The First Americans Museum (FAM) of Oklahoma is the only place in the United States where visitors can experience and learn our shared American history through the lens and collective stories of 39 Tribal Nations in Oklahoma today. Within a 175,000 square foot space located at 659 First Americans Boulevard in Oklahoma City, the museum takes visitors on an immersive and powerful storytelling experience of diversity, resilience, and culture through state-of-the-art exhibitions, artifacts, photography, live educational programs, discovery center, and a completely unique centerpiece curved direct view LED (dvLED) video wall.

In celebration of its launch in September 2021, the museum planned a week full of thrilling events, including a 45-minute fashion show that featured original content on the newly installed video wall in addition to performances from the Oklahoma City Ballet and nationally renowned poets and speakers.

Wanted: A Workable But Edgy Videowall Solution

Controversially challenging in both building and architectural aspects, the museum has been in the planning stages for over 20 years by the State of Oklahoma, the City of Oklahoma, and the tribal nations themselves. Initial discussions started in 2018 surrounding the construction of a giant, suspended and curved dvLED video wall designed to wrap around the center of the museum. The objective was to create a gathering space for live music and performances that mimicked the center of a tribal village and allowed for "The Exchange of Ideas."

IT design consultancy Waystone LLC was tasked with bringing the concept to reality, designing a video wall solution that was not only technically feasible but also pushed boundaries in terms of creativity. As the central point of contact for the museum, Waystone LLC hired Oklahoma City's leading AV specialist, Ford Audio-Video Systems, LLC (Ford AV), to manage the AV portion of the project from start to finish.

[Review: Peerless-AV Universal Outdoor Digital Menu Board]

The project's uniquely shaped video wall made it essential for Ford AV to select a reliable mount manufacturer, with years of expertise in custom dvLED video wall solutions. Ford AV asked its long-standing partner of 20 years, Peerless-AV for assistance in making the complex idea a reality. The design consultancy started in 2019 in cooperation with the team at Absen based on initial drawings for 192 Acclaim Series panels in a six-degree concave design. Peerless-AV was contracted to design a custom fabricated mounting system that could accommodate the curvature of the wall and support the total video wall weight of 4,200 pounds.

"This most certainly was no straightforward rectangular video wall. The installation and engineering of the dvLED video wall was highly challenging, but the Peerless-AV team was optimistic and confident that they could do anything to make the mounting system work successfully," said Waystone LLC CEO Courtney Myers. "By far the biggest concern was the curvature of the wall and the Peerless-AV team was instrumental in calculating the radius. The structure and weight of the video wall was also a challenge; three layers of ply were needed to make the curve that cantilevers out six feet from the wall, giving the effect of floating in the air."

Ford AV & Peerless-AV Combine to Meet the Challenge

Peerless-AV was also selected based on its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, innovative engineering capabilities, and superior customer service--all aspects of Seamless by Peerless-AV, the company's dvLED Video Wall Integration Program. The program ensures the entire Seamless dvLED Solutions Team is available every step of the way, guaranteeing every customer receives quality product support and service.

The physical installation started the first week of May 2021. The Peerless-AV Seamless Bespoke dvLED mounting system, custom designed specifically for this project, offers compatibility and exclusive support for the 192 Absen Acclaim 2.5mm dvLED panels.

[Peerless-AV Launches Seamless Kitted dvLED Mounting Systems]

Absen Acclaim 2.5 Series is a 2.5mm pixel pitch dvLED solution that provides outstanding full HD/4K image quality, true 16:9 aspect ratio, easy serviceability, and high brightness for indoor dvLED video wall applications, such as this. The slim design sits less than 10cm to the wall when mounted, and the size of the panels made it a flexible choice for the creativity and complexity of the FAM installation.

From the moment the teams arrived on site, the process was painstakingly methodical and meticulous to calculate the necessary adjustment for the wall curvature required. The first step was to install a plywood backing to create a secure base for the dvLED. From there, the team utilized a detailed CAD drawing, precise measurements, and a curved template, ensuring they were taking all the necessary steps needed.

"The installation was a challenge from the very start. One slight misstep in the curvature would throw the entire structure off, so the adjustment and placement had to be exact at every single point," said a spokesperson at Ford AV. "Thankfully, Peerless-AV's mounting system offers adjustability. The combined efforts of Ford AV and Peerless-AV helped make this installation such a success."

A 'Visual Delight' of a Video Wall Becomes Reality

The installation exceeded the museum's expectations, and the Peerless-AV team delivered the perfect mounting system for the unique wall. To the engineers that completed the project, the frame offered a certain magnificence on its own and they knew its presence would not go unnoticed. However, a custom trim kit accessory from Peerless-AV was added around the sides of the video wall to give it that immaculate, finished appearance and meet the visual expectations of the museum's visitors.

The resulting, unique shape of the video wall is a visual delight, reflecting the character of the FAM and the playfulness of its designer, Courtney Myers. The inner rectangle space is visualized to be used as a place to put text or have animated characters popping in and out, tailored to the live performances planned to take place in front of this giant "backdrop."

[Neptune by Peerless-AV Introduces Shade Series of Outdoor TVs]

The content shared at the museum is fine-tuned to the video wall by acclaimed New York media design company, Batwin + Robin Productions. Intelligent editing software provided by the company allows for content flexibility and creativity. Not only does this software allow the museum to quickly change content, but the museum can also utilize sections of the video wall to show different content, maximizing audience enthrallment.

FAM director/CEO James Pepper Henry commented: "The giant dvLED video wall is more than we hoped for! Since our opening, the Xchange Theatre, as it is now called, has become a popular venue for demonstrations, singing, storytelling and fashion shows. The dvLED video wall adds a truly special element to shows and performances with original and inspiring motion backgrounds, and also provides a means to thank our patrons for their support in making FAM a reality."

Digital Transitions, a leading global provider of high-resolution digitization solutions and services, has announced the launch of DT LaserAlign, a laser-based camera-positioning system built to the exacting standards required for heritage digitization applications. DT LaserAlign helps digitization-workstation operators in cultural and corporate heritage organizations, including those in the sports and media and entertainment industries, ensure evenly sharp, high-quality images compliant with international imaging standards such as FADGI, ISO 19264, and Metamorfoze. 

DT LaserAlign is made of thermally stable carbon-fiber composite to prevent long-term warping, has padded feet for safer contact with delicate surfaces, and has a magnetic base for use on angled surfaces, such as the DT V-Cradle or DT BC100.

DT LaserAlign offers a triangular design that ensures a stable, wobble-free base in addition to precision laser treatment using the smallest spot size available among commercial alignment systems. The laser is exactly centered for easy calibration check. Other unique features include a tripod thread and spirit level for imaging art on walls or easels, hanging hole for special applications, and recessed controls for durability in transit. A USB rechargeable battery is included with purchase. A reflective camera lens filter (required) can be purchased separately.

“Images captured on stations that are not properly aligned will not be compliant with FADGI, ISO 19264, or Metamorfoze guidelines,” said Doug Peterson, head of research and development at Digital Transitions. “That means they will need to be recaptured, causing both wasted time and additional handling of fragile and valuable materials. The DT LaserAlign ensures proper alignment and prevents lost time and additional handling—saving operators effort, saving facilities money, and helping to preserve precious artifacts.”

[ Preserving History at the Tennessee State Museum ]

As an essential tool for installing and calibrating DT Heritage reprographic systems, DT LaserAlign is an integral part of any DT Heritage instant-capture solution. The company’s highly specialized solutions are designed specifically for heritage applications and include digitization stations and stands, high-resolution cameras up to 14K, specialized film-scanning gear, lighting systems, digitization and workflow management software, and quality control tools. DT LaserAlign is also compatible with any other make and model of camera-based digitization or art reproduction systems. It is available now for $295.

[ Statue of Liberty Museum Brings History to Life with Panasonic Projection ]

In today’s digital world, information has never been more accessible online, whether on web sites or in social media feeds. Customers expect the same quantity of information to be available to them when they’re in physical public places, whether they’re attending an event or shopping for a new pair of jeans. Not only do customers want the same quantity of information, they want the same quality—that is, they expect that the information presented to them during in-person experiences will be just as interactive and engaging as when they’re online.

Digital signage, once a basic tool used by businesses to share static updates, has evolved to offer more complex content and real-time updates in any type of environment or in any form, from a video wall to a 4K touchscreen. Businesses can benefit from the integration of digital signage solutions to help them elevate the customer experience and build loyalty, while at the same time increasing operational efficiencies and generating additional revenue from advertising and upselling opportunities.

[ How Outdoor AV Can Help Move the Hospitality Industry Forward ]

Here’s how digital signage can advance different types of customer interactions and business scenarios.

For the quick-service restaurant: When entering a drive-thru, customers immediately look for information that’s easy to read and helps them decide what they’d like to eat. By integrating displays with crisp visuals that can be read even in direct sunlight, the restaurant can clearly present information about its dishes, including ingredients and nutritional facts, and assist the customer’s decision-making process. It’s also important to invest in software that helps to manage and update menu items in real time, accommodating seasonal specials or daily deals, which creates an opportunity to upsell and increase order sizes.

For the hotel or hospitality venue: During check-in, guests expect the lobby and public areas in the hotel to provide guidance about where to go for a smooth start to their stay, whether for work or vacation. Digital signage can be leveraged throughout the venue to assist with check-in (showing which counter is available, for example), while signage in hallways and meeting spaces can be used as wayfinding devices to help guests locate their room or meet up with colleagues. Digital signage can alert guests in real time in the event of an emergency, leading them to safety, or during construction, informing them that they need to find a different rendezvous location.

[ Integrating for the Hospitality Experience ]

For the museum: As guests wander through exhibits and galleries at a museum, they benefit from easily visible digital signage mounted on walls or ceilings that provides additional information about the artwork. Video tutorials or interviews about the creation of the art piece, for instance, or visual assets that show the historical context of the exhibit will enhance the experience and help to transport the guest into the stories behind each exhibit.

For the retail store: Retail can use digital signage to invite the customer into the design process and customize a product, whether it’s a new paint color for a living room or a custom shirt. Data collected about how the customer interacted with the content helps businesses understand their interests and needs, and ultimately improve store offerings to enhance future customer interactions.

There are many different applications of digital signage for public spaces in various markets, though all businesses can benefit from using this technology. By investing in these solutions, businesses can create a more informative and interactive experience that keeps customers coming back for more.

Click here to read more stories from the October 2021 issue of SCN.

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Modernization Brings Changes to Drive-Thrus • Digital signage innovations—like digital menu boards—are helping quick-serve restaurants operate in a way that is more efficient and user-friendly.

Technology Trends in Kiosk Design • In an ever-evolving consumer landscape, kiosks are helping to ensure efficiency, security, and even safety during the ongoing pandemic.

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Located in Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium houses and cares for hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than 10 million gallons of fresh and saltwater. Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the United States and in the Western Hemisphere, and it was the largest aquarium in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2012.

Christopher Anderson, Georgia Aquarium’s manager of audiovisual, views AV technologies as a crucial tools of education, inspiration, and engagement at this remarkable venue. “Georgia Aquarium really shows the world how animals impact the world, on screen and off,” he said. “We are a non-profit organization that’s committed to inspiring awareness and preservation of our ocean and aquatic animals worldwide. These amazing animals come from all over the globe, and we try to tell their stories in videos, digital signage, commercials, or even on billboards.”

[Analog Way Drives Entrance Experience at St. Louis Aquarium]

AV Advances

COVID-19 has been hard on attractions like Georgia Aquarium. But the enforced limits on attendance have only heightened management’s faith in AV as an effective way to connect with guests.

In fact, Georgia Aquarium is engaged in a number of new AV initiatives. For instance, “we are currently working on a huge projection-mapping project using two Barco 40K-lumen projectors in our Atrium that will be an amazing sight to see,” Anderson said. “As part of that project, we are upgrading our lighting and adding some lasers as well.” 

Georgia Aquarium is also collaborating on a “very special project with Kennesaw State’s Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Debra Traficante,” Anderson said. “Kennesaw State’s Wind Symphony will be recording some cover songs of the aquarium theme that we will use throughout our facility.” 

The AV team recently installed six 55-inch LG monitors on Peerless-AV mounts—a big success, by all measures. The Aquarium has also created its first mosaic video wall in the Atrium, and is enhancing the digital signage system. “We’ve had our current digital signage platform for about a year, and we’ve had great results,” Anderson said. “We are now implementing a system called Trax to our digital signage platform, which is a database of our fish. Trax will allow us to put up any information about any fish in any given location at any time.” 

An AV Answer to COVID-Like Challenges

Before COVID-19 hit, the Georgia Aquarium hosted 2.8 to 3 million visitors a year. Christopher Anderson is looking forward to regaining this attendance level after the pandemic has passed.

[AV Behind the Scenes: Jazz at Lincoln Center]

This said, “now that there is light at the end of the tunnel with COVID-19, every organization must think about the possibilities of ‘What if it happens again?’” Anderson said. “How do you maintain some type of connection with the guest or clients in this situation?”

Anderson sees AV as the logical answer to this question. “I truly believe that a lot of companies will either develop some type of app or ‘VR experience’ that guests can purchase to feel like they are a part of an actual environment,” he said. “I think having the ability to put yourself in a space that you can’t physically go to would be a great standby if something like COVID-19 were to come around again.”  

Deeper Interactions

Even without the specter of a COVID-like pandemic looming in the future, Anderson believes that advanced AV applications such as projection mapping and virtual reality offer customer-pleasing options for any business that relies on mass audiences. Among his thoughts: “Could you imagine if we as fans could put on virtual reality headsets and root for our favorite team like we were in the stands?” 

Anderson also believes that the audio side of AV offers untapped customer engagement possibilities. “I think we get carried away with large screens and flashy lights, when sound can really make a difference in a room,” he said. “Working at Georgia Aquarium gives us a chance to really test out different sounds and to see how guests interact with these sounds in our exhibits.”

AV Expert, Always Learning

Originally from Milwaukee, Christopher Anderson grew up operating the audiovisual equipment in his church. He continued with his technology career as a telecommunications professional for nearly a decade, with five of those years being in management. “I started out as a cable television service tech and worked my way up to manager,” he said. 

