Over the past decade, the Comix crew has been making such great content, it is almost comical. A multimedia company specializing in live events, interactive design, motion graphics & film, they have worked with almost everyone in the dance music industry.


From Avicii to Alesso to Kygo to DJ Snake to Axwell Ingrosso to Swedish House Mafia, the list is a bit endless. [fold][/fold]

I especially love all the different visual styles & looks they play with. It’s amazing how much variety there is. So, of course, we caught up with Comix to talk about their art, journey and other cool things.


Tell us how this journey began.

Harry Bird (Founder/Director):
Growing up my father owned a nightclub in the South of England, the way he used lighting and projectors always interested me. He got a lot of influence from the Velvet Underground, one of the first groups to use projectors at their shows, and I guess his interest rubbed off on me.


I did a foundation course in arts and design then followed on to do a Degree in Interactive Media at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. While here I DJ’d for club nights and begun promoting my own nights. VJing caught my eye as it begun to slowly take off during these years and I decided to investigate this further and find out more.


I was on the same course with Sam Hodgkiss (Co-founder of Comix) and fortunate enough to meet the foundation of our talented team at University while studying Interactive Media, this combination and utilization of skill sets I believe was key to our success.


After University, and many VJ nights later, Sam and myself managed to get a gig going on a UK bus tour with Radio 1 DJ Kissy Sell Out. In 2010, We supported an act at Brixton Academy called “Swedish House Mafia” - after the show SHM contacted us and asked us to come along to VJ their headline EDC LA show, obviously we said yes!


And the rest is history, eh?
When I look at your work, what I love the most is how dark it is. You do a great job mixing that in with the EDM flavor. Would you say this is your style? Or are you just working at what feels right for the artist?

Tom Brightman (Comix Creative Director):
I would say that it’s a mix of the two. Our main goal when working with a client on new show content is to deliver them the show that they want, inevitably during the creative process some of our individual creative styles come out in the finished work.


A lot of people come to us as they’ve seen another show that we’ve produced and want something with a similar tone, which is great as it’s obviously a visual area we enjoy working in.


However, others approach us as they’ve heard we are good to work with, or trust in our professionalism given the number of high-end clients we have worked with, and they may want something totally different to our usual style, which is also great as it can present a bigger challenge and may result in us having to learn new techniques, software or hardware.


It’s the reason that we use specific designers for specific jobs, if we want to produce the best work it’s a good idea to utilize designer’s particular strengths.


Alongside a lot of our more well-known shows like Alesso and Avicii we have also produced more upbeat visuals, such as the love story we created for the recent Kygo’s Live ‘Kids in Love Tour’ or hand drawn animations we’ve previously made for The Chainsmokers.


It’s always great to work in these alternative styles as it keeps us on our toes!

With so many artists you cater to, how do you ensure something fresh for each one of them?

Tom:
From the start of each project we aim to establish a unique visual language for each client independently from one another. Most of us in the studio know the main bulk of our content, which allows us to alter any ideas that may appear similar to another clients. It’s very important to us to not imitate work from another artist, or any other shows, especially as we have a large group of clients in a similar genre.


The creative process itself tends to do away with much need for that as we are creating unique projects for individual clients, based on their specific tastes, music styles, ideas and requirements.


On top of this process generally every client has their own visuals operator, usually provided by us, who will lend their own style to the show, especially as the show organically evolves on the road after rehearsals.

Tell us about your content creation process- from scratch to final render. What all software do you work with?

We are often as open-minded as possible when approaching a new project, never really having the final outcome or process in our head, to a degree. The exception to this rule may be a project that is extremely time or budget sensitive.

When designing a show, we usually begin thinking of the bigger picture; What’s the overall visual language (colours, textures, symbols, film/CGI/mixed, etc.)? What theme wants to be communicated and carried throughout the show? What restrictions do we have? And so on.


After we begin to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not, we will start to move on to individual looks for songs, forming a mood board with a few routes for the client to choose from which we can develop further on.


