Show dictionary · Video & LED

Projection Mapping

Also: video mapping

Projection mapping is projecting content that has been geometrically warped to fit a real three-dimensional surface (a building facade, a car, a sculpted set piece) so the object itself appears to display, move, or transform. The projector stays still; the math does the fitting.

In practice

The workflow runs from a model of the surface (measured, scanned, or built from drawings) through alignment of the projectors to that model, then content authored in the surface’s own UV space. Media servers handle the warping and blending; the wow is in content designed for the object rather than pasted onto it.

Physics still governs: projection needs darkness and surface brightness budgets, mapped surfaces need texture that takes light, and ambient-light-soaked corporate ballrooms are why many "mapping" moments quietly became LED-clad set pieces. Outdoor architectural mapping remains the discipline’s spectacle tier.

How you’ll hear it

"The reveal maps the set columns; house must be at true black or the illusion dies."

Related resources

Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.