Anamorphic Video Wall

Custom made LED displays and clever animation tricks create the illusion that the space is invaded by visitors from Purdue’s rich history. Some of the most influential alumni appear as life-sized figures in the room. Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart are there to greet visitors, as are engineering legends like the “First Lady of Engineering” Lillian Gilbreth and John M. Atalla, father of the modern semiconductor.

While animators and designers created unique 3D spaces that literally broke open the atrium wall to reveal historical artifacts and informative documentary shorts, our AI team set to work using thousands of reference images and film archives to bring historical figures back to life. For some scenes, actors were hired to portray these historical heroes. makeup and digital face replacement then brought them fully into character. In other scenes hours of reference footage could be used to train AI and create a historically accurate portrayal of bygone pioneers in one dramatic step.

Historical artifacts like Amelia Earhart’s jacket and flight helmet, and Neil Armstrong’s math homework were carefully rigged and photographed to seamlessly integrate as larger than life 3D objects in the atrium. Meanwhile, laser scans of Amelia Earhart’s plane and the Apollo Saturn V rocket were used to bring even larger vehicles into the atrium as if by magic. None segment the entire history of transistors is presented in a parade of personal electronics from 1950 to today, all floating over visitors to the lobby space. On-site scanning and photography allowed our digital scenes to match the lighting and reflections found in the actual space where these videos would play. Then footage was mathematically distorted to create a seamless integration with the physical space. That way footage would genuinely appear to be physically in the space when viewed from the atrium lobby floor. That’s the magic of anamorphic distortion: artists can make a traditional screen into a dimensional stage for a historical celebration.

New technologies brought history to life.