That path led him to Atlanta, where he began working with pro AV in hospitals, traveling all over the country installing audiovisual technologies and systems in operating rooms. “I think that after all the fast food and hotels, I decided I wanted to come off the road, and the Georgia Aquarium has been my home for the last six years and counting,” he said. 

His diverse mix of experience, having “done a little bit of everything in AV”—from mega churches to hospitals, large arenas to homes—gives him a unique lens into technology procurement and management. “It has been a great learning experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything,” he enthused.

A Path Forward

Looking ahead, Georgia Aquarium’s AV manager foresees additional AV opportunities for his venue as technology continues to advance. “We see 8K coming; we already have televisions that are as thin as wallpaper, and now every meeting space will have to be set up to host Zoom calls,” Anderson said. “I’m excited as to what the future holds, because AV technology is forever evolving.”

As for the team, Anderson couldn’t be happier. “I am really proud of our AV team,” he said. “We are a small crew, and these guys do the hard work—day in and day out.”

In the meantime, Georgia Aquarium continues to invest in cutting-edge AV technology and software to better communicate with and connect to its guests. The investment this attraction is making now during the pandemic will definitely pay off when life returns to normal and its annual millions of “fish fans” return.

Margot Douaihy, PhD, teaches at Franklin Pierce University.

Making its debut at the Pabellón de la Navegación (Navigation Pavilion) in Seville, Spain, the touring media exhibition Impressionistsis immersing visitors in the works of Renoir, Van Gogh, and others via projected floor-to-ceiling digital masterpieces. With Matrox QuadHead2Go multi-monitor controllers’ powering the images across the sprawling canvases, Ukrainian multimedia company Front Pictures was able to provide a mesmerizing, twenty-first century take on the works of Europe’s most renowned Impressionist masters.

The Matrox PowerWall software included with QuadHead2Go allows Front Pictures to install and customize configurations, making deployment easier. The installation behind the Impressionistsexhibition comprises 14 screens—each 4.4 meters in height—spanning 116 meters in total. Content for the exhibition created by Front Pictures is hosted on the company’s Screenberry media server. From there, the content is routed to six QuadHead2Go Q155 appliances, each capturing an HDMI video signal from the media server for display across four HDMI-equipped projectors. 

[The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens]

QuadHead2Go devices connect to a total of 21 BenQ TH671ST projectors that cast the video onto the screens across 40,320x1080 pixels for a total resolution of 43.5 megapixels. The result is a monumental display of Van Gogh’s flower still life collections with petals that appear to float gently across the screens, among many other revitalized versions of impressionist masterworks. When set to music, the moving paintings delivered by the QuadHead2Go video controllers and Screenberry media server transport viewers to the imaginations of impressionist virtuosos.

According to Yuri Kostenko, Front Pictures CEO, Kostenko, QuadHead2Go has enabled the company to push the boundaries of what a visual experience can be with the convenience of a flexible multi-screen appliance. “With its ability to capture and display superior-quality video content, Matrox QuadHead2Go video wall controllers have enabled us to deliver a truly sublime art viewing experience,” he said. “Furthermore, the compact, low-power appliance takes up very little space, is easy to transport and re-install, and keeps hardware and maintenance costs low.” 

The hospitality industry has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic, from food and accommodation services to arts and entertainment. While fully closed during the pandemic, many museums offered virtual tours to keep their exhibits available to audiences around the world. As the physical reopening of facilities continues, organizations like the American Alliance of Museums provide recommendations to help museums reopen to patrons safely and flexibly. 

Museums find themselves in the position of having to balance the function of educating and entertaining visitors with very specific health and safety requirements mandated by federal, state, and local laws, as well as guidance from public health services, which puts them in a tough spot. For help, museum directors rely on integrators to help them create experiences that are both safe and engaging.

[The Digital Signage Best Practices Guide]

Emily Webster, leader of creative at NBBJ’s New York Experience Design Studio, ESI Design, suggests museums should not abandon their virtual efforts when they reopen. “Through technology, a museum with a regional footprint now has access to a global audience for their programs and mission,” she said. ESI Design is encouraging its clients to approach design expansions and renovations with a digital-first mindset and consider the virtual experience alongside the design of the museum environment.

Cameras and IR surfaces have long been used to create immersive and interactive environments. “These can be educational, interactive, and immersive, and always incredibly entertaining,” said Carol Feeley-Vario, PMP, LEED AP BD&C, project director at Diversified, no. 2 on the 2020 SCN Top 50 list. “By pairing this with timed tickets to avoid crowding, we can ensure museum interactives are safe.”

As museums begin to reopen, 10 museums in the United States, nine in Europe, and three in Asia are able to present Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience as a COVID-safe and family-friendly activity. (In a confusing bit of happenstance, there are no fewer than three traveling Van Gogh exhibitions in the United States this spring, with several of these exhibits competing in larger markets.) Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is the one that’s “a 20,000-square-foot light and sound spectacular featuring two-story projections of the artist’s most compelling works.” It’s all-digital and hands-free, and health protocols are observed via timed entries with limited numbers of socially distanced museumgoers.

As more interactive exhibits are deployed, their scale and scope will continue to increase. “With that comes a comfort level to take on more ambitious projects and programming, like projection-mapping an entire environment to make it fully immersive,” said Scott Schoeneberger, managing partner at Bluewater. As an example of the scope, Schoeneberger cited a recent Bluewater project in which his team built out a fully immersive exhibit in a railcar.

Holistic Visitor Journey

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of the in-person shared and social experience, but it also made us appreciate the benefits of virtual experiences if in-person is impossible. Webster suggests taking advantage of what we’ve learned about virtual interactions over the past year by creating virtual tours and continuing to extend experiences far beyond the physical site and the IRL (in real life) experience.

“Museum experiences are about to transform into experiential platforms,” Webster said. “An experiential platform will allow institutions to reach visitors before they step through their doors and offer a nonlinear museum experience that is just as compelling whether you are there in person or dialing in from afar. An experiential platform will allow you to create an exhibit that is diverse in voice, diverse in the ways that people can access it, diverse in the senses it activates (sight, sound, touch, taste).”

The result would be an in-museum exhibit that can also be experienced in other places and other ways. “We will see more holistic storytelling that has online platforms operate hand in hand with the in-person experiences.”

Patrons will benefit from the broader perspective if exhibits are designed in ways that leave room for visitors to co-create their museum experience. “For the co-creation process, we want to create a place where visitors can contribute to the museum and share their perspective,” Webster said. “An example of this is at the emotional culmination of the Becoming Liberty exhibit at the Statue of Liberty Museum.” 

Here, visitors are invited to join the conversation about liberty by sharing what liberty means to them. Visitors reflect on what they experienced in the museum through an interactive exhibit at one of 20 kiosks in which they share their portrait or selfie and select a set of images that express their perspectives on the meaning of liberty.

Webster explained, “Their choices join those made by other visitors in a sweeping, panoramic mosaic displayed at the entry to the gallery. After learning about liberty throughout the museum, visitors themselves are now part of liberty’s worldwide story and the digital mosaic that defines the global view of liberty.”

Interactive Experience

Not surprisingly, since the pandemic began, Bluewater has received inquiries about creating touchless interactive experiences and for information about various automated temperature scanning solutions. Interactivity will remain an essential aspect of the museum experience.

[ACMI Uses Audinate’s Dante to Create an Immersive Soundscape]

“We tend to see a lot of interactivity with our museum and exhibit requests,” Schoeneberger said. “This can be as straightforward as interactive content on a display or experiences that are a bit more unique.” In the Detroit ’67 exhibit at the Detroit Historical Society, for example, the team programmed an old rotary phone to ring at a central location after patrons visit the space. Answering the phone triggers a historic audio recording from an answering machine to begin playing. 

“This was a simple yet creative approach to give that specific piece of content more impact,” he said. “We expect to see a continuation of interactive elements moving from digital canvases to the physical environment as things open back up.” Schoeneberger sees this as a response to a better understanding of available technology, decreasing costs, and increasing comfort by museum staff to take on digital programming tasks.

With increasing demand for control of an entire space, media servers become a critical part of the mix. “We’re always excited when that type of conversation takes place because it means we’re likely to go beyond just a series of displays or audio playback into a space where exploration and content delivery can happen more naturally and in a much more engaging manner,” Schoeneberger added.

The Timing Is Right

Future interactive museum experiences are likely to feature fewer high-touch surfaces. “They can be a huge draw to a museum, especially children’s museums,” said Diversified’s Feeley-Vario. “They are incredibly effective for communication, but they can be difficult to clean.” 

There have always been design requirements for screen protection and cleaning, but not for pandemic-level cleaning. “In the past we have installed touch surfaces with an antimicrobial overlay,” she said. “Our original intention was protection against marking and scratching, but it had the added benefit of being able to be cleaned using traditional cleaning products.”

Immersive exhibit design can really shine now. “Typically, the entry to these is already timed. You follow through in a set series of stages, nothing is touched, and there are no small labels on the wall to read” that might create a crowd, explained Feeley-Vario. “The rooms and areas of an immersive exhibit can also be designed for a negative-pressure environment [a common infectious disease control in hospitals]. The air in these rooms has less pressure than the air outside the room so that, whenever the doors are opened, clean air from the hallway rushes into the negative-pressure area instead of potentially contaminated air flowing into the hall. The clean air comes in, and the potentially contaminated air gets filtered out an exhaust. With some minor tweaking, immersive designs can be safe and as impactful as ever.”

Challenging times in history have often resulted in innovation. “Innovation in exhibit design has been forced on us by COVID-19 in a truly global sense,” Feeley-Vario continued. “From small traveling exhibits to large institutions, we will all have to find a way to keep people safe.” 

Exhibits may become more of a virtual experience or a healthy blend of physical installations with integrated technology to communicate information to the museumgoer. “I can see this being less of the typical audio tour and more of a dynamic museum app that one can use to identify items in the exhibits,” Feeley-Vario concluded. 

Click here to read more stories from the June 2021 issue of SCN.

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry used the pandemic pause as an opportunity to refurbish and upgrade its 60-year-old Pioneer Zephyr exhibition, adding a new dimension to the experience of early passenger train travel with an AV Stumpfl PIXERA media server and three Fullwhite projection screens that surround the train and museum visitors.

“The Pioneer Zephyr is a beloved piece of transportation and museum history that has wowed guests for generations,” said John Llewellyn, creative lead at the Museum of Science and Industry. “We are thrilled to reopen this museum icon for guests to experience up close its beautiful design and incredible story, which sets the stage for what to expect as they explore the rest of MSI.”

The exhibition, which has been part of MSI’s collection since 1960, invites guests to marvel at the nearly 200-foot-long diesel passenger train that reinvented travel and design, telling its formidable story through a combination of media.

Sporting a streamlined stainless-steel body and a cutting-edge diesel-electric engine, the Zephyr revolutionized the look of rail travel, while reducing fuel and maintenance costs. Although the public was shocked at first, they eventually fell in love with all things “streamlined,” and the Zephyr’s sleek form was soon mirrored in everyday items from transportation to toasters.

“West Wind Vista”

A key part of the exhibition’s update that helps bring the Zephyr to life for new generations is “West Wind Vista,” a 170-foot-long projected media piece that runs alongside the train, making museum visitors exploring the train feel as though they are in motion. “West Wind Vista” highlights the Pioneer Zephyr’s influence on the evolution of transportation, aerodynamics, and streamlining in industrial design via motion graphics.

Technology Refresh

Creative Technology Group was tasked with taking care of the installation, overseen by project lead Michael Fuller.

Fuller and his team selected AV Stumpfl’s Fullwhite screen as the best projection surface for the job, as its borderless appearance would help preserve the immersive nature of the projected content. Exhibit media including “West Wind Vista” is projected across three panels, each measuring 43 feet 8 inches wide and 13 feet 8 inches high.

The team also specified one of AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA mini Quad media servers to control the three projectors and the content they displayed.

“Using AV Stumpfl products within our design for the Pioneer Zephyr project was the best route for us to take,” said Fuller. “AV Stumpfl is in the industry to craft fine products with meticulous detail, and that really shows in the end result. The customer service assistance we received from them was tremendous, and having them train our installation team prior to installation was key in developing the required warp for our 180° projection surface.”

“We are so satisfied to have our solutions deployed on such a prestigious project,” added Hans Christian Stucken, global marketing advisor for AV Stumpfl. “In the same way that this enchanting exhibition showcases the latest in display technology alongside the Zephyr’s timeless engineering, we—with the help of the talented team at CT—have been able to show that both our digital and analogue products can be used in tandem to bring out the best in one another.”

“Museum visitors love the new exhibit, and are wowed by the larger-than-life media piece that brings energy and motion to the train,” said Sheila Cawley, MSI’s vice president of external affairs. “Children and their parents are being inspired as they learn the Zephyr’s history and explore the science and engineering behind train travel. The new exhibition is a showstopper.”

The renovation of the Pioneer Zephyr was made possible through the generous support of the Grainger Foundation of Lake Forest, IL.

Other AV Stumpfl-Powered Installations

Hong Kong Science Museum Chooses AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA • The AV Stumpfl media servers handled a complex projection interpretation of the Landscape Map of the Silk Road for the museum.

The Latest in High-Performance Media Servers • With the increasing complexity of live AV experiences showing no sign of slowing, media servers have evolved greatly in order to keep up.

Located in Pleasant Grove, UT, the Christa McAuliffe Space Center is a 4,000-square-foot facility featuring simulators and a planetarium. The Space Center is named after Christa McAuliffe, an educator and astronaut who lost her life in the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and is designed to teach astronomy and social studies through simulators with hands-on applications for education. Since opening in 1990, more than 400,000 visitors have experienced the Space Center and its simulated space missions. 

Central Elementary School, whose campus houses the Space Center, was revitalized in May 2020. The new school facility, located in Utah's Alpine School District, reopened in late 2020 with newly commissioned simulators. "The Christa McAuliffe Space Center has been around for decades," said Kendall Bowman, audio visual engineer for Performance Audio. "It's a staple for students throughout the Utah Valley area. Central Elementary is not only utilized by the current K-12 students. Other neighboring schools and districts utilize the facility for hands-on educational experiences. The new facility needed to be designed to offer a high-tech experience for students either attending or visiting for a day."

