Integrated Visions News

Oct 20

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Sep 02

Guerilla Projection Mapping, 30 Minutes

Integrated Visions / City Eventions Projection Mapping (Stationary View), 08-09-10 from Integrated Visions Productions on Vimeo.

Part of the appeal of projection mapping to me is not so much the novelty of the thing, as its promise to take live visual art and free it of limited contexts. As with live electronic music, there’s a constant struggle to find venues, to overcome the economic constraints of clubs or the programming limitations of public and private series. Experimentation and change requires spaces that lend themselves to the activity.

So it’s always encouraging to see events like this. Here, a 20,000-lumen projector by Christie Roadsterand a generator do the trick. (By the way, readers, since the Christie is discontinued, what would be an ideal 20,000-lumen projector for this sort of job?)

It’s not hard to imagine this lending itself to a live music performance; you’d just have to make up the price of the rental of the projector and generator. Alternatively, I could see innovative visual artists collaborating with rental houses as a way of promoting their equipment.

But the best part of this: they set up in 30 minutes. I do like the content they put together; it really fits this relatively simple setting for me.

Integrated Visions featured in Live Design Online -

VIDEO: Georgians Go Crazy For Asylum Nightclub

Jul 16, 2010 2:17 PM, By Marian Sandberg

Integrated Visions Productions has created one of the largest architecturally-mapped projection screens out there for Asylum nightclub

Integrated Visions Productions LLC (IVP), an Atlanta-based duo of VJs—Bryan and Michelle Dodson, to be exact—worked on the largest architecturally-mapped projection screen in the Southeast for Macon, Georgia’s latest nightclub, Asylum. The nightclub makes use of six Sanyo PLC-XU106 4,500-lumen projectors, tiled together to create a display more than 136’ wide.

“For the ultra-wide screen, we used a Mac Pro Quad core with four NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics cards running Garage Cube Modul8 to drive the projectors,” says Brian Dodson. “This system was designed to mix custom video files in realtime, allowing a VJ to synchronize visuals to the DJ’s mix.”

To map video onto columns around the room, the team used a Windows XP system running Resolume Avenue and several 2,500-lumen projectors. “This machine is synced to the main projection system with MIDI, allowing it to run as a slave to the main system,” adds Bryan.

In addition to designing and building the projection system, IVP produced the custom high-definition content for the nightclub, as well as installed the lighting system, which is synced to the video. Lighting in Asylum includes 10 Robe Clubscan 250, four Elation Professional Design Spot 250s, eight RGB LED PARs, and anElation Compu Live control software.

Sep 01

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Michelle and I were excited to be interviewed about our Brooklyn video mapping project. Read the interview here. -

VJs Bring Warehouse Back to Life, Briefly

by Mike Steyels, CultureSystem | August 20th, 2010

One quiet night a couple weeks back, a warehouse in the Morgan area lit up in the still night, its facade changing at the whim of a couple of artists. Using a technique called projection mapping, or architectural mapping, a duo called Integrated Visions coated the face of the structure with images from a powerful projector, tailoring their content to the particularities of the building’s shape and angles.

In projection mapping, a veejay will use a software program (sometimes written from scratch) to map out where exactly an image from a video projector will shine, controlling multiple streams of visuals on one surface.

The mapping movement is more popular overseas with most of its prominent figures coming from Europe, and these two have never actually seen another architectural mapping project in person themselves. “I’m really curious,” says Bryan Dodson, one half of the married pair. “We were inspired by the work of AntiVJ andMJ. Both of those artists were really ahead of the game when it comes to mapping.”

This may have something to do with cost. The projector they used in Bushwick (which was rented) retails for over $120,000 and required a generator to be powered. It uses the energy equivalent of five traditional Par can stage lights. “Your average rock show stage has at least 30 Par can,” Dodson explains. Outside of art, companies are using the technique in public advertising.

But veejaying itself is also significantly underrepresented on the East Coast, says Dodson, who’s also a moderator at VJForums.com. “There are not many active veejays in the North East on the VJ forums.” In fact, the duo is based in Georgia, and came to Brooklyn at the request of Brian Blessinger of PercussionLab.com. (There was, however, a video mapping project here last year — albeit at at a much smaller scale — when Faune premiered their pyramid video sculpture.)

The two started veejaying back in 2001, moving away from painting into the scene with no real programing skills. “We had a basic understanding of computers at the time, but not really much experience with digital media at all,” recalls Michelle Penland Dodson. “We had put a lot of energy and passion into drawing and painting… When we became interested in working with video we focused our energy into learning the software and video equipment that would allow us to create our vision with video.”

They felt limited in painting and got into veejaying in order to collaborate with musicians. This realm now satisfies their creative needs and they no longer paint. “Painting seemed very isolated and elitist,” says Bryan Dodson. “I would spend lots of time by myself in a studio to produce art that none of my friends could afford to buy. With veejaying, many people get to enjoy my art every weekend.”

Currently, they have a projection mapping installation at a club in Macon, Georgia, called Asylum. “The club is open every weekend and an associate of ours operates the video for their events,” Michelle Dodson explains. That setup uses six projectors that display a seamless strip of video around the club. It comes with exclusive high definition content which the operator manipulates in play with the music and other lighting. (Watch this video for a peak behind the scenes showing how it’s run.) To see more of the Dodsons’ projects, read their personal blog. And for more mapping from around the world, they run another blog which offers a number of impressive videos.

Jul 12

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Jun 29

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Jun 13

Integrated Visions on the Road to 8 mile -

Integrated Visions is very excited to be working with Eminem this summer during the Red Bull EmSee Battle Series. EmSee is an innovative MC battle respecting the tried and true form of rap competition while highlighting the modern freestyle spirit. The visuals are front and center for this series. First stop New York City!

Jun 10

Integrated Visions HD on Vimeo -

In celebration of Integrated Visions’ leap into the world of High Definition, Michelle and I have created a new Vimeo channel to host a series of high definition VJ mixes. These mixes are captured during our studio experimentations. All of these mixes are captured live usually set to streaming internet radio. We often feel like our best work is done when no one else is around, so this series attempts to share these moments with you. Thanks for watching.

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May 03

Six Projectors Used for 136-Foot Long Display at Asylum Nightclub - PLSN -

Integrated Vision’s latest installation is featured on Projection Lights and Staging News. PLSN is one of our favorite publications so it is an honor to be mentioned there.

Apr 28

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