Laser Projection On Buildings and Laser Projection Mapping

Laser Projection On Buildings and Laser Projection Mapping

Laser Projection On Buildings For ArgonTV

Laser Projection On Buildings

Laser Projection Mapping

 

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Who Wants To See Laser Projection On Buildings?

Watch the video above to find out…

 

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If you prefer to read, scroll down to get the (slightly edited) transcript of the video. 

 

Tools Featured In This Video

 

1 – ArgonTV: here

2 –Contact Laser Spectales: www.laserspectacles.com

3 – Contact Tim Walsh By Email: laserinfo (at) laserspectacles.com

 

Laser Projection On Buildings

 

Large Scale Projections

 

Tim Bennett: Laser projections on buildings and laser mapping has been one of those laser elements has always excited me because way back in October of 1990, my very first show…

 

…professional laser show, was actually laser advertising onto the side of a huge building in London.

 

And ever since then, it’s always intrigued me.

 

I’ve always wondered why people don’t do it more often.

 

And so I thought it was a topic that was very interesting to many people.

 

And I am joined today by an expert in laser projection on buildings.

 

Let me introduce you and welcome to ArgonTV to Tim Walsh, who’s President of Laser Spectacles.

 

Tim… Welcome to ArgonTV.

 

Tim Walsh: Thank you Tim, It’s good to be here.

 

Tim Bennett: Yeah, it’s excellent.

 

And it was very strange because about three or four days ago, I was reading a copy of The laserist and just here, it says “lighting buildings with laser light” and I went to the article and I found it was written by you.

 

So this inspired me to get in touch with you and to talk to you about laser projection on buildings.

 

But before we go there, before we go into that topic, I thought it’d be kind of cool just to meet you a little bit and get to know you first, if that’s okay.

 

Tim Walsh: Oh, yeah, sure. Let’s do it.

 

Tim Bennett: Cool.

 

So I’ve actually known of you for about 25 or 30 years, so I know you go way back and if we go back to those early, early days, how did you actually get started in laser?

 

Tim Walsh: Well, I was a music composition major in college, but never quite satisfied with music.

 

I was always dabbling in film, working with dancers and making weird electronic music, stuff like that.

 

Somehow I got in touch with some businessmen in town who had started a company called Laser Creations and they were going to produce a laser show derived from the laserium idea of things and install it in planetariums.

 

They were looking for a musician to run their shows.

 

They felt it was very important that somebody know how to react music. And so I became their laserist.

 

Tim Bennett: So when was that?

 

What year was that we’re talking about?

 

Tim Walsh: That was a 76, 77, something like that.

 

As soon as that happened, I pretty much stopped paying attention to school.

 

Although I graduated, I got a degree of bachelor of music and composition.

 

And we did some planetariums.

 

The Fort Worth planetarium in Texas was a notable one, did some tour dates and stuff like that.

 

And then after that, I dove back into music, when part of the band Brave Combo, the Nuclear Polka Band of Texas.

 

I bet you’re surprised to hear that, huh?

 

Planetarium Laser Show

 

Tim Bennett: Well, actually I was, I was researching you earlier and I was going to ask you about that.

 

Like what the hell is that?

 

Tim Walsh: Well along the way I became, I supported myself in a variety of ways.

 

I decided not to do the laser thing for these guys because it just…

 

I didn’t have a car and I was going to have to travel and stuff like that.

 

I worked at the university where I went to school in food service.

 

I did catering.

 

I had a job making hamburgers, and also I got the job of music of accompaniment for the dance department.

 

And in fact, I became the guy in charge of all the musicians who accompanied the dancers at their classes and I hired and fired everybody.

 

So I hired this one guy to play for the ballet classes, because he could improvise very, very well ballet type music and we hit it off.

 

His name was Carl Finch and he said, “man, why don’t you bring your clarinet and we’ll do some jamming?”

 

We started playing polkas and the next thing you know, we had a following and a band and it wasn’t just a little thing.

 

We got interviewed in Rolling Stone.

 

We toured up to New York.

 

We toured all over the country, playing nuclear polka, because this was the era of punks, punk music, and new wave back in 79, when we started the band was really hot.

 

And you know, if you want to make yourself unique, you kind of go the opposite direction of what everybody’s doing.

 

So we went to those punk clubs and played Polkas

 

Tim Bennett: Wow 1979… I was just leaving school.

