This new, magical video mapping technology is perfect for clothing

If you’ve ever seen an example of projection mapping or video mapping before, prepare to have your mind blown by the latest advancement in this technology.

For those out of the loop, it refers to projecting an image onto a surface – be it a sheet of fabric or the side of a building – while having it conform to the shape of your target. It’s a way harder to achieve when the object isn’t stationary and can be moved in different ways.

If you’ve ever seen an example of projection mapping or video mapping before, prepare to have your mind blown by the latest advancement in this technology.

Tokyo University’s Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory has combined two new techniques to make projection mapping on deforming surfaces (such as a stretchable t-shirt or a flag waving in the wind) possible. Its DynaFlash projector, developed in-house can to project 8-bit images at rates of up to 1,000 frames per second with a delay of only 3 milliseconds. By combining this with a high-speed non-rigid surface tracker that runs at the same framerate, the human eye isn’t able to spot any kind of misalignment in the projection.

By marking a deformable surface like a piece of textile or paper with infrared ink, the tracker can follow its movements and accurately project the images on it.

It looks pretty cool, but it’s still unclear what the technology could actually be used for. It’s clearly fit for usage on clothing, even though you’ll need a projector for the effect to work. Additionally, the researchers behind the project note that it could be used for flexible user interfaces projected on deforming surfaces.