Green Hippo

LD Systems’ 3d projection mapping

LD Systems’ 3d projection mapping

Architectural Projection isn’t new. However recent rapid developments of projection power mean that video is becoming more prevalent as opposed to traditional slide projection. With more and more creative agencies and production companies trying their hands at extensive and complicated 3D projection mapping, these kinds of projects have featured at many varied events in the last few years. Creating 3D projection mapping on buildings is becoming more and more popular as an art, but mainly also as a promotional tool for advertising campaigns and other special events.

LD Systems are pioneers in this field and have some stunning work under their belts already. Green Hippo are proud that they have chosen Hippotizer media servers to enable their projection and design.

Having acquired two Hippotizer Stage V3 servers a couple of years ago, LD Systems and namely AJ Freysteinson and Scott Justis, started their research into the subject:

“We saw shorter clips of 3D projection mapping and wanted to find a way to do this on a production basis. We were trying to find a way to stretch content and create a 6 hour show.”

Alongside Architectural Projection the company also uses the servers on more traditional events too. LD Systems’ Hippotizer media servers first came into action at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo show at Reliant Park in Houston Texas, where they also initially experimented with the technology. As one of the world’s largest and longest running livestock exhibitions and rodeos the event has been a major funding contributor to educational and youth programmes, and besides the bull-riding, livestock judging, auctions, BBQs and a carnival also includes concerts, featuring world renown musicians such as ZZ Top, Justin Beiber and the Black Eyed Peas.

2009 saw a revamped concert stage design which included an extensive LED video screen system on the long-established rotating stage. LD Systems fed 5000 Barco MiTRIX LED panels through the two Hippotizer Stage V3 servers and the whole system was controlled by an MA Lighting GrandMA desk.

The MiTRIX panels were arranged in a curved LED wall behind the acts, with LED also running around the bottom of the stage and along the outside of the octagonal truss above. Additionally this was fitted with video screens facing out, frequently screening live feed from the stage and with the whole design creating a lighting and video spectacular.

Their next endeavour was a full 3D projection mapping project for the 2009 Houston Art Car Parade, also called ‘Glowrama’, due to its elaborate illumination. The event has seen steadily growing participant numbers since its conception in 1988 and AJ of LD Systems said: “Glowrama was the perfect use to test 3D projection mapping on the Georg R. Brown Convention Centre in Houston, Texas.”

The highlight of a three day celebration, the Art Car Parade, produced by Orange Show, attracts increasing audience numbers and participants from all sectors of the community, including schools, professional organisations and private participants, showing off their innovative mobile artwork on everything from cars, caravans, and motorcycles to unicycles, roller-skaters and lawnmowers.

For this project LD Systems collaborated with video design company Texas Video & Post (TV&P), who promptly won two Addy awards for their content creation, venturing into this still rather unconventional yet growing type of promotional technique.

Utilising their two Hippotizer Stage V3s, LD System employed three HD projectors to cover a projection surface of approximately 45,000 square feet. The GrandMA lighting desk once again served as the main control centre, running the Hippotizer as well as VL3000 and VL3500 Philips Veri Lite equipment. Audio was provided using 24 EV X-Line boxes over six subs.

Timing the video content to the beats of the music, the projection was co-ordinated with the city’s celebration. AJ commented that “the 3D guys went nuts on the photorealism”, creating images of monster eyes and tentacles, pulsating speakers, turning cogs, flowers and the US flag. This creative and colourful content was projected onto two of the Georg R. Convention Centre’s huge columns and the slightly recessed wall between them, creating an astounding large scale projection experience on this rather unusual canvas.

Their next and to date most prestigious project was at the 50^th Anniversary - New Years Eve celebration in Sugarland, Texas. The event went on for several hours with a variety of entertainment to please young and old, such as cirque performers, entertainers, artists as well as music and lighting that added a special atmosphere to the City Hall Plaza where the celebrations took place. The grand finale of the night was another collaboration of LD Systems and Texas Video&Post. Using Sugarland’s City Hall as their canvas they created an extraordinary 3D projection mapping project culminating at midnight, and ringing in the New Year, with the drop of an enormous virtual sugar cube and stunning fireworks.

Using their GrandMA lighting console and both Hippotizer Stage V3 media servers, they controlled 4 Philips Barco R20HD projectors this time, with stock media as well as 3D custom content released to the Hippotizer. Additionally they employed moving lights as well as a sound system consisting of EV X-line concert speakers, which had to produce clear sound over the whole area of the plaza.

LD Systems’ website (www.ldsystems.com) states: “TV&P and LD Systems worked for weeks to coordinate the projection optics and the building’s dimensions. LD System’s playback media server and other lighting effects were set to timecode and programmed by staffer AJ Freysteinson”

Once again timing the projection to music, the Sugarland celebrations had a live band outside the city hall, which also served as a backdrop for the band.

With the projection precisely fitted to cover the building and using a multitude of its features within the innovative animation, LD Systems and TV&P managed to create illusions that included the building warping, being destroyed by a new incarnation of the monster eyes and tentacles, turning into a Transformer’s character or a gigantic fish tank.

Drawing on their experience from Glowrama, where LD Systems noted some loss in content quality, they were able to improve the overall quality for the Sugarland projection, for example by making it brighter.

With preparations including pre-set-up, rendering and testing of usually about 2 days the Hippotizer allowed LD Systems to use its layer and masking properties to customise masks on site, while the ScreenWarp component enabled them to edit and stretch the earlier created content to fit the building canvas:

“The Hippotizers performed amazingly on all fronts and the ScreenWarp programme allowed it all to happen.”

During the two days preparation they were also able to use the Hippotizer for onsite colour correction and augmentation, ensuring the content was clearly visible even when competing with the other lighting effects as well as the New Years Eve fireworks.

The main importance for TV&P’s 3D content was to get the perspective for the audience right, to guarantee that even if projectors were used at an angle towards the building the dimensions and shadows of the building created the full 3D experience for the viewers on every corner of the City Hall Plaza.

LD System’s AJ Freysteinson remarked that the Hippotizers were “the final part of the puzzle” and about Green Hippo’s support he said: “It was a great experience working with the guys. They were very supportive, with technical help from TMB’s Kris Murray, a Green Hippo specialist, and by creating necessary patches for the projects at Hippotizer’s London HQ”.

Generating much interest, these events have led to LD Systems having a variety of projects in the pipeline, one of which is an upcoming Kenny Rogers TV Special, where they will be using their two Hippotizers, some lightmasking as well as a 60 foot projection.

We, for one, cannot wait to hear about and see the innovative work they’ll be coming up with in future, considering that 3D projection video-mapping is still wearing babyshoes.

To see some of these projects, click on the following links:

Sugarland:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldsystems#p/u/0/8IICGkOtJ9E

Glowrama:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldsystems#p/u/2/MwIkojLaJQc

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldsystems#p/u/1/ue112HNx4JQ

Houston Rodeo:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldsystems#p/u/7/V6JK14MIj7c

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldsystems#p/u/6/lrGyi1MrruU