Bach Tran: Projection Mapping #1

 

A depiction of a dystopian near future in which artificial intelligence produces or analyzes much of the media content that influences our lives. Background generated using Stable Diffusion. Short videos generated using Runway.

Alan Yu: Projection Mapping 1 Rework

After Monday's class, I felt like I did not do this project justice. I decided to do a different take, and have some of my own twists. 

I have been remaking some of the most iconic video game/animation OSTs, and I just to have a simple MIDI file that goes with a track from SpongeBob SquarePants called "Electric Zoo." I knew I wanted to use that midi data as well as Ableton Link to map some parameters. I started with a simple gif of Mr. Crabs dancing to the song.

Ableton Link Enabled

Ableton sent Midi data and BPM (Ableton Link) to MadMapper

Link Notes to Trigger Strings

I found a "String Instrument" visual in the public library. I mapped the notes from Ableton in the Control list.

First Prototype

Next, I decided to make some other scenes using different media and project them in a stage background.

Stage

Strobe Synced up to Ableton's Master Clock

Other Layer gifs and FX (motion blur)

Ableton Timeline

Final Product

Zahra Jafarpour - Projection Mapping #1: Talk to Us

 Concept:

Making short videos that show familiar yet unconventional actions. In addition to these videos, a series of conversations reinforce the significance of these actions and provide a fresh perspective. I use these videos as self-portraits to communicate my concerns over the past year through performance art.

Techniques:

Initially, I planned to create a subtitled video. After discovering Madmapper, I decided to find an angle in ATEC with three walls. Finally, I chose the exit stairwell on the 4th floor. A brief video will be projected on one wall while text will be displayed on two adjacent walls. Using this approach, I am able to present my video in a 3D environment, fostering a dialogue rather than a monologue. The text movement in Madmapper (FX) plays a significant role in conveying meaning within this context.

Interpretation:

The concept involved me seated behind a table, wearing a white formal shirt. At the table, I placed a measuring container filled with water and submerged my head in it. This act aimed to compel someone to address something they avoided. A notable distinction in my work was that the hand immersed in the water was mine.

I poured uncooked rice into a glass and attempted to drink it—an impossible task. The sensation of those tasteless, minuscule seeds striking my teeth, my inability to swallow them, and their sharpness in my mouth symbolized a reflection of my identity.

I recorded myself scratching a wound. As a metaphor, I use this act to illustrate memory's natural tendency to forget and my decision not to do so.

 

Here is the link to the video: TalkToUs

Alan Yu: Projection 1 Backdrop Mapping

 Oops, forgot to blog and screenshot about it :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOQgSuQFb4&list=PLlI1EC6RmuHXDWH3m0dHNBmpyLd6CcZh5&index=1

Projection Mapping Proposals_Da Hyun Kim

Concept

This project was developed with one main theme in mind. 

"Welcome, to the world of games!"

Inspired by movies or animations like Ready Player One, and Wrecked Ralph 2, I intended to make UTD a place full of personality by creating and rendering spaces where vivid and enjoyable graphics from games are immersed and blend with the real world. 

Overall Process

Now the overall concept is all set, my question is, "Where would this project take place in?" Here are 3 locations in UTD I find would be great places to show my intentions effectively, and I feel like each space has its own unique characteristics that I could emphasize.

After selecting the locations, I setup my scenes, compiling all of the photos into MadMapper, and identify spaces that I want to project.

From here, I'll be diving into details behind the scenes.  

1. Lecture room in Eugene Mcdermott Library

I paid attention to how the texture of the ceiling(grid of squares reminiscent of low pixel resolution, and placements of lights) reminds me of the classic NES Space Invaders game. 

The concept of for this scene is "Space Madness!" Brace yourselves, for the Space War is about to happen right before your eyes!

Based on the inspiration I got in this location, I edited clip of Space shooter game and emphasized more aspect of "laser shooting madness" of the original footage. The depth and size of this place adds a lot to the vastness of space, and the perspective lets you feel as if you're soaring through it. 

Normally space shooting games have 3 steps of waves which I feel is similar to the way we approach and encounter real-life problems.

Step 1. Drones/ Minions.

These are the first enemies that you will encounter and will be defeated rather easily. They refer to some of the small problems we constantly face, but can be solved without much effort. They won't cause that much damage to you, but they will constantly come after you.

Step 2. Asteroid belt.

