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Christie, Microsoft partner for projection mapping at Cannes Lions Int'l Festival of Creativity

Christie and Microsoft combined gesture tech and projection mapping digital signage for the Microsoft Beach Club during the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

October 29, 2015

Christie and Microsoft brought mixed-reality technologies to the beachfront in Cannes, France, for the Microsoft Beach Club during the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, according to an announcement from Christie. Visitors to the Microsoft Beach Club experienced the latest from Chritie's in projection mapping collaborations via two customized projects using Microsoft Kinect technology and Christie projectors and software.

Turning accommodating visitors into living billboards

Housed in a white-tented pavilion on the beach, Christie and Microsoft displayed two projects designed to show how Kinect and Christie projectors can be combined to inspire a creative space. Using Microsoft Kinect and a Christie Mirage HD14K-M projector, the first project, dubbed "Light Marketing," warped images onto visitors in real time as they entered and moved around the pavilion.

"Kinect is pretty much a room-scale technology," said Rick Barraza, design strategy and creative engineering, Partner Catalyst Group, Microsoft, in the announcement. "It tracks up to six people at 30 frames a second and with 25 points of articulation on a person's joints. It is about movements in space. We're able to turn people into living billboards."

Chad Faragher, senior product developer, Software, Christie said, "'Light Marketing' can be used to show real-time content on people for shopping, concerts or installations and the point was to make it seem like a magical experience." 

Ordinary light becomes smart light

The second project — "Light Mural" — was a 10-foot-by-4-foot animated scene of beach life featuring Kinect and one Christie DWU951-Q projector with an ultra-short throw lens. When touched, the interactive mural sensed depth changes and came to life with pop-up images, the company said.

"We were interested in mixing Kinect with projection to create a perception-based experience," Barraza said. "When you mix projectors with a camera that can see and understand reality, dumb light becomes smart light, which is why I love this partnership with Christie."