International. Christie and Microsoft brought their mixed reality technologies to the beachfront of the French town of Cannes. And they did it at the Microsoft Beach Club, an event held within the framework of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2015, whose visitors could enjoy the latest in collaborative projection mapping through two projects created for the occasion, which combined Microsoft Kinect technology and Christie projectors and software.
Inside a pavilion in the form of a large white tent mounted on the same beach, Christie and Microsoft deployed two projects designed with the intention of showing the potential offered by the combination of Kinect with Christie projectors to inspire creative spaces. Using Microsoft's Kinect and Christie's Mirage HD14K-M projector, the first project, titled Light Marketing, projected real-time images of visitors as they entered and scrolled through the pavilion.
Rick Barraza, strategic design and creative engineer at Microsoft's Catalyst Group Partner, said: "Kinect is very much a technology designed to work at room scale. Its sensors make it possible to recognize up to 25 different points on the bodies of six people simultaneously at 30 frames per second, allowing us to turn people into real living posters."
Chad Faragher, Senior Software Product Developer at Christie, said: "Light Marketing can be used to project content about people in real time in stores, concerts or facilities. Here, it was about turning that projection into a magical experience."
The second project, Light Mural, consisted of a three-meter-by-one beach life scene, animated with Kinect using a Christie DWU951-Q projector equipped with an ultra-short lens. When touched, the interactive mural detected changes in depth and came to life with the images that were created.
Barraza explains: "We were interested in mixing Kinect and projection to generate experiences based on perception. By mixing projectors with a camera capable of seeing and understanding reality, ordinary—and silly—light becomes intelligent. That's why I like this partnership with Christie so much."
The fusion of digital and physical creates a fascinating mixed reality experience
Christie's technicians spent three months working with Microsoft on the Light Marketing and Light Mural projects, overcoming a large number of environmental challenges: heat, excess ambient lighting, air salinity, lack of ceiling and a wooden floor that vibrated when walking on it.
"Christie had to supply high-brightness projectors capable of competing with the high ambient light of the place. We also had to deal with very high temperatures. In addition, we were asked to have the projectors confined to boxes. In short, you had to bring projectors that were able to compete in a hostile environment without ever interrupting their operation," says Faragher.
Both Microsoft and Christie see the two projects as a huge success. As Barraza explains, "Working with Christie was a pleasure. In each projection they investigate what can be done. They are very creative people and they drink from the great experience of cinema in using technology to tell stories better. The project was a fascinating marriage of technology and creativity, with technicians working hard to overcome one challenge after another and artists creating content capable of using technology that inspires storytelling in museums, theme parks and shops."
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