Research & Development

The Event

Below are some photographs taken of the 2017 Lincoln West End Lights Display illustrating the type of content that was created for the event. As you can see, displays ranged from fairy lights to clever use of candles and even a few projected window displays like mine.

With the displays that did use projection, most tended to use stock footage or extracts from well known Christmas films. Although this served its purpose, I was proud that I had chosen to create my animated Christmas scenes myself, as opposed to just sourcing stock footage from online.

My Finished Animation

Below is a rendered copy of my final animation that consisted of three Christmas themed scenes. The animation was played on loop and projected onto the front window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection

As you can see from the above video, when conducting my project, I found that the baking paper needed to be aligned perfectly to avoid distortion in the video. Although I had tried my best to keep it straight, I noticed half way through the night and as seen in this video, that one sheet of paper had fallen slightly, creating a small gap that distorted a part of the image. Nonetheless, I was still very pleased with the final quality of the projected image, which is hard to get a feel for in the photographs.

When creating my animated scenes, I used a canvas size of 3840 by 2160 Pixels, to retain image quality and avoid a poor resolution when transferring the animation to a bigger screens. Overall, I was fairly pleased with how well the baking paper worked and would definitely recommend for anyone looking recreate something similar.

Improvements

One of the main problems I encountered when using the HeavyM software, was trying to get the composition to fit the window without stretching or cropping out part of the video. Due to the size and shape of my composition, when I attempted to map around the entire window frame, for some reason the video did not seem to fit right. Subsequently, I had map just sides of the window and have the animation positioned in the middle. Although I would have had liked to have the animation fit the entire window, for the sake of participating in the event I had to make best with what I could. In the mean time, I will need to look further into this to see if there is something that I can do to get around this, whether this be adjusting the dimensions of my original assets or dividing the space into separate animations.

Another small problem I encountered was with the positioning of the objects in the original composition. When the video wrapped round the window the rocking horse became slightly hidden behind the window frame and would have looked much better having been moved slightly to the left. To fix this, I could simply move the horse on the original composition and ensure that with future projects like this, I test project the finished composition, to see if any adjustments like this need to be made.

Thinking in terms of improving the audience experience, if I was to create a project like this again, I would like to look at ways of making the piece more interactive and visually interesting. For example, one display featured a video of a child blowing bubbles with an actual bubble machine positioned just outside of the house. Although simple, I thought the idea was very clever and added that extra element of interactivity.

 

Creative Commons

To source the various components of my scenes and build my own assets, I made use of Creative Commons to find royalty free images which I could adapt and transform for my project. To achieve the walls of the first scene, I layered some textures sourced from Creative Commons over my basic shapes and played around with the saturation till I achieved a rustic log cabin atheistic. When creating the fireplace I took elements from existing images and layered a brick texture on top, adjusting the skew and perspective to give it greater dimension.

Lighting & Shadows

When creating my scenes, I wanted to make sure I had a good understanding of different lighting conditions and how these can affect an object’s shadows.

Generally, the smaller the light source, the harder the shadow will appear, the larger the light source, the smaller the shadow will appear (McKenzie and Overturf, 2009). Moreover, the direction of shadows and where the highlights appear on an object are indicators of directional lighting (McKenzie and Overturf, 2009).

Hard Light/Hard Shadows: 

• Bright sunny days produce high contrast images.
• Shadows created have clearly defined edges (hard shadow).

Soft Light/Soft Shadow

• Light produced on an overcast day is low contrast.
• When light rays are scattered they hit the object from different angles, resulting in a soft shadows.

Taking these basic principles into consideration, when constructing my scenes, I made sure to keep in mind the lighting of the scene, so I could adjust the shadow strength and shape if needed. For example, when the plane in the toy shop window flew across the composition, I knew to increase the shadow size as the object got closer to the light source. Moreover, when I placed the stockings around the fireplace in the first scene, I added a subtle warm glow around their edges to replicate the reflection of light from the fireplace.

Animations

With each of the three scenes, I wanted to combine a mixture of stationary and animated objects. Below, I have briefly outlined the process of animating the various elements that made up each scene.

SCENE 1

For the first scene, I decided to play around with the scale and position of the composition, in order to create a simple camera panning effect. To create the flickering lights, I simply added a glow effect and masked a small section of the Christmas tree. Next, I increased and decreased the glow intensity, key framing each movement and adjusting the timing to get the desired speed. I repeated this several times for the different parts of the tree, adjusting the key framing slightly each time, to make the lights appear as though they were flickering randomly.

For the log fire, I sourced a royalty free clip of a fire burning from online and positioned the footage to fit the gap in my constructed fireplace. I then feathered the edges to remove the harsh edges and added some smoke shadows. 

SCENE 2

Compared to the other two scenes, I wanted the toy shop window to be the busiest and have the most animated elements. I began by creating the rocking horse, which was just a case of key framing the rotation, after adjusting the anchor point to ensure the horse rocked from the bottom. To animate the plane flying across the scene, I needed to divide the plane body and propeller into separate layers, so I could key frame the propeller spinning round without affecting the whole plane. After doing this, I then linked the two layers so they travelled together in unison. When creating the toy train, I followed a similar process, diving the main body and individual wheels into separate layers, so I could animate the wheels rotating round.

Just like the flickering Christmas tree lights from the first scene, I key framed a subtle glow on the garland lights to add an extra festive element. Moreover, with all of the moving objects, I made sure that their shadows followed the same path and adjusted their scale or opacity when necessary to look more realistic.

SCENE 3

For the final composition, I wanted to create a snowy outdoor scene with a few subtle animations. Taking a basic silhouette of Santa on his sleigh, I key framed the position to have him fly past the moon. For the tree lights and garland, I applied the same glow effect just as I did for my previous scenes. I added a neon star light to the roof of the house, adjusting its skew and adding a soft glow around the edges. Finally, as with all of my scenes, I finished by applying a snow fall particle effect to the entire scene to create my snowy setting.