This may be a dull step to go through. The Asteroids can be destroyed, but the will shatter into more smaller fragments that will still damage you, hence making more obstacles you have to avoid. I feel like sometimes there are problems that could be handled by just ignoring it. Taking care of these problems just makes matters more difficult for you. Let it flow, and time will take care of the rest of it.

Step 3. Boss Fight.

The final step before clearing the level. Defeat the boss and you will win, but beware, it will shower you with lasers and bullets, and it's going to hurt, a lot. They are the most important problems you can't possibly ignore, and it requires a lot of efforts to solve.

2. Pipe interiors in the ATC Building

The main objects I tried to utilize in this location are the pipes. Inspired by games like Mario Bros, I always wondered what would it feel like to traverse to different locations through pipes. 

Thus, such scene was created. The concept for this scene is "Pipe Station", with two pipes being a route one can travel to, and the screen behind indicating where your next stop will be.

Pipes normally have a decided route which you can't change in the middle. Unless you reach the very end of the pipe, you will not know where you will be heading to. 

Some routes will be full of wonder and anticipation of the destination you will be heading to, and lead to another interesting selection of routes you want to go.

Other time you could head to the wrong route, facing the consequence of your selection at the end of the pipe. Sometimes that's how I feel life flows. 

Regardless of that route you take, be warned, for there are countless obstacles that will interrupt you from progressing, and whether to overcome it or not completely depends on you.

3. Outside of the Student Union

The pillars in this location gave me a grand, royal vibe. The concept for this scene will be "Hall of Warriors". 

Because it's intended to express a grand scenery, the graphics in this scene are rendered with higher qualities, which contrasts from the previous 2 locations. Lines of brave, fearless warriors will be projected on each of the pillars, mainly with color scheme that shows the characteristic of the warriors.

I intended to depict 3 types of warriors in this scene.

The first set of warriors are the rebellious ones that will fight against their given destiny, color scheme that mainly contains gold texture, with an intimidating red aura bursting out of them.

The second set of warriors are the energetic ones that will go beyond their limits, and constantly train themselves to be the ultimate fighter among all their opponents. Color scheme contains energetic colors that resemble electricity, such as combination of blue and vivid yellow.   

The third warrior is the dark one, who lost it's pride and dignity, and all that is left for him is a matter of survival in the dark world he have to go through. Overall, I set this scene with monotone color scheme, so that it could emphasize the dark nature of our warrior is in.

Finished Pieces

Here is the finalized version of my project.

Haoyi Song: Projection1 Backdrop Mapping

Haoyi Song: Projection 1 Backdrop Mapping

 Countless Fragments 

Concept

The overarching concept of my project is that individuals are composed of countless fragments—fragments of memories, realities, and even dreams. Specifically, the first theme emphasizes that fragments of memories are not static or gone; they continue to revolve and play a role in our lives. The second theme focuses on the constant interplay between memory and reality. To illustrate this, I chose to incorporate curves, which serve to bridge the third theme: the amalgamation of an individual's memories, realities, and dreams.

Techniques

This is the first time I've used a computer to complete a new media art project. As someone who has long worked on 2D canvases as a painter, this project has given me an entirely new experience: a canvas that dynamically extends without limits.

1.         Find the location where the project will be projected and take photos.

The reason I chose this location is because the very first day I arrived at UTD. This building has been the place where I've spent most of my time over the past year. It serves as a sort of "cut" or "keyframe" in the movie of my life, signifying the beginning of my journey in Texas.

2.         Separate the images in the background that will affect the projection using Photoshop. Place these separated images on the surface layer to cover areas that won't be mapped.

3.       Using Testcard to mark the target projection area. 

4.    Use the zoom-out feature in Midjourney to generate 17 and 20 images respectively, based on the theme of each scene. 

Prompt for Video 1: geometric fragments flying, converging in the center, color gradient, transparent glossy reflection, mirror material, silver space, visual impact, small figures, digital art --s 250 --niji 5 --ar 4:5 --zoom 2 - Zoom Out

 Prompt for Video 2: c

lose up micro lense---q 2 s 750 v 5 ar 3:4 --v 5.2 --s 750

a Chinese little girl face :: 4 has beautiful eyes :: 2, close up micro lense, beatiful ancient Chinese architecture, auspicious clouds, goldfish, exaggerated waves, flowers, water flow, edge light, dream, fantasy, fireworks, vector line illustration, surrealism---q 2 s 750 v 5 ar 3:4 --v 5.2 --s 750 --ar 1:1 --zoom 2 - Zoom Out

 Import the keyframes (Scene 1) into Runway to generate 4 seconds videos.