[Hayden Planetarium Debuts the World’s Most Immersive Space Show]

During the reconstruction, Central Elementary wanted to utilize the downtime as an opportunity to upgrade their AV system. “They had an existing system that was a combination of solutions that were added over some time, but not necessarily designed to work seamlessly,” Bowman said. Central Elementary selected BNA Consulting to create a unique, user-friendly AV experience during the reconstruction.

The simulators, each with individual names and specific characteristics, are located in separate rooms representing missions based on aspects similar to the Star Trek universe. Each room creates interactive stories, usually applicable to historical events, to create a hands-on learning experience. "The original design included a matrix solution, but as we continued through the design process, it made more sense to incorporate an IP solution," Bowman said. "It was important for the client to have a solution that distributed video from one simulator to another simulator, each located in a different room. We selected Visionary's PacketAV Duet Matrix Series because it provided us with a cost-effective, flexible solution that tied the video from each simulator together. The audio and control system is based on QSC Q-SYS architecture, and from our past experience, Visionary's products work seamlessly with QSC's technology. We worked with BNA Consulting to incorporate network infrastructure to provide the client with a seamless yet flexible solution."

Visionary's PacketAV Duet Matrix Series is designed for standard network infrastructure, which allowed Performance Audio to create a scalable solution for Central Elementary. "We utilized 24 PacketAV Duet Encoders and 12 PacketAV Duet Decoders to bridge the video between six simulators," Bowman said. "The end result was a flexible, robust solution. Most importantly, it created a lot of value for our client, because they have the opportunity to add a display or other input source without having to replace any of their technology. Visionary's PacketAV Duet Matrix Series enables our client to expand their system easily. The client is thrilled with the flexibility of the systems. We've had nothing but good feedback from them on the final result." 

Performance Audio's installation at Central Elementary was its largest installation with Visionary, although it’s been working with Visionary's technology for over five years. “Visionary's willingness to open the control of their technology and work seamlessly with other manufacturers, such as QSC, is a huge value add for us,” Bowman said. “We integrate QSC into a lot of our projects, and Visionary is an easy choice because of the integration with QSC. Visionary's built-in ‘plug-in and preview’ eliminates installation time and allows us to efficiently design a system that we're confident in."

Epson is sponsoring Crayola IDEAworks: The Creativity Exhibition at the The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, providing projection solutions to create an immersive experience that promotes creativity.

Crayola IDEAworks will feature Epson Pro L1075UNL premium compact large-venue projectors with 4K Enhancement Technology in the Introductory Theater welcoming guests to the experience, and in the Grand Finale, displaying immersive celebratory projections. In addition, PowerLite 700U ultra short-throw laser projectors will be showcased for interactive activities.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens

“The Crayola IDEAworks exhibition is a creative way to engage audiences and encourage families to use their imagination through immersive activities and colorful experiences,” said Mike Isgrig, vice president, North American consumer sales and marketing, Epson America. “Our technology is designed to bring visionary experiences to life and we are thrilled to be working with Crayola and Agency 808 to enhance their state-of-the-art exhibition and further encourage kids and families to express creativity through color, whether that be through expressive art or everyday problem solving.”

In its exclusive, limited run in Philadelphia, the exhibition will inspire visitors to develop and expand their problem-solving skills through a variety of activities that will promote design thinking, while empowering creativity. Guests at Crayola IDEAworks will immerse themselves in state-of-the-art digital interactives and exhibits that will provide a personalized adventure guided by RFID wristbands. During the exhibition, guests will encounter three distinct areas—the IDEA Workshop, Colorverse, and the Grand Finale. Crayola IDEAworks: The Creativity Exhibition is currently open at The Franklin Institute for a limited time, before embarking on a multi-city, U.S. tour. The exhibition is produced by Agency 808 in collaboration with The Franklin Institute, and tickets are on sale now.

"Crayola IDEAworks: The Creativity Exhibition pushes the boundaries on every industry norm,” said Clayton Ferguson, Agency 808 principal and executive producer. “We’ve pulled together a team of the brightest and most experienced minds in the business to design an exhibition that fosters creative problem-solving skills through interactive challenges in a way that has never been done before. Epson, as a key partner, enhanced our ability to showcase new and innovative technologies in projection and printing capabilities."

“Crayola believes that everyone has creativity innately inside of them, and we continue to look for new ways to ignite it,” said Warren Schorr, VP of business development and global licensing, Crayola. “Creativity can be awakened through a multitude of avenues, and we are thrilled to have Epson as an inaugural sponsor to align with our support of color, education, and creativity. Their products bring excitement and enthusiasm to our exhibition and our guests.”

A new exhibition hall located within a contemporary health sciences park in Beijing is using Christie DS Series laser projectors and Christie Pandoras Box to deliver captivating visuals for a highly immersive four-sided CAVE installation.

This showcase seeks to highlight the development of health sciences and how they have enhanced people’s physical wellbeing. Accomplished using 10 Christie LWU900-DS 3LCD laser projectors and a Christie Pandoras Box Player, they are installed and commissioned by Christie’s trusted partner Dicction (Beijing) Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd, which specializes in systems integration and overall solutions services for various sectors including government, finance and telecommunications.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens

“This is an exciting installation that creates an immersive space featuring amazing visual details that elevates the viewing experience for visitors,” said Leo Zhang, chief executive officer, Dicction. “We are proud to accomplish this CAVE installation using Christie’s leading-edge solutions that are designed to blend in perfectly with the environment to deliver truly outstanding images that enhance the overall theme of this unique space.”

Zhang noted that unlike conventional CAVE setups, this particular installation was conducted in a trapezoidal-shaped room that required advanced projector alignment and calibration. All 10 Christie LWU900-DS laser projectors were strategically mounted on the ceiling, each of them covering an area measuring 6 meters long and 3.75 meters high.

“Since this is not a regular-shaped space, image processing is required for the visuals to be properly displayed,” Zhang said. “We have therefore deployed the Christie Pandoras Box Player to manage the playback, editing of displayed content, projected from the Christie LWU900-DS projectors. In addition, UPS power was installed to ensure uninterrupted operation and to improve energy efficiency.”

Thanks to the compact footprint and omnidirectional capability of the LWU900-DS, the Dicction team had flexibility in installing them in this exhibition hall. 

The Christie DS Series is an affordable, mid-brightness 3LCD laser projector designed for small-to-medium applications. Delivering up to 9,000 lumens and 4,000,000:1 contrast ratio in WUXGA resolution, this projector displays a variety of content types in precise detail.

For historians, researching the past and finding ties to the present is a cherished hobby, job, and duty. This is especially important when dealing with one-of-a-kind artifacts from critical moments in history. For the city of Atlanta, understanding and experiencing its past is not just for tourism; it is an integral part of the city’s identity and community. So, when the Atlanta History Center sought to create an engaging, larger-than-life experience for its gigantic Cyclorama exhibit, they relied on technology to tell the story of this precious diorama and lead visitors on a journey back through time.

Related: Statue of Liberty Museum Brings History to Life with Panasonic Projection

Originally created in 1886, the 49-foot-tall by 371-foot-wide panoramic diorama depicts the famous Battle of Atlanta, a critical moment in the Civil War. Complete with lifelike three-dimensional statues and elements, the full-color illusion is designed to transport the viewer onto the historic battlefield. Over its 133-year lifespan, the colossal work has gone through revisions to the canvas’ content (since restored) and multiple display venues before finally coming to rest in the Atlanta History Center. With such a storied past, the AHC wanted to create an exhibit that would not only tell the story of the diorama and how it became an artifact, but also the “big picture” of the Atlanta Campaign and its importance in both local and national history.

“The painting depicts an important moment in the context of American history,” said Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties at the AHC. “Had the South won at Atlanta, Lincoln could have lost his reelection; the nation’s appetite for the war was dwindling, and this moment could have ended the war in a stalemate. We wanted to portray that importance on a scale that would complement the piece.” 

To put this painting into the broader perspective of American history, the AHC developed a companion exhibition, complete with related historical pieces and a large-scale film by Cortina Productions that tells stories of people affected by the battle. To implement the film, they reached out to the Atlanta-based AV design specialists at CEI.

Known for being an excellent design-build AV integrator and contractor at the national level, CEI strove to bring premier quality to this hometown venue. “When we first saw the size and scale of the painting, we knew this was a one-of-a-kind project,” said Val Dempsey, president of CEI. “Then, when the AHC explained that it was important that we use Atlanta-based companies, we started thinking of ways to make the experience truly unique and memorable.”

CEI’s design called for a seamless, 160-degree display projected directly onto the canvas. This would allow the final product to balance the sheer size of the painting, while fitting the projected content into one field of view that visitors could easily enjoy. “This design called for a complex five-projector image displaying on a surface that curves in two directions, with no two distances from the lenses exactly the same,” Dempsey said. To accomplish this task, CEI integrated Digital Projection’s HIGHlite LASER II projectors.  

“We needed projectors that were bright enough to overcome the painted elements, but also with exceptional warp and edge-blending capabilities to get this right,” Dempsey said. “We felt that Digital Projection would have the best product and the best support. DP’s engineers were instrumental in helping with the design, testing, and implementation.”

Augmented by 16.1 channel surround sound audio, multi-level lighting, and AV control systems, the HIGHlite LASER II projectors transform the 133-year-old painting into a vibrant and engaging 12-minute show. Using historical imagery and reenacted battle sequences, the movie guides visitors through the remarkable story of the painting, the fleeting entertainment sensation of cycloramas, and examines the role movies and visual entertainment have had on shaping perspectives, memory, myth, and interpretations of the Civil War. 

Following each show, the HIGHlite units project modern day locations onto the landscape of the battle, offering guests an intimate perspective of how this event resonates with present-day Atlanta. “I’ve seen people gasp when they realize that the battle was fought right in the middle of the city, often at places they’ve been to,” McQuigg said. “They see important landmarks for the city and really get a sense of wonder at what it would have been like.”

The reaction to the new Cyclorama experience has been overwhelmingly positive for both the AHC and its guests. “The show and painting blend together seamlessly; the projectors really add to the importance and effect of the artifact,” McQuigg said. “It’s quite a moving experience.”

“The feedback we’ve gotten has been exceptional with everyone being blown away by the presentation,” Dempsey said. “It’s truly an awesome AV experience.” 

The Statue of Liberty Museum, which opened in May 2019 on Liberty Island in New York, was conceived to tell a powerful story. Able to accommodate up to 25,000 visitors a day, its first experience, an awe-inspiring short film, needed a theater that would deliver an immersive, engaging experience visitors would remember for a long time. 

To accomplish this goal, the installation had to overcome the challenges of deploying the correct projection blend onto a uniquely structured surface and creating a fully integrated technology system. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which raised funds for and managed the museum’s creation, collaborated with Panasonic to deploy visually engaging technology to give visitors a chance to learn about the history of the Statue of Liberty. 

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens

The Foundation worked with Diversified and Panasonic to develop and implement the technology needed to create an immersive museum experience. Diversified provided dedicated consultation on all AV solutions in the museum, including coordinating the installation of the custom projection screens in the theater. To display the museum’s film, Liberty Enlightening the World, Panasonic deployed floor-to-ceiling projection onto three curved, asymmetric screens that visually showcase Liberty’s past present and future. Thanks to this collaboration with the Panasonic and Diversified teams of engineers, the Statue of Liberty Museum is now able to create vivid graphical impressions that create emotional connections to the history of liberty.

By expanding the space and utilizing Panasonic projection technology, the Statue of Liberty Museum was able to give a higher number of visitors access to the history of Liberty. Before the construction of the museum and theater, there was very little technology being utilized on the island due to its remote location. However, since Panasonic was able to create a fully integrated technology system, the museum will consistently deliver visually resonant images to millions of visitors. 

Customizing the Solution 

Previously, the Statue’s story was told in an exhibit housed within Lady Liberty’s pedestal. Enhanced life-safety upgrades limited the number of visitors who could access the exhibit, which led to development of the new, standalone museum structure. With this expansion came the immersive theater. When walking into the space, there are three connected theaters, each with its own floor to ceiling curved screens, one measuring 17 feet by 24 feet and two measuring 12 feet by 20 feet. These uniquely shaped screens display visuals powered by Panasonic PT-RQ32KU 3DLP 4K laser projectors to captivate visitors watching the museum’s video. “When you're standing in those rooms, and you're looking at historic footage, or a drone shot of the statue at night, it’s really breathtaking,” said Diane Toland, project director for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.

The original museum was created in the 1980s and deployed little to no technology. The Foundation was determined to make the theater as exciting as possible. The new projection technology deployment was a monumental step: With floor-to-ceiling projection, compelling video visuals all within the presence of Lady Liberty herself, the theater boarders on an IMAX experience. However, the curvature of the walls, which represent the folds in Lady Liberty’s robe, presented a challenge to deploy the correct projection blend. 

“We needed to use Panasonic laser projectors, to get that particular curve,” said Carol Feely, Diversified’s project manager for the Statue of Liberty Museum project. “We certainly needed to deploy their projectors with edge blending technology.” To create accurate, crisp and undetectable projection blends, the museum worked with Panasonic’s team to install eight Panasonic PT-RQ32KU 3DLP 4K projectors and Panasonic’s edge blending technology. With the projectors’ high brightness 26,000 lumens and the software’s automatic color matching and geometric adjustment, the museum was able to deploy a fully immersive experience for their video.

“Dealing with the shape of the projected screen and then also the brightness are two really key pieces” Feely said. “Panasonic laser projectors really can accommodate.” Since the PT-RQ32KU projectors are adaptable to the museum’s needs, with a long-lasting projection, these solutions will serve the museum and its millions of visitors for years to come.  

Additionally, ensuring the technology was sustainable was a top priority and the working relationship with the Panasonic team reduced the project management coordination needed to complete the deployment plan. “Not every manufacturer can be leaned on,” Feely said. “Being able to call the right person the first time made Panasonic’s service invaluable.” 