Alongside this process, we will begin to think a bit about how we are going to produce it, but the level of that thought process varies massively. It’s more important that the client is happy with the core ideas, and as long as we have a rough idea of how we may translate the looks from paper to screen, then we will figure the rest out later. It’s worked out well for us to let the creative evolve in its right and not be too restricted by process.

After that it’s probably a similar process to most productions, we work out if we need to film anything, if we need any research and development days, then we begin any CGI process.


There’s always some technique, hardware or software that we need to learn to complete a job (in the office or on the road), but for us it’s not only interesting but rewarding to be able to learn something new, and as a company we’re lucky to have a team of friendly, clever and competent people capable of standing up to that challenge.


Software wise the list could be endless! Pre- production often involves a lot of drawing, post-it notes and Adobe InDesign for mood boarding.

During production we mostly use Cinema 4D, X-Particles, Octane Renderer, Houdini and Adobe After Effects.

Then for touring live we obviously use Resolume, which takes care of pixel-mapping, inputs, outputs and playback.


Alongside After Effects, Resolume really has been the tool that we have used and loved since day 1 of Comix and I couldn’t see us changing that any time soon, especially with some of the great features that came out in version 6 and the support you guys give to the community.

Cheers to that!
Tell us a bit about the kind of prep that goes into playing massive stages.


Sam Hodgkiss:
Every show is different, but I’ll talk about a show like Ultra Miami.
This show is unique in that a lot of our clients like to use it to launch their new visual and lighting show here which will normally be toured throughout the festival season in the summer, sometimes with a few additional updates.

We would start by looking back over the previous show with the client and working out how much new content they would like to add. This can range from a few updates if the content is fairly new, to an entirely new show and direction.

If everything goes well, and there’s always a few complications, we will get a stage design and pixel map in advance of the show. At this point depending on time and budget, we would look at creating custom content specifically designed to take advantage of the stage design, add any unique moments and do what we can to make this show feel different.


Once all that is complete, minus the usual last-minute amendments, we head into rehearsals. That’s when the fun part begins, sitting with the client and lighting operator and building the show.

Again, depending on time and budget this can vary from a small previz studio to having the entire stage built in a rehearsal warehouse.

This is where Resolume Arena can shine.


It allows us to keep the show organized, make changes quickly, drag and drop clips, add effects and colour corrections right in front of the client. And if there are any last-minute changes to the stage design or pixel map, Advance Mapper makes it easy to fix and adapt the final output with minimal re-rendering.

And, what hardware do you guys work with?

Sam:
Unlike traditional touring, with most DJs we don’t have trucks to transport large case’s, and sometimes fly in hot straight to stage at shows ranging from small clubs to large arenas. So, in that respect everything needs to be as portable as possible and with no compromise. Below is a list of essentials:

● High end show laptop with a minimum Nvidia 1070. A lot of new festivals now have dual 4k outputs and the 1070 allows playback at 60fps with no frame drops.
● A second identical laptop as a backup, also used to create content on the road.
● Midi controller of choice with backup, this is always personal preference
● Every video adapter under the planet with spares, these things always seem to go missing.

As every show is different, we also have some more specialized equipment for example:

● Datapath Fx4’s for those shows that love 4+ outputs
● Multi-camera rigs. A few of our clients incorporate live cameras into their set to add an extra layer to the live show
● And the camera rig is accompanied by Capture cards, Roland video mixers and preview monitors among other things.
● External Sound cards if audio input or output is needed

A new addition the some of our shows is a Notch Rig. This allows is to incorporate some really cool camera overlays and generative content live into the show.


When we are lucky enough to have a truck tour or we need the extra power at larger show, Coachella main stage for example, we have video server racks that can really push those extra pixels and outputs.

Tell us about your studio- where all that Comix magic is created.

Tom:
We have recently expanded our studio to accommodate for the greater variety in work we now produce and to accommodate our growing list of talented employees. Now, with one studio concentrating on post production and CGI, and the other as a live film, rehearsal space and test area for interactive work.

