Lighting Interactive Design - Weekly Journal

Jump Links

• Week 1 - Introduction to Lighting Interactive Design and Site visit
• Week 2 - Steps to create projection mapping
• Week 3 - Principle of animation
• Week 4 - Narrative outline/script
• Week 5 - After Effects tutorial
• Week 6 - Tips for After Effects
• Week 7 - Resolume Arena

Week 1 (3/2/2025)

In today's class, we were introduced to lighting interactive design, focusing on creating content for projection mapping and immersive experiences. Our lecturer was an experienced designer from Filamen, and we learned a lot from him today. At first, I thought we would be learning about controlling the color and motion of lights, mainly used in big events, parties, and concerts. However, after realizing that wasn’t the case, I saw that creating a projection mapping content in just one short semester is a huge project. If we can make it magnificent, it would be a huge milestone and a great work to our portfolio!

Lecture Notes

Concept: What is projection mapping and immersive projection?

• Projection mapping: Transform buildings with different looks and personalities.
• Immersive projection: Create immersive experiences, especially for indoor spaces.

Figure 1.1 Difference between projection mapping and immersive projection

Key Considerations: What should designers consider to create projection mapping?

• Canvas – Understand the building or structure.
• Scale – Adjust visuals to match real-world size.
• Light & Shadow – Use depth to create 3D illusions.
• Creativity – Think outside the box.

Tools & Software: Creating content from scratch, storyboard, composition to projection mapping.

• Design & Storyboarding – Illustrator, Photoshop
• Animation – After Effects, Cinema 4D
• Editing & Compositing – Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Audition
• Projection Mapping – Resolume Arena (used for concerts & events)

Figure 1.2 Storyboard

Figure 1.3 2D &3D Animation

Figure 1.4 Final Compositing

Figure 1.5 Projection Setup

Assignment Brief

• Theme: Pulse
• Exhibition Venue: Muzium Telekom
• Projection Mapping Duration: 1 minute
• Projection Surface: 3 walls, 1 floor
• Will be exhibited in public!

Site Visit at Muzium Telekom (5/2/2025)

Since our projection mapping will be exhibited at Muzium Telekom for public showcase, we conducted a site visit to the museum. During the visit, we watched a projection mapping display and attended a short lecture on how projection mapping works, covering topics such as software usage, projection techniques, and screen setup.

Figure 1.6 Muzium Telekom

Notes

• Use white space or wall for projection mapping - white colour can reflect all colours
• Matte material, opaque - not reflective
• Projection mapping mostly on heritage building - modern buildings use reflective material, repaint in white colouring, more features, more details which can play around on the building.
• Using Resolume Arena is not hard. As long as we follow the template given, we can straight project our content on the screen with minor adjustment on the scale!

Figure 1.7 Great food with BISD girls

Last but not least, we had a nice lunch at Pasar Seni after the site visit! :D

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Week 2 (10/2/02025)

In today's lecture, we recapped previous lessons and learned more about the setup and creation of projection mapping. Since we are expected to begin working on our ideation for Assignment 1 this week, the lecture provided valuable insights into what we should focus on for our assignment.

Lecture Notes

What makes a good projection mapping

• White & light colour canvas - colour consistency 
• Complex features with minimum depth - allows you to play and do a lot of deformations 
• Clear path from projector to canvas 
• A place for audience to gather and enjoy the show

Figure 2.1 Before projection mapping

Figure 2.2 After projection mapping

Technical Considerations

• Identify the measurement of the building/canvas
• Projector selection - Using projector calculator to determine the distance, size of the building and etc.
• Rigging and hardware setup - Identify the setup to place the projector

Figure 2.3 Setup of projection mapping

Creative 

• Ideation and concept
• 3D model visualization the front building
• Storyboarding and style frame - drafts for client to select
• 2D and 3D animation
• Final composition

Figure 2.4 Combination of technical and creatives

Assignment

• Assignment 1 - Case study and research
• Assignment 2 - Static image with music using Capcut/Premiere Pro
• Final - Animation and projection mapping using Resolume Arena

Figure 2.3 Example of mindmap

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Week 3 (19/2/2025)

In this class, we had a lecture on the introduction to animation principles. Since we might be using Adobe After Effects for our animations, this lecture covered the fundamentals of creating engaging animations. Additionally, we were given a brief tutorial on how to use Adobe After Effects, starting with an introduction to its basic features, such as importing assets, scaling, simple animations, the timeline, and etc.

