Incredible New Technique of 'Video Light Painting' Raises The Light Painting Bar...Again

Well, the light painting bar has been raised again. Sweatshoppe, a European creative collaboration, recently created this video showing off their new technique of video light painting. While that may sound a little strange at first, it's actually a really, really neat technique that they pioneered on their own. Using custom-made software and a little ingenuity, Sweatshoppe is able to not only paint with light, but they're able to bring those paintings to life and add a never before seen aspect to light painting.

Sweatshoppe's Vimeo page goes into a little more detail about the technique: "Video painting is a technology the duo developed that allows them to create the illusion that they are painting videos onto walls with electronic paint rollers they built. It works through custom software that they wrote that tracks the position of the paint rollers and projects video wherever they choose to paint, allowing them to explore the relationship between video, mark making and architecture and create live video collages in real time."

While I appreciate that they share how they did it, I would have loved for Sweatshoppe to keep the technique a mystery, and then see if people could figure it out on their own. In the few minutes before I read the description, I was attempting to piece it together on my own - and came up with some pretty bizarre ideas. This certainly would have made another fun game of "how'd they do it?" like our previous post, Can Anyone Figure Out How This Timelapse Was Filmed?

Mike Kelley's picture

Michael Kelley (mpkelley.com) is a Los Angeles-based architectural and fine art photographer with a background in digital art and sculpture. Using his backgrounds in the arts, he creates images that are surreal and otherworldly, yet lifelike and believable. A frequent traveler, Michael's personal work focuses on the built environment of unique

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11 Comments

I love it when Art & Technology meet.

Oohh...but ya I agree with you Mike, they should have kept the technique a secret. Would have left thousands of photographers scratching their heads (me included).

www.vivekkunwar.com

I'm still scratching my head. But LOVE it!

projector then use a green(chroma key) paint roller 

Actually I watched the video before reading your description, and halfway through figured out the basic technique -- which you then described when I did read it.  However, I am _very_ impressed with the idea and am not sure of the details of how to mask the projector the way they do, it is fairly obvious that is what is being done.

Next time, just say "I'm Awesome, and I know exactly what happened." No need to say anything after that.

When I watched it I thought the projector was just playing the video with the strokes and they choreographed the strokes. Kind of close, but the actual technique is super awesome 

OMG, it is so INCREDIBLE!! Love the idea and how they did it!! So impressive.

If it was painted in real time, they would have shot the video in real time.  The time lapse effect is to hide the technique.  What I would do to get this effect (and what I suspect they did) is have the video prepared in very slow motion, and then just have a glowing bar incorporated in the video where I was supposed to have the roller placed and just follow the glowing bar.  

i am more concerned with the content of the video. The d-face/JR/banksy-ish graphics are just not doing it for me. With idea this brilliant you need to go all the way and think what you actually paint so the whole thing is bulletproof conceptually. Or maybe i missed it?

Excellent ! With another style i recommend you the lnk's video 

http://vimeo.com/lnightkrew/lightnightkrew