We’ve all marveled at 1024 architecture’s incredible lighting installations and video mapping projects, overcome with a sense of awe and wonder as the visuals manipulate and distort the structures right before our eyes. Just thinking about how much programming and architectural know-how must go into creating these things, regularly makes our brains hurt and causes us to hang our heads in shame of never being able to achieve such grandeur. But not anymore!PERSPECTIVE LYRIQUE from 1024 on Vimeo.1024’s new MadMapper tutorial makes it easy to get started with projection mapping with step-by-step instructions on the set-up and process, effectively demystifying the magical visual medium and making it infinitely more accessible to beginners. All that is needed is a projector, a compatible Canon DSLR, the MadMapper software and… a garden gnome. Ok not really, but the tutorial guides the amateur media artist to successfully transform a run-of-the-mill gnome into a neon radioactive creature of the night.
The software turns your projector into a mini-scanner that captures the object being mapped pixel by pixel. Plugging the DSLR into the computer’s USB port, it photographs the gnome, which is then scanned by the projector, allowing the user to design a video to map onto the gnome using the software and some photoshopping. It only took the author of the tutorial 10 minutes to map the gnome using this limited tech.As explained on the MadMapper site, the technology was originally created to make the medium accessible to anyone:“As of this writing 'projection mapping' is one of the fastest growing mediums, being used in a variety of artistic and commercial projects. The basic idea: take a projector, point it at a physical volume like an object or an architectural element, and then map an image onto it.The MadMapper provides a simple and easy tool for mapping projections. It removes a lot of the confusion related to this medium, effectively demystifying the process, allowing you, the artist or designer to focus on creating your content, and making the experience of mapping textures to physical objects in real time, fun."We might not be producing video projects at the same scale and level of mastery as 1024 architecture anytime soon, but hey, it’s a start. At least we can beging building our army of radio-active gnomes now.
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