 

Tim Walsh: But we weren’t just doing it for a joke.

 

We actually liked the music.

 

And to this day, polka is probably my favorite kind of music.

 

Actually, I left the band in 83.

 

I went back into lasers, working for Laser Creations again, but the band has gone on and I still play with them as much as I can and got two Grammys for best polka album.

 

So we were definitely serious polka musicians and taking it to the punks and the new wavers back then.

 

Tim Bennett: Amazing story.

 

I think it’s so interesting to hear the stories of people who have been involved in lasers and this kind of work for so long and (hearing) the other things that they do.

 

I should have asked you to play for us instead of doing this interview.

 

So that’s going back quite a while and at what stage of all this did Laser Spectacles come into the scene?

 

Tim Walsh: Okay. So 1983, Laser Creations has got the Houston Planetarium, offered me a full time job running the show, programming shows, doing everything.

 

And I thought, you know, I never intended to be just a saxophone player.

 

I had bigger ambitions than that.

 

And I said, I’m going to do it.

 

So I moved to Houston, quit the band and did laser show full time since then.

 

And after two years of that in 1985, It was clear that I was getting paid, but the investors were not getting paid.

 

So we made a deal for the equipment and that’s when I started Laser Spectacles.

 

Laser on Building

 

Tim Bennett: And why did you call it Laser Spectacles?

 

Tim Walsh: Because there was another guy in town doing laser shows in Houston.

 

And I just went see it.

 

He offered me a job, so I went to see one of his shows and I didn’t like it.

 

And I thought, “this is nothing.

 

If I make a show, I wanted to be a spectacle.

 

I’m going to start a company in call it Laser Spectacles, because that’s what it needs to be.

 

Tim Bennett: That’s really cool story.

 

Inspired by another company.

 

So that’s great.

 

And then as, as you went on in the career, you also became involved with ILDA and you were president for a while, with ILDA… Is that correct?

 

Tim Walsh: Yes. As a matter of fact, I was at the very first meeting of ILDA in 1986 before it was even called ILDA and I was involved in coming up with the name.

 

As a matter of fact, I made an audio recording of that meeting and you can find the recording on the ILDA website.

 

When I told Patrick I had a recording of the first meeting, he said, “it’s just like somebody coming back from the stone age with documentation of what happened.” 

 

And I mean, it’s pretty incredible if you listen to it, the whole concept took an hour of meeting goals. Dean of Laser Media ran it and brought everybody together.

 

He was very open to everybody’s ideas and it really was a wonderful experience.

 

And then in 93, I volunteered to bring all the laser equipment to the conventions, to make us actually have laser shows there, because up until then, it’s just been mainly video and a few small projectors.

 

And then that was the main complaint of everybody who was there, that “we all come to this convention and there’s no lasers.

 

So Steve Heminover was President then and he had a big push for what can everybody do to contribute to make ILDA better.

 

And that was my idea, I said, “okay, I’m going to bring the equipment and set it up and we are going to have lasers!”

 

And also that same year, John Goss retired as awards chairman and when he said, “okay, who’s… (I was on the awards committee because I was bringing the lasers) and he said, “okay, who wants to be awards chairman?”

 

And believe it or not, everybody else took a step backwards and I took a step forward.

 

Tim Bennett: So you were kind of volunteered…

 

Tim Walsh: So for many years I did that.

 

And then of course in China in 2007, I became President of ILDA and was there for four years.

 

To this day, of course, I go to ILDA and now I always volunteer to be the MC, the host who gives out the awards and kind of pulls it all together.

 

Tim Bennett: Very sweet.

 

And you know, I’ve been involved in laser… not as long as you, but it’s been quite a while.

 

It’s like 25 or 30 years now.

 

And I kinda miss those “good old days” because it was kind of wild west and a bit more fun…not quite so safe as it is now.

 

And talking about safety, you also did become a Laser Safety Officer if I’m right?

 

Tim Walsh: Well, yeah, I had to because in Texas, we had the Bureau of Radiation Control.

 

And back then in the good old days, they were very active and you had to have credentials and show them that you knew what you were doing.

 

So we actually were inspected, practically every show.

 

And I also kind of miss those days, because basically you had one or two lasers that put out a beam and you had to figure out what to do with it.