Before the museum’s renovation, visitors expressed disappointment not being able to access the crown or would feel frustrated with the crowds at the pedestal. With the creation of the Immersive Theater, visitors are given the opportunity to connect with history by viewing Liberty Enlightening the World with 4K projection technology. Despite the challenges of creating a fully integrated technology system on a remote island and deploying an accurate, seamless 4K projection blend onto curved surfaces, Panasonic delivered a fully immersive, engaging experience for the Statue of Liberty Museum that makes the true meaning of freedom accessible to all. 

Located in the Mont-Mégantic National Park in southern Québec, the ASTROLab offers visually rich interactive presentations designed to engage and educate visitors about astronomy. When the ASTROLab upgraded its theater to 4K projection last year, it turned to the ProPresenter live presentation software from Renewed Vision to provide smooth and reliable playback of video and images from the center’s vast media library.

The ASTROLab hosts thousands of visitors every year in its 95-seat auditorium for informative presentations about cosmology, space exploration, light pollution, and more. While portions of the sessions are pre-scripted and delivered linearly, what sets the ASTROLab apart from other museums and astronomy activity centers are its human interaction and audience participation. A live, on-stage presenter is teamed with an operator who controls multiple computers and AV components to trigger supporting images and video—including visuals from telescopes and probes around the solar system—in response to visitor questions.

Related: Christie Mirage Projectors Power 8K Visuals at Mexico Science Museum

Two years ago, the ASTROLab began a project to upgrade its production and presentation capabilities to 4K. To realize its vision of delivering a high-impact visual experience, the ASTROLab required a software solution that would allow it to quickly recall video and images from its large collection of media files and present them on the theater’s 27-foot by 18-foot screen.

“The solution we had before was not up to the task of showing all of this multimedia at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second the way we wanted,” said Guillaume Poulin, a science communicator and technician at the ASTROLab who helped design the theater’s new workflow. “We needed software that let us categorize our content library, then during presentations, let us quickly select a media file for immediate display with super-smooth 4K playback and transitions.”

Poulin’s research led him to Renewed Vision’s flagship software. “ProPresenter is the only software we found that could do what we wanted in full-frame-rate 4K,” he said. “It lets us go into our very large library, select the appropriate media related to attendees’ questions, and put it on screen quickly and smoothly. And it handles cross-fades between videos and images beautifully.”

The ASTROLab runs ProPresenter on a Mac Mini computer with a Blackmagic eGPU graphics accelerator. The system’s HDMI output is run through a Teranex Mini converter that transforms the signal to 12G-SDI for routing with a 40x40 Blackmagic Design Smart Videohub 12G. Dante Virtual Soundcard software brings eight-channel uncompressed audio from ProPresenter onto the theater’s audio-over-IP network, where it is picked up by a Biamp sound processor.

The ASTROLab’s ProPresenter-powered 4K playback has impressed both Poulin and his audience. “Visitors are often blown away by being able to immediately see visual resources for the answers to their questions,” he said. “For example, they might ask about a particular black hole or nebula, and within seconds there’s a corresponding image on the screen—sometimes even before they finish asking the question.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the temporary closure of the ASTROLab, Poulin used ProPresenter to conduct streamed presentations from home. He received questions from the public via Facebook Live, and used ProPresenter to show corresponding media much as he would have in the theater. The ASTROLab facility has subsequently reopened to the public with reduced attendee capacity, and Poulin plans to add a second instance of ProPresenter in a smaller theater at the nearby Mount Megantic Popular Observatory when it too reopens.

Overall, the theater’s 4K upgrade has significantly increased the ASTROLab’s presentation quality and made its educational experiences more engaging. “Having very gorgeous images helps instill visitors with a deeper appreciation of astronomy,” Poulin said. “Being able to display very high-resolution visuals, such as those from the Hubble Space Telescope, is very powerful. It’s amazing the impact that can have on our visitors, and ProPresenter is an important part of that.”

Eight Christie Mirage 304K projectors were recently installed in Materia, the new museum at Mexico’s Sinaloa Science Center, to power Cubo Negro 8K. This immersive and interactive space is unique in Latin America and offers 8K visual experiences.

Cubo Negro 8K is a replica of Deep Space 8K, an installation at the Ars Electronica center in Austria, where the project originated. Cubo Negro 8K is one of the icons of this new science museum, which defines itself as a “museological laboratory to build the future.”

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens

Art, science, and technology are combined in Cubo Negro 8K to screen never-before-seen images, including those of the earth, sun, and cosmos. As Luis León, director general of the Sinaloa Science Center, explained, “The Cube provides an interactive experience within an immersive space. In addition, it also serves as a forum for discussion on technological development, the use of the image, and concepts affecting transmedia culture.”

Cubo Negro 8K is a collaboration between Ars Electronica, which is the license holder and creator of the concept of the space, Mexican technical integrator Planetarios Digitales, and the Sinaloa Science Center and the government of the State of Sinaloa, northwest Mexico, with Christie assisting in the integration and installation of the projectors.

“It was a truly rewarding experience,” León said. “Given that this is the first replica of Deep Space 8K outside Austria, it involved an incredible amount of hard work and a lot of coordination, beginning with the different styles of work, the need for fluid communication between all the agents involved, and then the implementation on site of an unprecedented project for America.”

Cubo Negro 8K is an interactive experiential space with 8K projection on floor and wall using eight Christie Mirage 304K 30,000-lumen projectors, which are 4K120 capable and can screen images in both 2D and 3D stereo with incredible quality. Four of the projectors are combined to screen a single image on a wall measuring 13 meters long by 7 meters high, while the other four project a single image of the same size on the floor.

Together, the eight projectors power 70,778,880 pixels with a resolution of over 8192x8620 pixels both on the floor and the wall. The Christie Mirage projectors, which receive video signals over fiber optic as well as HDBaseT, are fed by high-performance servers designed especially for the purpose by Ars Electronica. The contents are shown in 2D, 3D, and gigapixel, with laser sensors providing interactivity. Guests can walk around and explore the projection on the floor and walls, providing a totally immersive experience.

“The quality is amazing,” León said. “Having this number of pixels in the space with this level of brightness and being able to have them so close is really unique. Eight 4K projectors to achieve an 8K resolution with audiovisual content created specifically for this format takes you on a completely immersive experience. The brightness and performance of the projectors is incredible. The simple handling, the response, the software, and the end result they offer make them the ideal tool for the space.”

Enrique Fonte, director of Planetarios Digitales, agreed: “The hardware and software system of Ars Electronica, unique in its kind anywhere in the world, called for a really high-quality projection system. The Christie Mirage projectors guarantee the required performance thanks to the quality of the image and their robust construction. Ready for 24/7 service to meet the high demand for use, they are incredibly reliable and guarantee unbeatable images. Once again, they have shown why they are the projector of choice in the world market for this kind of installation in museums, science centers, planetariums and entertainment centers.”

As well as supplying the eight Christie projectors, Planetarios Digitales also provided the 5.1 surround sound system that delivers audio from three different sources routed with a digital mixer, including microphones for presentations. It also supplied the acoustic treatment system, as well as four mirrors to project on the floor of Cubo Negro, plus almost two kilometers of cabling and a vast number of parts and accessories.

“The experience of the Cubo Negro 8K can only be found in Austria and now in our Materia museum in Culiacán, Sinaloa,” León said. “There is no other place in the world like Cubo Negro 8K with this infrastructure, projecting 8K immersive contents in 2D, 3D, interactive, and gigapixel.” 

High crowd densities and the prevalence of high-contact areas in typical museum exhibits are causing museums to question their assumptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the way patrons purchase tickets and interact with those at the help desk to the way exhibitions are laid out and designed, museums are currently devising new operating procedures that will revolve around guest safety and contactless technology. The goal is to keep visitors safe while not diminishing the overall museum experience.

“Primarily, the concerns include making visitors feel comfortable being in large crowds again. We understand that the majority of visitors intend on returning to museums within a year,” said Tani Klein, senior director of sales with Planar. Museums are currently planning for that return by putting the focus on technology that helps create a safe environment—including technology that monitors body temperatures, regulates the number of people within an exhibit, and helps to communicate important safety protocols and information to visitors.

Larry Howard, director of entertainment sales for the Americas at Christie, said that museums are particularly focusing on the issue of space. “Everyone needs space between themselves and others, and this will change some museum areas drastically. Videos explaining how distancing works will be a big help to customers. Coupled with old-fashioned signs and floor markings, these videos will be very effective. Exhibits that already incorporate distancing will be looked at favorably, and more of them will be implemented.”

The Contactless Experience

Beyond putting guests at ease, many museums are looking to increase the prevalence of contactless technology in their facilities, helping to advance their overall venue technology while keeping their patrons safe. “Technological solutions will be absolutely key to museums limiting personal contact,” said Klein. “Personal-use styluses will help reduce the spread of germs on visitors’ hands, while still allowing the visitors to interact with touch technologies. We’ll likely see proximity sensors, motion sensors, and gesture-sensing technology for visitors to trigger and engage with content.” These personal styluses could also be branded and gifted to the patron, providing them with a unique souvenir from their visit.

Gesture-based technology, potentially with AI triggers or ultra-high frequency RFID, could be an ideal way for museums to encourage engagement without direct contact. Patrons could use their entire body to interact with exhibits in interesting and new ways.

[Museums Step Up Engagement With Next-Level Tech]

Klein said that Planar’s involvement in the Times Square installation COOLTURE IMPACT, which invited visitors to not only view art but become part of the show, is a great example of something we may see more of in museums. “The unique video art installation featured Planar TVH Series fine-pitch LED video walls paired with motion-responsive technology that allowed passersby to make artistic digital canvases come alive with their own movements,” he added. Voice activation technology could also be used in a similar manner to help limit direct contact in future exhibits.

Mad Systems, an Orange, CA-based integration firm, has relied on its touchless technology offerings to limit contact, often converting non-touch monitors for interactive use. “Our ‘touchless touchscreen’ technology uses a small camera to track your facial movements to control a cursor. We can apply infrared overlays at a reasonable distance from a screen or projected wall to create a non-touch touchscreen experience,” explained Mad Systems founder Maris J. Ensing.

The sensors in these touchless touchscreens also allow visitors to activate selections by pointing at various images. When the company’s TeaParty show controller capabilities are implemented, visitors can use their smartphones to control the screens, changing the subtitle language on a video, for example. Mad Systems is also using sensor-based technology to replace physical handles or buttons, allowing visitors to motion their hand above an area to trigger further engagement. Taking it a step further, making these types of options portable could help preserve social distancing and further accommodate the guests.

Make Way for Emerging Technologies

When thinking about the best way to display information and images within an exhibit, many museums may start to increase the use of real-time, camera-based feedback to create crisp and clear projected visuals—including 3D visuals. Museums have used this technology within immersive-style exhibitions—for example, in the traveling Van Gogh Exhibit, which allows the work of Vincent van Gogh to come to life in an immersive environment.

Since COVID-19, this exhibit has continued to thrive in Toronto through “Gogh by Car,” which offers visitors a drive-in art experience. Organizers are now integrating social distancing circles to be able to reopen safely for patrons. Other museums are using portable projection systems to show programming in outside settings, similar to the drive-in movie theater experience. Success here could encourage museums to get creative and bring the museum experience to the community, offering pop-up or traveling exhibits in areas where people feel safe.

This type of experience could completely replace virtual reality (VR) engagement, because it does not require the use of individual headsets and people can enjoy the experience together while still following social distancing guidelines. Ensing commented: “Having 3D audio as part of the experience means that you’re experiencing something very similar to what you would expect with a VR headset, but without the concerns that a VR headset would bring—especially now. By the time the COVID-19 concerns are gone, VR headsets will be home-based technology, and most likely only relevant in very specific public applications.”

[High Tech Storytelling: Museums, Exhibits, and AV]

Christie is taking touchless interactivity one step further, creating a projection-based technology by combining its Pandoras Box AirScan with its Widget Designer products. Together, they are able to display a touchless interface over a variety of surfaces. This type of technology could be deployed in a variety of settings and offers further touchless engagement opportunities for guests.

Increased App Use

Museums will be focusing on their apps, making sure their capabilities—including allowing guests to purchase tickets, get access into exhibits, and engage within the exhibit—provide a personal journey tailored to each guest. “A good example of this is the Cleveland Museum of Art, which uses an app and feedback from cameras for guests to interact with artwork and exhibits,” said Patrick Ellis, senior account manager at Christie. Mobile devices may also be used to assist museum staff with taking temperatures of visitors upon entry and dispersing important information or alerts.

A Changing Demographic

Museums were already beginning to integrate many of these features pre-pandemic, not only for safety concerns but because of a change in guest preferences and demographics. “We are now dealing with an upcoming generation of visitors who swiped before they wiped, and their expectations are a lot different from what we’ve seen over the past 40 years,” said Ensing. “Just before this crisis, we opened a visitor center where the only printed graphics were the wallpaper—everything else was digital.”

Younger visitors are expecting this type of technology integration and hope for experiences that are so cutting-edge that they can Instagram them to the world. With growing concerns about attendance, museums will be clamoring to integrate innovative technology that will help them stand out from the crowd.

What Does the Future Hold for Museums and Technology?

Like every market segment, technology providers and museums are trying to find the best way forward while navigating safety and related issues in the wake of the pandemic. Howard noted, “I believe that technology will be helpful now and down the road. As time goes by and we get a better understanding of the transmissive properties of the virus, we will be better prepared from the design perspective as well as retrofits.”

It is certainly possible that museums and public spaces will be changed forever post-COVID-19. With the possibility of having to lower overall attendance, museums will need to work in partnership with technology providers to offer unique and customizable experiences that guests may not soon forget. 

Working with local integration firm Owen Security Solutions, Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA invested in a wide range of digital displays from LG Business Solutions USA and a dedicated video wall mounting system designed and manufactured by Peerless-AV. The digital signage installation includes a 15-foot-wide by 8.5-foot-tall, 2.5mm pixel pitch direct view LED video wall featured at the very center of the museum. 

According to museum officials, the tech makeover has enabled greater flexibility to manage and schedule content while creating an environment that’s more attractive to its school-age audience whose educational experiences and upbringings have included frequent use of digital technologies.

Related: Museums Step Up Engagement With Next-Level Tech 

“This technology upgrade, centered on LG display solutions and streamlined content management, has delivered a variety of benefits for our internal operations and has modernized the guest experience,” said Jason Woodside, Tellus Science Museum audiovisual manager. “Having previously relied on consumer-grade TVs purchased at big box stores, working with Owen Security Solutions to install commercial-grade LG displays was a major step up in terms of the options available and the capabilities offered. For instance, the content management and scheduling capabilities of the WebOS platform integrated in our new LG displays has greatly simplified our content updating process and enabled on-the-fly changes, as well as scheduling content weeks ahead of time.”

With the old AV infrastructure, updating a single display required Woodside to load new content onto a USB thumb drive, then physically go to the display and update just that one unit. Using the WebOS platform, he can now instantly update content on any LG display from his office PC, or remotely, saving time and frustration on a daily basis. 

For museum guests, many of whom are K-12 students, the goal of the tech upgrades was to add a “wow factor” and better align with their expectations and interests as tech-savvy learners.

“The LED video wall has become a center of attention, not only because it is mounted in the Great Hall where our four gallery rooms branch off, but also because it’s such a stunning piece of technology that many visitors haven’t seen before,” Woodside added. “Along with 16 flat panel displays from LG, the LED video wall allows us to connect with students through an exciting digital canvas we can use to present any kind of content. Now we can do things like show up-to-the-minute earthquake information as it happens on a huge, engaging screen.”

The installation location proved to be challenging, because the selected wall area for the large LED was slanted at an obtuse angle. Despite this hurdle, Peerless-AV’s SEAMLESS custom flat video wall mount was successfully installed in just a day. The mount was designed with a plethora of features to ensure quick, safe installation, and serviceability. The mount also included decorative covers, which were installed to the sides of the mounted displays for a clean, aesthetically pleasing installation and final look.  

“When designing this custom LED video wall mounting structure, our engineering team took extra care, knowing the large system would be forward-facing and needed to be securely mounted,” said Peerless-AV technical sales engineer Rob Meiner. “Being onsite for the short, one-day installation to oversee the assembly of the large LED mounting frame, installation to the wall, and the hanging of the LED displays was truly a seamless experience for all involved. We’re proud to be part of this digital signage upgrade at the museum alongside LG.”

The Tellus Science Museum currently uses the LED video wall to promote upcoming events, marketing content and custom welcome and thank you messages for visiting groups and benefactors, and it has plans to develop original content in the near future. 

LG commercial displays also provide digital signage at the reception desk and cafe, with four digital displays in each location. At reception, two displays mirror the content from the LED video wall, while the remaining two share membership info and admission prices, respectively. In the café are three LG digital menu boards and one screen that mirrors the LED video wall content. These displays were installed with LCD mounting solutions from Peerless-AV. 

In addition to hosting as many as 20 school groups each day, a number of spaces in the museum are available for private events, including a series of banquet rooms that can be combined thanks to collapsible walls. The largest of these rooms, banquet room B, features two 110-inch LG video walls, each composed of four LG 55-inch narrow-bezel displays and Peerless-AV SmartMount Supreme Video Wall Mounts (DS-VW775-QR). 

“The museum had been considering tech upgrades for a few years, and we were able to show them some of the latest display technologies for this project,” said Kevin Turner, director of technology at Owen Security Solutions. “From the banquet room video walls that can display user content for events, to the displays found at the reception desk and the cafe, the museum now has much greater control over its messaging and can utilize the displays for a variety of purposes, including showing a live spillover feed for presentations or lunch and learn sessions that fill the museum’s auditorium.”

The upgrades achieved every set goal and have become a highlight for visitors, showing how museums of all kinds and sizes can adopt new technologies to drive attendance and increase relevance for the next generation of visitors.

For many years, museum exhibit designers have used video as a medium to help tell a more in-depth story. Oftentimes these video experiences were set up in small, dark, and somewhat foreboding rooms and did not feel part of the natural flow of the exhibit. In recent years, however, audio, video, and other media have emerged to become integral components in storytelling throughout a museum goer’s experience. 

Founded in 2009 and located in Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Annenberg Space for Photography has always used flat panels, projectors, and video walls to display content and digital signage. 

“To complement each exhibition, we produce a 20–25-minute documentary that allows our visitors to gain a better understanding of the subject being discussed in the exhibition, along with the photographers that are documenting the work,” said Kat Kirsch, manager, communications at the Annenberg Foundation. Until the end of 2019, the documentaries were rear-projected onto a 13-foot glass screen, which left the images looking flat—and in addition, the overall projector room took up valuable space. 

On February 9, 2020 guests were invited to the Annenberg Space for Photography for the opening of the Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling exhibit. After touring the exhibit and watching a 22-minute documentary, guests were treated to a live stream of the 92nd Academy Awards on Samsung’s The Wall, an 18.25-foot MicroLED wall. This also marked the first U.S. installation of an 8K version of The Wall.  

“The documentary is a major feature of the exhibition and with our new The Wall, we’re able to amplify our visitor experience,” Kirsch said. “This magnificent screen allows us to feature the work and tell the stories of the world’s best photographers in their most vivid form.” There was a significant difference between the image produced by the rear-projection system used last year and the new MicroLED wall. Kirsch said, “it was most noticeable in the contrast and overall color that the Photo Space was now able to deliver.” 

Produced by Radical Media, the Hollywood Calling documentary allows visitors to get a look at the history and the making of the Hollywood Issue, one of Vanity Fair’s most popular issues. The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes to see how established and up-and-coming stars are selected for the coveted Vanity Fair cover. “The short film concludes with a visit to the set to watch it all come together,” Kirsch said. “Seeing the images on the large screen really changes the experience and the stars become larger than life.” 

Completing the experience, a Q-SYS Core 500i processes audio through Powersoft’s Ottocanali amplifier to seven speakers and two subwoofers. 

“As we collaborate with production companies like Radical Media, we can develop our documentaries to utilize the system to translate experiential audio to complement beautiful imagery,” Kirsch said. “The screen adds another element to the whole museum experience and has very much become a highlight for our visitors.”

Complete Immersion

For David Canfield, his current job is a culmination of lifetime of careers and passion. Upon graduating high school in 1987, Canfield joined the US Navy and served for two years on the USS Iowa (BB-61). The Iowa was decommissioned in October 1990. Once transitioning to the Naval Reserves, Canfield’s jobs in software engineering and data operations at various companies landed him at Google as a program manager. “There are not too many reasons I can think of to leave Google,” Canfield said. But in 2012, he accepted the position of vice president and CIO of the Pacific Battleship Center–Battleship Iowa Museum. 

From the moment visitors board the Battleship Iowa Museum Los Angeles, they are immersed. “We are a unique venue where our primary artifact is the ship that you are within,” Canfield said.

The museum deploys a variety of audio and video equipment and technologies from flat panel displays, overhead projection, effect projection for water reflection, passive sound effects that create rumbling engines, banging pots and pans and other sounds, and augmented reality. “We have even attempted to use 4D or scent dispersion with mixed results,” Canfield said. “As it turns out, that is much harder than you might think.” 

The museum relies on technology to augment the visitor experience. “I think that is the key to our strategy,” Canfield said. “We do not want the visitor to experience to be ‘tech,’ we want them to experience the ship. The tech helps bring the experience alive.”  

In the Bob Ballard "Lost at Sea" exhibit, a water effect has been created using water-reflection projectors to produce an overlapping effect. “In that same area we created a mockup of an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) and installed a couple of ‘Pepper's Ghosts’ with sea creatures such as jellyfish and squid to provide depth to the experience,” Canfield said. A multi-channel sound system is installed throughout the exhibit that plays period music from World War I and II, as well as passive submarine sounds. “The sound is driven through an amplifier and into the zones using a mixer to JBL speakers and a subwoofer,” he said. Despite a small budget, Canfield said, “the effects are really nice.”

The integration, programming, and most of the technology development for the museum has been done in-house. Using an augmentation strategy has allowed the team to create a more immersive experience without being over the top. “We have a lot of very talented people on our crew and they bring that talent to the battleship in some pretty innovative ways,” Canfield said. “Subtle cues like ambient noise, visual effects, and scents can really add to experiencing the Battleship as she was when in service, rather than just a walk through a cold, obsolete chunk of steel.” 

The museum partnered with San Diego-based Guru, a pioneer in museum apps. The robust application provides a great deal of content and facts about the Iowa. “This releases the guides to be storytellers and to interact on a more human level,” Canfield said.

Built into the app are several augmented reality (AR) experiences. These are triggered by pointing a smartphone at a trigger image on a placard near the exhibit and then panning the device around the space to see what it looked like when the ship was in service. “The AR includes a look ‘through the deck’ into the after steering compartment, a view of the galley when it was in service, a 3D model of the ship (sponsored by World of Warships) and a chat with FDR in the captain's cabin,” Canfield said. 

Museums are moving from "objects under glass" to more interactive and immersive experiences. To keep the interest of younger generations innovative technology solutions are expected and are also needed to enable storytelling to people with various physical challenges. “In our case, climbing shipboard ladders and stepping over ‘knee knockers’ is impossible for people with even minor mobility challenges,” Canfield said. “Through the use of technologies such as VR and projection, we will be able to allow a museum goer to experience much more of the ship. In addition, there are areas of the ship that might never be opened to the public, and by use of immersion technologies we can bring those areas to life.”

Whether to illuminate photography or transport visitors to another time and place, multiple technologies are helping facilitate the engagement of the next generation of museum guests. 

A Panoramic Display

In 1989, the Panorama 6th October Museum in Cairo, Egypt, was established to commemorate the 6th October War that took place in 1973. As part of an extensive renovation, Egyptian integrator Audio Technology S.A.E equipped a trio of halls at the museum with the latest audiovisual technology to bring an array of historical exhibits to life. 

Six Christie D13WU-HS projectors were installed to create a striking U-shaped display, which is used to showcase a film that gives an additional overview of the war in a bright and seamless 10K resolution display. The unique shape allows for the audience to feel a part of the video, as it fills their visual field, further immersing them in the content.

In a cylindrical room, nine Christie DWU1075-GS laser projectors were installed to create an impressive 360-degree screen projection. The unique display shows footage captured during the 2011 and 2013 revolutions that reflect the political situation in Egypt at the time. The immersive display matches the unusual shape of the museum building and provides the platform for a captivating educational experience. 

The compact sizes of Christie’s projectors, the use of a special Christie mounts, and the built-in warping and blending options in the projectors enabled the technology to fit into the spaces effectively. 

The museum has also been updated throughout with 3D “holograms” of weaponry, digital signage displays, wireless tour guides, and an exterior projection mapping display on the façade of the building. 

A Show Befitting the Stars

Having undergone an extensive $79 million renovation, Minnesota’s Bell Museum is home to North America’s first “seamless” dome planetarium in its Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Planetarium.

The planetarium pairs its cutting-edge technology with the University of Minnesota’s latest data research to produce visualizations that take audiences from the far reaches of the universe to deep inside the human brain.

Sweden-based digital planetarium solution provider Sciss AB specified a 4K dual-projector system that reflected 2.0 ft. lambert of brightness straight back off the dome of 45 percent reflectivity, while projecting white at full power. The solution required more than 10 megapixels on the dome and less than or equal to 3.0 average arc minutes per pixel, as well as a native contrast ratio of 2,000:1 and brightness at 5,000 lux per projector.

The installed solution for the 16-meter, 120-seat planetarium features an Astro-Tec Ulteria Seam Dome, and Digital Projection’s INSIGHT Dual Laser 4K phosphor illumination projectors featuring 27,000 lumens of brightness and 20,000 hours of lifespan to deliver real-time rendering and full-dome videos using Uniview software and ColorSpace Theatre Control.

“The laser system was our preference because of its superior image quality and long-lasting light source,” said planetarium manager Sally Brummel. “The final visual aspect is very impressive and the image is as rich and bright as I’ve expected.”

Fostering Cultural Appreciation

The 2019 world debut of the exhibition BAKERU: Transforming Spirits at Japan House Los Angeles delivered an immersive visitor experience, combining state-of-the-art technology with multimedia and artistic elements.

Panasonic’s mission of “A Better Life, A Better World” aligned with Japan House Los Angeles’ global mission of fostering appreciation for Japan around the globe. Panasonic, in collaboration with Japanese creative art and design studio WOW and ClearTech Media, created an immersive environment where guests can transform into projected characters and participate in several festival scenes known in the Tohoku region of Japan. 

“BAKERU is unique in that it features traditional folk tradition of Japan and at the same time presents Japan’s high technology and top-notch media art,” said Yuko Kaifu, president of Japan House Los Angeles. “Because of the interactive nature of the exhibition, people can have fun and also learn about the folklore tradition at the same time.” 

WOW created four large projections to create the visitor experience. Using Microsoft Kinect and its dynamic aggregating sensor, movements are captured in real time as participants transform into projected scenes with Panasonic’s PT-RZ870 Series projectors and ET-DLE085 and ET-DLE035 lenses. “One of the important components of this installation is the sense of immersion,” said Kaoru Kudo, visual art director at WOW. “The Panasonic projectors play the most crucial role, which is to send images of the visitors without delay, beautifully and consistently throughout a long exhibition period.”

Top of the World

The centerpiece of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in New York City, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. In May 2015, the One World Observatory opened, offering views of New York City’s iconic sights, surrounding waters, and skyline from the building’s 100th, 101st, and 102nd floors. 

In early 2019, Legends Hospitality—which developed and operates the One World Observatory—determined that key upgrades were necessary to improve the guest experience, leading to projects that integrated new display technologies.  

Previously, the main driving attraction of the Global Welcome Center was a large projector system. “The display appeared washed out and didn’t properly introduce the space to guests in the way we wanted,” said Delfin Ortiz, general manager at Legends One World Observatory. “Needless to say, this was not the first impression we wanted to portray to guests,” Ortiz said. In addition, lifts were needed to service the projectors located on the ceiling, which could not be done while the observatory was in operation. “These challenges drove us to reevaluate and consider reinvesting in technology to create an introduction fitting with this world-class attraction.” 

