At Lightform, we strive to simplify the process of creating epic visuals with light. Our customers cover a broad spectrum of professions (artists, makers, business owners, engineers, educators, etc.), and we enjoy seeing what they create with Lightform projected augmented reality (AR). Below is a showcase of 10 creative uses of Lightform by our customers. It should be noted that selecting these projects wasn’t easy, as there are so many impressive projects shared by the Lightform community. In the future, we’ll continue to look out for exciting projects and installations to share, so if you have one you’d like to share with us add it in the comments at the end of this post. Let’s dive in.
Light Sculptures
Erick Dunn is a light and sound sculptor who creates organically inspired glass and resin forms. His sculptures are interactive as well as uniquely beautiful and lifelike. Erick uses Lightform to project onto translucent surfaces with programmable LEDs, which is a rare application of projected AR. He creates his animations within After Effects and then maps them onto the sculpture and background. He has successfully used a microcontroller to control the LEDs with a smartphone. Erick describes his work as “light art beings somewhere between the interstellar and microcosmic.” You can see more of Erick’s work on his Instagram page @light_beings_art.
Wall Art Visuals For Event Venues
Ryan McCoy is a Lightform power user and manager of the house of D4 (aka @theillbehavior on Facebook). He and the D4 crew have produced some fantastic murals that intensify artistic expression and bring that wow factor to media marketing. He has also created large-scale renegade projection mapping stake-outs, like the Renegade Projection Mapping project completed in St. Louis, and lit up the IMRSD creative community space with futuristic club vibes. Their installations make great use of combining Lightform effects with various blend modes to create truly mind-bending experiences.
Stage Backdrops
Megan Farabee, a talented projection artist, is part of the Lightform beta tester program. She specializes in combinations of painting, sculpture and projection mapping. Her art show called “Whimsy” used Lightform to project onto hand-drawn artwork. One of her first experiences with Lighform was mapping a wall full of her art and tapestries to demonstrate a mock stage backdrop. Now she uses Lightform to map real-world theatre stages and strives to design bigger & more intricate experiences. Megan has also enhanced replicas of famous paintings using Lightform technology and augmented original sculptures in collaboration with sound designer Nick Nonno. Visit Megan’s website to view her creative portfolio.
House/Building Projections
John Meehan, a projector engineer, decided to try out Lightform projected AR on his cabin… in the rain. Even though the rain cut things short, he got some nice visuals. To accomplish this, he used a Panasonic VMZ50 projector and played with toggling effects and surfaces on the different areas of the cabin. John recorded how Lightform first scanned the scene, adapting to the depth of the building and later the final result of the experience. Other customers have also used Lightform to light up their houses/buildings and design eye-catching decoration including:
- Brad Herman’s Rainbow light show and a Halloween creep-show
- Bruce Winkler Mapping for GLEAM event.
- Nicholas Lin Projection Mapping a House with LFC Kit
- Scott Basten’s mapping of the Great Hall of The MET.
- Justin Melansson’s large-scale Drone Projection Mapping.
- Alayna Hughes, of Valencia, Spain, healthcare workers ‘thank you’ projections during Spain’s quarantine.
- Evo Heyning from Playable Agency lit up her grandmother’s house for the Holidays.
Gallery Exhibitions
Jesse James Allen (@jessejamesallen on Instagram) is an immersive media content creator from Orlando, Florida. His specialty is experimental interactives and augmentations with mixed reality and sound. As one of Lightform’s first superusers and early adopters of our legacy product, the LF1, he has created a versatile catalog of experiences including projecting on objects, creating beautiful light shows around his house, projecting on tapestries, and more. Recently, Jesse collaborated with artist Ya La’ford on a gallery exhibition called “Sublimation: Ancestral Pattern,” an augmented projection mural & sculpture blending fine art with virtual elements. It was featured in the CityUnseen 2.0 presented by Snap! Orlando.
Short Films
Kira Bursky, a filmmaker and a content creator, enjoys using Lightform to turn herself into a work of art. She has posted several stories on her Instagram channel (@allaroundartsy) that have awed the Lightform team. Her body projections are amongst the most creative we’ve seen. She recently created the short film, New Thought / No Thought – short metaphysical quarantine film. It is a solo film made for the Stuck at Home 48 Hour film challenge. She applied her previously tested body art techniques, and her creative skills to turn her apartment into a surreal alternate reality. Her concept is that you can travel to other worlds by transforming your environment with Lightform.
Signage for Film
We’ve enjoyed seeing Lightform used on film posters and promos, one of the most notable being The Rise of Skywalker from Walt Disney Studios. Viewers can see the magic happening before the movie starts. In this case, Lightform was utilized for “The Rise of Skywalker” IMAX experience at AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York. Another example of Lightform enhancing moviegoers’ experience was deployed last year for Disney’s Dumbo film.
Product Displays for Retail: Footwear Projections
Projected digital merchandising is a perfect Lightform use-case for marketing and event agencies, small business owners, retail in general, and anyone who wants to draw attention to their product. Headlooper, an agency based in Portland, Oregon, has utilized Lightform in numerous creative installations. Headlooper’s Instagram feed (@headlooper) showcases the many ways they’ve employed projected digital merchandising for a variety of branded kicks and clothing. Another example of creative product displays utilizing projected AR is Chicago based agency Perficient Digital Labs. Their team has successfully designed sneakers with Lightform technology that react to touch interaction, as highlighted in their video Lightform Mixed Reality Projection Mapping Shoe Configurator.
Vehicle Light-Show for Corporate Meetings
Karma Event Lighting is a full-service event production agency. They have been using their Lightform to utilize Lightform’s projected AR on different types of cars. Using custom videos and eye-catching effects, as seen in this example video Projection Mapping a Car, they’ve leveraged Lightform to attract the attention of visitors during meetings or exhibitions.
Photo Booth for Community Events
The National Museum of Play invited Site Hub, a digital marketing agency, to be part of a Lights and Legends community event in Rochester, NY. They used Lightform to augment a superhero-themed photo booth. The kids taking part felt like superheroes as they posed surrounded by magical effects and the Legion of Legends.
Bonus Projects: Augmented Pets!
Surprisingly pets make for a fun and unexpected projection surface. The Lightform team, who is comprised of numerous animal lovers, has a soft spot for examples of Lightform being used to projection map on sleeping or resting pets. When we first conceived of Lightform devices we never envisioned dogs, cats, or reptiles could rock lighting effects or trendy colors. Case in point here are a few of our favorite examples of augmented pets :
Dogmented Reality
Everyone at Lightform has a projector at their desk for prototyping, so when Simi (one of our office dogs) was taking a snooze, we tested some Lightform effects.
Hercules: The one Lit Lizard!
Customer Nathan Espinoza (@3dmysteries on Instagram) surprised everyone on our team when he tested Lightform on his buddy Hercules. We are looking forward to seeing how his reptilian assistant helps him with more Lightofrrm experiences in the future.
Tip of the Iceberg
These are but a few examples, the tip of the iceberg some might say, of how Lightform has been used in innovative ways. Lightform technology is limited only by your imagination to enhance offices, home, creative spaces, restaurants, retail spaces, classrooms and beyond. We hope these examples inspire you to create your own projected AR experiences.
Have a cool Lightform installation or project we should know about? Let us know in the comments below. Also don’t hesitate to tag your videos #lightformcreations on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to have your work spotlighted on our blog and social accounts.
Note:
As of August 12th, 2022, Lightform is no longer in business and is no longer providing technical support for the product. Please refer to the Lightform Guide and FAQ for self-help resources.