Rig wise in the studio we all use PC towers running Windows with at least two graphics cards (NVidia 1080ti + Titan’s), a decent amount of ram (32-64GB) and a good processor (Intel i7/i9), then tonnes of storage on a server for resources and backups. We also have render node’s with NVidia 1080ti graphics cards for when the 3D work needs extra muscle thrown at it. It’s also great if you need an extra heater in the office!


Haha! What are your favorite bit of content/ shows that you’ve created?

Harry: Every Avicii show I VJ’d over 6 years touring with him is now a memory I’ll never forget.


Sam: Swedish House Mafia’s One Last Tour. After being on the road for 6 months with the guys and a really amazing crew it felt like a family. Being lucky enough to travel around the world getting up every day to perform this massive show will never be forgotten. It was a truly great send off.


And finally, any words of advice for budding visual artists out there?
Harry:


LOL. Thanks for the great interview and work, guys.
You are quite the c̶o̶m̶i̶c̶s̶ comix, yourselves :)

The sale has ended and again we're very grateful to welcome so many new people to the Resolume Family. Welcome, and enjoy Resolume everybody! Checkout the free training videos to learn how to get the most out of your shiny new Resolume.

[s]Alright, it’s that time of the year again. The Traditional Resolume 50% Black Friday Discount. Ooh and pumpkin pie, turkey, cheese grits, brussels sprouts and gravy if you’re from the USA.[/s]

This weekend we offer 50% discount on our software, footage and even our t-shirts, so you’ll have something nice to wear to your next gig. The discount also applies to upgrades and educational licenses and it ends after Cyber Monday. Remember that this is the only sale we ever do so get it while it’s cheap. Shop Now!

So about that thanksgiving dinner. If you’d like to perfect your gravy then checkout this recipe from Jamie Oliver. That looks delicious :-)

We have finally updated the Resolume video training to version 6. It's completely re-recorded with Avenue and Arena 6 by DocOptic. But the best news is that it's now completely free!

It's great for beginners who are just getting started but it's not just a course that teaches you what each button in Resolume does. It also educates on basic compositing and use of color in a VJ set. There is something to learn for everybody. Watch the training on our site, Vimeo or YouTube.

What happens when a bunch of artists, architects, programmers and engineers come together? A burst of creation with a dollop of technology. Minimal yet complex. Simple yet amazing. This is what Litewerkz is.


Photo by Calvin Chan

Formed by students who met at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Litewerkz is a newish design collective- with lots of vision. Gradually growing from indoor static installations to outdoor dynamic installations, they have worked at developing themselves by welcoming new members and perspectives, every year.

[fold][/fold]
Their installation this year at the Singapore Night festival really caught our eye. Named “Orbit” it was quick to evoke our inherent space obsession. With a central orb (as the primary source of energy- the sun), the installation consisted of different orbs (planets) with retroreflective cores, all wirelessly linked to each other. Very cool & scientific.



So, how did the idea of “Orbit” as an installation come to you.

We’ve worked with 3M (a global science company) on previous installations, making use of their iridescent films. These were displayed at the Singapore Night Festival in the past few years.

This year 3M came to us with a challenge to use their retroreflective materials. These materials are used on traffic signs and safety vests, so we really had to think hard about how we could use them in an art installation.

3M gave us the creative freedom, and provided us with custom colors of these materials, which really helped us achieve our vision for the installation.



We think they were really happy with the result as they have never seen their product used in this way.

Tell to us about the Installation- from idea to production.

Orbit is an abstraction of our solar system; 8 planets around a sun. Each of the planets and sun are individual units and react when the visitors spin them. The LED lights inside illuminate the planets and its unique make-up.



Within each planet is a unique polygonal gem, covered with retroreflective material. It is this gem that lights up with the use of flash photography or videography.



This gem is made computationally with the use of Grasshopper, cut on a corrugated board with a zund cutter, and assembled by hand.


