Projection-Mapped Memory Garden

The finale. Point a projector at a real wall or object, and digital flowers bloom across it. When someone walks up, the garden wakes: petals unfurl from where they stand, captured by a webcam running MediaPipe presence detection. This combines everything in the chapter, projection mapping plus camera tracking plus generative growth, into one installation. It is the piece to build when you want to turn a room into a surprise.

Before You Start

• You need a projector and a webcam, ideally mounted near the projector facing the same wall.
• You need the MediaPipe TouchDesigner plugin: download here.
• Helpful background: TD’s projection-mapping workflow (the Camera Schnappr / palette mapping tools).

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1. Map the Surface

1. Build your garden visuals in a Render TOP or composite as usual.
2. Use TouchDesigner’s projection-mapping tool (the Camera Schnappr palette component, or a Geometry COMP with corner-pin) to warp the output so it lines up with the real wall or object.
3. Calibrate by dragging corner points until the projected image sits exactly on the surface.

Dark room wins

Projection mapping lives and dies by contrast. The darker the room, the more the flowers glow on the wall.

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2. Detect Presence

1. Run the webcam through MediaPipe’s Segmentation or Pose model.
2. Get the person’s horizontal position and proximity (reuse the proximity trick from Interactive Portrait Wall).
3. Map their position in the camera frame to a position on the projected wall. Calibrate so “standing here” lights up “there.”

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3. Grow the Garden

1. Place flower sprites or instanced 3D flowers as a instanced field across the wall.
2. Keep each flower’s bloom amount at 0 by default (closed bud).
3. Where a person stands, raise the bloom amount of nearby flowers over a second or two: petals open, colour saturates, a soft glow rises.
4. When they leave, let blooms slowly close again. Persistence makes it feel like the garden remembers.

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4. The Memory Layer

This is what makes it personal:

1. Hide a few special flowers that, when bloomed, reveal a photo or a short message (a date, a place, an inside joke).
2. Trigger gentle ambient audio that swells with the total bloom in the scene.
3. Let the garden idle with a slow breathing animation so it is alive even in an empty room.

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Troubleshooting

• “The projection does not line up.” - Recalibrate the corner pins, and do not move the projector or wall afterward. Mark the projector’s feet with tape.
• “Blooms trigger in the wrong place.” - Your camera-to-wall mapping is off. Re-check the calibration: walk to known spots and adjust the position mapping until it matches.
• “Washed out / invisible.” - Too much ambient light. Darken the room and raise the bloom/contrast of the visuals.
• “Tracking is jittery.” - Smooth the presence position with a Lag CHOP; the garden should respond calmly.

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Next Steps

• Two visitors: Let two people grow separate patches that merge into a shared bloom when they stand together.
• Seasons: Cycle the palette slowly so the garden drifts through spring to autumn over the evening.
• AI bloom: Replace the sprites with live AI-painted flowers for an endlessly varied garden.

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Parameter Tuning & Behavior

Parameter	Behavior
Bloom radius	Larger = a wide swath wakes around the visitor; Smaller = a tight footprint.
Bloom rise time	Faster = instant, playful; Slower = graceful, cinematic unfurling.
Close (fade) time	Slower = the garden “remembers” longer; Faster = resets quickly.
Presence lag	Higher = calm, smooth response; Lower = snappy but jittery.

Network Architecture

[ TRACKING ]                   [ Video Device In TOP ] (webcam)
                                      │
                                      ▼
                               [ MediaPipe.tox ] (Segmentation/Pose)
                                      │
                                      ▼
                       [ position + proximity → CHOP, Lag ]  (WALL_POS)
                                      │
                                      ▼
[ GARDEN ]      [ Flower instances ] ◀── bloom amount driven near WALL_POS
                                      │  (rise fast, fall slow = "memory")
                                      ▼
[ COMPOSITE ]                  [ Render TOP ] (+ glow, ambient breathing)
                                      │
                                      ▼
[ MAPPING ]                    [ Camera Schnappr / corner-pin warp ]
                                      │
                                      ▼
[ OUTPUT ]                     [ Window/Projector OUT ]  ──▶ real wall

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