Based in Atlanta, MEPTIK is a creative agency specializing in custom design for live environments. With an emphasis on projection mapping, content creation and interactive installations, the company focuses on crafting experiences by combining creativity and technology to help bring clients’ vision to life in a unique way for their customers.
Nick Rivero is co-founder and chief technologist at MEPTIK, and he comes from a touring background specializing in the technical side of video.
You’re based in Atlanta?
Yes! In our world, companies like ours have traditionally gravitated to one of the big cities like New York or Los Angeles. However, Atlanta has become a very exciting film production and tech hub, and it’s been great to be a part of the scene here. There’s some amazing things happening.
What’s your first memory of working with BlackTrax?
We had been following BlackTrax for a while, but finally put it to use at the beginning of 2017, when we used it for a touring show. Using traditional painter’s canvases combined with a choreographed actor, BlackTrax enabled us to use video projection that constantly aligned itself to the canvases the actor was holding, no matter which way he moved.We’d always wanted to use BlackTrax, and this project gave us the ideal opportunity.It gave us a new perspective on how to engage our audiences.
MEPTIK prides itself on combining creativity with technology. Other than BlackTrax, what technology currently fascinates you?
It has to be AR – augmented reality. This year, we’ve looked at how to combine innovative technologies into genres that differ from what we’re used to. For example, we worked with friends at RiTE Media Group, a film production company here in Atlanta, who own a MRMC Bolt Cinebot. We were able to combine our experience in real-time motion visuals with their experience in robotic filmmaking to create augmented reality on a film set.
Together, we created a setup where the backdrop of the film set tracked with the camera and the actors. The projected backdrop was being manipulated in real time and was visible to the actors as they moved through the space. Black Trax enabled us to track where the actors were in the virtual environment, which allowed the visual projected environment to respond their movements. From a production standpoint, we created everything using disguise servers, Notch, and BlackTrax for the tracking. Special thanks goes to Kyle Means, co-owner at Visional Productions, who provided the BlackTrax system.
How do you see the market developing for what you do?
The exciting thing right now is that real-time interactivity is really coming into its own. We’re in an age where we can do things completely live; we’re turning staged spectacles into full experiences because of real-time interactivity, and BlackTrax is a key piece of that. We’re able to integrate performers and props into scenery in a completely dynamic way. There’s no pretending anymore. You’re creating an environment, and the performer and audience has an effect on that.