Grasshopper script used to create the gems

Each planet uses a Particle Photon to connect to the main server, an Intel NUC. Each Photon has an app that allows it to understand the Artnet commands broadcasted from the NUC. With a MPU6050 6-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, the app is also able to detect the rotational speed and allow the planets to react accordingly.

While stationary or slow speed, the planets glow at half-brightness.



At high speeds, the planets will then glow at full-brightness.



Resolume runs on the Intel NUC, and allowed us to easily setup each planet and the sun; it allows for easy LED mapping as well as sequence control.

Tell us about the hardware that went into Orbit.

Hardware design was one of the most challenging parts of us, as this is our first time designing an interactive installation for the outdoors. There were also no off-the-shelf components for the curvature of each sphere we were using, so we had to design some components from scratch while trying to use as many off-the-shelf components as possible.



We went with an Aluminum tube for the shaft as it was easy to cut and was very sturdy at 40mm diameter. We opted for a brass bushing due to its low maintenance and low pricing.
We used a slip ring connector to transmit power from the stationary shaft to the rotating spheres. This is the centerpiece of the installation, the interface between the stationary aluminum tube, and the spinning sphere. Finally, the sphere holders were 3D printed in PET-G. PET-G was chosen as it was more heat and weather resistant as compared to PLA, important in the Singapore climate.



In our earlier versions, we were able to engage a printing service to print it as a single piece. But this single piece print took too long and demanded a large print bed. We then designed a split version so that each piece is printable on common print bed dimensions. The split versions aligned with each other with printed pins and holes. Split sections were secured with a PVC tube section and also when the attachments are screwed to the sphere.

And what exactly is retroreflective material?

Retroreflectivity is a property of the material which causes light to reflect in the same direction as the incident ray. If you have seen how road signs shine in the night while you are driving, it is because of this material which reflects the car’s headlights back in the same direction.

What this meant to us as artists, is that this material gave us an opportunity to design experiences that were unique to each individual’s perspective, and we sought to exploit this property in our installation. We encouraged visitors to turn on the flash on their camera phones while taking a photo or video, which would allow them to see the effect of retroreflection unique to the perspective of their camera.



Cool! So now tell us about the LED pixel strips. What purpose did they serve, how did you link them all and how did you manage to link their intensities with the speed of rotation of the orbs?

The LED pixel strips serve as a source of light for the retroreflective gems at the center of each sphere. We also intended for them to be eye catching from far, so that visitors nearby would be attracted to the installation.



Beyond these simple functions, we tried to see what else we could do to make the LEDs more interesting. We decided on a light show synchronized across all the spheres. This initially meant running data cables between the spheres, but we managed to find a microprocessor that had WiFi built in, and the relevant ArtNet and WS2812 LED libraries. There would be a central server pushing out the ArtNet signals, and the micro-controllers listening and displaying these signals. This gave us the ability to design light shows synchronized across all the spheres.

We used the MPU 6050 6-axis Accelerometer and Gyroscope, compatible with the libraries available for our micro-controller. After much discussion, we settled on a simple increase in intensity while the sphere rotates, localized to each sphere, as we felt that this would provide a feedback to the audience that is intuitive.

So, the Particle Photon micro-controller is clearly super important to the installation. Tell us more about it.

We chose the Particle Photon as it seemed really easy to connect it to the Internet and also debug with the status LEDs. Particle also has tools like the Particle CLI to help make setting it up and debugging easy. It also helps greatly that the Particle team does great documentation.

The Particle Photon has Digital Input and Output pins for us to control the LED lights. It also features a I2C bus which allows us to use I2C devices like the MPU6050 6-axis Accelerometer and Gyroscope Module.

We especially like the status LED for debugging. The different LED colors and patterns correspond to a list of statuses for the Particle Photon. This made it very easy for us in identifying what remedial action should be done without the need for a serial monitor.

