the L where additional wall-mounted exhibits reveal more about the amazing creatures and show what it’s like (more…)
VJ Software List
Industry vet and projectionist extraordinaire Dr. Mojo of MojoVideoTech has an outstanding list of VJ apps that he keeps in the toolbox. Make sure to visit his website and check out some in action on recent gigs.
I use a few of these and thought I’d add a couple:
Derivative’s Touchdesigner
TouchDesigner 077 is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences. Think Amon Tobin…
d3 from d3 Technologies
d3 is a real-time 3D stage simulator, timeline based sequencer, video playback engine, and content mapper, all integrated into a single piece of software that runs on your own laptop or dedicated d3 hardware.
Import stages from the CAD program of your choice, add screens, props, and content to get a true simulation of your production, well before you actually start your build. U2, Red hot Chili Peppers, Coachella…
Coolux Updates Pandora’s Box
The latest Pandoras Box V5 REV 6799 is now available for download on the Coolux webpage
www.coolux.de/support/dowload-center/
Please do not forget to log on to our download section before trying to download the file.
This version will fix the ASIO bug found in REV 6700.
Rev 6799:
- fixed color fringe around text assets
- fixed ASIO transport controls
- fixed incorrect removal of effects and particle systems in virtual devices
- fixed possible crash on startup when using a ASIO card with more than 24 channels
- fixed effect crash for certain effect combinations
- fixed incorrect video export for quicktimes and avis
- fixed possible wrong colorspace for images
- added possibility to load objects with more than 65000 vertices
- enhanced project saving (about 20 times faster)
- new MatrixPatcher Rev 24
The new Matrix Patcher introduces a new Map-View in order to make it possible to re-locate individual pixels for creative setups, when working with conventional LED processors like e.g. Barco, Daktronics, Galaxia/Winvision etc.
Electrosonic at this year’s Counter Terror Expo
Don't $&^% with this man's AV install....
London (April 2, 2012) – Electrosonic’s Control Rooms team has partnered with Detection Technologies and Integrated Security Manufacturing Ltd (ISM) for this year’s Counter Terror Expo to exhibit a full range of command and control, security and protection services.
Electrosonic’s dedicated Control Rooms team specialises in providing complete audio-visual solutions, which include systems integration, technical design, project management and service and maintainance.
Electrosonic works with a wide range of suppliers in the AV industry. The Counter Terror Expo will see Electrosonic demonstrating the NEC ultra-thin bezel 46″ LCD screen. Powered by an Extron Quantum Elite video wall processor, Electrosonic will display (more…)
Skrillex is out of control
Skrillex blew up the Ultra Music Festival this last weekend and then took off in his own scissor-lift style spaceship. Here’s the proof. With Lasers, dammit! Can someone please teleport me back to being 18 again?….
3D in the Darkroom
Motion graphics house The Darkroom (PF article on Glastonbury) were commissioned for the Sunburn festival in Goa by Percept D’mark to come up with a stage design and and perform live video mapping on it over 3 nights. The result was aptly named the “Cubezoid Stage” and by the end of the festival was voted by the public as the best stage at the festival. On the final night 20,000 pairs of 3D glasses were distributed to the punters and the the first 20 minutes of Axwell’s set was projected in 3D.
3 HD projectors, 3 Arena Media servers, a whole bunch of 3d! (Speaking of Arena, here’s a review I did for PLSN….) and make sure to check out their website for some pretty good examples of their work…
UVA’s High Arctic
United Visual Artist’s puts out some fantastic work. One only has to look at Origin and Coachella to realize that they are pretty much at the cutting edge of blended technologies. I came across their piece “High Arctic” recently and had to show it off. This was from an install at the National Maritime Museum in the UK (man there are some really great installs that happen there…) that ran from July until this past January.
The installation is based on UVA Creative Director Matt Clark’s Cape Farewell expedition to Svalbard which he took with Nick Drake in September 2010 and fragments (more…)
Knifedge takes a slice at Aida at the RAH
London-based creative agency Knifedge has produced a set of dramatic theatrical projections to act as the backdrop to a major new production of Verdi’s Aida at The Royal Albert Hall. Knifedge’s latest visual effects paint evocative pictures of Ancient Egypt onto huge curved gauzes, stretching around almost a quarter of the venue. The agency has worked closely with set designer Isabella Bywater and lighting designer Andrew Bridge to blend its imagery into the overall design of the show. From a technical stand point, the rig consists of six 20K projections, driven by a Catalyst media server and run from a Hog lighting desk.
photo credits Paul Sanders
Nina Dunn, Knifedge’s lead projection designer for this show, comments: “From the outset, Isabella Bywater gave us a strong vision of what she was looking for from our projections, which provide half of the entire scenic design for this show. With the help of Knifedge designers Louise Rhodes-Brown and Ilyas Khad, we’ve used a rich combination of photographic imagery, 3D renders, 2D drawings, animation and filmic effects to create the scene-setting projections.”
Dunn continues: “One of the challenges was to ensure that the scale and composition of the images was appropriate for the size of the venue. When projecting the inside of a temple, for example, we wanted the audience to feel like they are actually inside that temple, not simply looking at an image of it. We also knew that technical rehearsal time in the Royal Albert Hall would be at a premium, so we designed a solution which could be pre-programmed in advance, minimising set-up time for such complex image constructions.”
Karolina Sobrecka “It’s You”
One of the great things about running Projectionfreak is that I get to connect to all kinds of creative minds in the world of technology. Recently I ran a few pieces that utilized the work of Flightphase-their installation of a huge, interactive video wall at the University of Dayton, and an interactive museum exhibit at the National Maritime Museum in the UK.
