The finale for the three-day PCMA Convening Leaders 2023 event ended at the Nationwide Arena. The multi-purpose arena was the perfect place to host the thousands of mingling guests, two DJs, two bands, live fashion shows, and even a John Legend concert. Along with all the other stuff Bartha was helping with, the client needed something to make entrance spectacular. Why print giant banners when one can project the same brand-matched content as light, and make it animated?
Projection mapping tasks, especially the optical illusion types, are often a careful process of trial an error. Ideally, one would like several tests and refinements. But what if the venue is a very busy place, with no time to plop down a projector and setup a test? Here’s how we quickly solved the projection mapping problem:
- Scouted the area. Visited the site in person and used a laser distance measurer to judge dimensions and angles.
- Simulated the projection setup using Vectorworks. In this virtual Arena created from a floorplan, we can confirm dimensions.
- Once animated, we used software called ProVideoPlayer (PVP) to arrange the animation on the surfaces.
See the above gallery of the before, in-program, and after parts of the process. Below is a snippet of the animation that looped on the brick entrance pillars and horizontal walkways that joined them.