The update involved replacing the projector system with a curved and expansive floor-to-ceiling Planar TVF Series LED video wall installation with a 1.8mm pixel pitch (TVF1.8). Named the Welcome Wall, the installation comprises two adjoining Planar TVF Series LED video walls—a 47.6-foot-wide, 15.6-foot-high wall array in a 24x14 configuration and a 15.9-foot-wide, 7.8-foot-high array in an 8x7 configuration—that create one contiguous and seamless digital surface.

The Welcome Wall greets visitors with a large world map that transforms into a rotating globe and back to a map at regular intervals. Guests buying tickets online or at the kiosk are asked to indicate their hometown, and when their ticket is scanned at the security check, their hometown is highlighted on the map. The Welcome Wall recognizes the global diversity of people that visit One World Observatory by displaying and rotating the word “welcome” in multiple languages. 

“The new technology allows us to do what we originally had envisioned—to create a ‘wow moment’ for our guests,” Ortiz said. “Visitors regularly gather in front of the video wall for pictures. We feel it’s a great way to connect with visitors.” 

Located near the waterfront in Long Beach, CA, the Aquarium of the Pacific is home to Pacific Visions, the venue’s first major expansion since its founding in 1998. This 29,000-square-foot, two-story structure designed by the San Francisco architecture and design firm EHDD houses a one-of-a-kind immersive experience that includes a theater, multiple interactive art installations, and hands-on multimedia displays.

“The aquarium is taking a bold, unconventional path with Pacific Visions. Rather than focusing on bigger exhibits and more spectacular animals, the new wing will turn the spotlight on the one species on our planet that is changing the future for all others: humans,” said Jerry R. Schubel, Ph.D., president and CEO of Aquarium of the Pacific. “Pacific Visions is the culmination of more than a decade of planning. It will challenge our visitors to examine human impact on our ocean planet and engage in the choices that will reduce that impact.”

The Aquarium of the Pacific turned to Edwards Technologies and Renkus-Heinz to provide the technology to create an impressive and impactful experience for all visitors to Pacific Visions’ 300-seat main theater.

“When we talked about the benefits, there was buy-in at a core level that we needed to use the right technology to make this truly immersive,” said Brian Edwards, founder and chairman of the board of Edwards Technologies, the integration firm that designed and installed the theater and AV and FX system at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Within the main theater, Edwards Technologies integrated four Panasonic PT-RQ22K 4K laser projectors: three on the main screen and one for the floor screen. Signals are delivered by a 7th Sense Infinity-4-3600 media server. The screen, provided by Strong/MDI, is 140 feet wide by 320 feet tall and curved in a semicircle 72 feet in diameter. The audiovisual system also includes Blackmagic Design ATEM live production switchers and a console to support special events, a Medialon Showmaster LE show control processor, and an Extron SMP 111 streaming media processor.

Edwards commented, “The ability to integrate displays that wrap around a room—and cover more of the viewer’s visual range—truly add to the immersive component. Adding additional displays, such as on the floor, provides even more coverage.”

Other distinctive features of the theater installation include Aurasound Bass Shakers, CITC Hurricane II and Reel EFX RE5 fans, and SensoryCo scent machines.

Immersive Sound

Another component critical to achieving this immersive experience is the sound. The theater installation features multiple Renkus-Heinz products, including 29 speakers from the company’s ICLive X Series.

When looking at how the audio complements the video, Edwards said it must be viewed as a complete experience. “Without the video or without the audio, the totality of the experience is fundamentally different. The idea of the audio and video components here is truly intrinsically linked. It is a dovetailing of two components.”

ICLive X is Renkus-Heinz’s flexible and scalable solution for precision positioning of sound. The high-output, digitally steerable arrays can be arranged into combinations of up to 12 cabinets tall and feature RHAON II beam-steering and control. 

[Critical Elements of Immersive Audio]

The installation also features nine Renkus-Heinz speakers from the company’s C-Series, a QSC Q-SYS Core 510 audio processor, and a Yamaha QL-1 audio mixer.

“It’s important to recognize how everything here is connected,” continued Edwards. “We often focus on the audio and visual side of things when we look at AV integration, but this installation is a good example of utilizing all components of what we see, hear, feel, and experience. Everything down to the effects and atmospheric components are part of the AV complement in these types of integrations.”

True Immersion

Some “immersive” experiences are built by installing all the various components on their own, which Edwards says can work in many situations. “Sometimes just having the video is enough. Sometimes the audio is all you need if you’re looking at adding a soundscape to, say, a theme park.”

But when looking at the concept and overall goal for Pacific Visions, its strength is in how all the parts work together to deliver a seamless experience. “We’ve done a few integrations like this over the years, and they are always enjoyable because you can look at them and explain them as total AV ecosystems. That definitely makes an integration like this exciting and special.”

With the combination of technologies that consider all senses, those who attend a showing in the theater leave with more than just textbook knowledge of our planet’s potential future. Rather, they exit having experienced a vision of what that future might look, sound, and even smell like. The presentation encourages visitors to consider their personal impact on the planet and think about how they can reduce habits detrimental to the global environment.

[AV Brings T-Rex to Life at Arizona Science Center]

Edwards said he approaches all of his installations with the idea that stories—and the way they are told—are crucial to the human experience. A well told story spreads an idea, entertains, and inspires, he said. For the Aquarium of the Pacific, the goal is to engage with visitors in a way that immerses them in the vision of a future in which humanity innovates to solve pressing environmental concerns. “What you see at the aquarium is the application of tomorrow’s tools. Everyone is really happy with the result, and more than that, I believe this is the trend for AV and storytelling. This is where we’re going with technology, and everyone needs to be looking at it to see, and hear, how it can be done the right way.”

When discussing challenges the group had to overcome with the install, Edwards described the emerging technologies he wishes were available to integrate right now, like machine learning, artificial intelligence, and actionable data. “All of this is coming, and I know it will fundamentally change the way we work. I just wish it was here today! That said, we really had a true vision with this project, and the integration was quite effective, efficient and enjoyable.”   •

The What: Mad Systems recently demoed three new contact-less offerings with touchscreen-type applications, its latest solutions for museums, theme parks, and visitor centers.

The What Else: The company has at least four solutions to deal with touchscreen exhibits, according to Brandy Alvarado, business development manager. In cases where IR bezels are used, they can be moved further away from the screen, and existing touchscreens can be upgraded for non-touch use by adding an IR bezel. That touch overlay is moved away from the monitor or monitors, for a touchless option. Interactive content designers would need to account for an adjusted parallax and make sure any “buttons” are big enough to accommodate this change to the monitor. 

Related: BrightSign Unveils Touchless Engagement Solutions

A second development is the company’s Facial Tracking system built into its QuickSilver touchless interactive media servers. Patrons stand in front of the touchscreen, look at the screen, and their facial movement is used to guide the cursor. To activate a button, just look at it for a second or so and the selection will be made.

Mad Systems can also provide an alternate way for users to interact with a touchscreen by adding one of its sensors. Graphics could be included on or off-screen to indicate possible selections for users to activate content. All users would need to do is break the plane of the sensor, and the selection is made. Sensors provide an additional touchless method for controlling an interactive.

Lastly, with the help of QR codes, Mad Systems’ QuickSilver system can allow for BYOD capabilities. Users activate the camera on their phone or tablet, scan the QR code mounted with the interactive or show on the screen, and the controls for the interactive will come up on the device. 

“We’ve introduced several compelling alternatives to consider as a solution for designing a healthier and more sanitary experience for patrons,” said Maris Ensing, founder and engineer. “As we now know, the COVID virus can stay on surfaces for a very long time. We’ve taken a very serious look at this and designed solutions to future-proof venues and make them safer. We want people to go back to a life that is closer to ’normal,’ and that means that we have to make some changes. When it comes to theme parks, museums, and visitor centers, and even office settings and trade shows, we need to create safe environments where people can be entertained and educated without ongoing concerns about catching this virus. We have to do something to get our lives back to a better kind of normal.” 

The Bottom Line: These non-contact solutions are designed to allow clients to include safe interactive exhibits after the COVID-19 peak.

Emerging technologies are pushing their way into many verticals, with exciting results. Museums and exhibitions offer an exciting opportunity to use technology to create immersive experiences that resonate with audiences of all ages. At the Victoria: The T-Rex exhibition, which recently opened at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, production company IMG and its integrator partner, Design Electronics, launched a trio of technologies that are sure to draw visitors into this extinct world.

[Interactive Tech Tells Important Story at the Museum of Natural History]

“Our needs analysis always begins with developing a deep understanding our client’s vision for the experience,” said Khalil Williams, CEO of Design Electronics. “In this case, the primary goal was to use technology to transport visitors to a bygone era, so they could experience what the world was like when dinosaurs ruled the earth.” 

“We’re so excited to bring such a striking, unique example of a T-Rex to Phoenix,” chief curiosity officer Sari Custer said. “We are the first stop on Victoria’s premier tour, and people love to see dinosaurs.”

The skeleton, discovered near Faith, SD in 2013, measures 40 feet long by 12 feet high. According to Heinrich Mallison, lead paleontologist on the Victoria project, it’s the second most complete set of fossilized tyrannosaurus rex bones ever discovered. Science has shown that she was a sub-adult, aged 18-25 years at the time of death, and weighed 10.5 tons.

Making and Introduction

The journey begins in an intro theater with a 3-minute video providing insight into what Victoria’s life was like. The content sets the tone for entering into the dinosaur age. Design Electronics wanted to create this immersive experience with strong visuals and audio. The firm chose the Barco F70-4K8 projector for the visuals because the color processing presents crisp, bright imagery to tell the story of Victoria, her discovery, and what her world was like. This projector has also proven robust and durable for touring operations, as the team learned from past experience. 

The audio magic is created by a Bose Professional RoomMatch system providing even and visceral SPL throughout the theater, complete with softly thundering background steps and rustling that makes visitors look over their shoulders.

[High Tech Storytelling: Museums, Exhibits, and AV]

The entry door opens, and patrons are ushered into the main exhibition, where the centerpiece is Victoria herself. She’s a 66-million-year-old T-Rex skeleton, and thanks to modern science, we can reach back into the past to learn about how she lived, and even how and when she died. The additional sections of the exhibition all relate to Victoria and her environment, enabling visitors of all ages to experience the age of the dinosaurs as never before. 

Mapping Out Time

Exhibition creators wanted visitors to travel back to the dinosaur age and get a sense of what it was like to live in that time. A round surface was fabricated by Ravenswood Studio to replicate the terrain on which Victoria might have roamed. A volcano is one imposing feature, and there are valleys, thick undergrowth, and hills undulating over the landscape. 

From high above, Design Electronics mounted and edge-blended two Barco G-series projectors that map onto the fabricated surface a timelapse of the landscape. Various dinosaurs enter the scene, the volcano builds up steam, and then erupts in a flurry of light and sound. Design Electronics chief technology officer Felice Taddeo was responsible for this area of the exhibition. The team is particularly excited that is the first use case in a museum setting for the value-engineered Barco G-series.

[5 Ways 5G Could Impact Museums]

“Projection mapping is a technology vehicle that draws you into the scene,” Taddeo said. “Seeing what life might have been like for these dinosaurs is mesmerizing. I’ve seen visitors of all ages stand at this part of the exhibition and watch it all the way through many times over. Some even move around it to see it from various angles.”

Making a Dinosaur

Three interactive holograms with bespoke software by NGX Interactive give patrons the opportunity to create their own dinosaur by selecting various attributes. Once they have built their creature, they cast images into a dynamic video landscape to see it in action.

Three stations allow multiple members of a single family or group to create dinosaurs at the same time, making the experience even more engaging. As patrons build their dinosaur, it’s displayed in an encased acrylic cube. When finalized, it’s launched into the virtual landscape, so that its creator can watch their dinosaur interact with the world around it.

[National Gallery X Explores the Future of Museum Tech]

Tunneling Through Time

Nothing is more immersive than being fully surrounded by props, lights, and sounds. The final portion of the exhibition, guiding the way to the gift shop and exit, is a tunnel diorama that resembles a lush forest. This experience was taken to the next level with virtual lighting and projection-mapped lizards, bugs, birds, and other creepy-crawly things that scamper around as a video montage tells the story of birth through to the moment of extinction.

Medialon Showmaster LE is the control platform for the diorama. Guests experience 61 different audio tracks played from a Medialon Mas Pro Dante, seamlessly mixed and delivered to the Bose speakers with Dante. Bose amplifiers supply the power, and the mood is enhanced with customized video and lighting. Combined, the technology leaves guests with a lasting impression.

[King Tut Exhibition Immerses Visitors With AV]

At the end of the diorama, a combination of bass shakers, lighting cues, and overhead video envelopes guests in an environment the dinosaurs must have felt in their final moments. Visitors then pass through a video gallery where they hear and see highlights from the paleontologists involved in the excavation. The key players talk about what makes Victoria unique and special.

Harnessing Potential

Museums present one of the most compelling use cases for the innovative deployment emerging technologies. Instead of a branded message, museums are focused on telling a story, capturing a moment in time, and taking guests to a new level of immersive experience. Technology facilitates that experience.

As new, more versatile products enter the marketplace, the opportunity for ever-more flexible video surfaces for both projection and LED technology are sure to set the scene for ever greater things ahead.

In light of the rapid spread of Coronavirus and new social distancing recommendations from public health officials, many visitor-serving cultural organizations have made the decision to temporarily close their doors to the public. 

Just recently, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museums, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and museums of all shapes and sizes have shut down indefinitely or put drastic restrictions in place in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. As a result, many museums and cultural organizations face uncertainty about what the next days and weeks hold for them during this unusual time. But while they may be physically closed, what are creative and unique ways to keep audiences engaged?

Cuseum's Brendan Ciecko, Seema Rao of the Akron Art Museum, and Scott Stulen of Philbrook Museum of Art, are hosting a free webinar on March 18 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the subject.

The panelists will talk about steps cultural organizations can take to engage their audiences digitally and continue their important work as trusted community resources during this public health and economic crisis, even when physical sites remain in lockdown.

