From melting ice rinks to rippling chess boards, the stunning projection sequences used in sports have become just as much a spectacle as the game itself.
Katy Perry, for instance, stunned spectators when she used the technology during the Super Bowl XLIX to create the illusion that she was transported to a tropical island.
Now, developers of the system are hoping to advance projection technology so that the crowd can change what they are seeing on the court using their mobile phones.
Katy Perry’s show featured three projection-mapped sections: a perspective-bending chess board, a beach party, and an shooting stars finale.
Ohio-based studio, Lightborne, and Virgina firm, Quince Imaging – two of the main firms responsible for these shows – have revealed how they transform stadiums using their unique set up of projectors, computer-aided modelling and lights.
The main aim is to tailor a projected image to a dimensional, non-flat surface in order to shatter the viewer’s perception of the seemingly ordinary object.
About 60 days before fans see final product, technicians will analyse the arena and decide out where they are going to install their high-powered projectors.
Most shows use 12 projectors, but some productions can get by with just eight.
‘There are two things that have to happen,’ Scott Williams, co-founder and COO of Quince, who creates these illusions, told Athletic Business.
‘Number one, the projection has to be bright as heck. Secondly, you have to be able to control ambient light. Ambient light is a showstopper.’
The projectors that Quince use have 26,000 lumens per projector, making them powerful enough to completely change the appearance of any surface.
The teams then produce a computer model of the court and the video department will work on the production’s content.
If there are lines on the floor, for instance, on a basketball court, the computer models line up the projectors with these areas.
Lights are then layered to display various intensities to create the impression that something is falling away or rising up from the ground.
Ohio-based studio, Lightborne, was responsible for the visuals at Katy Perry’s show.
They used a software called D3 Media Server, a month ahead of time to visualise projections using a computer model of the stadium.
Quince Imaging is behind the on-court projection spectacles used by teams such as the New Jersey Devils, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.
At the Prudential Center in Newark – home ice of the Devils – a pre-game presentation by Quince combines live video, animations and projection-mapping.
The high-definition projector system is installed in the rafters, and the team have to make sure they get the brightness and resolution just right.
During the show, the Devil mascot looks as if he is setting fire to the ice.
‘If you can deliver enough foot-candles of brightness and pixel density,’ Williams told Wired, ‘you have the ability to fool people into seeing that the object being projected upon is moving or breaking apart.’
When the media is created and everything tested, on game day all the operators needs to do is press play and watch as the crowds are stunned by the visuals.
The future, claims Williams, could be in using infrared cameras that read movements on the floor and connect a moving graphic to a person or object.
‘We’d really like to explore the concept of connecting your mobile device,’ Peter Sorckoff, chief creative office of the Atlanta Hawks told CNN.
‘We can use our Twitter feed and Instagram feed to invite fans to send us photos in real-time.
‘We can then use those photos and shift them on panels were they actually continue to reveal and refresh with new photos that are coming through our social streams.’
I was in on a demo back in 04 of a projector that could interact with you. It could project a table hockey game where you where the player and made the puck move virtually. I worked for these people. http://www.prg.com/
It is getting better and better quality for sure.
The same technology is likely used to fake all news.
You can not trust what you see anymore.
Well there you go. Judging by the size of the arenas and the money behind them, I’d guess that this is the state-of-the-art visual technology, and we’re still not coming close to realistic holograms.
Just remember everything each of you have said. You will see this in the clouds/sky sometime soon…
As per the Iron Mountain report.
Well….lets test this new 3D technology on the “Judicial Court”.
Instead of the basketball court.
Hell…even better.. The Supreme Court.
We’ll give Uncle Thomas the first free throw.