See Dataton at PALME 2011, Stand S2E60 Amazing architectural projection mapping project sets scene for company's PALME show activi
tyWATCH THE VIDEO HERE: http://www.vimeo.com/19617807.
Dataton, the Swedish-based image processing and show-control specialist, returns to the PALME exhibition in Dubai this year with an increasingly impressive track record of Middle Eastern project work under its belt.
Exhibiting on Stand S2E60 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from 26-28 April, Dataton will showcase both its established WATCHOUT multi-display presentation software and its more recent innovation for the audio tour-guide marketplace, Pickup.
Fredrik Svahnberg, Marketing Director, Dataton, comments: “Middle Eastern markets are strong and we are experiencing unprecedented demand for our products in the region. Local customers here really like to raise the bar when it comes to creating novel multimedia events and visitor attractions, and PALME is the perfect forum in which to demonstrate that our products can meet these fresh challenges.”
One particularly ground-breaking recent application for Dataton WATCHOUTâ„¢ was an architectural projection mapping solution for the city of Al Ain. The second largest city in Abu Dhabi and the fastest-growing settlement in the UAE, Al Ain recently staged its largest-ever National Day celebrations. MediaPro, the UAE Dataton Center for Pickup and WATCHOUT, was tasked by event management company Red Events Services with giving the event a fresh dimension.
“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,” explains 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 Digital 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 as the whole film was controlled by WATCHOUT itself.
“The new scaling options made possible by the latest version of WATCHOUT allowed us to achieve very precise mapping over the building's surface,” adds 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,” Nair concludes.
“The capabilities of WATCHOUT now go far beyond mere large-screen projection. It is by far the most versatile video-processing solution, and its show-control capabilities have brought us many new clients in applications from business meetings to large-scale entertainment projects. The more challenging the production, the more brightly WATCHOUT seems to shine!”
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About Dataton
Renowned Swedish show control developer and manufacturer, Dataton has firmly established themselves on the international market since the 1980s. The company's flagship products include the award-winning Dataton WATCHOUTâ„¢ multi-display production and presentation system as well as the intuitive Dataton PICKUPâ„¢ audio guide. The latest addition to the product portfolio is the WATCHOUT Systems Manager, incorporated in the latest version of WATCHOUT. The systems manager is a powerful toolkit for creating interactive front ends to control high-impact WATCHOUT presentations.
www.dataton.com