Kinematic / Who it's for / Architecture and building facades

Light up the building.

Throw moving pictures across a facade, run its lights from dusk to close, and see it all on the 3D model before anything goes up. Projection, DMX lighting and the model live in one free app.

Projection artistsLighting designersArchitectsVisualization artistsFacility teams

Download for macOS 0.5.0 See the work

Masks, warps and blends for every projectorArt-Net and sACN, timed to sunsetThe model and the light in one fileFree, even for commercial use

a projector throwing moving lines of light across a stone building front at night, previewed in 3D

The graph behind it

ImageShader
3DGeoLightUpdate
3DGeoSceneCreate
3DGeoSceneRenderToImage

The building is boxes in the graph. A spot light throws a small shader picture onto it, the way the real projector will. On the night, the same picture goes to a window on the projector.

On this page

Your work Projection Lighting Sound, sims and scans Every night Files and gear Where to start Not yet

Your work

Facade work in Kinematic.

The jobs that come round on every building, from the first model to the night the lights go on. Each one is a handful of nodes in the same graph.

On the building.

Projection: fit the picture to the stone and keep it off the glass.

a spiral on the wall, the window cut out of it

Map the building front

Draw each panel, pier and frieze as its own shape and give it its own picture. Mask the windows so no light spills inside.

ProjectionMapperImagePolygonMaskImageMask

Masks →

the Grid Warp editor, its grid pulled into waves

Fit the picture to the stone

Pull a grid of points until the picture sits on a curved wall, a column or an arch. Corner pin a flat panel you can only see from the side.

ImageGridWarpImageCornerPin

Warps →

black and white stripe and checker patterns a projector throws for a camera to read — the patterns a projector throws for the camera to read

Line up projectors with a camera

Each projector throws its own patterns and a camera reads them back off the building, so the projectors line up with it. A second pass evens out their brightness.

StructuredLightCalibrationRadiometricCalibration

Camera calibration →

The light.

Facade lighting over Art-Net and sACN, on a schedule you set once.

warm at dusk, cool white later, deep blue late at night

Wash the facade from dusk to close

Set the times once, by the clock or at sunset for the site, on the days you pick. Each time can call its own look.

DmxSchedulerDmxCueStackArtNetSendInterface

Cues and looks →

a moving figure, played across a grid of LED pixels

Play video across an LED facade

Every pixel of a picture or a video becomes a light on the building. Match the wiring and channel order of your panels, snake-wired or straight.

ImageToDmxDmxPixelMatrixArtNetSendInterface

LED walls →

the patch table: every fixture with its mode, universe and start address — the patch table: mode, universe and address for each fixture

Patch the rig and print it

Patch from more than 1,500 built-in fixture profiles or your own GDTF files, bring the plot in from MVR, and hand the crew a patch list.

DmxPatchDmxMvrImportDmxPatchExport

Patching →

The design.

The model, the site as it stands, and the first look for the client.

an A-frame house built piece by piece in the viewport

Model the building

Block out the massing with boxes in the viewport, then cut, bevel and repeat. Or open a model saved as glTF, FBX, OBJ or USD.

3DGeoBox3DGeoCopyAndTransform3DGeoImportGLTF

Modeling →

a sculpture on a paved path beside a lamp post, captured as a splat — a sculpture on a paved path, captured as a splat

Put the real site in

Bring in a Gaussian splat of the street or the square as it stands, take its baked-in light out, and light it again with the design.

3DGeoImportSPZ3DGeoSplatDelight3DGeoSplatProbeRelight

Scans →

a cabin model turning under its lights

Show the client

Render stills and turntable videos under an HDR sky or a sky you set up, with the sun at the height and bearing you choose.

ImageSkyEnvironment3DGeoSceneRenderToImageOutputVideoFile

Architectural visualization →

Familiar work, done here

Projection on the building.

Shapes, masks, warps and blends for every projector, in the same graph as the picture they throw. A sound, a schedule or a sensor can move any of it while the show runs.

