New Tesla Gigafactory opens with over-the-top UDX mapping

The Cyber Rodeo was a one-of-a-kind corporate event organized for Elon Musk to present the future Tesla product roadmap, and at the same time, celebrate the opening of the company’s new massive factory in Austin. Tesla had the idea to map the entirety of the exterior north wall of the GigaFactory with projected images produced by digital artist Beeple.

Tesla reached out directly to ATX Event Systems for AV technology. And they in their turn choose the Barco products to support the venture. “ATXES has hundreds of years of experience in live production, and Barco has always been the premium product that we reach for on large-scale projects,” explains Anthony McCoy, Project Manager at ATXES. “The Barco products are always reliable, road-worthy, and pack the punch needed to pull off premium events.”

Reliable workhorses

The sheer size of this project posed significant logistical and creative challenges. The wall measures nearly 700’ long and 80’ tall, a canvas size of 14,280 x 1656 pixels. The ATXES team built 16 scaffolding towers spaced along the north wall, each with 2 Barco UDX-4K40’s.

The event pushed the projectors well beyond a standard set up. The environment outside was dusty, windy, and hot during the day. “But throughout the entire project we never had any issues with a projector; they were reliable workhorses for the duration of tech and show,” says Anthony.

To remotely manage the massive video rig, ATXES utilized the UDX Barco Projector Toolset. “This was essential with a canvas of this magnitude,” adds Jack Byers, lead projectionist at ATXES. “It’s what made the job achievable.”

A gargantuan wow factor

The Barco UDX-4K40s made the remarkable content by Beeple come to life with on-spot brightness and color accuracy, truly transforming the blank factory wall into moving, shifting art that provided the scaled canvas for a gigantic fireworks show. Tesla and Beeple were both very happy with the outcome of the project which made a great presence on the livestream and provided a gargantuan ‘wow factor’ for guests upon arrival!

“We've been itching to work with Tesla and Elon Musk since the announcement that they were coming to our hometown, so big thanks to them, Beeple, and the Barco projectors for helping us build our biggest projection yet,” concludes Anthony.

© pictures by Roger Tam