It’s brilliant! This is not just the opinion of the Las Vegas Neon Museum visitors, but also the name of its most recent show. The Brilliant! event is a breathtaking augmented reality experience featuring old Las Vegas signs brought to life in an immersive installation of lights and cutting-edge technology.
Keeping the Iconic Las Vegas Signs Relevant
The Neon Museum is one of a kind: its purpose is to preserve Las Vegas history – more precisely, iconic signs from casinos, wedding chapels, and other specific attractions of Sin City. The discarded and damaged signs are collected and displayed in various artistic installations. Right now, the Neon Museum curators have enlisted the help of recent technologies and of Craig Winslow to create an unforgettable augmented reality experience.
Brilliant! – A Mix of Technology and Retro Signage
Craig Winslow is best known for his artistic projects which incorporate physical and digital elements. A Cum Laude graduate of Champlain College, Winslow was one of the Creative Residents of Adobe in 2016-2017, and worked on prominent projects such as Beats by Dr. Dre and Virgin Mobile.
For the Neon Museum, Craig Winslow installed 24 3D speakers and eight projectors, each with the capacity of 10,000 lumens of light for the augmented reality experience called Brilliant!.
“Working with the Neon Museum’s collection has been a moving experience for me. Reilluminating these signs pays homage to their designers. It’s an honor to be able to give people a chance to see these signs exactly as they used to be,” declared the designer.
A Night to Remember in Las Vegas
Due to the particularities of the artistic installation, Brilliant! performances take place during the night. The illusion that the long defunct signs are still working was created through painstaking work which involved 2D photos, 3D photogrammetry and drone video. Craig Winslow combined all these reference materials to recreate each light spot and bulb, bringing the old glory of Las Vegas back to life.
“This is truly a first. Nowhere on the planet has anyone attempted to create what we are about to launch at the Museum,” proudly stated the President and CEO of Neon Museum Mr. Rob McCoy.
The show, which has a duration of 30 minutes, involves a process named projection mapping. It creates a perfect alignment between digital animations and real-life signs, and makes them look as if they are working again.
The augmented reality experience costs $15 for Las Vegas residents and $23 for the general public. Shows take place at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. from Wednesday to Monday.
Here’s a preview of the Brilliant! show:
