Maison De La Vache Qui Rit - An Interactive Wall To Tell The Story Of A Cheesemaker
Cher Ami is a small digital production factory based in France and they used our products to create an interactive wall display for the famous cheesemaker, La Vache Qui Rit. The manufacturer has a big museum and public space on site and wanted to create something that told their history and their commitment to the environment. They contacted the team at Cher Ami and asked them to create something astonishing that was engaging to both adults and children.
During the initial thought process, Cher Ami was considering using a screen or tablet at the centerpiece. But realizing they wanted to create something with augmented reality, AR, they moved away from the tablet. Researching AR projects, Cher Ami discovered that most of them were too energy-intensive, which would have been in contrast with the aim of having an installation about the environment. They discovered then Bare Conductive and how it's possible to create interactive walls with our technology, yet being not energy-intensive.
Mur RSE - Maison de la Vache qui RIt from Cher ami, on Vimeo.
Testing out ideas with the Touch Board and after successfully demonstrating the prototype to the director, they quickly came up with the concept of creating an interactive display on wood. Cher Ami's idea was to use wood in order to encapsulate the motivation behind an environment-conscious project. They worked together with an illustrator, Donatelle Liens, to create the design and story for the company and the wood engraving was handled by Arkaic Concept. The sensors on the wall were used to create digital signage and display additional information and give more context. The installation was built with the future in mind: the museum can add more content in 5 to 10 years time the permanent installation, by adding additional animations for the projection mapping.
Cher Ami created proximity sensors with the Touch Board and they used copper plates instead of conductive paint as sensors, installing them behind the wood. The plates are connected to the Touch Board, which in return is connected to a computer, running the projection mapping software, MadMapper. The Touch Board communicates to the software with MIDI signals, triggering animations to start via a projector. The short-throw projectors were hung close to the ceiling as part of the wall installation. The board uses capacitive sensing to create an interactive surface and detect the presence of a hand through the wood. Because Cher Ami is using proximity sensing, they can easily change the content they want to display, just by changing the animation that is being projected! Each Touch Board comes with 12 sensors that can each trigger an animation, so the interactive installation allows for multiple users.
Overall they used 10 wooden panels and created a 9m long giant wall. The wall was finished shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the early engagement was exceedingly positive, with especially children loving the experience. Cher Ami's work was so well received that they have been invited back to create another project for La Vache Qui Rit and won an award by FWA as well.
