Technical Direction Company’s Greatest Hits

At TDC, projection is in our DNA. TDC’s history as an innovator and early adopter of technology, in particular projection, has seen us collaborate closely with leading manufacturers such as Barco and Panasonic. TDC is recognised internationally as a pioneer in the field of large-scale architectural projection design and mapping, laser projection, projection blending, 360 degree projection, interactive, motion tracking and immersive projection environments. For us projection is something of an art form and we pride ourselves on perfecting the results.

Challenging projects are what drive us; over the years we have been involved in projects for theatre, TV, corporate and large-scale public events. Here’s a little bit more about some of our most memorable projects.

Projecting onto the Sydney Opera House over the years

It is always an honour and a privilege to project on to the iconic Sydney Opera House sails. These 9,000 square metre sails provide the perfect backdrop for our projection expertise. TDC have been involved in projecting on to the Opera House from as far back as 2007 and, over the years, we have looked at projection from many different technical perspectives and have changed the projection design many times, each time acheiving a better result. We continuously vary and evolve the way that we project onto the Opera House to get bigger, better and brighter results as technology evolves. The designs and systems have evolved with technology advancements and now challenging-shaped installations, such as the Opera House, are done in a full 3D workflow.

We have lit the sails for many momentous occasions, from the Royal Australian Centenary Celebration to the opening of the Invictus Games, but what we are most proud of is the projection onto the sails that was done for the bushfires last year, as it really gave us an opportunity to give back to the community. We only had two hours to install and line up 16 projectors at dusk to put a message of thanks up there for all the firefighters who helped in the disaster. If it wasn’t for TDC’s resident projection expert, Steve Cain, disguise’s 3D workflow and our accurate model of the Sydney Harbour, this would not have been possible in such a short time frame.

Of course, we can’t look past the numerous years that we have lit the sails for Vivid Sydney. It is a much anticipated event and each year we have the opportunity to work very closely with the most talented of content creators from all over the globe to ensure that they understand how to get the best results from the graphics they are creating. We recently switched to using disguise’s Omnical camera assisted line-up systems, and combined with our multi-skilled team, this helped us get this iconic landmark lined up and running far more quickly and efficiently.

Woody and Buzz at the Argyle Cut for Vivid Sydney

The Argyle Cut at the Rocks is a 30 metre arched tunnel, providing us with a unique canvas to project onto, and we have done so twice for Vivid Sydney over the years. We have perfected the projection by using our disguise previsualisation studio and advanced skill sets to design templates for the artists and also to design the split of the eight projectors used inside the tunnel to create this unique projection blend.

Based on our experience with projection light physics, physical textural environments and advanced server 3D workflows, Pixar Animation Studios transformed the Argyle Cut for Vivid Sydney with a creative light projection that delighted visitors of all ages. Viewers were transported through a visual retrospective of behind-the-scenes artwork and animation to mark the release of Toy Story 4.

Urban Tree at Martin Place for Vivid Sydney

We always have amazing results when projecting onto the Commercial Travellers Association (CTA) Building at Martin Place, the first of which was Urban Tree for Vivid Sydney. For this unique projection, we only used four projectors, but did the projection extremely efficiently by using every aspect of great projection design; using building attributes, shadows and lines to enhance and complement each projectors focus.

We worked closely with the talented team at Ample Projects to help design the best projection solution for this challenging architectural screen and the results were truly magical. They are experts at producing content that is so beautifully designed for the architectural canvas that they are transforming. For this project, we were taken hrough the lifecycle of a tree growing out of the ground to become a magnificent living tree within the surrounding Martin Place urban environment, celebrating and reflecting on Sydney’s original green landscape. Urban Tree won awards for live events design at the 2014 AEAF Awards and the 2014 Australian Production Design Guild Awards (APDG). The project was also a nominated finalist in the 2014 Australian Event Awards, and awarded a highly commended place for Concept Design and Illustration at the 2014 Australian Production Design Guild Awards (APDG).

