Avolites Ai S4 server perfectly video maps theatre in new Huawei Watch ad

UK – A new advert for the Android and iOS-compatible Huawei Watch features a projection mapped disused theatre space powered by Avolites Ai S4 servers.

The Chinese electronics manufacturer’s smartwatch – which rivals the Apple Watch – features a fully circular AMOLED display with a high resolution of 400×400 pixels, and communicates with both Android and iOS smartphones.

Boomerang Television was commissioned to create the new watch commercial, featuring a dancer who moves in time to his own heartbeat, which is being monitored and displayed by the device. Dylan Wyn Davies, executive producer at Boomerang approached UK-based Rhodri Shaw, now director of Transition Video Ltd, to create the 3D visuals and projection mapping.

“Boomerang wanted 3D visuals that went in time with the music, accelerating and slowing down, representing the heartbeat BPM monitor feature on the watch,” says Shaw. “I brought in Kaine Van Riel from Made Up Ltd to create custom 4k resolution content for the film.”

The team decided to use an unfinished underground theatre in a secret location in central London for the shoot.

“We laser measured up the theatre to the cm, and Kaine created a 3D model within 3DS Max, which we then imported into an Avolites Ai S4 media server, using a second S4 for backup,” explains Shaw.

Ai’s Technical Support expert Arran Rothwell Eyre assisted with the preparation and was on-site for the shoot. “The model created by Kaine was very accurate, which allowed us to make good use of the Automap feature in Ai to greatly speed up the mapping process, which could have otherwise been very complex,” he says.

Shaw continues: “I chose Ai for this project as I wanted to see what the machine was capable of. I attended a two-day training course with Arran at Avolites and then went straight into this project the following week. I was blown away by the power of the Ai S4 and it’s user-friendly interface.”

The Ai S4 offers 4 display port/DVI outputs with unlimited layers per fixture group, with top spec, fully featured Miami licences. Hardware includes the latest generation motherboards supporting PCI-Express Generation 3.0, AMD Gen 3 Graphics Cards and the fastest hardware RAID controller and SATA3 6 Gbit/sec drives.

In terms of projectors, Bedford-based Video Design supplied 2 x Barco FLM-HD20 20,000 ANSI Video Projectors. Panalux supplied the lighting. The Ai systems were provided by RES. 

 The advert poses the question, ‘Can this dancer keep up and in time with his heart rate using the Huawei Watch?’ and is available to watch on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF8ao2NfCNU&feature=youtu.be