This weekend we had the pleasure of being brought on by Do206 to do projection mapped visuals and a stage setup for the show Manatee Commune on Ice!
The show was a fun opportunity to employ a few tricks. We brought with us projection mapped visuals custom made and fit for the Neptune Theater's ceiling, our CUBIX modular staging system and some snow machines that turned out to be a great source of excitement.
We are excited to announce that from November 25th to December 31st, we will be projecting custom made visual content onto Pacific Place in downtown Seattle from Nordstrom on 6th Avenue.
The content was a ton of fun to make and features everything from winter time classics such as a stop motion of the building being recreated as a gingerbread house to vivid winter sprites dancing around the architecture.
Earlier this month, we were honored to get to do projections at the debut of the Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Yves Saint Laurent is a legendary French fashion designer known for his edgy decisions through a rich 44-year career. It was an honor to help with such a well crafted event dedicated to such a daring artist!
The task involved the blending of three separate projectors across a wide screen we were projecting on from the rear. The screen was flanking the Seattle Art Museum's Grand Staircase for guests to enjoy complete with breathtaking statues and red carpet!
Our projections were only for the debut but the exhibit will remain open to the public at the Seattle Art Museum from October 11th, 2016 to January 8th, 2017. Click here for more info on the exhibit!
Recently, we tried to challenge ourselves to find more custom ways to drive moving head lights! One such method we came across that had us very excited was using the output from real-time audio analyzers as inputs for the moving head lights!
The process involved building a custom application in Quartz Composer that took audio from our computer's music player and passed it through a real time analyzer (RTA). The RTA, based on the gain of a certain frequency, would raise or lower a bar on an output image corresponding to that frequency.
That image was then used as an input for MadMapper. In MadMapper, we then mapped DMX outputs over ArtNet to the moving head light's tilt to be the average luminosity of rectangles mapped over the minimums and maximums of the RTA bars. The end result is the gain of a specific frequency would control the input value for a specific movers tilt. The results were pretty cool!
Ever wished you could control stage lights with your hands? With a combination of creative software and hardware applications, we've made this a possibility!
The process starts with using a Leap Motion sensor to determine the location of each one of your fingers then use those as inputs. The inputs are sent off to Quartz Composer where we programmed a custom app to change the black/white balance in boxes corresponding to each finger. Then, that image is sent off to MadMapper where the boxes are mapped to ArtNet DMX outputs to the movers corresponding to pan and tilt. For our project, we decided to make one hand control pan and the other control tilt. Of course, each finger also controls a different moving head light!
Once the final system is in place, the learning curve for controlling moving head lights using DMX is gone and anyone can step up to the plate and control the lights! You're going to want to use a MIDI controller or mouse to control certain functions such as color, strobe and gobo or there are still plenty more options using the Leap Motion device yet to be discovered! Check out this system in use at the Summer Meltdown Festival in Darrington, WA here!
It's wild looking back on the progress that has been made here at Sensebellum in the past few years.
From daydreaming with the Kinect to realizing multiple projectors at once, all the way to realizing those day dreams with a 3D printer, it has been very enjoyable.
We are now turning our energy towards using these skills for more constructive approaches. Building upon previous innovation and gearing it more towards technology and ideas that benefit more people.
Take a gander on the nice words Cubicity had to say during a recent interview for their new website here: https://www.cubicity.com/blogs/success-stories/sensebellum-technology-to-enhance-our-senses
When Amazon came to us with the
idea for this project we were beyond thrilled! They wanted us to get
creative and design a world map for their Kindle Art Exhibition that
would turn heads and be a center piece for their event at the beautiful
Axis Pioneer Square art gallery in downtown Seattle. The event was
geared around raising awareness and funds for their non-profit Worldreader which helps bring literacy to children and families all around the world.
We didn't want this to be a standard map. We wanted it to
be something that could convey a sense of new and old at the same time
and feel special to those beholding it. For the pins, this was an
opportunity for people to have their own part of making the piece come
full circle by writing on the pin a book they had read on a Kindle and
placing it where they had read it on the map.
