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This kind of blew me away. NuFormer is a company in the Netherlands that specializes in outdoor advertising of a very peculiar sort — done on the faces of buildings. Real buildings are mapped and modeled in 3D, and then animations are created using those models and projected back onto the building. The result is incredibly lifelike — it nearly fools the eye — and whoever designs these animations does an amazing job of taking advantage the buildings’ nooks and crannies to make things look like they’re really happening in 3D space. I guess this has been around for the better part of a year, but I’m just hearing about it now — so I’ll bet it’s new to some of you as well. Cool, right?
Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.
If they can do this now, what’s next? It makes me think Star Trek: TNG’s Holodeck can’t be far away.
Comments (32)
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that is amazing!
posted by me on 5-21-2010 at 8:21 am
unreal!
posted by Katie Rose on 5-21-2010 at 9:25 am
Not gonna lie, if I had been there when the building “imploded” I might have freaked out.
But amazing!
posted by Elissa on 5-21-2010 at 9:49 am
Ransom, you always dig up the coolest stuff. This was incredible! I love it!
posted by nikki on 5-21-2010 at 10:00 am
Great stuff to look at during a boring work day.
Anyone know the artist and name of that song?
posted by Kent on 5-21-2010 at 10:45 am
@Kent
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour — Around the Bend
posted by Jenny on 5-21-2010 at 11:01 am
That is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen – thanks for sharing!
posted by Kimi on 5-21-2010 at 3:54 pm
This is amazing! Can’t stop watching it.
posted by Jamie on 5-21-2010 at 10:36 pm
You may be interested in this event: http://vividsydney.com/events/macquarie-visions/macquarie-visions – it’s really beautiful to walk down a street of heritage buildings all lit up with glorious colour :-)
posted by Chloe BK on 5-21-2010 at 11:24 pm
Thanks jenny, great song!
posted by Buyaca on 5-22-2010 at 9:02 am
Very nice.
posted by Vadim P on 5-22-2010 at 9:26 am
IT’S FAKE…. Don’t take my word – look it up.
posted by B.G. on 5-22-2010 at 9:29 am
Let me clarify. It isn’t a projection on to a building from some camera across the street. It’s just a CGI movie.
posted by B.G. on 5-22-2010 at 9:32 am
This is awesome. I want to see more!
posted by Anne on 5-22-2010 at 9:58 am
Now THAT’S Augmented Reality!
posted by Sam on 5-22-2010 at 12:58 pm
Not quite the same, but we have a primitive version of this in Adelaide put on once a year. Its less dynamic as this, but is the same idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUm4TOPs3J4
That they are projecting consistently on stone and glass does make it a bit fake looking, but cool none the less
posted by Peter on 5-22-2010 at 7:23 pm
Computer, arch.
posted by Captain Jean Luc Picard on 5-22-2010 at 10:10 pm
In reply to B.G. As someone (myself) who has seen the stuff done down here in Adelaide and as someone who knows about object mapping, I’d like to say to you that this technique is not fake. It is, however, NON-SUBSTANTIAL so all the trekkies are going to have to wait a loooooong time to play on a “holodeck” without your hand passing through a bottle of beer. That being said, the visual effect outdoors, live, is STUNNING. It is really STUNNING and AMAZING to see live.
posted by Alaskan Dave Down Under on 5-23-2010 at 2:59 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eenJMKiYR_s
This is a video showcasing the great job disneyland paris did utilizing projection for the opening day of the tower of terror.
posted by janson on 5-23-2010 at 5:41 pm
Very cool effect. Thanks for sharing
posted by steve on 5-23-2010 at 9:25 pm
That’s trippy stuff. I’d love to throw a giant party in the streets and have a bunch of the buildings lit up doing this.
posted by CharlieHoarse on 5-25-2010 at 7:35 pm
Iron Mountain Report.
Tech like this can be used (maybe w/HAARP?) to create either a false second coming or a fake alien invasion.
Check it out.
posted by duderino on 5-26-2010 at 5:11 pm
This video is obviously not of the actual projections, but just simulations of how the projections might work. I doubt the real projections would look a fraction like the illustrations, there simply aren’t bright & fast enough projection sources to render such images that large! Poof !
posted by Spock on 5-27-2010 at 6:54 am
Where are you getting that this is “obviously” fake? People are staring at these buildings for a reason. If they were simulations there would be no need to have multiple shots of the same building in different lights. One would suffice.
posted by eni on 5-29-2010 at 12:52 am
this old video and it is fake, you can se the real one on their web site
http://www.nuformer.nl/en/work/movies/projection_on_buildings_-_live_performance/358/
posted by zone on 6-1-2010 at 3:21 pm
p.s. if you dont know something GOOGLE IT!
posted by zone on 6-1-2010 at 3:23 pm
zone,
I don’t follow, you say it’s fake and then post a link to the site which has this video and another very similar and equally amazing one that says “Live Performance” at the beginning.
So why do say it’s fake and then link evidence to the contrary? It is confusing.
Good news though I’m happy to report that it is real! Which is what I wanted to know because if it’s CGI then BFD.
Google fail zone
posted by tice on 6-2-2010 at 1:52 am
Why would this be a fake? It is technically possible to 3d render a building beforehand, create a stunning 3d animation and THEN render it to a movie file. Yes, it’ll cost a lot more work in advance, but you’re still using a beamer to project a movie on a building, just like other projections.
posted by nien on 6-2-2010 at 5:53 am
Check out http://vimeo.com/nuformer/videos for live footage of NuFormer latest projections!
posted by 3D on 6-2-2010 at 7:17 am
My friends… The video attached to this post is a CGI rendering designed to demonstrate what the technology COULD (supposedly) look like. The link that Zone supplied is an ACTUAL live performance of the technology. If you pay attention, many of the effects shown in the above video are also reproduced in the live performance video, but with noticeable difference in how it actually appears in real life (some of the effects differing more than others).
Bottom line is, the above video is a CGI rendering, and the actual appearance of the technology in real life is not quite to the same quality, but still very impressive.
posted by Moosa on 6-11-2010 at 8:33 am
FANTASTIC….that would look GREAT on the House at Christmas!
posted by Steve on 6-17-2010 at 5:15 am
This is an Illuminati Video. Wake up People…..
posted by PeterPan on 6-19-2010 at 4:42 pm