Karolina Sobrecka, Creative Director of Flightphase, gets to do some pretty amazing projects and her solo work looks (more…)
Vaddio ProductionVIEW Switcher- Review
The following appears in the current issue of PLSN magazine, and I can’t thank them enough for printing it. But here on Projectionfreak you get some extras….
I use a PTZ camera system at work that is a package supplied by Markertek (outstanding prices and service from these folks….highly recommend them!) ….and manufactured by Vaddio…namely a ProductionVIEW switcher, 3 HD19 PTZ cameras with CCU, a Vaddio 3-way monitor, and a Vaddio 2-way HD monitor. The switcher is at the heart of the rig, providing control over the 3 cameras, a fourth PTZ (Sony EVI-D70), computer input, and DVD input. I should say up front that I am not paid by Vaddio or Markertek, nor do they receive advertising credit or endorsement from me or from Projectionfreak.com.……although ANY/ALL of those options and scenarios are open for discussion! Hint hint- as in “call for a rate card” hint….
I happen to use their gear based on price and performance and I couldn’t be happier. It’s great stuff and the image quality is outstanding- but on with the hands-on review:
Vaddio ProductionVIEW HD Switcher
As the ‘video guy’ I get asked to wear a lot of hats and it’s not just because I’m a nice guy that says “yes”. There’s a lot of factors to keep track of- not the least of which is keeping a decent image onscreen. If you’re touring, you’re usually just trying to keep the gear from being destroyed- if you’re in corporate you have the constant harangue of having to edit presenter imagery- if you’re in trade shows, well- that list is too long. Usually this is all on top of being the switcher. If you are the lucky person that owns/rents the gear that makes all that happen, you need equipment that does more than one thing. So it goes (more…)
Projectiondesign Ships a Big Install
Rugged, reliable and realistic, with low total cost of ownership; these were the projector requirements and deliverables of the huge projectiondesign upgrade of the two simulation bridges at the Marine Training Centre in Singapore.
Swire Marine Training Centre in Singapore, operated by Swire Pacific Offshore, is the first facility of its kind in Asia. Swire’s Marine Training Centre has the ability to fully simulate the working environment of an (more…)
DPI Lightning 45sx+ Lights An Entire Arena
OK….not the whole thing…but it’s pretty damn bright in there. The pre-game and intermission display at Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks, got a make-over this year that includes four DPI Lightning 45sx+ projectors and Green Hippo media servers. I’ve always thought that arena’s should trick out their team intro’s and halftimes. I mean, the mascot shooting baskets and “shoot-the-puck” contests just don’t cut it any more.
There are also lightweight scrims that come down from the rafters in the for corners of the ice so it really opens the dimensionality of the show. The displays are split into segments by a Datapath X4 video wall processor, creating a 200-foot by 80-foot image on the ice. The DPI Lightning 45 sx+ packs a walloping 30,000 lumen punch with a contrast ratio of 1800:1. It also has an Intelligent Lens Mount (ILM) system that allows up to 10 different presets for lens settings (zoom, focus, shift) that can be recalled automatically. I own 2 of the 35hd’s and I can tell you, these are not your typical PJ’s- they’re big and super bright and it looks like they’ve accomplished their mission for the Canucks.
Voyagers at the National Maritime Museum
I posted a while back on Electrosonic’s involvement with the installation of the AV system at the National Maritime Museum, but I dug a little deeper and found the artists responsible. The Light Surgeons, a multimedia collective based in East London and founded by Christopher Thomas Allen, collaborated with media artist James George to create a one-of-a-kind immersive work called Voyager. The Voyagers Gallery acts as an introduction to the extraordinary depth and range of the Museum’s collections and is dominated by a 20 metre wave-like structure that stretches the full length of the room. Designed by exhibition designers Real Studio, this 3D wave is (more…)
Flightphase Interactive Projection Wall at University of Dayton
Flightphase, along with HUSH studios and 160over90, lent their talents to the creation of an incredible interactive projection wall featured at the University of Dayton. (You may recall Hush was the motion graphic studio behind the giant Toyota touchscreen we featured a while back) Intended to be an “interactive attractor” for prospective students and their families, the wall is housed (more…)
Leviathan Plays Big with HP
The technical wizards at Leviathan teamed up with Designkitchen to present two AV works on behalf of HP this winter. The first- ‘Hear There Everywhere’ was held at Leviathan’s studio in Chicago and featured sculptures and visuals on display, as well as touch-enabled software allowing the projectionmapped objects to be manipulated by guests on HP Touchsmart PCs. Add an original interactive music score from Waveplant and it’s a mapping party!
The second, on a much larger scale, “Play Big” used (more…)
NYX Visual Modul8′s for Chivas J&J
NYX Visual released a great video documenting how they used Madmapper and Modul8 for a live presentation with the Chivas J&J brand. It really shows how quickly and accurately you replace critical points and vertices that may have moved during a particular setup. NYX does some outstanding work- check out their website for more! I’ll certainly have a few more posts featuring their stuff- so stay tuned…..
The NYX team:
Louis de Castro
Benjamin Chassagne
Romain Belloche
Max Coisne
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V Squared Labs Reveals the Scion FR-S
I’m a huge fan of Vello Virkhaus’ (V Squared Labs) work and it seems he’s lent his touch to a car reveal. Projection on cars has been in the news a bunch recently- I guess everyone just jumps on the bandwagon at some point, but I happen to like it. Cars are perfect for this type of treatment….sleek lines, interesting shapes, smallish (so a really bright projector can look great), and you can use a lot more than 1 or 2 projectors if need be. V Squared Labs put their touch on this reveal for Scion and while they (more…)
AntiVJ at FLIM Stockholm
Romain Tardy of AntiVJ gives a recount of FLIM, a night in Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to ambient, click’n’cuts, experimental music – and a fine selection of downtempo electronic music over at the AntiVJ Blog. (more…)
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