To learn more or to register, click here. 

To stay up to date with the impact of coronavirus on pro AV, subscribe to our enews. 

Careening through the solar system, the audience is immersed in the immensity of space—the inky void of infinite nothingness pierced by the dazzling brilliance of innumerable celestial bodies.

On January 14, the American Museum on Natural History (AMNH) held a media preview of the Hayden Planetarium’s latest space show, Worlds Beyond Earth. The production is the first media presentation designed to take full advantage of the immense dynamic range enabled by the planetarium’s new Christie Eclipse RGB laser projection system, which the museum’s president Ellen V. Futter called “the most sophisticated projection system in the world.” 

[Christie Helps AMNH Celebrate the Moon Landing with a Giant Leap in Projection Technology]

Part of the AMNH’s 150th anniversary celebration, the film flies viewers through the solar system, with Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o narrating the journey. The presentation—which is built on data from NASA, European Space Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration missions, telescopes, and supercomputer simulations—gives the audience a look at the wonders of our cosmic neighborhood with a degree of immersion that was previously impossible. 

“This is the beginning of a whole new opportunity for people to see what is possible with a projection system,” said Larry Paul, executive director, technology and custom solutions, enterprise and entertainment at Christie. “It’s been a ‘chicken-or-the-egg’ problem: no one’s ever created a show that really takes advantage of [this technology] because the systems didn’t exist. Now that the systems exist, it will enable the creation of shows that are much more compelling.”

According to Paul, the projection system took some five years to engineer, beginning in 2015, when the company first began collaborating on its development with the museum. Previously, the planetarium had employed projection systems that could get bright but couldn’t preserve the darkness required to emulate the blackness of space; they also had systems that were dark, but couldn’t generate enough light.  

This new system, comprised of six specially designed Christie Eclipse RGB laser projectors capable of 20,000,000:1 contrast, is not only the best of both of these worlds, but also provides UHD resolution, Rec. 2020 color, and 60FPS playout. Worlds Beyond Earth was created to take advantage of all of these capabilities.

“This show has four times the resolution and two times the frame rate [of what was previously possible],” said Benjy Bernhardt, senior director of electronic media engineering and support at the AMNH. “The data is eight times bigger for the same duration of the show. We needed more storage, we needed a faster network, and we needed new video servers that could process more data and get it onto screen.” Helping to solve this are 7thSense Delta Infinity servers, which are capable of handling the 8120x8120 resolution video files of the show.

In addition to the unparalleled video experience, the presentation also incorporates an object-based audio system featuring 23 speaker channels, two subwoofer channels, and a seat shaker. This adds a gripping cinematic dynamic to show, heightening the experience of flying through the rings of Saturn and watching the formation of the Sun. 

The system is composed of Meyer Sound speakers and was mastered using Meyer’s D-Mitri platform. “With the 23.3 [channel system], you’re in a kind of one-off special-venue domain, and you need special mixing tools,” Bernhardt said. “You also can only mix in the space.” To achieve the desired result, Bernhardt said the production’s mixing team worked essentially all night for six straight weeks, whenever the planetarium was closed to the public. In addition to the sound effects and Nyong’o’s narration, Worlds Beyond Earth also features an original score composed by Robert Miller that was recorded in Abbey Road Studios in London. So, the mixing team had to take exceptional care to ensure that all of these elements are presented harmoniously. “It’s a fine ballet, a balancing act,” Bernhardt said.

Overall, the production took 18 months from storyboarding to completion. On January 21, it will open to the public, allowing humans to get as close to the experience of space travel as is possible on Earth. 

Falcon's Creative Group has collaborated with the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. to provide six multimedia experiences for the new Becoming Jane exhibition.

Inside the exhibition—which was produced with the support of the Jane Goodall Institute—visitors will become immersed in Jane Goodall’s remarkable story of becoming the first person to live among and study wild chimpanzees, humankind’s closest living relatives.

“Our mission with this legacy exhibition is to celebrate the extraordinary life and work of Jane Goodall, exploring her early years, her fascinating studies in Gombe, and her current environmental advocacy," said Alan Parente, vice president of creative at National Geographic. "With Falcon’s Creative Group, we have created engaging multimedia and interactive, hands-on experiences that will enhance the storytelling. Jane used unorthodox approaches to study chimpanzees, yielding extraordinary results. In a way, we’ve done the same thing with this exhibition."

[High Tech Storytelling: Museums, Exhibits, and AV]

A variety of storytelling techniques and new technology are showcased throughout the exhibition. An introductory film that is part CG, part historical footage, shares Goodall’s personal journey, beginning with her childhood desire for adventure. It eventually reveals how she made it to Gombe Stream National Park, the enchanting—but danger-filled—jungle in Tanzania, where she pioneered methods for studying animals in their natural habitat and discovered many surprising behaviors that changed the way the world viewed not only chimpanzees, but humans as well.

A stunning 3D, 10K theater experience offers a unique opportunity to truly feel what it was like to be Goodall as she trekked through the forest searching for the elusive chimpanzees. The film superimposes CG chimps into footage of Gombe Stream National Park that was shot with a virtual reality 360-degree 3D camera. The floor and walls serve as additional projection surfaces, further drawing the guest into Goodall’s narrative. Gombe’s natural sounds, produced in 7.1 surround sound, round out the authentic environment.

Another portion of the exhibition features a hologram of Goodall, standing under twinkling starlight, sharing her most memorable recollections. Her image is projected onto a custom, life-size mold to make it appear as if she is just a few steps away, enhancing the intimacy of the experience. In one of two interactive experiences, guests can learn to talk like a chimpanzee, mimicking their common vocalizations to elicit a positive or negative reaction from a CG chimp.

For the other interactive experience, Falcon’s Creative Group unveiled Falcon’s Vision, an augmented reality solution that empowers guests to interact and engage with a physical space in new ways. Becoming Jane visitors will be the first members of the public to use this custom device. They will use a Falcon’s Vision headset as binoculars, locking their focus on a target to trigger important findings from Goodall’s groundbreaking research. The engaging animations are accompanied by the voice of Bill Wallauer, a filmmaker with the Jane Goodall Institute who spent many years in Gombe Stream National Park recording the daily behavior of chimpanzees.

The exhibition closes with videos of Jane sharing powerful messages of hope and asking for individuals to pledge to make a positive impact in their world.

“The entire team at Falcon’s is honored to partner with National Geographic and the Jane Goodall Institute to bring Jane’s historic, significant, and impactful discoveries to brilliant life," concluded Jason Ambler, vice president and executive producer of Falcon's Digital Media. "Our creative intent is to invoke feelings of actually traveling with Jane in Gombe Stream National Park as she made history. Though several exciting forms of technology are used, the focus is on immersing visitors in Jane’s personal experiences and leaving them with a deeper appreciation and understanding of chimpanzees and their relationship to humans."

Rising a majestic 1,250 feet from the epicenter of Manhattan Island, the Empire State Building is one of the most powerful symbols of New York City and perhaps the most recognizable building in the world. As such, an almost overwhelming mass of tourists pass through its doors each year—some 3.5 million—to make their way up to its famous observatories. 

To make the experience for these visitors as impressive as the structure itself, The Empire State Building Observatory (ESBO) is debuting the results of a four-year, $165 million renovation that includes the addition of tech-driven features that enrich the vertical adventure and guide the rest of one’s stay in New York. These technology appointments were carried out through a collaboration between AV integrator Diversified and creative digital studio Squint/Opera. 

“Managing the technology integration of the Empire State Building’s reimagination project was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Travis Heitchew, enterprise program manager at Diversified. “To bring modern and experiential exhibit technology to such a historic and iconic symbol for not only New York City, but the entire world, was a tremendous undertaking. I am so proud of the results and the Diversified team who stepped up to deliver a truly inspiring experience for all future ESBO visitors.”

“Most visitors, when they come to New York, the Empire State Building is the first place they go,” added Holly Houghton, head of production at Squint/Opera. “With this experience, visitors can orient themselves to the city and find unexpected places that they can go visit for the rest of their time.”

When guests arrive on the 80th floor, they come upon a series of touchscreen kiosks. Powered by data from NYC & Company, they serve up activity suggestions for tourists based on their length of stay in the city and their interests. “At the end they can either email it to themselves, scan a QR code, or just take a photo of it, and walk away with recommendations for 10 places to go that you never would have thought of,” Houghton said. 

From there, visitors pass by some displays showing content such as a video on the design of the lighting systems that dramatically bring the building’s crown to life at night, as well as a massive 12-foot-long, 8-foot-high Leyard TWA Series LED video wall in a 5x4 configuration with a 1.2mm pixel pitch showcasing a selection of some of the best photographs of the Empire State Building in recent years. In these areas, directional pendant speakers provide audio while keeping noise bleed low.

Guests then progress to a circle of viewfinders, much like the ones located on the outdoor observatory deck on the 86th floor. Inside of each is a 360-degree video shot in a different location throughout the city, including Grand Central Terminal, Central Park, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Using accelerometers and spatial audio, visitors can pan through immersive representations of city landmarks that are visible from the building. 

"Creating the audio for each of the different viewfinders meant capturing the real moments that happen at these iconic New York City locations every day and layering these recordings to recreate an immersive soundscape that really draws you into the heart of the city," said Rory White, composer and sound designer at Antfood, a creative audio studio that collaborated with Squint/Opera on the exhibits. 

“The idea is as a visitor, you come here, go all through downstairs through the museum and galleries that tell you all about the building, then you come up here to the 80th floor, this is your first view,” Houghton said. “This is your first opportunity to take a breath, and look around. You’re technically still in line for the elevators to get to the 86th floor, but no one knows it.”

The experience doesn’t stop after coming down from the 86th or 102nd floor observatories, either. Their descent leads them back to the 80th floor, where they can use self-service kiosks to find and purchase their photos from their visit. According to Squint/Opera, these use facial recognition technology to locate each guest’s picture quickly.

Lastly, a series of interactive touchscreen kiosks with Intel RealSense cameras provide a parting treat for visitors. Displaying a dense mosaic of social media-tagged photos from the top of the building, users’ silhouettes are rendered live onscreen in the form of pointillism—with nighttime images making up the dark parts of their body’s outline. When touched, the displays magnify areas of images, so guests can look for their own posts. 

“What began with the new observatory entrance opening in August 2018 is now as we intended: a fully educational and immersive journey which connects visitors from around the world to their emotional connections to the World’s Most Famous Building and helps them design their entire visit to New York City from the center of it all,” said Anthony E. Malkin, chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust. “The completed Empire State Building Observatory elevates our guests’ experience, from our new entrance to the dramatic and exciting new 102nd floor. At 88 years young, the Empire State Building remains the icon of innovation, aspirations, and dreams, and is the vibrant ancestor of all tall buildings around the world.” 

Green Hippo, specialist creator of tools for the real-time manipulation of video, has announced that its Hippotizer Media Servers are driving a range of custom high-resolution displays at the newly renovated Panorama 6th October Museum in Cairo, Egypt, which commemorates the 6th October War of 1973.

Using Hippotizer’s advanced mapping capabilities and flexible third-party integration options, local AV specialist Audio Technology S.A.E was able to meet the many challenge of this complex installation, which includes custom HD projection mapping solutions in three interior halls, as well as on the outside of the building itself. The museum is now able to pursue its educational remit with a full-day entertainment program, which brings the history of this troubled period back to vivid life for audiences of all ages. 

The building’s exterior is the projection surface for 4K resolution content, mapped and fed to six high-power 30,000-lumen laser projectors by a Hippotizer Karst+ Media Server. Inside, three halls feature high-resolution projection. In Hall 1’s 150-seat 5D cinema, a Hippotizer Amba+ provides Full HD, 3D stereoscopic content, while in Hall 3 a Hippotizer Boreal+ feeds a 10K resolution U-shaped display, via six 13,000 lumens Christie Digital laser projectors, filling the audience’s visual field for a truly immersive experience. Finally, in Hall 4, another Hippotizer Boreal+ provides Full HD content for an immersive, 360-degree projection using nine 10,000-lumen Christie Digital laser projectors. Here, the footage features scenes from Egypt’s more recent political times, the 2011 and 2013 revolutions.

“Mounting, blending and aligning the projectors in the very small spaces to cover the large screen surfaces, especially for the 3D mapping projection show in the outdoor zone and in Hall 3, was a big challenge,” said Jacko Makram, project design leader for Audio Technology Co, S.A.E. “Also, deploying and managing the content in high resolutions of 4K or 10K, blending these projections, and then ensuring consistent system stability during the daily shows.”

With the blending and wrapping capabilities of the Hippotizer Media Servers, these challenges were relatively simple to deal with. “We easily managed the content to fit our custom screens and split the required content for each projector,” said Michael Emad, project installation leader. “Also, the Hippotizers’ ability to be controlled via third-party systems, such as Crestron or Medialon Show Controller, and to synchronize with other system elements, allows for easy operation by the show operator.”

Throughout the nine-month period of installation, commissioning and staff training, Audio Technology Co, S.A.E were aided by Green Hippo’s technical support, from training for the design and installation teams to ongoing backup during the project phases.

The result has been appreciated by all concerned. “The client has said that the completed installation exceeds all their expectations,” Makram said, “and the audiences to date have been so excited, as this is the first time in Egypt that we have had all of this technology and experience combined together in one place.”

To help look back 50 years on one of mankind’s greatest achievements, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is unveiling one giant leap for projection technology.

On Saturday, July 20, on the anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic moon landing, the New York museum is hosting SpaceFest with a series of events celebrating space exploration. Capping off the day will be a presentation of moon mission simulations in the newly renovated Hayden Planetarium, which now features six Christie Eclipse RGB laser projectors that were developed in collaboration with museum directors, who say they feature the highest contrast ratio ever achieved in a projector for this purpose.

“The Hayden dome, which recently underwent a major upgrade, is now outfitted with a high dynamic range projector system that is the first of its kind in a planetarium anywhere,” said Ellen Futter, president of the AMNH. “The projectors’ contrast ratio went from 7,000:1 to greater than 1,000,000:1, which means that visitors will see both the brightest and darkest images in the universe as never before, making the Hayden not only the most advanced planetarium in the world, but also the most advanced planetarium ever attempted. So, prepare to be dazzled.”

