Fish Pond

What is a 'fish pond' effect?

Fish Pond is one of the most popular and versatile type of interactive effect for floor projection. Realistic 3D fish respond to movement by swimming away, while water ripples when people move.

Great ways to use the Fish Pond template

Retail:

• Create a themed pond in a waiting area
• Add custom experiential elements inside a store
• Add a maintenance-free water feature to a restaurant or bar

Education & Health:

• Encourage active play
• Create a themed experience for a clinic or school
• Encourage motor skills and focus in a sensory room

Events:

• Add a beautiful themed effect to a wedding aisle or entryway
• Create an interactive dance floor
• Encourage social image and video sharing (this effect is extremely Instagramable)

How to prepare your images

All images should be saved as png files. Background, Foreground, Mask and Logo images should be made with the final resolution and aspect ratio of your installation display in mind.

The Mask, Idle, and Logo images should be saved as png with an alpha channel (transparent background).

Video backgrounds work best if they are MP4/H264 compression, and they should be rendered to match the resolution and aspect ratio of your installation display. Videos that are a seamless loop under 60s in length will perform best.

We recommend that videos be under 500MBs for smooth performance. The limit for all assets combined is 1GB, but each template produces a slightly different size by default based on the template itself and the other assets included.

If you want to add background audio to your effect, you can add looped audio to the video.

How to use the LUMOplay Motion Maker Fish Pond template

Download the graphics used in this tutorial

We recommend connecting your final installation display to your computer as a second monitor so you can preview your final app on the intended display. If you have a full LUMOplay installation connected to your computer (including a display and a camera), you will be able to test your app as you build it.

1. Open LUMOplay, select Motion Maker from the left menu, and click Create next to the Fish Pond template.

2. When the template launches, give your app a name and click anywhere on the grey bar marked Overlays to open the first menu. (NOTE: the tools may look different on your computer, particularly if you are using multiple monitors.)

3. Click the folder icon underneath each item to choose the appropriate image. All overlay images are optional. The Idle image will appear on the screen when no one is interacting. It can be used as a call-to-action (i.e. Move to Play) or to display a message or logo when no one is playing.

4. If you'd like to make your projected image a custom shape, you can upload a Mask image.  The Mask image sits on top of everything else except the Idle Image.  The Mask image is not used in this example.

5. Add the Background Image. This is the image that will be under the fish, and it will be distorted by the ripple effect.

6. Open the Audio menu and adjust the volume of the ambient and interactive audio. You can also mute the audio completely.

7. Open the Fish menu and choose the number, size, size variation, and speed of the fish. There are three colors in the fish pattern that can be adjusted, giving you an opportunity to create unique fish using brand colors.

8. Open the Ripples menu and adjust the size, density, intensity and duration of the ripples. Keep in mind that turning any of these settings up too high can cause performance issues. It's best to test this on your final installation before committing, since mouse or touchscreen interaction won't look the same as camera-triggered interaction.

9. Open the Shadows menu and fine-tune the shadow intensity, color, transparency so it matches the background image. You can also adjust the intensity and position of the light source to match your installation as closely as possible and add extra realism to your effect.

When you're finished, click Save and close the template by clicking the X or hitting esc. Don't forget to give your app a name!

NOTE: If you forget to name your app, or if you accidentally close it before you're finished, it will automatically be saved to the Drafts section in LUMOplay's Motion Maker, so you can edit it again.

Publishing your Fish Pond app

Playmaker: When you're ready to publish your app to your account, Click Publish and confirm. You will not be able to edit the app after it's been published.

Wait for your app to upload.

You will find your app in the APPS list in your LUMOplay software. If you can't find it right away, use the search field to look for it by name. It will be available to every license in your account.

Playground & Free: Upload your app to save a copy to the LUMOplay server. You will be able to continue editing your app until you purchase it.

Each time you upload your app, you will be given an option to purchase it or upgrade to LUMO Playmaker and publish an unlimited number of Motion Maker apps.

When you're ready to purchase your app, you can click Purchase and you will be redirected to LUMOplay.com and prompted to log in. When you're logged in, you will be taken directly to the cart page to purchase your app.

Once the app has been purchased, it will appear in your APPS list in your LUMOplay software, and you will be able to search for it by name.

Still have questions? Contact us!