CEI Asia: What is projection mapping?
It’s a technique that can distort and blend projected images so they cover irregular designed surfaces such as custom screens, theatrical sets, even buildings and natural landscapes. Generally, bespoke video content is designed to best highlight these irregular surfaces and bring them to life.
3 comments:
This article should be required reading for anyone entering the field of technical theatre, as a lot of people claim to know what projection mapping is but don't have a firm understanding of what actually goes into it. The creation and editing of content to fill a space in the world is the basis of every projection, but projection mapping specifically pertains to areas that are irregular, and content that utilizes that irregularity to it's advantage. There is also a lot to consider in terms of the tech behind it, as projection mapping on a large building will require a much bigger and brighter projector than mapping on your living room bookcases. I wish this article had pictures of the tiled wall that was discussed, as having 600 unique images projection mapped onto a wall is surely a sight to behold. This also has far-reaching implications for set design, as one could easily make a set that is a simple, all white structure that different scenery is projected onto, making a cost-effective way to change scenes in the blink of an eye while still maintaining and element of theatricality and wonder.
It's funny to me to see articles like this on event planning websites, as I most often think of projection mapping as an art form! I think of when there is projection mapping in theater or on the sides of buildings, but the idea o using is as a changing banner or the intro to a conference is very cool as well. This article kind of showcases to me the different paths a person with a theatrical background can go into - event planning, wedding planning, technological development, etc.
I agree with Jacob, though, I think a lot of people say "we can just projection map it!" Without a clear understanding of the work and planning that goes into it. The image needs to be properly distorted or planned to fit on the surface it is being projected on, and while you could simply project a regular surface onto a irregular wall, it probably won't get the effect you want.
In media stagecraft, we are actually given a crew call where we "play" with a lot of the media equipment and get to create really cool projections. One of the things we did was projection map onto some really weird surfaces as well as mapping on a person(me). It's funny how easy this article makes projection mapping seem because it really isn't all that simple. The technology that goes behind it can span through so much equipment, depending on what exactly you want to do. Exactly how far do you want to project? How bright is it? How far is the object you want to map on? What's the angle? These are all things to consider when wanting to projection map something. It also does take quite a while to finish mapping something, depending on the object and its gaps. I can tell you that to just map onto me, a solid figure, took about twenty minutes. And it isn't counting the editing that had to happen after for the image being projected. I personally love projection mapping, but when it's done right.
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