Projection mapping, or “video mapping,” usually involves projecting radical graphics and live video onto complex shapes and surfaces. It once required pricey projectors and a variety of tools not really designed for the task, but the number of software providers has grown, and the cost of the projectors needed has dropped.
The VJ community has had a pretty big influence in all of this, and one particular app that has been in use is Modul8, from GarageCube. Its sister app, MadMapper, is from GarageCube and 1024 Architecture. As its influence grows, it’s demystifying projection mapping and bringing the art form to more people.
MadMapper is a software application that, in its simplest form, allows you to project and shape texture maps onto complex surfaces, albeit with no Bezier curves as of yet (coming soon, we’re told). It accomplishes this first by assuming you’ve created the textures (or video or graphics, or whatever) in some other app. It can also use the textures that are being created live from other apps.
To accomplish this, MadMapper uses a Mac OS X-based framework known as “Syphon.” Syphon is built into many applications (VDMX, Modul8, MadMapper, VPT, CoGe, Quartz Composer, MaxMSP/Jitter, Unity 3D, Cell DNA), and the list is growing. The beauty of Syphon is that it provides a pipeline between apps using the hardware acceleration on the GPU, instead of duplicating resources and causing bottlenecks.
For this review, I tested MadMapper on a Mac Pro Tower with 20GB RAM, three ATI Radeon 2600 cards and four 7200 RPM SATA drives.
A Clean GUI
The MadMapper GUI is simple and clean — almost Spartan. Upon opening the application, you’re greeted with a simple user interface that belies its power. You have a split-screen with input sources (video feeds via Syphon from other apps, pictures, movies, etc.), a few control buttons and a source info box. On the right, a preview output screen shows what those inputs will look like. For purposes of the review I used video output from Modul8 and some test patterns. (You can get various media into MadMapper by using File > Import Media, or just by dragging and dropping.)
I double-clicked on the Modul8 Main View under Syphon and immediately saw what was being output. The split screen can be adjusted to display Input and Preview Output, Input Only, Preview Output only, or toggle between side-by-side or top-over-bottom.
I clicked on the surface add tab and was greeted with a few options — Surface Quad, Surface Triangle and Surface Mask.
Clicking Quad once its added makes the surface transparent blue, and then you can manipulate the image via the corner handles or the rotation and scale handles. The output is immediately seen on the secondary monitor. From here, you can enable Mesh warping or Opacity and also flip the orientation of the output horizontally, vertically, backwards or forwards.
With Mesh Warping checked, things become real interesting. You can adjust the subdivisions of the mesh (up to 30) and adjust the precision as well. MadMapper features unlimited mapped elements, masks (with Alpha -ignore option), and undo levels, opacity and blending modes for each element, plus a Master Opacity for overall blackout capability.
MadMapper has built-in test cards of 4×4, 5×5, 8×8 and 16×16 grids and a color test pattern. It also has controls for highlighting the background color and a “force media ratio” option.
MadLab Apps (Beta)
The real power of this software comes in using a set of add-ons called MadLab. MadLab includes are a bunch of small apps that didn’t make the initial release. They include Mad Doubler, Mad Equalizer, Mad Generator, Mad GraphicPatterns, Mad GridMaker, Mad KinectMasker (be still my beating heart…realtime masking), Mad Line, and Mad Video Delay. It’s pretty obvious what they do, based on their names but since they are in beta, GarageCube doesn’t recommend them for use in performance just yet. They loaded up and worked fine in my testing, however, and will only add to the richness of this application.
Spatial Scanner
Another powerful feature is the Spatial Scanner. The Spatial Scanner is a function that allows you to use your projector as a scanner, to actually capture — pixel by pixel — what your projector is pointed at, using a FireWire camera (Canon is heavily supported).
I used a Panasonic AG-DVX100b for my test with a small cartoon statue. When you start the capture process, a series of test patterns of white lines (structured light) pass over the object and your camera catches and interpolates the image. Once my image (Pinky from Pinky and The Brain) was captured, I fired it up in Photoshop and made some layers of Pinky’s outline, exported them, and dragged them into Modul8, which, in turn, outputted to MadMapper.
The whole process took 10 minutes, and I had a rough surface map of a pretty complex shape with video ready to be played on separate layers in realtime. That’s the most powerful thing to me — that a person with an average knowledge of the medium can do a really complex thing with a few of the right tools.
MadMapper is so simple, in fact, that I found myself wondering why there isn’t more to it — only to realize, once again, that complexity is what they were trying to avoid.
If you’re looking for complexity, you won’t find it. If you’re looking to focus moving lights, render video, map that video, and then run a concert rig with moving lights with this — it won’t happen. If you need a simple, powerful tool that does exactly what it’s supposed to do, here it is.
Of course, it’s still going to take a fair amount of planning and time (and a bright, expensive projector) to handle site-specific projection mapping. But with a tool like MadMapper, in the trick bag, it ought to be a LOT less time.
MadMapper from GarageCube and 1024 Architecture
Pros: Super-fast, easy way to generate surfaces for video-mapping. Inexpensive. Uses a variety of apps via Syphon. Uses multiple inputs via Mad Doubler. Couldn’t crash it, no matter how hard I tried.
Cons: No curves (yet); no keymapping for shortcuts
Requirements: An Intel Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6. (To use the Spatial Scanner function of MadMapper, you’ll need either a QuickTime-compatible FireWire camera or Canon camera models that are compatible with the Canon EDSDK.)
How Much: MadMapper v1.0 license for two computers: €299. Educational pricing is also available.
Jeff Gooch, a.k.a. Projectionfreak, is an Indianapolis-based video technician/stagehand who can’t get his hands on enough software. Formerly from the ranks of the Squints, he writes about large-format projection, projection mapping, video, and all the technology that makes them go on the blog, www.Projectionfreak.com.