Projection mapping is currently mostly the province of professionals in the AV business, preferably professionals with clients with deep pockets since multiple high-end projectors are often required. Siriusly Creative, LLC wants to change that with its Luxedo Projection System, now on Kickstarter. This system is intended to bring projection mapping to home users and small businesses.
The Luxedo projector is a weather-resistant, 2500 Lumen, 1080p (1920 x 1080), 3LCD projector. It has LED illumination and is said to have a 30,000 hour lifetime*. The projection lens used has a 0.6:1 throw ratio. While it is designed primarily for outdoor use, the projector can also be used indoors. Since it will normally be left outside at night, it has three anti-theft features. The first is the ability to physically lock it and chain it securely in place. The second is the ability to lock out non-authorized users. If a thief steals the projector, it will not even turn on without your logon information. The third is the ability to trace the location of the unit if an unauthorized user connects to it.
The Luxedo Projector. Left: 3D CAD model. Right: Sample projector. Note the large external heat sink to keep the interior of the sealed projector cool. The appearance of the projector may change before its final release (Images: Siriusly Creative, LLC)
The Luxedo projector has a built in camera. To projection map on your house, you first put the projector where you expect to install it. The camera takes a photo of the house (or business) from that perspective. Then the user creates a “skin” for the house using a web-based application, guided by the photo of the house. This app has “thousands” of pre-defined decorating objects that can be scaled and rotated and users can add their own plus their own text.
According to the company, “Using your phone, laptop or mobile device, you can string Christmas lights around your home, advertise this week’s special sale, or created a magical atmosphere for your daughter’s birthday party. Let’s say it is Christmas time and you want to decorate the outside of your home or business with icicle lights on the gutters, a Santa on the garage door, and wreathes on the windows.”
After you log on the Luxedo website and take a photo of the building, you can place either the predefined objects or your own objects wherever you want in the image. Note that a skin is a stillimage so you can’t have ghosts flying out of windows or Santa opening your front door and coming out to wave at people. Once a skin is uploaded to the projector it is saved there and there is no need for continuing contact with the server. Wi-Fi is the only interface on the projector, nor does it have a built-in speaker, so it cannot be used for a home theater projector when not projection mapping the house.
The Luxedo Projection System decorating a house for Christmas. (Image: Siriusly Creative, LLC)
The Luxedo Projection System in a real estate sales application. (Image: Siriusly Creative, LLC)
Currently, the Kickstarter campaign has pledges of $3,696 out of a $950,000 goal, although the campaign will run 37 more days until Friday, August 4, 2017. Estimated delivery of the projectors is November 2017, in time to decorate your house for Christmas. The company will only ship to the United States. Pledges that get you a projector run from $799 to $949 and there is also a distributor pledge of $7499 that will get you ten projectors. The expected MSRP will eventually be $999. These prices include access to the web-based Luxedo application. –Matthew Brennesholtz
Analyst Comment
* Luxedo told us in an email that the projection light source would be LED, so we have reported it, but it seems very cheap for an LED-based display, to me. I wonder if the company is just assuming that it wouldn’t cost much more than a lamp? (BR)
