Awesome Projection Mapping

To showcase the beauty of Brazil at World Expo Dubai, design studio Cactus created an awe-inspiring multisensory experience inside an enormous “digital canvas.” Images and sounds of Brazil’s myriad landscapes surround viewers via 140+ projectors that seamlessly map over two billion pixels per second. Ends 3.31.22.

This short dance film by THÉORIZ pulls off some impressive visuals, given the fact that all of its effects were shot in-camera, with no green screen or post-production. They achieved their mixed reality illusion using motion tracking synchronized with real-time projected imagery. Behind the scenes here (turn captions on.)

This fascinating clip by video artist Yuge Zhou and sound designer Stephen Farrell was created from hundreds of video clips shot in NYC’s subway stations, then assembled together into concentric squares. It was designed for a top-down projection mapping installation, but it’s just as intriguing flattened.

This unique projector packs a computer inside, as well as an RGB/IR camera, allowing it to automatically create depth maps. Combined with Lightform’s Creator software, anyone can create amazing projection mapping displays in small to medium sized spaces. Already have a projector? Check out the LFC.

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, the talented visual artists of 59 Productions created an incredible projection mapping on the Washington Monument that replicated the launch of the Saturn V rocket and its mission to the moon. Drew Geraci of District 7 Media shared this pristine 4K footage of the event.

Lightform’s upcoming system allows anyone with a computer and a projector to create the sort of projection mapping visuals heretofore reserved for the pros. It can scan objects, then generate intricate projected images that perfectly match their surfaces. More on Tested.

Arvind Sanjeev’s Lumen is a portable augmented reality system in the form of a flashlight. The idea is for it to automatically recognize objects and enhance their function, provide information, display video or animation and more.

Using projection mapping and a mix of tracking systems, creative studio THÉORIZ shows off a slick prototype which projects 3D images that dynamically adapt to movements, creating a sort of Holodeck version 1.0. Everything you see was captured live, with no post-production.

Square Enix put on a fantastic projection mapped show on the side of the famous InterContinental Yokohoma Grand hotel to celebrate Final Fantasy‘s 30th anniversary and the recent release of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood.

The ever inventive Ithaca Audio modified a 1920’s Remington Portable typewriter into a touch-sensitive MIDI controller. Then they used the space where the paper would go as a projection screen to create a unique audiovisual experience. So yes, the video is in real-time.

After creeping us out with his real-time facial projection mapping, Nobumichi Asai is back with a dramatic video which uses the technique to impressive effect, messing with the faces of two dancers by tracking their facial positions and projecting images at up to 1000fps.

UK pastry chefs Angie Scott Cakes created what would normally be a basic box-tier cake, but its plain white surfaces quickly come to life through the wonders of projection mapping tech. The only thing better would be if you could actually play Pac-Man and Angry Birds on it.

Up until now, most projection mapping has been done on fixed or predictably moving surfaces. This incredible tech from Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory can project onto moving objects like paper or fabric, adjusting images up to 1,000 times per second.

One of the most beautiful examples of projection mapping we’ve seen. Artist Daniel Popper and his team worked with Wayne Ellis and Afterlife to create this illuminated sculpture for Portugal’s Boom Festival. The sculpture is equally amazing in daylight.

Musician Sol Gabetta performs Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor on her 300-year-old cello, embellished with digitally-projected images which stay precisely aligned with her instrument, even as she moves, thanks to the wonders of infrared tracking tech.

Thomas Mayer’s Interaction Design thesis project is a table tennis training program. The program is projected onto the playing surface itself, where players can view their stats, try interactive exercises and add visual effects when playing.

Amazing footage from Sueños de Agua, an epic projection mapping performance put on last year in Seville, Spain. Of particular note is how the dragons breathe real fire, thanks to synchronization with the pyrotechnics. Skip to 8:00 if you can’t watch the whole show.

Staged back in 12/2014, Illumi’Nantes was an projection mapped display shown on the facade of France’s world famous Nantes Cathedral. It featured intricate, animated versions of artist Alain Thomas’ Nativity paintings. More here.

Oskar & Gaspar show us the least painful way to get a full body tattoo, by projection mapping intricate designs onto the bodies of models who already had some real ink. The animations truly bring the tattoos to life, though some of them kind of creeped us out.

Here’s a great way to pass the time while waiting for your food at a restaurant. Skullmapping made a short film that was meant to be played on a dinner table, about a tiny chef and a grill hidden in the customer’s plate.

Pepsi set up a nighttime street soccer match in Barcelona. The court and the buildings around it had a drone referee, interactive LEDs, and projection-mapped scoreboard and visual effects, including a cheeky moving goal.

Similar to Taichi Saotome’s epic sword fight, Auditore Dubai used projection mapping, 3D animation and precise choreography to make a man fight his shadow. A presentation from the Hamdan International Photography Award.

Digital studio Dawn of Man recently treated New Yorkers to silly sights of sleeping giants. Its Projection Napping project showed videos of gigantic people trying to rest within the confines of the city’s walls.