Finally, use CapCut for video editing. Since the zoom-out feature was used in Midjourney, adjustments need to be made during the editing process. Change the parameters in the keyframes from 100% to 200%. This will create an effect of infinite forward motion or zooming out in the visuals.

5.    Import the completed video into MadMapper and combine it with the software's existing effects. Adjust parameters such as color, speed, and width.

6.         Screen recording.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTJzbp2gI0s

Interpretation

As someone who is creating media art for the first time, I've found the entire process to be accompanied by both challenges and a sense of accomplishment. The image generation feature in Midjourney allowed me to realize my concept, featuring three different phases of myself in the video: the 'me' from my childhood memories, the 'me' in the process of growing up, and the inner 'me' in my current reality. Getting stable, continuous images through keyword adjustments was very gratifying. The challenge lies in the use of the software, which requires a lot of practice in order to become proficient with this creative tool.

Anisha Chaudhary: Projection 1 Backdrop Mapping

Concept: 

I chose this location near the McDermott Library because the animation that I am projecting has an element of fantasy to it. This animation is available to view on my website. The logline for this video is "a witch that enjoys breaking hearts". It contains a looping rotoscope of a young "witch" twirling their fingers over a floating, bleeding heart that is pricked with several sewing pins. The rotoscoped animation uses darks browns, blacks, oranges, reds, and blueish greens. I like that these colors contrast nicely next to the lush green bushes from the location I chose. I like the shadows in the original photo, however, it does affect the way that the image projects onto it.  

Photo Backdrop located near McDermott Library

Techniques:

Masking was a little difficult because of the organic shapes of the leaves on the bushes, but I still like the way that this came out. Although it is not perfect, I feel like the viewer can still tell what parts are "cut out". I want to figure out if there is a way to only feather the mask from a single direction, so that the top of the projection is sharp, but the bottom is feathered into the plants. 
For my imagery, I used After Effects to isolate the image of the rotating heart from the rotoscoped animation and then duplicated it into a "seamless grid". Within Madmapper, I mostly used Silhouette Luma as my blending mode for each projection. I felt it left the texture of the wall so that the projection looked a little more realistic. Outside of my own videos, I used MadMapper's MadNoise pattern and Caustics pattern to fill the blanks in each scene. These patterns helped make the environment cohesive. For MadNoise, I changed the back and front color to match the orange and blue tablecloth from the rotoscoped animation. I was disappointed that I could not manipulate the colors for Caustics, but I liked the mysterious, hypnotizing smokey effect for this scene. My final scene had the same grid of hearts but in a blue color. I purposefully reused my videos and elements in each scene change to make the full video one cohesive theme and to showcase different elements of my art work.  

Scene One: Heart Grid

Scene Two: Heart Roto

Scene Three: Rachael Roto

Interpretation:

I felt that this was a successful and fun project to start my journey into MadMapper. I liked the way that this showcased my art work and I do feel like there is a theme of magic and fantastic elements. One thing I need to really consider for future projects is the lighting of my photo, as it does wash out the projection for the Caustics and MadNoise effect. 

Anisha Chaudhary Projection 1 Backdrop Mapping

Link:

https://www.anishachaudhary.com/motion-graphics?pgid=l9lt8s5q-4518d483-a910-479f-ae65-3a61ebfc89fd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhU69FtZDW8

  

Colin "Big Fish" Hancock: Projection 1 Backdrop Mapping

Big Fish Presents:

Learning Through Recess

    Mornin' everybody. I'm gonna get the informal out of my system now; my name is Colin "Big Fish" Hancock and I'm a budding projection mapper a published projection mapper, I guess? My first encounter with the media was way back in 2014 but this marks the first time I've ever put my nose to this particular grindstone. The theme of my project, to be perfectly frank with you, is Learning. While the effects used are simple applications of the software, I'm incredibly proud of the body of knowledge I built during the process and I'm deeply excited to continue building atop this foundation. I recognize that there's a long road ahead, so hopefully this will be something like the boots I need to get me there.

