Projection mapping and wave driven visuals turned the entrance to JUMP's 5th annual ILLUMIBRATE into a luminous shoreline in the heart of downtown Boise.

The festival spans 5 stories and a full city block, a curated mix of light artists, concerts, and sculpture. For its 5th year, JUMP wanted an entrance activation that was playful and built on a single idea: under the ocean.

NOVA Light Labs answered with a turnkey projection mapping system and custom visuals that set waves and color moving across the ground. In a landlocked state, the studio delivered an ocean guests of every age could step into, the kind of night a city remembers.

Cast from 5 stories above onto the plaza below the projection mapping turned the ground into an immersive world guests could step straight into.

The effect landed instantly. Guests played in the virtual waves the moment they arrived, and many circled back through the evening.

Adults, children, and grandparents gave in to the revelry, staff on shift included, as the waves framed the entrance to the all ages event.

“NOVA Light Labs is pushing the boundaries of what immersive projection mapping can be. For our annual Illumibrate Festival, NOVA transformed our public plaza into a dynamic ocean beach.

It really made a splash!”

Dan B.
Creative Director
JUMP

The custom visuals started with aerial footage of waves breaking on a sandy beach.

NOVA sourced the footage, slowed it down, and color graded it until the water popped, recreating the feel of a summer shoreline underfoot.

The composition mapped to the space. The approach to the entrance became sand, so that moving toward the doors read as wading deeper into the water.

Every 90 seconds a particle driven alpha transition swept across the floor and revealed the next stretch of coastline, keeping the scene in constant motion.

NOVA engineered an adjustable first surface mirror built for the demands of a live event.

The mirror let the projector sit on the 5th story and bounce its beam down onto the ground below.

That path is significantly safer and faster to rig than cantilevering the projector over the railing to cast the beam onto the plaza.