Tag: Projection Mapping

Projection mapping can offer up some pretty cool visuals. The technique combines using specially designed projections which line up with the surfaces they’re being projected on. But up until now, most projection mapping has been done on either fixed or predictably moving rigid surfaces.

We’ve seen projection mapping applied to pool tables for decorative or instructional purposes. This one’s a sleek version for table tennis. Made by Thomas Mayer for his thesis in Interaction Design, the Table Tennis Trainer will turn you into the Ivan Drago of ping pong.

Last year, Microsoft Research made headlines with its IllumiRoom concept, which extends video from a console or media player to the walls and objects around the TV. A company called Catopsys is working on an similar but theoretically much better version of IllumiRoom called Immersis.

You might have heard of Anki Drive, the racing game where you control a toy car with your mobile device and race on a track against computer-controlled cars. Ken Kawamoto and Tomoaki Akitomi made their own robot racing game based on Romo, a programmable robot powered by the iPhone.

Japan’s arcades will soon have a game that requires a more hands-on approach. Sega’s Eederu Sunaba is an augmented reality game that uses sensors and projectors to display virtual landscapes and animals on a sandbox. The landscapes and animals instantly appear based on what you build with the sand.

Robots can be awesome. They also can be creepy.  This robot fits firmly into the latter category. While most robots have expressionless heads, this one has a face. But not just any face – this robot can have YOUR face on it.

Projection mapping makes for eye-catching presentations, but for now it’s mostly used in advertising, live performances and for artistic purposes. The folks at animation studio Leviathan think they can simplify the technology for commercial and personal use.

While we’ve certainly seen our fair share of cool video game inspired cakes over the years, this is the first time I’ve seen one that almost looks playable. By using projection mapping technology, this wedding cake has been turned into an animated version of Donkey Kong.

A camera that can keep a fast moving object in its sight is very useful. It could be adapted to cover sports or wartime events, or for academic and military purposes. That’s why a group of researchers at the University of Tokyo’s Ishikawa Oku Laboratory are working on a camera system that can automatically keep its eyes on the prize.

Earlier this year Microsoft introduced IllumiRoom, a prototype technology that augments TVs and other displays by projecting room-filling visuals that complement what is being shown on the screen. Microsoft Research recently released a video that explains the basics of IllumiRoom.

I love a good art exhibit as much as the next guy, but sometimes it can get a little boring just staring at all the static paintings on the walls – never mind the humiliation of getting chastised by the museum security for standing to close to them, like what happened to me a MoMA a couple of months back.

Have you played Minecraft so much that sometimes you see the world in voxels? This isn’t one of those times. The blocks below are real and even react to being hit by a pickaxe, thanks to the clever work of creative technologist Ben Purdy.

After seeing this, I really want to play some pinball. A game of pinball projected onto a large building, that is. I didn’t even know this was possible until now. The image and video you see here comes from Lyon, France during the Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights) 2011, where they played pinball on the side of a building.

Using a variety of visual tricks, including projection mapping, props, and motion-tracking, Sony managed to create some of the most mind-blowing visual illusions I’ve ever seen on video, bringing to life a sort of virtual “holodeck” for us to feast our eyes on.

For those of you unfamiliar with projection mapping, it’s a really cool visual technique used to combine the surfaces of real-world structures with projected images to create mind-blowing visual effects. Typically, these light shows require complex manual setups of projection gear to get the effect right, but the guys over at Visual Drugstore built out a mobile rig for projection-mapping.