We went on to reproduce this work of art with Ample again for Vivid Sydney a few years later and have perfected the projection mapping on this mushroom-shaped building through other projection projects, such as Sydney’s iconic Christmas Projections.

A 42K Projection Raster for Salesforce World Tour

TDC provided a massive 42K projection raster for the Breakouts of Salesforce World Tour in Sydney. We used five disguise 4×4 servers, all running full sockpuppet mode off of an MA2, outputting via SDI to our Riedel Micron signal distribution system to around 30 Barco high-powered projectors with six breakout rooms captured back through disguise and PIPd up on the mega wall video screen that was around 120m long.

This project had many unusual aspects to overcome as no graphics were able to be created or processed beyond 16,384 pixels wide due to the limitation on the silicon chip, so we had to “chop up” and synchronise all the disguise servers and projectors to be able to do this project successfully. The result was truly stunning.

Immersive projection for SBS TV

Shot in studio, TDC provided immersive projection to simulate all the interior and exterior imagery for the SBS Network. Using all the power of the media server, this was a simple yet highly effective projection. We were able to lock to the filming standards needed for the shoot and have the flexibility to position content everywhere; we used three different models of Barco projectors with a range of lenses to constantly relocate and adjust the projection to perfect it for the film crew. As you can see, it provided great results.

Visual effects for The Invisible Man

TDC provided projection to create the atmospheric visual effects for The Invisible Man using high-end graphics servers; we lead the way in pushing the boundaries of never before seen XR experiences that can transition seamlessly through pre-vis, tech-vis, and on-set implementation.

Immersive video projection for the Gold Dinner

TDC has been a long-term supporter of The Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation in many capacities. We are always proud to be involved in the Gold Dinner and for one year Sydney Technology Park was transformed into an opulent colonial setting for the night by Tony Assness. We provided an immersive video projection surrounding the VIP dinner party audience in colour and movement, projected onto speciality gold paper using disguise and 16 Barco projectors to design and make a full 360˚ wrap around immersive video environment, using Blacktrax and real-time tracking to keep it in alignment at all times.

An Immersive Space for The Voice

TDC used disguise and four different Barco projectors to design and make a fully immersive space for this promotional shoot for The Voice to advertise their upcoming series of the show. It was a full 3D environmental workflow, allowing for total immersion of the judges with outstanding results. Based loosely on a show moment for Lucy, a contestant from the series, our Head Engineer and Media Server specialist, Steve Cain, worked closely with The Voice’s creative designer to come up with the concept of the “projection room”, which was used again later in the series.

Projecting around the city from one central location

A final projection highlight was providing the projections for Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney Harbour. TDC were commissioned to design, deliver, install and operate a projection spectacular, with a focus on the sandstone pylons of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Steve Cain, our Head Engineer and Media Server Specialist explains that for New Years Eve, “it wasn’t just the projection, we designed everything from the content templates for the animations through the 3D models to the control system.”

One area of focus was to deliver even more vibrant colours at even higher levels of brightness. To achieve this, Steve took the unusual step of specifying two different projectors to leverage the unique strengths of each. Using the Barco UDX 4K32 projectors for their incredible capability to deliver the primary colours – red, green and blue – with stunning contrast and black levels, he then overlay blended them with Barco HDF W26K projectors as they deliver amazing punch and really excel in the secondary colours – cyan, magenta and yellow.

The event was a feat of projection and media server coordination as we controlled and ran around 70 different Barco projectors and around 10 disguise servers scattered across Sydney Harbour from a secret top floor location where Steve could see the whole Harbour. Projectors and media servers were scattered around the city at either side and end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and linked back to the event control room on the other side of the city via a sophisticated city-wide ‘dark fibre’ network. The control room housed two additional disguise servers, operating as masters. The result, according to Steve, was a truly stunning, very impressive representation of the whole colour spectrum, delivered from a network of projection towers.