Another benefit of having a micro-controller that connects to WiFi is the ability to push new code onto the micro-controller without having to connect a USB cable. This meant a lot time saved for us, as connecting a cable would require us to open up the sphere and electronics housing, for each of the 9 spheres



To put all these components together, we designed and printed a PCB. This PCB sat in the centre of each sphere, in a housing, and spins together with the sphere.



The PCB design allowed for us to easily put together the various electronics components. It also made the soldering and connections more consistent.We added a lithium-polymer battery backup system to prevent the micro-controller from shutting down if power connection is lost when the planets are spinning.



The PCB design was done on EAGLE, a PCB design software that is free for hobbyist and makers (this free version has limited features). The other good thing about EAGLE is that it works well with Fusion 360; PCB designs can be imported over from EAGLE to Fusion 360, allowing for inspections on the sizing with the overall design.

And so, tell us about the role that Resolume played in this installation.

Resolume allowed us to easily setup each planet and the sun; it allows for easy LED mapping as well as sequence control.

The central Intel NUC with an integrated GPU ran Resolume, and we mapped every planet to a section of the template. We came up with a template of 31x32 pixels to represent all the pixels in the whole installation. Eight 6x16 rectangles are mapped to the eight planets, and a 7x32 rectangle is mapped to the 7 smaller spheres within the sun. Each Particle Photon has a static IP, and we simply mapped each section of the video to the corresponding IP address.



After exporting the video sequences, we loaded them all into Resolume and set them to autoplay on start, and autopilot. All this happens when the power to the computer turned on, which meant we could let anyone turn on the installation without having to meddle with a computer.



We could have used code to run the entire installation, but the workflow of using After Effects to design the sequences, and Resolume to pixel map and convert this video into ArtNet, gave us the ability to quickly visualize new sequences.

It also democratized the designing of sequences within our team, as we no longer require coding knowledge to design sequences. Anyone can now export a sequence, put it onto Resolume, rearrange the playback sequence, change the speed, or add any other effects.

That is such a great way to use Resolume :)
So finally, considering the whole setup was wirelessly linked and controlled- I'm sure you faced challenges..?

Linking everything wirelessly gave us a lot of convenience, but of course we had to deal with the downside of using WiFi. We noticed that when the festival got crowded, the micro-controllers tend to disconnect from the network, and would freeze on the last received ArtNet frame. We then had to power cycle these frozen micro-controllers from time to time. It could have been interference from mobile phones with their WiFi and Bluetooth turned on, or because our low powered WiFi router was not equipped to deal with 10 simultaneous connections (1 server, 9 spheres).

Apart from these minor problems, we felt that wireless is the way to go logistically.

Interactive installations take the biggest abuse. The PCB was initially designed with female header pins for the outputs but when the wires keep coming out when the planets were spun, we replaced them with screw terminals to ensure that they were held in place.

On the first day of the festival, we witnessed kids and adults using all their strength to spin the spheres as fast as they could.



Well, can you blame them? :)

Thank you Keith & Team Litewerkz for talking to us. We look forward to seeing more of your cool work.

You can find out more about them here , on Instagram and Facebook.

Photo Credits:
Chiasuals
Natalie Chen (Litewerkz)

The general walked the empty streets of the city. The parade was over, the people had gone home. See you on the other side, private.

Get Cities by Julius Horsthuis
No need for alarms in the cities that never sleep.


Get Pop-Aganda by Ican Agoesdjam
You might think we are making propaganda here, but the only 'ganda we like is pop-aganda.


DriftNet by Catmac
Drift Gift Lift Rift Shift Swift Net.

Yaaaas queen! Finally! Alley 2.0.0 can now convert your video files to DXV.

We've made it ridiculously easy so your files are off blazing in two clicks, using super fast super multi-threaded super power. Of course, you can also fine tune your blend with presets and power user tricks. Check out the workflow and all the options in this Alley support article. Alley will always be free, so make sure it's part of your swiss army toolkit.