 

And so I enjoyed designing my own equipment, coming up with my own ways to do things and make affects that I would think up and now, it’s just putting a bunch of boxes everywhere that spit the beams out.

 

So it’s a little bit different now yeah.

 

Outdoor Laser Mapping Show

 

Tim Bennett: Yeah and one of the things I’ve noticed over the last three or four weeks as I’ve been connecting with more and more laserists from around the world is there seems to be this big transition of lighting designers coming into, and many of them, don’t really understand there’s a need for laser safety.

 

I’m finding that quite a lot of them don’t really understand the equipment and that they should be trained in laser safety at all.

 

I had this discussion with Roberta McHatton a few weeks ago, who’s also a laser safety officer, and I think there’s a big opportunity for education of, of these lighting designers.

 

And it’s quite good to see the transition between the two groups of people, but the very different forms of light.

 

Have you any comments for these guys, any recommendations, like if they’re coming into laser, what’s the one thing that they should specifically do?

 

Tim Walsh: I’d say learn, as far as safety, learn how little of a laser beam it takes to light up a dollar bill and set it on fire.

 

And that will be something to keep in mind, because if I run into a laser beam and I’m not sure how powerful it is, I always whip out a dollar bill and see if it starts the fire.

 

And that’s usually at about 500 milliwatts.

 

Tim Bennett: Well, that’s a really good place to start.

 

So get your dollar bills out and I will accept any burn dollar bills after that.

 

So we’ve been talking so far with Tim Walsh, from Laser Spectacles about how he got started in the laser industry and in a moment, we’re gonna talk about laser projection on buildings.

 

We’ll be back in just a moment.

 

 

 

 

Tim Bennett: So welcome back to ArgonTV.

 

I’m really excited because I’m talking today to Tim Walsh, President of Laser Spectacles, and we are talking about laser projection on buildings.

 

So when was your very first laser projection on buildings?

 

Tim Walsh: Oh, gosh, I think it was in 90, probably 93.

 

I did a show at the Walton Art Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas and I’m pretty sure we did a Pink Floyd laser show on the back of their building.

 

Tim Bennett: That sounds great… nothing like a bit of laser and a bit of Pink Floyd combined in one evening.

 

Tim Walsh: Exactly,

 

Tim Bennett: Always a good thing and if you throw in a couple of beers, it’s even better and what’s the process?

 

Let’s say if a client calls you up and says, “I want to do a laser projection onto my building,” what’s the process you go through?

 

How different is it to a normal laser show set up?

 

Tim Walsh: It’s not different, It’s just in the approach.

 

I think it started with me when I worked on the County Courthouse, in Wharton, Texas a few years ago and I could have just projected the images on the Court House, but I thought, each window has its own place and it’s own little Archway above it…

 

…and there’s these little lines that go down to the courthouse and I wanted to take advantage of all this.

 

So I went there and took some pictures and started working with the photos in my studio, projected the photos on the wall and then when I went there and actually programmed and set up the show and aligned everything and it worked really, really well, I thought, wow, you know, this is really something.

 

And then they, of course hired me for the next year and the next year.

 

So in the course of those three years, I refined what I was doing and found some things that bothered me, just in the alignment and things like that and figured it out.

 

And then, one thing leads to another, and now whenever I make a proposal for someone, one of the first things I do is say, “are there any buildings in the area?”

 

And at least one package that I offer them includes laser projection on the buildings.

 

And that’s usually the higher priced one because it takes a lot of time.

 

Laser Mapping Projections

 

Tim Bennett: So you get the photo… you projected onto the wall, and then you overlay laser on to it…

 

How much time are we talking about from when you start, to when you’re actually get to the building?

 

Tim Walsh: Oh, I mean, it’s, it’s different for everybody.

 

But we take a project I did… the Nebraska Sister Centennial for the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, I think we did…

 

…We talked the end of June and then I actually did some preliminary programming and went up there in mid August and did a test and to make sure they liked it, because it was still, I hadn’t done this very much.

 

And then the actual show was four weeks later.

 

So it was a process that took probably two months total.

 

Tim Bennett: Oh, that’s quite a long time.

 

And are there like any obstacles, any buildings that you cannot project onto, or is there a best quality surface or, or what’s the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)

 

Tim Walsh: Well, I won’t project on buildings have people in them.

 

So if I find out it’s an apartment building or a hotel, and that there are going to be people in the rooms, I don’t even want to go there.