To create the feeling we were going for, a variety of tools were employed from laser cutters to make the cuts and
engravings, to saws and other wood working instruments to build the
frame, and to soldering irons to custom build the electronics. After
much hard work, the piece came together and was ready to debut at the
Axis Pioneer Square art gallery in Seattle!
The event ended up being tons of fun! It was such a great feeling to
see a project come together like we had envisioned and to see so many
people enjoying it and interacting with it. Amazon also featured it on
their Facebook live stream so that viewers could comment with places
they had read a book on a Kindle and see a pin for it be placed on the
map! The board filled up quickly with all the awesome books people had
read all around the world! A huge thank you to the people at the Axis
art gallery and from Amazon, all of which we had a great time working
with!
This last week, we had the amazing opportunity of getting to projection map on the Bellingham Herald building for WWU's back to school event!
Our minds were blown by how awesome the whole event turned out! The energy was great the entire time as Bellingham greeted the new students in style! The event featured changing the Herald sign to blue for the first time ever accompanied by an exciting firework show!
Bumbershoot is a gem of Seattle
stemming back to 1971. Showcasing all things art in the Pacific
Northwest scene, this vibrant 3-day gathering had many branches to
offer: music performances on many different stages of all genres,
various art showcases, and our projections on the Seattle Center
International Fountain and trees by the Fisher Green Stage.
Rounding out the 2016 season, this production was special for us. It was
an amazing feeling being able to present our new capabilities
projecting our original content and a live feed from the Fisher Green
Stage on unconventional objects such as the International Fountain and
tree line.
Spending all weekend seeing visitors of the event connect
with our work from taking group photos to just sitting and watching was
truly an exciting and uplifting way to end what was already an amazing
season!
Summer Meltdown is a unique and
captivating festival that has placed itself at a zenith within the
Pacific Northwest scene. From river swimming with thousands of our best
friends, to amazing music on three different stages, to the great vibes carried through the entire weekend by all the festival goers, Summer Meltdown has placed itself in our hearts as a highlight of each summer.
The Summer Meltdown this year was a three part endeavor for us. Divided into two teams, our crew assembled both the CUBIX modular stage to showcase talent from around the world and the Sensatorium
for all people to come in and discover emerging technologies while
dabbling in the arts themselves. For the third part of this project, we
helped coordinated artists from all over coming to share their awesome
creations and teach workshops. Some of the artists setup in a second
dome we brought with us and decorated with custom tailored fabric pieces.
Special thanks to everyone from our crew and the festival that help make this amazing event possible! This project could not happen each year were it not for the hard work,
dedication and creativity of our team and the constant focus and
expertise of our team leaders.
Capitol Hill Block Party is an
amazing event which takes place in the heart of Seattle's booming and
vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. The event has been going on for years
and recreates the area, crafting the space into a glistening urban
theatre.
Success at this festival requires the creative and custom software
applications that we've written and refined each year since 2013. The software takes a live feed given to us from the stage and then projects it up onto two buildings central to the event. We add to it with subtle yet vibrant custom made visual content.
This year, there was plenty of striking and beautiful visual content to project from amazing live sets by Big Wild, Chvrches, Crystal Castles, Washed Out and Seattle favorites Odesza!
After the rains come The Pacific Northwest heads inside for a few months to dodge the drops and keep the show going.
There is no place better than the Experience Music Project's "Sky Church". This massive room has an even more massive LED wall, a large array of moving lights, and one of the best designed museums covering all things sound and music - a true playground.
We were invited to create and mix visuals for a performance by local Hip-Hop sensation, SOL. We met with him and got a feel for what he wanted to accomplish visually. We received some video footage from SOL's travels abroad and also composited some original visuals.
Check out some shots from the performance gathered by Groove Merchant Northwest as well as a sizzle reel of the best visuals below.
