Projection illuminates virtual putting greens at Atomic Golf

The Las Vegas Strip has a new attraction: Atomic Golf. Opened at the end of March, the four-story venue is spread across 9,000 sq metres with over 100 golf bays and eight virtual putting areas. The virtual putting areas were created and designed by Beaudry Interactive, with 32 Christie GS Series laser projectors, selected by Coherent Design to illuminate the areas.

The goal of the putting areas is to create a game that’s enjoyable for everyone, regardless of handicap. “Atomic Golf was looking for an option to entertain guests who may not want to use the driving bays,” says David Beaudy, principal at Beaudry Interactive (b/i), an award-winning experiential design and production studio based in Los Angeles.

The virtual putting areas are located outdoors, with an environmental enclosure over the top, where the projectors are housed. Each green is three metres wide by six metres long, with 200 ftL of luminance (visible light) achieved by four Christie DWU1100-GS projectors. The image is bright enough to use the areas day and night and the content also punches through the bright ceiling lights, with playable time reaching up to 20 hours daily.

There are currently three inaugural putting games to choose from, designed for all skill levels (with many more currently being dreamed up for future rounds). Guests hit targets to score points, instead of aiming for a cup, while cameras track each player’s ball on the green in real time. “The project started off with an R&D effort. We were curious to see if we could track any golf ball – with or without a marker and regardless of colour – and then do a gameplay overlay,” says Beaudry. “That was about half our efforts for the first year: building the math and the technology in the camera arrays to be able to track golf balls over a course of any size.” The R&D resulted in the ability to track balls within a few millimetres of their location on a putting green.

Infrared cameras track the balls on the greens. The cameras run at 170 frames per second to minimise latency, and the projectors feature a low-latency mode, minimising the delay between tracking and projection mapping to enhance performance and ensure seamless execution. “The other half of our R&D effort was all the maths that brings it together, to ensure that a golf ball moving along the putting green is seamlessly transitioned from one camera to the next,” says Beaudry. Additionally, the system is designed to distinguish between players’ balls, allowing for competitive head-to-head play on the same putting green.

Coherent Design selected 32 Christie DWU1100-GS laser projectors for the putting areas, based on years of experience working with Christie technology. “It’s a harsh environment so we needed a projector manufacturer that was backed by solid engineering. We know Christie has engineers and project managers who could help us with a successful project,” says Kevin Potts, managing principal at Coherent Design. “There are a lot of companies who make 10,000 lumen projectors, but when we get into more complex projects, we want a manufacturer who has not only the engineering capabilities to build their product but the know-how to implement their product into unique environments.”

Featuring laser illumination and WUXGA resolution, the Christie DWU1100-GS 1DLP® projector delivers 11,850 ISO lumens (10,000 ANSI lumens), quiet operation of less than 37dBA, 20,000 hours of illumination lifetime, a full suite of lenses, and 24/7 durability.

Coherent Design worked with Christie to determine the number of projectors needed, the brightness, and the portal glass for the enclosures. Las Vegas’ Simply Connected installed the projectors.

“It’s always a challenge to find clients who embrace this type of technology,” says Beaudry. “It’s unchartered territory, which they fully embraced.”

“With so many entertainment options in Las Vegas, it can be hard to stand out. But Atomic Golf has done just that. It’s a sports entertainment venue that’s not just for seasoned golfers but for anyone who wants to come out and have fun,” says Paul Dumpel, sales manager at Christie. “What Coherent Design and Beaudry Interactive have created is truly unique and we’re thrilled that Christie projection was selected.”