# Please Explain This Lighting Technoloogy To Me (and is it new?)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-lighting-technoloogy-to-me-and-is-it-new/964140>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 8, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-lighting-technoloogy-to-me-and-is-it-new/964140 "2022-05-08T12:33:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-lighting-technoloogy-to-me-and-is-it-new/964140/1 "2022-05-08T12:33:53Z")

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Note the projections on Cinderella Castle in this pic: [dull hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB](https://ibb.co/p3w1dct) Notice that the transition between one color and the next is kind of … dull (for lack of a better choice of words).

Now note this one: [holiday-projections-cinderella-castle-magic-kingdom-5-1-469x625 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB](https://ibb.co/p4YQLxN) See how … crisp the different colors are?

This seems to be a somewhat new thing in terms of lighting up tourist attractions. Is this a new technology? And how does it work? Is it just a movie projector writ large?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-lighting-technoloogy-to-me-and-is-it-new/964140/2 "2022-05-08T13:47:14Z")

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Yep, it’s just an HD projector. That allows patterns to be projected, not just color washes. You can even animate them:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mcoj7bTAMM4/hqdefault.jpg "AMAZING! Building turned into a PINBALL MACHINE") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcoj7bTAMM4)

The projectors are pretty large (the ones I saw being used to animate the desert at the Botanical Gardens for “[Electric Desert](https://youtu.be/zFZFghHqFQ0?t=98)” a few years ago are maybe 4’x4’x3’).