Video:

The project can be experienced by any one individual, and also highly encourages group participation. We encourage individuals to use the space to reflect on the divine energy they are always moving within, but also to be aware that those who are also enjoying existing in the same evolving space. The gates have deeper talents than just being a meditative area. From near or far, the gates offer interactivity and illumination that are inviting, and not enclosing. We want this project to provide a platform for Burning Man community for community reflection, interactivity, and connection.
During the day, the gates stand with traditional torii colors, black and vermillion. At night, they glow brightly to be seen far across the Playa. The gates are not merely static sculptures on the landscape; they pulse and shine each individually equipped with hundreds of RGB LEDs that interpret the energy of those nearby. The gates each sense movement within their area and 3D-mapped LEDs wrapping the structures react to those who are passing. They encourage group activity and reward collective participation. The result is a dynamic playful landscape with patterns sprung from participants spilling across the rest of the gates in an interactive storm of throbbing color. Lighting has an amazing ability to affect even our most subconscious moods. In this way, we want the technology of The Illuminated Gates to absorb walker’s intention and share it with the environment, creating a truly community-based interactive space.

With sensors mapped across each individual gate, we have a accurate reading of whether participants are under a gate structure. A simple hand wave or parked biked won’t fool it.

The goal of our LED programming is to call attention to the interaction between participants and the passage through the torii gates. Individuals will form a relationship will the gates, understanding that passing through them or standing under them for periods of time will elicit different reactions.

Inspecting the LEDs that pulse rich waves of colors intelligently across the entire environment, participants will also discover that passing through the gates will heighten and spawn this content. When a participant stands underneath a gate, diffused LED light washes bright around the gate, glowing brighter and brighter, as if it has been activated, only to dim when the gate is empty once again.

*Note* RGB LEDs shown in images are WHITE for sake of conceptual clarity.

As well as being highly responsive and entertaining for an individual to pass or stand between the gates alone – the real beauty of the programming unfolds through collective cooperation.

When multiple participants stand beneath each of the 6 gates long enough for them to all become “activated”, the center starts to become highly illuminated. This will be the only circumstance that the center lantern structure becomes fully illuminated. This center also houses a “map” which features LEDs strung along the circular base of the lantern. This indicator will show the active participant status of each gate, relative to their position on the circle.

In addition, special patterns can be unlocked by synchronized movement and cooperation by participants. The speed and quantity of participants in the area will create different effects through the gates. These realtime animation effects will be evident to BRC residents across the playa, not just to those inside!

When there are no participants, ambient and generative driven effects will illuminate the gates, beckoning attention and shining pretty even when left alone. The gates will feature vibrant animations with a high framerate that are tailored specifically to the shapes of the torii. Running rich next-generation graphics, the effects will be noticeably incorporated across all 6 gates and the center lantern. Content will splash across the entire landscape, as each LED is calculated in 3D and mapped to the exact dimension of the Illuminated Gates. Different content will run from dusk till dawn; cycles being triggered by days of the week and time of the day.

The LEDs that light the gates are a dazzling array of high-definition RGB LEDs. Each gate will feature three bright spot/wash arrays, as well as sporting 488 individually addressable RGB LEDS that cover the legs and the lower crossbar. The entire array of LEDs, when seen from afar, will appear as a bright video screen gracefully scattered as individual pixels across the landscape and onto the torii gates themselves.

With a summer full of lush woods and barren desert landscapes as our backdrop, we welcomed the urban street setting for this 2 day outdoor/indoor event. We teamed up with D-town dubstep kingpins, Sub.Mission, and good friends Nexus to build a stage on a closed off block in downtown Denver. Once again, Nexus shook everyone with quadraphonic Funktion One Stacks, with walls of Turbosound to boot. We utilized a slightly smaller variation of the Sonic Bloom light array to pack the mobile stage with pixels. Even a rainy Saturday didn’t stop Denver from going off for Caspa.

Event Photos:

Event Videos:

*Note* Video contains rough recorded live-audio

Whether by the pushes of a button, or by several audio inputs, or by any barrage of interactive sensors – we develop creative solutions that work.

Complex LED Programming

Using custom 3D software we map any variations of stage design on screen, even quickly while on location. With the accurate data of each LED’s individual coordinates in 3D space, highly immersive effects are generated – such as audio responsive light particles that move “through” the physical space.

Realtime Audio Analysis

Analyzing 108 bands of audio in realtime with zero latency, we use custom audio software to generate high spectrum visualizations to detect repeatable peaks in particular frequencies over time. With MIDI and OSC we are easily able to directly synchronize with artists and performances.

Ethernet rules the night, but we still love you, DMX

Although most of our LED systems are Ethernet based (which scales large numbers of LEDs while being deployed wirelessly), we still enable DMX signals from our software to handle other lighting elements as well.

AudioPixel collaborated with the Temple of Boom crew at Burning Man to bring a stage of epic proportions to the primetime corner of 10 and Esplanade.

At nearly 50 feet tall, our setup consisted of 7 semi-transparent large panels forming the back wall of the center pillar and 2 pillars on each side. The 18 foot tall center cubic column was built using 3 layers of 3D nodes suspended from a custom lattice that extended 12 feet off the front of the temple. Additional wash lighting was used in conjunction with custom deco made by Spaceshaping.
Custom line arrays by JK sound.

Over 50 artists played on this stage over 6 days. Most notably, Andy C, EOTO, Freq Nasty, MartyParty and Beats Antique.

Event Videos:

*Note* Videos contain rough recorded live-audio

Photos: