CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Raspberry Pi Projection Mapping Crash Course

Hackaday: Projection mapping might not be a term you’re familiar with, but you’ve certainly seen the effect before. It’s when images are projected onto an object, usually one that has an interesting or unusual shape, to create an augmented reality display. Software is used to map the image or video to the physical shape it’s being projected on, often to surreal effect. Imagine an office building suddenly being “painted” another color for the Holidays, and you’ll get the idea.

7 comments:

Reesha A. said...

Technology is ever-evolving. There have been times when a play would only be performed in the night because the play was set during the night. Today, lighting has become so advanced that any time of the day and and any type of atmosphere can be showcased on the stage. This article correctly articulates this fact.
Projection has been a technology that has been in use for the last two decades. People are in the habit of using projectors in classes, at homes for educational and entertainment purposes. And now this usage is being extended to the world of theater also.
Projection from the booth can be used to highlight or show different things on the stage. One such types of projection is Raspberry Pi projection in which "images are projected onto an object, usually one that has an interesting or unusual shape, to create an augmented reality display". This type of projection can be really helpful to directors and theater artists that really want to add on to their shows using imagery and various projections.

Anonymous said...

This is a bit out of my field of knowledge, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’ve worked on one Arduino project in the past as part of a prop, but I recruited help from the robotics department at my school, so I didn’t do any programming myself, but it really peaked my interest in technology and how it can be incorporated into theater – as it is so often now.
Given the article’s focus on projection, I think it is very valuable information for theater and a great way to test the waters if you’re interested in media design, which in the past few days started to consider.
Giving the readers an affordable, step by step process to create a projector makes the project very approachable, which is not usually a word I would associate with programming. In fact, “beginner programming” always felt like an oxymoron to me. Though I don’t have a Raspberry Pi lying around as the article assumed I would, I would actually consider purchasing one to try this project.

Iana D said...

I accidentally posted as anonymous again... so here it is again below:

This is a bit out of my field of knowledge, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’ve worked on one Arduino project in the past as part of a prop, but I recruited help from the robotics department at my school, so I didn’t do any programming myself, but it really peaked my interest in technology and how it can be incorporated into theater – as it is so often now.
Given the article’s focus on projection, I think it is very valuable information for theater and a great way to test the waters if you’re interested in media design, which in the past few days started to consider.
Giving the readers an affordable, step by step process to create a projector makes the project very approachable, which is not usually a word I would associate with programming. In fact, “beginner programming” always felt like an oxymoron to me. Though I don’t have a Raspberry Pi lying around as the article assumed I would, I would actually consider purchasing one to try this project. (Iana Dobreva)

Chris Calder said...

I would say that my level of understanding for projector mapping is pretty rudimentary. I know that several software packages offer this feature and you don’t need anything but a PC. The question that I have is how to know when your system is getting too complicated for a Raspberry Pi or even a computer software like Milluimin. I know this is a preferred software at the SOD but do you hit a point where you need to up your game to something a little more serious? I suppose the only way to know this is if you try it out.

One major take away from reading this article is the amount of open source software available to the entertainment industry and how much value there is for media designers and the like to have basic coding skills. It allows them to adopt the open source code that is available and write program extensions for even further customization.

Rebecca Meckler said...

I think it's amazing that projector mapping is become more accessible for everyday people. Though it still is probably very complicated, 30 minutes seems very quick to learn the process. This article reminded me of something that Larry said last year is design for the stage. Though projector mapping can be really cool, that's often all that it is. It doesn’t always have a message or make a story behind it. It can be, and is often used as, a way for companies to show their money and technology. Hopefully the accessibility will allow more people to use it as a storytelling device. Also, this technology can allow aspiring media designers who may not have access to fancier technology a chance to play with projector mapping. As the article says, all you need is a projector. I look forward to seeing how this technology is used and what art pieces come out of it.

Dheeraj kumar said...

Nice

Unknown said...

I never knew how important projection mapping was until I took the Video Media Design stagecraft class at Carnegie Mellon. Learning to use the projection mapping program Millumin to test out the projectors and video designs on different materials and surface shapes was very fun and educational. It gets much more interesting when you think of all the capabilities that are offered by using projections. You can basically put any image (or images) on any surface. Even if you don't have enough space in the front or something is in the way or the projection, you can always rear project images. Learning in this article that you can run projection mapping programs on something as portable and versatile as the Raspberry pi mini computers, it is something very exiting to push this new technology further and have more people implement its potential. I even have a Raspberry pi and I am always shocked at how much it could do. Compared to the very expensive iMac's CMU uses, as long as it seems reliable for the program needed, a Raspberry pi could be revolutionary for media designers everywhere.

-Pablo Anton