 

Bibliography

McKenzie, J. and Overturf, D. (2009). Artificial lighting for photography. 1st ed. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

When deciding what surface to project onto, I decided to take a look at some existing companies that offer projection mapping services to see what type of screens they usual map onto. Although projection mapping is versatile and can be applied to almost any surface, I wanted to find out if companies offered screen hire or rental and what these screens tended to be made from. After a quick google search I came across Event Projection, a leading London based technical production company, that offers bespoke projection displays for businesses, venues and public events. From browsing their website, I was see the types of packages and services offered to clients and get a idea of the various equipment used and the average cost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on the project scale and how powerful a projector is needed, prices start at £45 a day for a Optoma ML750ST with a resolution of 1280 x 800. Moreover, if I was not creating a window display and was opting to source a screen, this would cost me an additional £25 a day for a 6′ x 4’6” pull up.

Fortunately for me, I have full access to a standard Canon Realis X600 projector with a resolution of 1024 x 769, free of charge from the university’s Media Loans. However, if I was creating a project like mine and was not a student here at the university, then I would have no choice but to hire one like the Optoma ML750ST for £45 a day. Of course, I would look to see if there are cheaper alternatives first.

Furthermore, as mentioned in my proposal, when researching into existing examples of projects similar to mine, I came across this video on Youtube of a Christmas projected window display. What I found most interesting about it, was that the person who created the display used shower curtain for the surface to project onto. Never would I have thought of using something so simple and inexpensive, yet as demonstrated in this clip, it serves it’s purpose very well. With this project, the projector has been placed on the outside of the property and is projecting inside to create a Christmas themed window view. My project will work on the same principle, the only difference being that I will be projecting from the inside outwards for passersby to see.

In preparation for my project, I decided to compose a series of short tests using three different surfaces, to see which one works best at projecting a clear image.

Test 1: Shower Curtain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the purpose of a quick experimentation test, I placed the projector onto a small cushion and positioned it to project my exported Trapcode Christmas tree. As you can see from the photographs and short video, the shower curtain which I purchased for just £3 worked exceptionally well. The only slight problem that I did find, was that compared to the other two materials, the shower curtain was a lot more difficult to stick and secure. Moreover, the material creased fairy easily which was noticeable on the final image Nonetheless, for someone working with a small budget, the shower curtain is definitely a good option to consider.

Test 2: Baking Paper

 

After chatting to the Lincoln Light’s event organiser, Simon Fitch, I was informed that many projection displays from previous years used baking paper as the base surface material. Much like the shower curtain, again, I would never have thought to use something so simple. After measuring the size of the window I will be projecting onto, I worked out that I would only need to buy two boxes of baking paper for just £2.

Furthermore, I found that the baking paper was a lot easier to stick down and did not crease as easily as the shower curtain. Out of all three materials, I found the baking paper to be my favourite and will most likely be using this for my final project.

 

Test 3: Coloured Plastic Sheet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For my final test, I wanted to experiment with tinted plastic sheets to see whether or not the colour would affect the image. As you can see from the photographs, compared to the shower curtain and baking paper, the plastic sheets were just a little too transparent, causing the projector to beam brightly through and cover the image. Although the tinted plastic did look very festive and visually interesting, it did not work as well as the other materials for retaining image clarity.

Conclusion:

Rating out of 5

Shower Curtain: 4/5

Baking Paper: 5/5

Tinted Plastic Sheet: 2/5

For my window display I will most likely go with the baking paper, as I found it the easiest to secure into place and the clearest quality transferred image.

 

Bibliography

Event Projection (2017) Rate Card 2017. London: Event Projection. Available from http://eventprojection.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Event-Projection-Rate-Card-2017.pdf [Accessed 8th November 2017]

When looking at tutorials on Youtube for inspiration for my project, I came across the Red Giant plugin ‘Trapcode Particular’. Using the software you can create organic 3D particle effects and complex motion graphics elements. Having never heard of the plugin before, I decided to have a look on the Red Giant website to find out more about its features and price.

Thinking about my project in terms of its style and design, I particularly like the complexity and futuristic style of Trapcode Particular. Having seen quite a few examples of components created with the software, I think it could work quite nicely with that ‘Christmas magic’ aesthetic I am hoping to portray. Having never used the plugin before I think it would be quite interesting to experiment using a new piece of software, however, I will need to assess whether the cost to purchase the software is worth the investment.

Although there is a trial version offered for free download, as expected, this does come with time restrictions and most likely a watermark on exported content. To purchase the full Trapcode Particular 3 suite it would cost $399.99 / £305.59 or $199 / £152.43 for an academic discount. I think at this stage I will most likely just download the trial and play around with the software to see what visuals I can create. Ideally I would like to create all of my assets on After Effects, so I think it will be best having a go at replicating this style without using the plugin.

 

Sticking with the theme of Christmas, I found a number of video tutorials for creating festive inspired assets using Trapcode Particular. I especially like the snowflake effect and am looking to try to recreate something of a similar aesthetic for my project.

Update:  Monday 6th November 2017

After deciding to download Trapcode just to experiment and play around with the software, I was surprised to find out that exported videos do not come with a watermark. The trial is limited to just 14 days however, I have decided to export anything that I do create, so that I could potentially use these assets in my projection mapping piece. Below is a quick video of a Christmas tree particle effect that I created using the plugin. I exported the video with added music just to demonstrate what it could look like as part of my piece. Overall, I was quite pleased with its unique style and think it works well to capture the tone and essence of magic as portrayed in the my chosen music (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies).