Design and engineering studio Bot & Dolly have done something very rare -- they've shown us something that we've never seen. It's so spectacular, in fact, that we find ourselves scratching our heads at the claim that everything in the video was shot in-camera.
They're a company specializing in synchronizing mechanical camera control with digital visual elements in real-time. Their stated goal is “massively pushing the creative boundaries of what is possible with platform-level control of robotics and technology in the real world.”
According to them, the video embedded above was shot in the real world, in real-time and without any digital trickery after the fact. “Bot & Dolly created this work as both an artistic statement and a technical demonstration,” says a statement from the company, which is interested in the “intersection of the technology experience, art, and robotics.” The company was contacted directly for comment but they said they'd prefer to let the work stand on its own.
To make this video possible, two high-definition projectors and three industrial-sized robotic arms -- one for each of the panels and one for the camera -- were synchronized to a series of computer images generated in Maya, a professional-grade 3D animation software. The images are projected onto the panels and surrounding environment as the performers move about and interact with them. The result is a reality-bending trip through a visual sequence that conjures images of the Portal video game franchise.
This technique has the potential of being a ground-breaking application of computer generated visual elements. Camera motions and the accompanying CG effects are completely repeatable, and the projected objects reflect their light onto the live performers, who now can actually see the CG entities they’re interacting with. The creators say they see this as the launching point for brand new forms of visual expression, and if this demo is any indication, they’re probably right.