 

It needs to be a business type building that’s empty at night.

 

And we can feel safe, projecting on it with high power lasers.

 

And that’s about the only restriction I see, because the more complex the building gets, then the more fun it is for me.

 

If it’s just a blank white wall, of course, that’s wonderful too in its own way, because that’s a perfect projection screen with no wrinkles or anything.

 

And you don’t have to work or spend any time to set it up.

 

It’s just there.

 

But once you get into architectural details and things like that, that’s when it gets interesting. So usually the older the building is, the more ornate and interesting they are to me.

 

Tim Bennett: Yeah. I think that’s an interesting thought that you don’t want to project on to hotels.

 

I actually did a show in Manila, where the client is an Ocean Park style client and they actually have a hotel there and halfway through the show, one of the guests came back into the hotel room and turned the lights on and was standing in front of the window naked and everyone was banging on his door and he won’t answer the door.

 

It was quite quite an interesting show

 

Tim Walsh: He paid for the room. He can do whatever he wants!

 

Tim Bennett: That’s what he said.

 

He actually, in his defense, he did say that, so that’s was quite funny.

 

So that’s something that I might look out for again in the future.

 

So one of the other things that I found, was that glass buildings don’t work very well either, because you know, the laser can just penetrate right through the glass.

 

Tim Walsh: Yeah. So I should have said that you’re correct. Glass is a problem.

 

Tim Bennett: And then I saw some of your photos in The Laserist magazine that some of your buildings you were working on were curved buildings like domes and everything.

 

Does that have a different element to it because it’s not flat?

 

Or does it make it more fun?

 

Tim Walsh: I think it makes it more fun.

 

It’s interesting because if you do it with one projector, it’s very simple.

 

It’s you just compress the whole thing into a two dimensional plane and just treat them all as curves on a two D surface.

 

But then I did that one year…

 

…the next year, I said, well, I want to have two projectors so I can wrap around the building more.

 

And that proved to be much more difficult and taking much more work to make it look seamless where the laser had actually come together.

 

But it’s still an interesting exercise.

 

Tim Bennett: And do you need any special or extra licenses or permits or anything like that to do on buildings?

 

Tim Walsh: Not that I’ve heard of.

 

I’ve done some work on buildings.

 

We did some in Houston when they had the super bowl there.

 

I think it was 2004, something like that and we had to get permission from the building owner to project across the street on his building.

 

So that happens sometimes.

 

But it’s not normally a problem, because the people with the building want me to project on the buildings, because they’re my clients, you know, something like that.

 

Tim Bennett: That’s really interesting.

 

I’m fascinated by all of this.

 

And then lastly, if someone was actually thinking about going into laser projection on buildings, what advice would you give them?

 

Tim Walsh: Find out… you have to just start doing it and see what you like and then follow your nose and make sure if you do another building that you can build upon your knowledge and come up with new things for each building and kind of get a library of, of your whole approach to it.

 

So for me, I have to know how, how does it fit in my projection zone?

 

How is my projection zone aligned to the building?

 

Are my verticals all going to be squared off?

 

So if I draw a vertical line anywhere on the building, it’s going to be, it’s going to be lined up.

 

You know, things like that.

 

Once you get a library of working like that and it saves time in the future.

 

Tim Bennett: And what software are you using to do your work?

 

Tim Walsh: I use the Lasergraph DSP by Laser Animation Sollinger from Berlin.

 

Tim Bennett: I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never used it.

 

So that’s interesting!

 

Tim Walsh: Well, we could do a whole other interview on just that.

 

Tim Bennett: Well let’s book it right now.

 

Yeah definitely.

 

Actually one of the things I do want to talk about in the future is the different versions of software that we can use for laser programming, because there’s quite a few around, so I will hold you to that.

 

I was going to say the other advice that we could give someone is to book you.

 

Tim Walsh: Okay.

 

Tim Bennett: I think if I was going to do a really complex laser projection on buildings, I would want an expert with me as I begin it and get to learn it.

 

Tim Walsh: Good idea.

 

Yes.

 

Tim Bennett: So in a moment, we’re going to come back and we’ll find out all your contact details so people can do just that…

 

But let’s just like another quick break and we’ll be back in a moment.

 

I’m talking with Tim Walsh, President of Laser Spectacles, we’ll be back in just a moment.

