Projection-Mapping Turns Vancouver Bridge Into Virtual Salmon Run

September 21, 2017 by Dave Haynes

This is the last weekend to see what appears to be an amazing projection mapping effort on the underside of one of Vancouver’s main bridges

The Cambie Bridge’s underside is transformed into a wild B.C. river that shows the journey of migrating sockeye salmon in a 25-minute show, using cinematography from three B.C. rivers that is then digitally mapped and projected on the concrete.

The content was developed for Canada’s 150th birthday this year by Canada Wild Productions, and is pulled off at night using eight Christie 3DLP projectors.

Nettie Wild, the director of what’s called Uninterrupted, says much of downtown Vancouver has glass facades that won’t work for projections (the light just passes through) but she she knew she had the answer when she stopped by a park near the bridge.

“The Cambie Street Bridge has a perfect viewing area where people can see down the length of the bridge and get the idea of a river,” says Betsy Carson of Canada Wild Productions. “We were looking at filming with five projectors in a 180-degree rig, which would allow us to bring the images over top of the audience and behind them on the pillars behind the playground area where they are viewing it from.

A pair of companies, Colours & Shapes and Applied Electronics, were also involved in the project on the technology side.

There are more images and details on the project here …

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