Quads and freeform shapes, each filled with its own picture
ProjectionMapper
Corner pin, grid warp and polygon masks for piers, arches and glass
ImageCornerPinImageGridWarpImagePolygonMask
Split one wide picture across several projectors and blend the overlaps
ProjectorLayoutImageEdgeBlend
Line the projectors up through a camera, then even out their brightness
StructuredLightCalibrationRadiometricCalibration
Try a projector on the 3D model first: a spot light throws your picture onto the building
3DGeoLightCreate

Projection →Tutorial: map three panels →

the same projection from the corner of the square

the picture on its own: gold and white lines of light on black, cut to the shape of the building — the picture the projector throws

the Projection Mapper: three tilted panels, each with its own pattern — the Projection Mapper, three panels

Familiar work, done here

Facade lighting over DMX.

Washes, LED pixels and moving lights, patched from profiles and sent over Art-Net or sACN. Times of day, sunsets and cue lists run the looks, so the building lights itself.

Fire looks at set times, or at sunrise and sunset for the site, on the days you pick
DmxSchedulerDmxCueStack
Map any picture or video onto LED pixels, wired the way your panels are
ImageToDmxDmxPixelMatrixMatrixToDmx
Turn points on the 3D model into fixtures, each one patched from a profile
3DGeoToDmxFixtures
Every universe changes on the same frame, and another controller can share the rig channel by channel
ArtNetSyncDmxSAcnPerAddrPrio
MVR scenes in and out, GDTF and Open Fixture Library profiles, and RDM to find and address fixtures
DmxMvrImportDmxMvrExportDmxRdmController

Lighting →Tutorial: video on a wall of LED lights →

color moving across a wall of LED pixels

the cue list: numbered cues with labels and fade times — a cue list with fade times

a low-poly fox, and the same picture shrunk onto a grid of LED pixels — a picture shrunk onto LED pixels

What you gain

Sound, sims and scans in one file.

The music for the opening night, a fire on the LED facade and a scan of the square can sit in the same graph as the projection and the lights. Change any of them and the building follows while the show runs.

Let the music drive the facade: the beat fires a flash and the level rides a dimmer
AudioOnsetDetectAudioEnvelopeFollowerDmxBeatGate
Fire, smoke and liquid simulations, played onto LED pixels or thrown by a projector
3DGeoFluidSimpleSolverImageToDmx
Trace the edges of a building from a camera and draw over them with light
LocalAIImageToLines
Take the baked-in light out of a scan of the square and light it again
3DGeoSplatDelight3DGeoSplatProbeRelight
Run the show from a phone: a touch page served straight from the graph
DmxRemoteEndpoint

Listening to music →Fire and smoke →Room lines demo →

a fire sim on a wall of lights

strobes on the beat, in the 3D preview

wall edges and frames traced in green over a camera picture of a room — a room's edges, traced live

Every night, with nobody on site

Run it every night.

A facade is judged on the nights nobody is watching it. These are the parts that keep a building lit for a whole season on its own.

sunset-30Before duskHalf an hour before sunset at the site, the warm wash fades up. The scheduler works the time out for each day.
20:00The showThe projection starts at the times you list, on the days you pick: daily, weekdays, weekends or a list.
23:00LateThe wash drops to a dim blue and the projection stops.
01:00CloseLights out. A weekend entry can run later than a weekday one.
overnightOvernightThe log keeps one file per day and clears out the old ones each time it starts, so the disk never fills.

Projection, full screen on the projector

terminal

$ kinematic facade.kin --kiosk --display 1 --no-controls \
    --restart-on-panic 10 --watchdog 30s --health-port 9797

Lights, with no window at all

terminal

$ kinematic run facade-lights.kin --watchdog 30s \
    --set schedule.latitude=52.37 --set schedule.longitude=4.89 \
    --log-file /var/log/kinematic/lights.log --log-keep 30

Add either one to the login items on a Mac, or a desktop session service on Linux, and it starts with the machine. Raspberry Pi support is experimental and starts the same way as Linux.

DmxSchedulerDmxFailoverArbiterDmxRdmController

Run a show for a season →

No screen for the lights

A lighting graph needs no window. Run it on a small box in the plant room, with nothing on screen at all.

A backup on standby

A second machine listens for a heartbeat from the first, over Art-Net, sACN or OSC. If it goes quiet, the backup takes the rig, and hands it back when the first returns.

If it falls over, it comes back

A crash restarts the show on its own. A stalled graph is ended by the watchdog and comes back the same way.

Check the rig from the ground

Over RDM, find every fixture on the line, flash one to spot it on the building, set its start address and read its sensors.

Check on it from the office

A health check on a port reports whether the show is running, for whatever watches the building.