 

 

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Tim Bennett: So welcome back to ArgonTV.

 

This is Tim Bennett and I’m talking with Tim Walsh, President of Laser Spectacles and we have been talking about laser projections on buildings.

 

So just now, I was talking about what I would do is if I had a really complex building to do, I would contact Tim Walsh and ask him to come and help me.

 

So if people wanted to do that, how did they get in touch with you?

 

Tim Walsh: Well, I’ll give you the website and then I’ll give you my email and then I’ll give you my phone number.

 

And the website is www.laserspectacles.com.

 

And that’s spelled L A S E R S P E C T A C. L E S.com.

 

And then my email is laserinfo (at) laserspectacles.com, L A S E R I N F O@laserspectacles.com.

 

And our phone number here is area code, this is in Texas (512) 392-4600.

 

Outdoor Laser Show

 

Tim Bennett: Awesome. So the phone lines are ready and waiting to take all those calls.

 

And so lastly, one of the questions, this is like one of my favorite parts, because there’s so many successful people that I’ve talked to and successful in different ways.

 

I always like to ask, what is your definition of success?

 

Tim Walsh: You’re going to have to say it again cause you’re kind of zoomed out there.

 

Tim Bennett: What is your secret to success?

 

Tim Walsh: The secret is you don’t give up.

 

Once you have a vision that you think you’re going to achieve, then you don’t give up until you get that.

 

So for right now, I’m spending my time during this lockdown time learning

 

3DS max, because I’ve always had this program for the Lasergraph DSP called Protize Max, and never really used it.

 

I mean, hey, I, everybody goes on, makes a three dimensional logo and gets it to rotate.

 

You render it out to laser.

 

Then you have a nice, smooth rotating logo, but that just scratches the surface of the whole thing.

 

So I’m not giving up, I’m going to create animations using 3DS max.

 

For lasers and especially character animation and I didn’t realize until, I mean, after working on this now for three or four months and when I did the entry for the ILDA Connected contest, I got something done.

 

But what it really taught me was what I don’t know.

 

And sometimes you need to work to a deadline and then you realize, “Oh my God, I really in here over my head. I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s just got to get it done.”

 

And then now I’m taking the time, since I know what I need to learn to actually learn it at a pace that I can learn it at.

 

But that’s the thing.

 

You may feel like you’re overwhelmed, but just don’t give up.

 

Tim Bennett: And that is awesome because last Friday I think it was… I don’t know if you know him, Pieterjan Ruysch from the Netherlands.

 

Tim Walsh: Sure.

 

Tim Bennett: He and I did a chat just like this on ArgonTV last week and I’m just producing it all at the moment.

 

And he has the most amazing way of doing animation I’ve ever seen.

 

I’m like, “wow.”

 

He uses 3D Studio Max as well.

 

So that’ll be coming out on Tuesday, tomorrow or Wednesday I think.

 

It was fascinating as well.

 

So I think it’s great that people around the world, including yourself, are taking the time during this crazy period where we’re suffering lockdowns to find and do new things.

 

I think that’s brilliant, but I do like, “Don’t Give Up!”

 

I want to thank you for being here with me today on ArgonTV and sharing your story.

 

I’m I’m sure we could actually talk for three or four hours about things that have happened to both of us over the last 25 or 30 years…

 

Tim Walsh: Yes.

 

Tim Bennett: And it’s absolutely fantastic to finally meet the man behind the name, because I’ve heard your name so many times.

 

It’s good to meet you today and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us about Laser Projection on Buildings.

 

So thank you for being here at ArgonTV

 

Tim Walsh: You’re welcome.

 

Tim Bennett: So great.

 

This is Tim Bennett.

 

I have been with the one and only Tim Walsh, President of Laser Spectacles and we have been talking about laser projections on buildings.

 

I look forward to seeing you again in another episode, very soon at ArgonTV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This post “Laser Projection On Buildings and Laser Projection Mapping” Was written exclusively for Argon Animation Inc by Tim Bennett © 2020

Tim Walsh and Tim Bennett talk about Laser Projection on Buildings

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  1. […] And I was actually talking to Tim Walsh about this from Laser Spectacles. […]

  2. […] Laser Projection On Buildings and Laser Projection MappingLaser Projection On Buildings and Laser Projection Mapping Wil Make You Gasp. In the hands of Tim Walsh a building can come to life. […] […]

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