    Allow me to explain what I mean when I say my concept was Learning. When I started working on this project in earnest - real effort applied to a cohesive work as opposed to sporadic application of effects and testing of random features - I actually did the assignment wrong. I certainly worked in what I believe to be the spirit of the assignment, but I have a bad habit of running before I crawl and putting my cart so far ahead of my horse that I might as well haul the load myself. I built what I think is a neat little composition! I won't embed that video into the blog post, but I'll provide a link should anyone be interested in seeing the piece ( https://youtu.be/DpbakN-YXRQ ). I'm also very proud of that piece, but it was an uphill battle all along it's trajectory. But it taught me some very useful things that, in turn, made "Learning Through Recess" much more rewarding. "Work Day" was a slog, and one I decided I was unwilling to let go of until I'd beaten it. I wanted to approach "Learning Through Recess" differently. I chose to have fun. 

    That isn't to say that "Work Day" wasn't enjoyable to make. It certainly was. But I made what I believe to be a fundamental mistake in the workflow; I stopped making the piece for fun and got angry at it. This is not unusual for me, but it also is far from my preference. C'est la vie. 

    "Learning Through Recess" took it's inspiration from the idea that we learn through play. By giving myself the freedom to do whatever popped into my head, I removed a particularly nasty weight from my mind and experimented more. The first scene took the same background used in "Work Day" and remixed it slightly - instead of a harsh, changing background, the first scene holds it's ground and merely enjoys simple geometry. The second scene uses the gallery materials provided by Professor Scott - I knew I wanted to work with that background the minute we saw it used in class, and I'm pleased I didn't have to capture it myself. Here, too, I laid a simple foundation - a snoring cat, some dramatic but calm clouds, and a soft pulsing light that almost flashes in time with Zelda's snores. There's also a single white line running through the right-most television screen. That element is a broken waveform material; I thought it would be funny to see a waveform bounce in time with the cat's snoring, but that functionality eluded me this round. I have an idea I want to attempt implementing, but no idea if it's on the right track. Time will tell. The third scene is intended to be a metatextual joke as well as practice. Critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 is one of my favorite ways to decompress after work or while studying, and I wondered how well screenshots of in-game architecture and characters would work as backgrounds for MadMapper. The reality is that I'd likely be better served by Photoshop or AfterEffects, but I have to be honest: putting hands on MadMapper and playing with it's functions is the first time I've ever felt an affinity or pull towards visual art. Painting and drawing have eluded me my entire life, and while I used to be a competent draftsman, AutoCAD and Vectorworks have become very rusty tools in my belt. I'm exceptionally pleased with how the screenshot turned out, and I have much more confidence in my ability to mask and fit meshes than I did before I finished it. 

    Perhaps the most important technique I picked up during "Learning Through Recess was proper application of feathering. On meshes, on masks, on everything: 10-15% feathering softens edges and hard pixelated divisions without necessarily being noticeable in the whole composition. Sometimes cranking the feathering closer to 25% made an exception difference, but there definitely seems to be a sweet spot between 20 and 25% - in some of my applications, 20% wasn't enough feathering, but 23% was far too much. Similarly, variable opacity of layers became incredibly important to my workflow. I may have spent upwards of an hour adjusting, examining, readjusting, reexamining, over and over until I was satisfied. I think the best application of this is in the third scene of the composition; in the windows on the background, I layered in two meshes to simulate stormclouds visible through the rice paper windows. Finding a balance that gave the effect a pop of realism took time. After the initial application I left the effect alone while I worked on applying and masking the lightning effects across the body of the character, then returned to the windows after I'd finished that process, and finished the project much happier with them than I had been initially. I also, after working with Professor Scott's materials for the gallery, made an attempt at using another program to make some copies of the windows to layer atop the clouds; while the copies were not, perhaps, as clean as they could've been, I think they did help make the overall effect better. I've come away from the process with several new ideas for how to improve similar compositions in the future, and a pleasing proof-of-concept to hopefully offer as commissioned work in the future for fellow Final Fantasy 14 players to get unique artwork of their characters. If nothing else, it would make for a fun side-hustle. 

Again, I have to be honest: I cut my teeth on Vectorworks, learning digital drafting with an emphasis on lighting and scenic design for theater. Once upon a time, I thought those were things I wanted to do. In retrospect, they were things I thought I had to do in order to succeed in my industry. Certainly they wouldn't have hurt, if I'd kept them up. But in the words of Marie Kondo, they did not spark joy and I couldn't continue to practice those techniques. This feels different. I like to think I'm a person who can put in the work, but it doesn't always come easy to me - the technique nor the drive. And certainly MadMapper hasn't been the most pick-up-and-go piece of software I've put hands on. But as an artist who's been struggling with finding a medium that feels right? I want to believe MadMapper is a tool I can master. It's certainly sparked a desire I haven't felt in a very long time.