Watchout provides architectural mapping in Al Ain
Published: MEA
UAE: Dataton’s Watchout has recently been used for an architectural projection mapping solution for the National Day celebrations of the city of Al Ain. MediaPro was tasked by event management company Red Events Services with the visual elements of the show.
‘We wanted to break away from the usual light show and felt that architectural projection mapping would be a giant leap forward in terms of visual effects,’ explained Jinesh Nair, MD of MediaPro. ‘We began by creating a scale-model replica in our studio of the Al Ain Municipality building that would be used as an architectural backdrop for the projections. We then created the overall dimensions in CAD software and rendered them in After Effects 3D max for the real imaging. Source images were created in Photoshop before being processed in After Effects and Final Cut Pro. The final transitions were achieved using the Watchout layering options, which can create multiple effects on-screen without any ‘ghosting’ interference.’
MediaPro used two pairs of Christie projectors to achieve an overall image 40m wide by 10m high. One Watchout software licence was used to drive each pair of projectors and seamlessly blend their images together, with a third system running the production timeline. The movie’s soundtrack was connected to the production unit.
‘The new scaling options made possible by the latest version of Watchout allowed us to achieve very precise mapping over the building’s surface,’ added Mr Nair. ‘For this project we also adjusted the Mode settings in the software to sharpen the images and to increase their overall brightness, which was made necessary by the building’s pale concrete façade. This kind of architectural projection mapping was a first for the Emirates and wowed the thousands of tourists and business people who came to Al Ain for the celebrations,’ Mr Nair concluded.