AUSTIN, Texas — Sky Elements Drone Shows lit up the Austin skies with a drone show that included AI-generated imagery at South by Southwest (SXSW) on Tuesday night.
The show included more than 500 drones creating a display of light and technology. The Fort Worth-based company behind the show also put on an hour-long drone show in Austin a year ago.
Near the end of that show, a QR code appeared in the sky. If you scanned the code, you got to see a “special surprise” – a link to the music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” effectively “Rick rolling” the city of Austin.
“While the stunt received mixed reviews, the drone show has been remembered as a classic prank that fits in with the display of entertainment and technology the South by Southwest audience comes to Austin for,” the company said in a release on Tuesday.
Sky Elements said this year’s drone show was a “more serious” display of technology, blending abstract mathematical concepts with AI-generated imagery.
The shows require hundreds of hours of work and are programmed by computers and 3D animators. Pilots are also involved with planning and testing for the light display.
The show kicked off at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, and was viewable from everywhere downtown, looking over the Colorado River toward the neighborhood of Bouldin Creek. The best views were by the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.