OVER 2 YOU 177 (20/04/04)

ADVERTISING PITCH

I am intrigued as to how they manage to paint those apparently misshapen advertisements on cricket, football and rugby pitches, that appear correct when viewed on TV cameras. Is there a software program that resizes and shapes the design to the correct proportions and some sort of printer for grass surfaces, or it is done by hand?

Steve Hunter, via email

I work for Quintus (www.quintusgroup.com) who have an exclusive licence and patent for Mirage 3D Pitch Branding in the UK, Ireland and other parts of the world and it has appeared at many televised sports events over the past decade.

The process that delivers the sponsor's logo on to the ground is known as Inverse Perspective Transformation. It begins with a survey of the stadium to determine the position of the television cameras in relation to the pitch. This data is then used by a specialised computer program to transform the original 2D logo into a template. This template is then laid either directly on to the grass and painted by skilled painters or an Astroturf mat is made that can be laid directly on to the turf itself. The software also dictates the precise area on the pitch where the logo is to be placed in order for it to appear 3D when viewed through the television camera.

Unless the logo is seen through the designated television camera it appears distorted and misshapen but when viewed on TV the logo appears to be standing upright or floating on the screen. If the logo is painted directly on to the turf it is applied by teams of up to 5 workers who utilise the time available between matches to paint the logo from the template. Mats are produced prior to the event and then taken to the ground and laid out in the prescribed position. All logos are hand painted using either water based paint or aerosol depending on whether they are on grass or Astroturf.

Rob Hillman, Quintus Events Ltd, via email

In all cases known to me, it is done by hand. A video camera is set up at the precise position where it will be for the games and a monitor is carried onto the grass with the picture from the camera and a correctly proportioned logo drawn on the monitor. The artist in charge of painting the pitch then works his distorted magic and, voila, a lovely logo for the sponsor appears perfectly for match after match! In the US, it is another story; the ads apparently appear on the stands, thanks to coloured shapes painted walls and surfaces, this is then blended by real-time software to create a seamless impression of marketing magic.
Richard Thompson, via email

Steve Hunter should come to Wilmington in East Sussex and see the Long Man. He is a 226-foot tall figure carved into the chalk down land, and uses the same tricks of perspective used by TV advertisements. But the Long Man is several thousand years old, and was made by Neolithic artists BC - Before Computers…

Tony Rix, via email

One possible method would be to place a projector with a slide of the advertisement where the camera is to go. Project it on to the advertisement site and paint round it. If lighting or access is a problem, the arrangement can be set up off site and a full-size or smaller version can be made for transfer to site.

John R. Batts, Banbury

I’m not sure how it is done but I can tell you that as a rugby player, they are very annoying to play on, especially when they are in the corner of your eye and the bright colours can make it difficult to keep track of the ball.

T.G. via email

DECO CLIPART

Can anyone recommend disc or web site containing clip art devoted to the 1920's and/or Art Deco? Further, would be illegal to sell items decorated with clip-art at craft fairs

Michael Rose, via email

There’s tons of Art Deco clipart on the web, just do a Google search, but much of it is copyright, so technically you would be breaking the law selling articles bearing those images, without having paid a licence fee, royalty or accrediting the copyright owner. You may well get permission, if you ask nicely. Try the following search term ‘deco clipart copyright free’ in Google.

Tim Lacey, via email

There’s a good selection of copyright free art deco clipart at:

http://www.designedtoat.com/deco.htm,

Hugh Passion, via email

Your correspondent doesn’t mention what sort of products he’s making and selling but if it has anything to do with pottery or ceramics then he would be well advised to visit http://www.potters.org/. This is a large and lively forum devoted to pottery and it has some useful and informative threads dealing with decoration and the use of illustrations, including clip art downloaded from the web.

Jason Keeler, via email

Once again Google comes up trumps. On the home page select Images and type art deco into the search window, this crude search managed to turn up an astonishing 99,500 ‘hits’. Adding  ‘clipart’ to the search brings this down to a much more manageable 70 or so references.

Keith Taylor, via email

CAN YOU HELP

It is my intention to start a modest collection of personal and home computers. Needless to say it will include early IBM and Apple models (which I already have) and simpler machines like the Sinclair Spectrum, but I would like suggestions for other less obvious but equally historic models, preferably ground breaking machines that were the first, fastest or most advanced of their day.   

Will George, via email

I am trying to convert photographs to lithograph (black or white, no greyscales) drawings, with a better degree of definition than available with PSP/Photoshop pencil tools. Using Greyscales > Glowing Edges > Negative > Reduce Colour Depth to 2, gives quite a good result, but can anyone do better, or recommend any other program? 

Geoff Green, via email