Innovations in projection technology

I was lucky enough to see the Image Mill installation in Quebec City this summer. This show was conceived as part of the city's 400th anniversary and made use of the grain silos in the Port of Quebec where a huge video and animated show was projected.

This is an impressive installation that uses 27 high end projectors from Christie Digital to cover the surface of the silos (600 meters wide by 30 meters high). Spectators line up on the opposite side of the Marina's basin to experience the show. The "digital canvas" to achieve this monster projection measured 28,187 pixels wide by 1,400 pixels high. The installation required 29 video servers from a French company called ETC France and 6.7 km of fiber optic cabling.

The installation won a Guinness award for the largest projection ever.

I mention this because I ran into a software company at the Digital Signage Show East that enables users to blend and correct images from multiple projectors so the effect appears seamless to the viewer. Images can be projected onto curved or irregularly shaped surfaces and the software blends and corrects the result to eliminate distortion. It even provides color correction across all projectors.

The company is called Scalable Display Technologies and it is based in Cambridge, MA. No idea on pricing but for some installations, this is a must-have.