SoReal Media Echo
Bloomberg Technology: The Theme Park of the Future
Our award-winning SoReal VR entertainment center in Beijing recently received a nice write up at Bloomberg Technology:
Full article: bloomberg.com/news/articles
DAZZLE Animation Update
DAZZLE Programming Underway
A quick glance over the shoulder of our Dazzle programming wizard Ivan Cruz as he prepares various animations to be mapped onto the building. Ivan has used Processing to create a complex model of the airport facade, onto which he can map video loops created in After Effects. This model produces JSON files that are sent to a Pixel Coordinator PC with remote access, which in turn sends a signal to an array of wireless transmitters that control each of the 2100 tiles. Easy, right?
As new animations are being created, Ivan stores them into an open-ended data base. The animations are categorized by visual intensity and tile switch rates to fit various moods and ambient conditions on location, like weather, traffic, and airport activity.
Archigraphia Redux
I Love To Make Up Words.
Digital Landscaping | Displayification | Digital Reconstitution | Data Sculpting | Kinetification
Archigraphia Redux: New Approaches and Digital Technologies
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The emerging field of Mediatecture is still defining its own language; new words are needed that poignantly describe the many facets in which the boundaries between people, media, object, and spaces are beginning to blur into one seamless experience.
40 years after the original classic Archigraphia: Architectural and Environmental Graphics, Archigraphia Redux brings together a collection of contemporary designers’ work within the field of environmental graphic design. The author Richard Poulin asked me to write an introductory essay for the chapter New Approaches and Digital Technologies, which includes stellar works by the likes of realities:united, Sagmeister&Walsh, Art+Com, Christian Moeller and a number of Ueberall projects.
The book published by Graphis is available to buy here.
Kinetification — the use of physical movement to display digital content as three-dimensional animations.
Displayification — the use of non-traditional and emerging dynamic materials to create displays.
Data Sculpting — the translation of big data into visual experiences, often with real-time data input.
Digital Reconstitution — the transformation of digital imagery into physical objects through nuanced repetition, macro patterns and pixilation.
DAZZLE Installation Update
News from the Construction Site
Three months into the onsite stress testing of the first-generation prototypes, the 25 autonomous E Ink pixels are holding up well and have delivered valuable insights for further weather proofing. Late July we will extend the testing to about 200 units of the next generation pixels, which will also allow us to test some actual animations. Stay tuned as the world’s largest application of E Ink Prism™ film is taking shape.
SoReal VR Entertainment Center
A SoReal Blast Off.
On April 25 I had the pleasure to take part in the official press launch of the new SoReal brand in Beijing.
Chinese film director Zhang Yimou – well known for Hero and House of Flying Daggers – is a key partner of this new VR brand, which is part of a media consortium that covers everything from VR content production and distribution to the development of proprietary VR hardware and dedicated entertainment centers.
The press was treated to a 180-degree wraparound LED spectacle and to the stage appearance of various protagonists of the new brand.
Former ArtCenter Entertainment Design Chair Tim Flattery appeared on screen as well as our design collaborators Refik Anadol and Raman Mustafa.
As the only English-speaking presenter on stage I have no idea what transpired from my own presentation, although the press bestowed a sweet new job title on me…