16 Bit DMX Input
You can now assign a DMX shortcut as 16 bit. Resolume will then automatically use the selected channel for coarse and the following channel for fine. Lampies will understand all the words in that sentence. Thanks Maarten!

Way Faster Adobe DXV Exporters
While we were working on Alley, we gave the Adobe DXV exporters a speed boost as well by making them multi-threaded. The more cores you have in your CPU the faster it will be.

Gl!tchy Tǝxt No More
We squashed the glitched out characters in the Text Animator and Text Block for good this time. No more weird looking text. Although the glitchy look was kind of awesome.

Grey Output Flash on Startup?
We all love a good flashy flashy, but thanks to the logs sent in by Brandon Little, Ozaer Faroqui and Thomy Hoefer, Resolume keeps a low profile during startup again and does not flash a grey frame in the output anymore.

Transformers
Pasting effects would result in an extra Transform effect that couldn't be removed. Now I have loved Transformers since I was a little babbie in the eighties. I even kept loving them when Michael Bay took them and CGI'd them to death. But this many Transformers was a bit much even for me.

l10n
The interface, onscreen help and manual are now disponible en Español, in Deutsch verfügbar and 有中文.

Download
Checkout the full fix list below, and just grab yourself a dime bag of that dank download.

Update! Thu 8 Nov, Hotfix List
#11972 Group Parameter Animation Menu does not open
#11949 Composition dashboard doesn't load stored names
#11954 Media Manager not working after save on new composition
#11969 Avenue footage installer creates wrong folder for registration file, then fails to register on OSX
#11960 Clipgrid scrollbars are not disappearing on resize, breaks vertical scrolling

Thu 1 Nov, Fix List
8458 play to end and hold' with 'continue from last pos' seeks to different frame on clip relaunch
9416 reveal effect moves original texture slices when set to centre scaling
9618 Text Atlas corrupt / text glitch
9776 MM: "Locate All.." doesn't work on Mac with MM comp that comes from Windows
10648 Monitor panel can lose title and settings icon
10841 DMX clip, column launch relaunches clip constantly above the launch threshold value when channel is changing
11111 Recording has wrong frame rate set when recording Audio + Video
11250 having many decks slows down composition load time considerably on OS X.
11254 DXV AV clip can flash clip's first frame when set to play to end and pause
11296 SMPTE Clip offsets are based on 25 FPS on composition reload instead of actual SMPTE frame rate setting.
11331 Dropping a deck from compositions panel to your composition makes the compositions list jump to the top
11353 Double clicking on Source presets to preview makes midi controller flash
11414 File search bar clears constantly when you convert a file to a folder that is visible in files panel.
11423 Layer texture is stretched when layer opacity is 0, and layer size is different than composition size
11453 File preview breaks for files panel after contents of folder changed
11456 New fixture renames itself back in fixture editor when scrolled out of view
11529 Clip Transport shortcut selection broken if you have in, out, and playhead mapped
11537 DXV3 Adobe exporter sets video stream to 23 fps when you select 23.98 setting
11553 Renaming an envelope preset creates a duplicate preset file.
11565 Paste effects adds a non removable transform to destination clip
11607 Appcrash loading Atlas cache, when a png is missing in it.
11610 Distortion VST effect drive and tone not effective
11665 Accept playhead/ in /out position for Audio and AV clips in hh:mm:ss.ms format too, similarly to Video clip's hh:mm:ss.ff format
11668 Soloed layer in a bypassed group is not rendered to group texture.
11671 Adobe DXV plugin fails with AE CS5
11683 App crash in ra::Envelope::Data::read
11686 Appcrash removing duplicate layer in attached composition
11697 Clip In/ out points not updating any more when they have been moved together via Midi
11707 Prediction around loop point results in wrong frame
11717 Scrubbing with playhead in playing AV clip via midi CC makes clip show random frames
11744 paused Clip transport position is sometimes displaying frames, sometimes milliseconds randomly on launch
11746 Layer preview incorrect when inside a group
11747 Layer router size incorrect when layer taken from a group
11748 Layer # visible in Video Router Input dropdown
11759 Add translated PDF manuals to installers
11764 Precision for setting Playhead, In/out position via left-right arrows on dingetje got very low.
11769 Panel on top left, in the same row as LayersAndClips resizes on every restart
11779 Importing still images and 1 frame DXVs does not give uniform duration
11794 Keyboard arrows on selected envelope keyframes are mixed-up
11795 Keyboard arrow moves Envelope keyframe in huge increments
11817 Clips get stuck on loading again
11851 16 Bit DMX Input
11880 Display hotkeys don't work on mac any more
11881 Display hotkeys are missing in the Output menu since 6.0.10
11909 Output can flash white/grey when output is enabled

