Onstage Systems Leads Projection Mapping Event at Dallas' Perot Museum

	Nature shots of Colorado projected onto the surface of the main wall, tying in with the nature theme of the museum. Photo: Carrie Fedewa

Onstage Systems led a projection mapping project recently at the nationally-recognized $185 million Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas for a social event. The June 8 celebration marked a founding member's birthday -- and the first event held outdoors on the main patio at the new facility.

The Dallas-based concert and special events production company, Onstage Systems, provided lighting and sound design, with a nature-themed projection mapping and animation as the event highlight.

Lighting -- including six Martin MAC 700s and 24 Elation Opti Tri Pars -- served several functions: lending an ambient glow around the tables for the 150 guests, washing the drumline, beaming on 80 high-kicking dancers, and adding sizzle to the birthday cake presentation.

During dinner, guests saw nature shots of Colorado projected onto the surface of the main wall, complete with an animated waterfall. Afterward, guests were amused by an animated dinosaur (relating to the nature and science theme), whose function was to introduce a picture from the birthday boy's childhood, turn to look at the audience and surprise them by "jumping out" of the screen. This triggered a spoken narration about the birthday boy while a slideshow of 70 images, relating to different times in his life, played on the wall.

Onstage Systems' president Hyacinth Belcher, who also worked as production manager of the event, says preproduction time was tight. "We had to install the day before at 3pm alongside all the guests entering the building. We had that one evening to set up, focus all projectors, and encode all the media to fit properly on our surface."

Onstage Systems supplied the video gear including: four Panasonic HD projectors, Green Hippo Hippotizer i7 HD with Genlock, two Matrox TripleHead 2Go video converters, and a Samsung preview monitor for the narrator.

John Stephens designed the lighting, while Mike Moore served as the lighting and video tech. Sean Cagney with Amazing Industries developed content and was the Hippotizer tech. Onstage Systems partnered with Amazing Industries of Dallas, a relationship which started a year ago, to create the projection animation and graphics for this event.

"Sean and I worked together for a projection mapping demo a year ago," said Belcher. "That started a business relationship with Amazing Industries and we are now joining our creative forces as a team to pitch and produce special projects. We are currently working on three more projects together."

Reflecting on the private museum event, Belcher said the guests were visually and aurally entertained and the picture show and animation was a hit. "The evening ended with a superb fireworks show," she said, "followed by requests to repeat the animation and projection mapping slideshow multiple times."