Projecting moving images on a giant window in direct sunlight to create an astonishing illusion isn’t something that many event projectors can achieve. For Barco’s biggest and brightest HDQ-2K40 models, it was just another day at the office. Two of our finest were used to depict the future of automobile travel via the “BMW i: A Window into the Near Future” campaign, turning a street-level window of the MetLife building in New York into a digital reflection which morphed passing traffic into BMW’s new all-electric i3 and plug-in hybrid i8 concept vehicles.
Barco’s projectors achieved a stunning 80,000 lumens to blanket a 12’ x 9’ area covered with 3M Corporation’s Vikuiti window film to reflect the traffic landscape “Considering the daylight issue, the key to achieving this alternate reality was to use the highest output staging projectors available,” commented Glen Sanders, President of Fresh Air Flicks. “Reliability was also critical since we were running the show 24/7 for nine days, and as we expected, the Barco projectors performed flawlessly! Also, thanks to their modularity and simple installation, we could re-lamp and de-lamp the projectors ourselves without having to call in a projectionist, making load-out fast and easy.”
Using motion tracking technology, the producer created a one-to-one relationship of passing cars and window reflections to bring the illusion to life, digitally transforming 307,065 cars into the new, futuristic models as they traversed directly in front of the window. For nine days, the window also calculated how much money would be saved in gas and how many tons of CO² emissions could be reduced annually if each transformed car was all-electric—totaling more than $493 million in gas savings and 1.3 million tons of CO² emission reductions respectively