Christie Adds New Tools, Services For Projection Mapping Jobs

November 15, 2016 by Dave Haynes

Christie introduced a product called Christie Mystique earlier this year that was built around the concept of making projection mapping jobs far easier to dream up, visualize and execute.

The idea was that very ambitious jobs like projecting on to a pro hockey ice surface – something that for a long time was immensely complicated – could largely be worked out in software, and quickly.

Now the company has introduced something called Christie Mystique Install, a suite of software, hardware, and services designed  to eliminate time-consuming and complex manual alignment jobs, which speeds setup, and reduce downtimes due to maintenance.

A company press release outlines four versions:

• Essentials Edition is an easy to use, single camera warping and blending application that supports up to 12 projectors in a 2 x 3 stacked configuration on flat surfaces;
• Pro Venue Edition provides projection stacking and edge blending on flat and cylindrical surfaces, and includes features designed to simplify ice and court projection mapping projects;
• Premium Edition offers an expert level multi-camera warping and blending solution ideal for projection stacking and edge blending complex projection systems on flat, curved and custom smooth screens such as domes;
• Large-Scale Experiences (LSE) Edition provides the ultimate level of control for the most demanding multi-projector applications such as theme park dark ride attractions and giant-screen dome theaters.  The LSE Edition provides advanced content layout modes and electronic black level blending tools to ensure the highest-level image quality.   

“As visual systems increase in complexity, Christie Mystique Install helps our customers create and maintain the experience they envisioned,” says Curtis Mutter, solutions manager, Christie. “From pre-game or half time on-ice or on-court projection mapping during a hockey or basketball game to a thrilling immersive dark ride at a theme park, Mystique Install makes it easier to set up and manage systems that use multiple projectors and screens.”

The cool thing here is this sort of technology is making projection-mapping much more accessible to different types of companies that get approached about mapping jobs, who would have previously thought they didn’t have anywhere near the in-house expertise and experience to pull jobs off.  Things like aligning stacked projectors used to take a loooong time, and software is making that stuff relatively simple.

I like that there are features like content layouts, BUT the tech is still only the enabler. Projection mapping is amazing, but only when its driving really great creative.