One file for every site

Pass a value at launch, such as the latitude and longitude of the building, and every site runs the same graph file.

How it fits

Files and gear.

What comes in from the design, what goes out to the building, and the files you hand on. Every entry is on the full list of what Kinematic works with.

In from the design

3D models: glTF, FBX, USD, OBJ, PLY and STL, with PBR materials and the scene tree.
Scans of the site: Gaussian splats as PLY, SPZ, SOG or .splat, and camera solves from COLMAP.
Lighting plots: MVR scenes with fixtures and their positions. GDTF and Open Fixture Library profiles.
Skies: HDR and EXR photos of the sky, or a sky you set up with the sun where you put it.
Cameras: Webcams and capture cards, for calibrating projectors and tracing the building.
Content: MP4, MOV and WebM video, PNG and EXR pictures and numbered sequences.

Out to the building

Projectors: A full-screen window of its own on any monitor, one for each projector.
Fixtures: Art-Net with ArtSync, sACN with per-address priority, USB DMX adapters, and RDM.
Lighting consoles: Fire cues on the desk over OSC, and lock to LTC, MIDI or Art-Net timecode.
Media servers: Video over NDI on any platform, or Syphon on a Mac. Talk CITP like a console does.
Other systems: HTTP requests, WebSocket servers and webhooks, so another system can fire a look.

Saves

H.264, H.265, ProRes, AV1PNG and EXR stills and sequencesglTF, FBX, USD, OBJMVR scenes for a console or visualizerPatch lists as CSV or a page to printSplats as SOG or .splat for the web

Everything it works with →

Coming from TouchDesigner?The live patching you know, with the building model, the lighting cues and the render in the same file.Read the guide →

Coming from somewhere elseCinema 4D →Houdini →Maya →

Where to start

Tutorials and demos.

Short lessons that end with something working, and demos that come with the app. Take a demo apart and keep what you need.

Tutorials

All the docs →

TutorialMap moving patterns onto three panels10 min

TutorialLine up a projection on a wall from the side7 min

TutorialPlay a video on a wall of LED lights9 min

TutorialFlash a light on every beat8 min

TutorialModel a little hut10 min

scan by Niantic Labs, MIT licenseTutorialGive a 3D scan a golden glow10 min

Demos

Browse every demo →

Projection mapper multi-textureStripes, dots and a star, each fitted to its own panel. Move the panels in the mapper and soften their edges.In the Demos browser

Projection mapper freeformA pentagon and a triangle, mapped as free shapes. Drag their corners or draw your own.In the Demos browser

Swirls on a projectorThree swirls on three panels, in the app and full screen on a second display at the same time.In the Demos browser

WebcamRoom linesEvery wall edge and window frame traced live over the camera picture. Aim it at a building.In the Demos browser

Webcam, GPUScan a room by walking through itWalk a camera through a room and it builds itself out of colored points as you go.In the Demos browser

Chrome torus lit by a real skyA chrome ring lit by a real sky from an HDR photo, which also fills the background.In the Demos browser

GPUscan by Niantic Labs, MIT licenseSplat turntableA carved lizard on its plinth, scanned outdoors with the paving left in, turning slowly.In the Demos browser

Procedural wall textureRed brick with a crackle pattern blended in, and rain streaking down the wall.In the Demos browser

Before you plan the project

What it does not yet do.

Better to know now. Something here would stop your project? Reach out.

CAD and BIM filesRevit, IFC, DWG, DXF, Rhino and SketchUp files do not open directly. Export the model as glTF, FBX, OBJ or USD first.
Laser scansE57 and LAS point clouds do not open. Point clouds come in as PLY.
Sun position by dateThe sky takes the height and bearing of the sun, not a date, a time and a place. The scheduler works out sunrise and sunset times, not the angle of the sun.
Light levelsThere are no lux readings and no IES photometric files, so it is not a lighting calculation tool.
Daylight savingThe scheduler does not follow clock changes. Update its UTC offset on the day the clocks change.
Projector powerNo PJLink yet, so projectors cannot be switched on and off from the graph.

Your next building

Download Kinematic.

Free. No account, no license key and no seat count, so the studio, the site office and the box in the plant room can all run it, even for commercial use. macOS, Windows and Linux, with experimental Raspberry Pi support.

Download for macOS 0.5.0 Reach out →

the facade washed warm at dusk, cool white later, deep blue late at night