Lecture Notes

12 Principles of animation

• Squash and stretch 
• Anticipation 
• Follow through and overlapping
• Arc
• Timing
• Secondary action
• Exaggeration
• Staging
• Straight ahead pose to pose
• Solid drawing
• Appeal
• Ease in and ease out

Figure 3.1 12 principles of animation

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Week 4 (24/2/2025)

In this lecture, since Mr. Sharkir was absent, we were taught by Mr. Zeon. He gave a theoretical lecture that helped with Assignment 2. His lecture was useful in developing a narrative concept or script for our projection mapping content, which is essential for documenting the storytelling aspect of our project.

Lecture Notes

Narrative Outline/Script 

• Serves as a foundational document that guides the overall storytelling process, outlining the sequence of events, key themes, characters, and the emotional journey intended for the audience.
• Clear framework for developing visual content
• Create an immersive experience that resonates with viewers by detailing emotional beats and key moments
• By outlining the sequence of events, the script helps maintain a logical flow throughout the projection

What should be included

• Project title
• Project objective
• Target audience
• Theme
• Character settings
• Key events and scenes

Emotional journey

• Map out the emotional highs and lows throughout the presentation
• Background, conflict & rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Figure 4.1 Emotional journey

Moodboard

• Visual tool that helps define the aesthetic and emotional direction of a project
• Helping to articulate the creative vision before actual production begins
• Facilitate communication among team members by providing a clear reference point
• Maintain consistency in style and execution
• Image, colour palettes, textures, patterns, typography, dynamic elements

Figure 4.2 Moodboard

Storyboard

• Visually outlines the sequence and content of projected images onto surfaces
• Visualize each scene and sequence, transforming script elements into clear visual representations
• Identification of gaps or weaknesses in the storyline, enabling adjustments
• Determining necessary technical elements such as camera angles, movements, and special effects
• Annotation and scene

Figure 4.3 Storyboard

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Week 5 (5/3/2025)

In today's class, we continued learning about Adobe After Effects. This class was particularly useful as it provided insights into creating our projection mapping content using various techniques. I was also amazed at how visually complex animations can be easily achieved using effects in After Effects. Apart from that, we also given notice that we can outsource other asset, as the aim of this project is to create immersive projection.

Lecture Notes

• Graphic/vector: Adobe Illustrator
• Illustration: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop
• Generative: Processing, Touch Designer
• Import Photoshop file to After Effects: Drag your Photoshop file into the Project Panel in After Effects.
• Footage: Imports a single layer.
• Composition: Maintains layers but may slightly alter scaling.
• Pre-comp: Groups elements together for easier adjustments.
• Shortcut: s - scale, p - position, r - rotation, t - opacity
• How to mask: Select the shape tool (hold to choose different shapes) > Click on the layer to apply the mask > Adjust and position the mask inside the canvas
• Effects and presents: Drag effects onto a layer > Customize effect properties in the left panel
• CC Kaleida: Creates repetitive patterns
• CC Repetile: Expands video edges
• Keylight/Linear Color Key: Removes green screen
• Immersive Video: Used for VR content

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Week 6 (12/3/2025)

In this class, we received more tips on Adobe After Effects, and I'm glad that most of the tutorials taught by Mr. Sharkir were really useful for our projection mapping content!

Lecture Notes

• Alpha matte: In the layers panel, drag the curly icon to another layer to create an alpha matte.
• Eye transition effect: Add oval shape > Adjust the Anchor Point > Apply a Mask for the transition effect
• Blurry effect: Use Gaussian Blur (found in the Effects Panel on the right)
• Rotoscoping: Use the Roto Brush to extract objects from a video
• Puppet tool: Select the Puppet Pin Tool from the toolbar > Click to create joints on the object > Move joints to animate
• "U": Show all keyframes on a layer
• Parenting and linking: Select an item (e.g., leg, head) and drag the curly icon to the parent layer
• Wiggle: Select a layer > Press Alt + Click on the stopwatch beside the property > Enter wiggle(x, y) (e.g., wiggle(2, 5) for subtle movement)
• Plugins: Compatible with Motion Array and AE Scripts
• Rendering: Go to composition > Add to render queue, Select Best Settings, Set Output Module to H.264, For a transparent background, choose QuickTime
• Digital mockup: Click the icon beside "Quarter" to see the view in 3D

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Week 7 (17/3/2025)

In today's class, we were introduced to a tutorial on Resolume Arena. However, we were informed that we don’t need to use Resolume Arena for our final assignment due to time constraints. 

Lecture Notes

• Import the template - Load the desired template into Resolume.
• Adjust composition settings - Set the composition resolution to match the image resolution.
• Arrange inputs - In the Screen section (left panel), organize and align the inputs properly.
• Resize to fit the mockup - Go to Slice > Crop & Transform, then adjust the size to match the mockup.
• View the 3D mockup on projector - Click on Output Transformation to preview how the projection will appear.

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