As we tend to our alien garden, we start to find patterns everywhere. We experience glitches in our reality, as the bugs take over. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

Get DayOfTheArthropod by Sebastian Purfurst
A footage collection of bugs & glitches in a retro vintage sci-fi look.


Get Alien Garden by Julius Horsthuis
This pack is our proof that alien gardeners exist.


Get Pattern 3 by Unit44
Now I am no math scientist, but I am seeing a pattern here.

Imagine you are driving (top down, of course) along a pristine coastline.
The wind in your hair, the world at your feet. The sun is setting, the ocean is that perfect blue. The salty air is filling your lungs up with freshness.
You smile coz life is perfect and as you muse out into the water, you see this:


Didn’t your life just get so much better?
[fold][/fold]
Enter: Secret mapping experiment.
Who are they? We don’t know.
What do they do? Some mad cool shit.
How do we get to know them? Well, we tried our best.

So, who exactly are you?

We are artists with alpha channels who try to find the edges.


Yeah? That’s cool.
And, what do you do?

We do projection mapping on buildings, gigantic masterpieces and machines which are now out of use. The concept is to do projection mapping on as many abandoned and closed-down sites as possible, around the globe. This way we would like to rethink the spaces’ (hi)story and architectural details.


We try to redefine and present these buildings and objects (which had an important role and function in the past) with the utilization of the technology of animation and video mapping, shaking and dressing them up.


This way we give the buildings a ’new life’; we can look back into the past and the ghosts can repopulate the spaces that used to be full of life.
IMPORTANT: the exact locations are being kept a secret, so they can remain for the after-ages.

Wow that is some really cool s*@#$*$#@.
And why do you do this?

If you have been working on commercial projects for many years you need to find a platform where you can experiment your ideas.
This is a platform where you can play freely and create your own games with your own rules to find your daily excites.

Ah. Daily excites :) Don’t we all need them?


Abandoned buildings always enchanted us. Our aim is to redefine places that had an important function in the past and give them a new meaning with an entirely new perspective with our projection mappings.


We started in 2015 in an old power factory in Budapest.


There are a lot of neglected and forgotten unique constructions and natural formations and we gladly wake them up from their secret past for a night.



What sort of preparation goes into this? From identifying the right projection surface to actually making it happen?

Identifying the right projection surface is a very hard decision. It is very important to get correct photos, keeping in mind the camera angle and the eventual projection angle. We use different technologies, but sometimes we have only one photo of the surface. Sometimes, the surface itself changes, and looks very different in a photo than what it is in reality.
Thankfully, there are good methods that you can use to make 3D plans from photos.


Once this is done, we work at sizes, distances, figuring out the correct projector and lens.


Wow. All of this is pretty complex considering you project on massive ice bergs & mountain faces.

Yes. The maximum distance we have had to work with is 300 meters from the surface. That is really far out and so tough to map everything to the right position.



We have got different kind of projectors. Every surface needs a different technology. You can definitely feel the difference between DLP – LCD or Lazer systems when you are in the darkness.

We set our projector up in the back of a Pick-up, the top of a wind turbine or on a special trailer that we’ve built for it.
And we solve electricity problems by using sunlight, uranium or even a hamster wheel.


