Ferris wheel light and LED control system software

MGNTRN is a immersive experience in which a ferris wheel, projection screens, and 10-meter LED strips are synchronized in a massive light and sound performance. It was showcased in at the PROYECTA music festival in Mexico D.F in 2014.

We worked with Romain Tardy to control the lights and LEDs. We created a software to previsualize, animate and control all of them from a unique timeline. We also had to design and build a robot that turns the ferris wheel control knobs based on music events.

MGNTRN (pronounced [MAGNOTRON]), Romain Tardy’s latest project, is an immersive, largescale audiovisual installation mixing projection mapping, physical laser-cut structures used as a projection canvas, and various types of LEDs to create a unique multi-sensorial experience. Believe it or not, there’s even a tiny robot physically operating the LEDs from a pretty massive Ferris wheel. Inspired by psychedelic sci-fi references from the 70’s like Sun-Ra’s movie “Space is the place” MGNTRN invites the public to an imaginary journey through space and time. An intense physical experience with a multi-channel video setup and 8-channel soundtrack composed by electronic music producer Squeaky Lobster. The name of the piece itself, MGNTRN [MAGNOTRON], comes from a space-themed pinball created by the American manufacturer Gottlieb in 1974, and illustrated by Gordon Morison, who made some of the most iconic pinball backglass drawings in the 1970’s. Starfields, black holes, kawai characters and retrofuturistic spaceships as well as vintage arcade games are the haunting spirits of this outdoor audiovisual installation where the sky is the limit. This installation was developed as a site specific project for Proyecta Digital Arts and Design Festival 2014, that took place in Puebla, Mexico from the 9th to the 11th of June. Proyecta, as the eponym design and digital arts platform, was the producer of the piece. ESPAÑOL / MGNTRN (pronunciado [MAGNOTRON]), el más reciente proyecto de Romain Tardy es una instalación audiovisual inmersiva de gran escala que combina la técnica de proyección en mapping sobre estructuras realizadas con corte láser empleadas como canvas y diferentes tipos de luces de LED para crear una experiencia multi-sensorial. Aunque parezca inverosímil, incluso se creó un pequeño robot que físicamente operaba el sistema de luces de la gran rueda de la fortuna. Inspirada en referencias psicodélicas de ciencia ficción de los 70 como la película de Sun-Ra “Space is the place” MGNTRN invita al público a un viaje imaginario a través del tiempo y el espacio. Una intensa experiencia física a través de múltiples canales de audio y video como parte central del montaje de la pieza. El nombre de la pieza misma MGNTRN [MAGNOTRON], viene de un juego de pinball con motivos espaciales creado por la empresa norteamericana Gottlieb en 1974 y que fue ilustrado por Gordon Morrison, quien creó algunos de los más icónicos diseños de pinball durante la década de 1970. Campos de estrellas, hoyos negros, personajes kawai en naves espaciales retrofuturistas combinadas con juegos de arcade son los espíritus que habitan esta instalación audiovisual. Fue desarrollada como una pieza de sitio específico para Proyecta Festival de Diseño y Artes Digitales 2014 que tuvo lugar en Puebla, México. Proyecta como plataforma también fungió como productor de la pieza. Original concept, design and animation : ROMAIN TARDY http://romaintardy.com Music : SQUEAKY LOBSTER Software development & engineering : MAYA BENAINOUS / CYRIL LAURIER Production : PROYECTA http://proyecta.org Executive producer : CARMEN ORTEGA CASANOVAS Proyecta creative director : MANUEL ALCALÁ Production coordinator : SAMUEL RIVERA TOVAR VIDEO: Director of Photography : VICENTE POUSO Executive Production : ARCA Proyecta Puebla, Mexico. 2014.

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We wrote a software to control and synchronize every light of the show from the same timeline. Go to >ledotron page for more details.

Here is a demo of the little robot that controlled the wheel light panel. Here, we control it with an iPad. It is typically controlled by our Ledotron software to synchronize the movement with the timeline.