TouchDesigner has been a natural goto tool for this prototype for many reasons.
Origin of the idea
All of a sudden, the energy of the athletes could replay infinitely in the streets, at impossible scales, on top of mountains, and travel around the world.
- The very first experiments 2 years ago
- Annie Guglia, French-Canadian Skater preparing for the Olympics
- Experiment drawing skateparks on a whiteboard
- Fantoms in Tokyo
Hide the tech, Focus on the craft
Right away, it felt like a great idea to make a tool that helps people create their own character but the animation process kept being very nerdy and long. It took many iterations to really smooth out the experience, simplify the animation process and maximize the magic of the outcome.
Touchdesigner, an easy choice to prototype quickly
Les Fantômes tried to outsource app development but it quickly proved to be way too heavy and complicated to move forward. In the end, a Surface Pro running TouchDesigner was much easier to play with and iterate.
ITERATIONS
Most of these iterations have been developed with TouchDesigner
- Sept 2019: Magical scanner using a top view webcam to scan
- Oct 2019: LVLUP festival experiment with the Machine à Fantômes (installation)
- Oct 2019: LVLUP festival experiment with the Machine à Fantômes (outcome)
- Oct 2019: Big whiteboard mosaic projection and marker drawing
- Dec 2019: Scanning station Phone App concept
- Jan 2020: Light painted characters
- Feb 2020: More and more skaters added to the collection
- Oct 2020: Les Fantomes de l'île in collaboration with MAPP_NTS Festival (Nantes, France)
Next steps and opportunities
Currently experimenting the kit with different groups, Studio Fantômes is planning to bring light, movement and positive energy to many cities across France and Europe in the near future.
Fantômaton is one piece of the puzzle. The idea is really to spread the concept on the cities' facades and bring the audience at the heart of their own handcrafted lightshows.
Credits
Programming, Concept, Camera, Editing : @lesfantomes.fr
Additional Camera, Editing: Louise Baliguet
Host festival for Les Fantômes de l'ïle : MAPP_NTS
Technical partners and Tourmédia providers: SN Lumiloire, Concept Light France, Panasonic France
Local Île de Nantes Partners: SAMOA