PAUL LACROIX 

Creative Technology Director / Engineer / Media Artist

Categories:    My picks  Interactive installations  Projection Mapping  Other  All

Artist

'Path of Noise (r, theta, phi)' received the Festival Platform Award Geo-Cosmos category at the Japan Media Arts Festival.
In this artwork, particles are moving along the surface of a sphere and are tracing curves along their passage. The movement of the particles is a symbolization of the randomness of one's life and its chaotic path.
The content is generative, in other words, different patterns and colors appear for each iteration.

A quite challenging aspect of this project was using a sphere-shaped screen (6-meter-diameter). Because there is no border, there is neither a beginning nor an end. The particles can move in all directions and loop around the sphere.

Although it is generative content, I also wanted to tell a story. The artwork is composed of several parts in which I tried to put different moods. Recent years have been difficult for many people around the world. I wanted to express some hope and bring some comfort into the heart of the viewers. That's the reason for using cherry blossoms.
March 2021: Installation of a 22 multi-screen solution at 19M Chanel in Paris
Link: https://www.dalbin.com/studio/19m
Dalbin Studio / Parallel Architecture
Engineering

Though the system was initially conceived in order to play multiple video contents synchronized over multiple computers, a very special requirement for this installation was on the contrary the videos to be played randomly and avoid any impression of looping.
Decembre 2020: Talk at Motion Plus Design World / Japanese Edition
Motion Plus Design
Speaker

A Story About Face And Body Projection Mapping
During this speech, I talk about the experiences and inspirations that led me to my work on face projection mapping and body projection mapping.
Integrality of the speech in multiple languages
October 2020: Generative art - Vector field virtual sculpture
NGC
At the occasion of the moving of their headquarters to Toyosu, the company NGC asked me to create a variation of one of my content so it can be placed in their lobby.

Displayed on 4 curved screens, the content evolves and changes perpetually. Colors and shapes, as well as camera work are generated randomly in real-time.
February 2020: Interactive hologram
IBM Japan / Panasonic / TypeZero
Technical director / Software developper

  • Software development

  • Developped as a front end demo for the AI interface Watson, this hologram interacts and provides information to customers visiting the head quarters of IBM Japan.
    March 2019: Experience Room (Art Installation) at Rolls Royce Motor Cars Shanghai
    Paul Lacroix / Dalbin
    Technical Director

  • Design of the technical solution and installation
  • 30 screens (5x3x2) for a total resolution of 19200x3240 pixels
  • Video
    September 2014: Installation of a 2D media server at Osaka Castle Park
    Indy associates / Sharp
  • Installation of original media server synchronizating video on multiple computers
  • 27 screens (9x3) for a total resolution of 11520x2160 pixels (3x4K)
  • Adjustment of the system to handle multiple audio tracks
  • July 2014: Simulation Program for Yokohama Dockyard Garden Projection Mapping (compatible with Oculus Rift)
    P.I.C.S. - http://www.pics.tokyo
  • Simulation in first-person view of projection mapping event (used for content check or presentation)
  • Support of Oculus Rift virtual reality headset when available
  • March 2014: Development of a 2D media server at Haneda International Airport
    Indy associates
    System Developper

  • Development of an original media server synchronizating video on multiple computers
  • Tools for data preparation and network synchronization
  • 36 screens (12x3) for a total resolution of 16392x2304
  • Technical support for interactive content on multiple screens
  • 2013: Nuke plugin for realistic brush contours from 3D animation videos
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    August 2011: Consultant for optimizing the project management workflow on the TV series Transformers
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    June 2011: Nuke cutout filter with temporal stability used in the TV serie Tron Uprising
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    March 2011: Nuke plugin for automatic normal map generation from handmade celluloid used in the TV serie Tron Uprising
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    2010: Realistic brush animation software
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
  • Real time drawing capture
  • Stroke path edition
  • Progressive stroke drawing
  • Object animation with spline interpolation
  • Real-time preview and high quality rendering
  • User interface developed using Qt
  • 2009: Real time fluid manipulation software used within introduction videos of a video game
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
  • Fluid and particle simulation
  • Real time drawing, edition and visualization
  • Importation of camera data from MAYA
  • User interface developed using MFC
  • 2008: Work on a real-time video compositing embedded system for karaoke
    Widget Inc.
  • Development of an ActiveX Control performing camera capture, compositing and recording to MPEG-2 file
  • Creation of customized DirectShow filters
  • Programming of software adjusting automatically the volume amplitude of audio data (robust approach)
  • Evaluation of several video compression formats for optimal display on mobile phone
  • Programming of software/hardware/network diagnostic software
  • Prototyping of a new interface connecting two devices in order to decrease the system cost
  • 2008: Volume rendering of brain sequences for the new version of the animation movie Ghost In The Shell 2.0
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Trailer
    2007: Development of a real-time task management Web application used for organizing the tasks of more than one hundred employees
    Polygon Pictures Inc. - http://www.ppi.co.jp
    This application was used in the context of the American TV series My Friends Tigger and Pooh
    2006: Software research and development
    Voxelan
  • Digital measurements on 3D models
  • Scan anonymization
  • Scan stitching
  • Documentation, demonstration and training related with the software
  • Upgrade of the company 's website
  • Research and evaluation of methods especially in the following fields:
  • Processing of images and depth maps (Digital Elevation Model)
  • Scanner calibration, correction of the lens distortion
  • Mesh operations (polygonization, merging, simplification, comparison, positioning...)
  • Use of various data structures for optimization (octree, kd-tree...)
  • 2004: Development of visualization and processing software for volume images
    Pierre Fabre - http://www.pierre-fabre.com
  • Reading volume data from DICOM files
  • Volume data processing
  • Programming of a volume rendering engine (real-time mode with texture stack approach, high quality mode with ray casting algorithm)
  • Polygonization of vascular network
  • Participation in the authoring of a software development normalization document
  • Software training
  • 2003: Development of control software for a 3D scanner used in dermatology
    Pierre Fabre - http://www.pierre-fabre.com
  • Calibration of a vision system
  • Construction of 3D mesh from profilometer data
  • Color correction
  • Projection/merging of 2D textures on the 3D mesh
  • Research about mesh construction algorithms, publication of an article