Ah of course. The trusted hamster wheel. Never lets you down.
And so, how long does it take for you to put together an experiment?

Sometimes a couple of weeks, sometimes only a few days. But there is one project that we haven’t been able to finish for two years. We also make interactive stuff what is created on the spot, on the actual day.


Tell us about all the different software you work with. Does good ol’ Resolume feature in your secrets?

We use so many different kinds of software - there is no one and only.

Here is one of our usual dialogues:
“F***! it’s almost midnight and we haven’t started yet!”
“Switch the damn projector on and map this shit on it. You can do this!”

Enter Resolume.

“No problem. 5 minutes.”
“Don’t forget the MASKS!”
“OK”


Haha. Just great! Good to know :)
Tell us about some of the challenges you face doing this. I’m sure there are many.

Wow. That is a good question- because every project is a challenge.

We need to do the projection during the night, in the dark, and solve immediately some unexpected issues. A lot of times, we haven’t got permission. So, what we are doing is highly risky.


There is a project. We have already tried twice. We travelled 2000 km with all the equipment. It is our dream spot. The top of a mountain, which seems to be always cloudy or rainy. It doesn’t matter, if it’s summer or winter. The mountain just doesn’t let us to do the projection. But we will go back every year and try to realize our dream. We never give up!


That is really inspiring. Before you go back into hiding, anything to keep our eyes peeled for?

We want step into the sky and come down. Finish the top of the mountain. But, there are thousands of venues what needs secret mapping all around the world.
If you know some of them, please send us your suggestion secretmapping@gmail.com.

Aaaaand, let the inbox spamming begin!

Thank you for talking to us Secret Mapping Experiment. Boy, are we on the look-out for you.

Check out more of their amazing work here.

Interview Credits: Daniel Besnyo, Founder- Secret Mapping Experiment

Let's go on a journey of exploration and discovery. Explore this worlds' mythical tribal cultures with Laak's Ethnik 2. Go beyond this word and explore alien alchemy with Julius Horsthuis' FractalGold. And explore inner space with Video2000's zen-like meditations on minimalism Cont.

Get Cont by Video2000
A minimal pack for the maximum of the effects.


Get FractalGold by Julius Horsthuis
Fractals look different every time you look at them. Like looking at yourself in the mirror.


Get Ethnik 2 by Laak
Start packing, cause we are going on a journey!

The 6.1.0 release is a major point release, which means we added a big feature. As we announced a few weeks ago, we made it a lot easier to sync a prepared video set to the audio coming from the DJ.



If you work with a DJ that mixes on a Denon setup, you can sync every video in Resolume to every track on the players. You can read all about that in the manual. Suffice to say, this will make banging out those DJ intros and special show moments a piece of cake.

We also have a handful of bug fixes. If you're using multiply a lot, make sure you peek the warning below! Otherwise, just hit that download.

Multiply Mixer Warning
We fixed the jump cut when ejecting a clip from a multiply layer using a transition. The multiply blend now works the same as in Photoshop. So far so good! This also means that when using the multiply blend in combination with content that has transparency, the visual result will be slightly different, also in existing compositions. If you prefer the old look, you can disable the alpha channel in the content.

Hotfix! September 20th.
The Opacity fader of a layer was not working correctly when it was playing a SMPTE synced clip. Fixed in Arena 6.1.0 rev61231. Simply download Arena 6.1 again to get this latest revision.[fold][/fold]

Fixed
#11629 (closed) Make multiply mixer transparency aware
#11598 (closed) DMA Textures crashes with HAP q alpha
#11405 (closed) Crash loading certain TIFF files
#11609 (closed) Hue rotate after Iterate or Fragment not processing pre multiplied colors correctly
#11574 (closed) Fix Rings generator not outputting correctly premultiplied colors
#11573 (closed) Fix LineScape generator not outputting correctly premultiplied colors
#11571 (closed) Fix Lines generator not outputting correctly premultiplied colors
#11569 (closed) Fix checkered generator not outputting correctly premultiplied colors