The event features 3D simulations built with OpenSpace visualization software, which uses NASA mission data to model the flight path the Apollo astronauts took to the moon. The presentation flies guests down to a richly detailed a lunar surface rendered with high-resolution satellite photos of the landing sites, where details such as the shadows of the lander base and footprints of the astronauts in the soil are visible. From there, it’s off to explore Mars. 

These voyages through space are rendered all the more lifelike by the new projection system and low-gain screen, which dramatically enhance the lighting dynamics between illuminated celestial bodies and the inky blackness of the void. 

According to Larry Paul, executive director, technology and custom solutions, enterprise and entertainment at Christie, the Eclipse projector line was developed in close partnership with the Hayden Planetarium, beginning in 2015. In a truly light-controlled environment, they are capable of 20,000,000:1 contrast. Now that the projectors are installed, the museum is developing HDR content specifically for the system. These presentations are expected to debut in January of 2020.

“We have an amazing team of engineers at Christie that have worked tirelessly on making this right, and just getting all the details and trying to nail down everything, because it matters,” Paul said. “Because the Hayden Planetarium, more than anyone else, can take people on a journey into space with absolutely incredible details in the depth of space. Not just to the moon, but way beyond, to the ends of what we’ve observed. And seeing the darkness is something that has never been possible before. It’s those subtleties and details—that’s where outer space really lives.” 

Guadalajara’s new Lunaria planetarium is equipped with six Christie Mirage 304K 3DLP projectors and Evans & Sutherland’s Digistar 6 system, illuminating its 8K dome with 30 million pixels across 500 square meters. The integration was carried out by Planetarios Digitales, a local representative of Evans & Sutherland (E&S).

“The government of the State of Jalisco wanted a world-class 3D stereo system and that is something you can only get with these projectors, which are tried and tested by E&S in various installations all around the world,” said Enrique Fonte, director of Planetarios Digitales, a Mexican company specialized in the design and supply of planetariums. “We chose the Christie Mirage 304K model because of the 4K resolution and its exceptional brightness with 30,000 lumens, as well as the fact that it operates at 120Hz. We were also convinced by the quality of the color and by its easy connectivity, which ensures impeccable image quality in 2D and in 3D.”

Fonte also underscored the 30 million pixels after blending, “which means that the size of the pixel is smaller and imperceptible for the audience, besides producing a brightness that makes this one of the world’s best domes.”

“The six Christie Mirage projectors are performing efficiently, providing extremely high quality and resolution in our dome,” said Alfonso Islas, director of Lunaria.

The projection is run by Evans & Sutherland’s Digistar 6 system. Combining hardware and software, Digistar 6 uses image synchrony, auto blending and auto alignment to create a high-quality image that is always in focus on every part of the projection surface. And, with its Domecasting technology, Lunaria can connect in real time with other planetariums around the world that are equipped with the same system, thus allowing them to share content, discoveries, news, conferences, and events.

The Christie equipment is installed around the perimeter of the hall, projecting 2D and 3D full-dome documentaries and films rendered for dome. The screen used is the NanoSeam model by Spitz with a diameter of 18 meters (360 by 180 degrees) and an 18-degree to ensure greater immersion. The 175-seat capacity dome is also equipped with a 7.1 surround sound system and a perimetral ambient lighting system with RGB LEDs and DMX control.

Lunaria is already acknowledged as one of the world’s best equipped planetariums: “It is definitively among the world’s top five,” Fonte said, “and it has the best and most celebrated system for planetariums and immersion rooms in the world, with the best screen in the world and with the best projection system in the world.”

One of the Hong Kong Science Museum’s latest exhibitions—a complex projection interpretation of the Landscape Map of the Silk Road—used AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA two media servers. 

The install was designed, supplied, and system integrated by Cosmo Pro AV, and ran from Dec. 7, 2018, to Feb. 20, 2019.

The original map was created as a painting for the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty. With over 200 cities marked on the map, ranging from the Jiayu Pass in Gansu Province in the east to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in the west, it demonstrated that the Chinese had grasped a very clear geographical understanding of the Silk Road thanks to centuries of trade. 

For the recent exhibition, the museum oversaw the fabrication and installation of a 32m x 3m edge blending projection that would allow visitors to experience the Landscape Map of the Silk Road as an animated, digital exhibit. 

“The Hong Kong Science Museum approached us to provide a comprehensive solution for the edge blending projection," said Cosmo Pro AV’s Jason Yeung. "The system needed to be flexible above all else, as the museum planned to experiment with multi-layered playback, bringing the traditional art pieces to life with animations.”

Cosmo Pro AV specified a pair of AV Stumpfl’s new PIXERA two Quad media servers, complete with AV Stumpfl media server software for edge blending and show control. This system was set up to remotely control 8 Vivitek DU7090Z laser illuminated projectors.

“The visual part of the system was not overly complex, but the museum required show control to be implemented without any external devices or hardware," said Yeung. "This played to AV Stumpfl’s strengths with the full integration of AV Stumpfl's Touch and AVIO. The PIXERA two servers themselves provided a very price-competitive solution, and the compact chassis enabled minimum rack and storage space.

“AV Stumpfl media server software was chosen for this project because of its flexibility to integrate with Touch and AVIO, which controlled the audio level adjustments, scheduled on/off and projector on/off and status reports.”

The 8 laser projectors were placed opposite the 32m canvas, though the team from Cosmo Pro AV had limited access to them once they were installed. As a result, the projectors had to be 100% remotely controlled and triggered over network via AV Stumpfl's AVIO, due to the fact that no remote IR signal could reach the placement area. 

“As the lighting conditions varied constantly during the setup process,” said Yeung. “We were lucky to have the flexibility of the Vioso calibrator to adjust individual output color adjustments and edge blending curves for a smooth and seamless picture.”  

Due to the temporary nature of the exhibit, the team experienced times where the projection image would shift over a period of time and have to be maintained. 

“By setting up a wireless network across the PIXERA servers, we enabled our programmers to wirelessly access and adjust the edge blends,” said Yeung. 

“The client was happy with the overall performance of the servers, as they were very stable and only required one preventive restart during the entire exhibition period. This is to be expected when servers are required to run 24/7.

"Thanks to the success of the Landscape Map of the Silk Road exhibition, other government museums managed by the HK Leisure and Cultural Department have already expressed their interest in deploying these servers for both temporary and fixed installations.”

Recently enlarged from 8,500 to 30,000 square feet, Houston’s Museum of Natural Science’s Wiess Energy Hall is a testament to the city’s key role in the United States energy sector, with exhibits dedicated to conservation, renewable energy, hydrogen power, and natural gas. 

Looking to engage visitors with a stimulating visual experience that could keep pace with the expectations of modern technology, the museum redesigned Wiess Energy Hall’s displays and created an entirely new thematic exhibit: Energy City, a 2,500-square-foot 3D landscape of Houston. 

This project would be a first for the facility in both size and complexity, so it was imperative that the project be cost effective, require minimal oversight, and utilize technology that could last throughout the life of a museum exhibit. Ultimately, projection mapping paired with animation was selected to bring the energy value chain to life. This would be the first projection mapping exhibit of its type and the most ambitious project that the museum had embarked upon. 

To design and fabricate the landscape, Wiess Energy Hall selected Paul Bernhard Exhibit Design and Consulting (PBE), which reimagined the expansive Gulf coastal waters and landscapes of Southeast and Central Texas for Energy City. PBE then selected production company RabCup to provide the technical knowledge needed to animate the project in a way that would both educate and delight guests, in accordance with the museum’s mission.

Recognizing Wiess Energy Hall’s concerns and the technological needs of a project on this scale, RabCup examined several projector products and brands. In the end, the team installed 32 Vivitek DU8090Z laser projectors throughout the exhibit. Equipped with a laser light source, the DU8090Z features a WUXGA resolution, 8,000 ANSI lumens of brightness, and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. This contrast ratio was critical to ensuring the exhibit’s crisp and immersive visuals were maintained, even during night scenes. 

“Vivitek’s projectors checked all the boxes,” said AJ Freysteinson, creative director and co-founder of RabCup. “We needed projectors that could bring a wow factor to the amazing custom animation created for this installation, but even more important was the reliability. The projectors that we installed would need to run more than 50 hours a week for as long as 10 years, with minimal upkeep. It’s no small task, but we found the performance, durability, and personalized support we needed with Vivitek.”

Since opening in late 2017, Energy City has proven to be among the museum’s top attractions. The project is massive, with 32 projectors, 168 fiber optic sensors, 4 miles of fiber optic cable, and more than 30 minutes of custom animation, including a five-minute day-to-night scene and eight science modules. 

For Energy City’s first year of operations, the projectors ran for more than 3,000 hours. By comparison, lamp-based solutions would have needed to be replaced three times at this point—a collective total of 96 bulbs. Given this fact, a lamp-based alternative would have necessitated the use of nearly 1,000 bulbs throughout the life of the exhibit, resulting in substantial time and money to replace and recalibrate the units, as well as exhibition delays to allow for the proper reset and testing. 

While the project is still young, museum officials are thrilled with the results. The exhibition runs every day, captivating Houston residents and visitors alike. Energy City has drawn praise from local energy companies, as well as outside museums that have sought to emulate the installation.

“Energy City was quite a feat, and despite seeing it regularly for more than a year, it continues to amaze me,” said Dustin Newcomb, director of exhibits at Wiess Energy Hall. “In an age where kids are growing up with unlimited access to information and entertainment, our ability to create astonishingly breathtaking and immersive experiences like Energy City is critical to ensuring that museums endure long into the future.”

Watch a video of the exhibit here.

MORE INFO

Vivitek USA

Wonder can rouse the senses, but can it change the world? In The Passions of the Soul, René Descartes extols the virtues of wonder, arguing that new ways of seeing can inspire awe. “When our first encounter with some object takes us by surprise,” he writes, “and we judge it to be new, or very different from what we have previously experienced or from what we expected it to be, this causes us to wonder at it and be astonished.”

Museums are spaces where inquiry lives, wonder takes root, and information is shared. We also rely on museums for trusted data and ways to contextualize that data. In this edifying spirit, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City has updated its Climate Change exhibit in the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. The exhibit’s new elements, which have been in planning and development since 2016, draw on extensive research. At the heart of the installation is an interactive, content-rich media wall that lets visitors engage with the scientific evidence of climate change. Visualized data, high-resolution imagery, animations, text, and graphics help tell this evolving story.

EVIDENCE-BASED UNDERSTANDING

“One of the greatest current threats to life on Earth is climate change, which has largely been induced by human activity,” said Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, stated in a release. “And one of the most important responsibilities of the museum is to present the scientific topics of our times to the public in ways that are comprehensible, accessible, and engaging. At the same time, misinformation about climate change has become widespread and the museum’s role in fostering greater knowledge and evidence-based understanding is more urgent than ever.”

EDUCATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE

According to the museum, The Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth is one of the most popular museum exhibition halls for teachers and school groups, from pre-kindergarten through college. It also serves as a learning lab for graduate students in the museum’s Master of Arts in teaching with a concentration in Earth science, a program in the Richard Gilder Graduate School.

LCD MEDIA WALL TECHNOLOGY

The new Climate Change section features a 9x4 Barco UniSee LCD media wall comprised of 36 high-definition 55-inch tiled panels with essential messages about climate change. The modular yet bezel-less LCD design gives visitors more viewable space with which to interact, creating a seamless multimedia canvas. The experience is both personalized and shared—viewable close up, in detail, as well as from a distance with “metamessages” boldly designed.

The media wall installation spanned approximately four months, including the demolition of the existing infrastructure and preparation work. Time was also devoted to fine-tuning by the client before the exhibition went live in July of 2018.

NONLINEAR STORYTELLING

The exhibit is also nonlinear in that visitors can approach it from any direction and immediately begin the experience.

Below the content screens are interactive stations based on data from scientists and organizations, including NASA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, that explore three main themes: “How Climate Works,” “Our Warming World,” and “Consequences of Climate Change.” The wall’s uniformity contributes to the coherence and narrative context of information that can dynamically shift depending on who is operating the interactive stations. The wall is installed in a dimly lit exhibition hall, but the 800cd/m2 luminance and 4,000:1 contrast ratio provide ample brightness.

LAYERING TIME

New technologies are proving to be useful tools for grand and legacy institutions who want to reimagine their roles as society evolves. Apps, learning portals, and virtual and augmented reality solutions are being deployed to enhance the visitor experience. How does the American Museum of Natural History, known for its legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil, beloved dioramas, and artifacts, approach emerging technologies?

Vivian Trakinski, director of science visualization, American Museum of Natural History, sees new technologies as part of an evolving conversation.

“Dioramas now are as much about art as anything else, but when they were introduced to the public, they were about providing the public access to new locations,” Trakinski said, “parts of nature that they otherwise could not access.”

This concept informs how museum professionals approach digital media now, she said, because so much of scientific work depends on digital data, digital artifacts, and specimens. Trakinski believes that digital tools are part of how the next generation of scientists are studying nature, including the climate record.

“People have access to all parts of the world through travel, through films, through television—but we still don’t have natural access to a climate record that expands thousands and millions of years,” she articulated. “Scientists are generating data and visualizing that data in order to explore these dimensions of the natural world. That’s a big part of our strategy.”

She also enthused that the dioramas, adored by many, “are not going anywhere.” Instead, she believes that digital platforms can complement existing artifacts and exhibitions, and the museum is prototyping with AR, VR, and mobile phones to help layer time.

“This is a natural history museum,” Trakinski said. “We want to show not just what we know today about the natural world, but there is an aspect of the history of science that we want to maintain. And so, with these digital layers, we can really give people access to what we understood and how we presented it 150 years ago, and what scientists are actively engaged in today.”

Lauri Halderman, vice president of exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History, concurred. “As exhibit designers, one of the things we’re always trying to do is find the right medium to tell the story, to tell the message, and to do it in a powerful way,” Halderman stated. “While dioramas were compelling then, and I think they still are now, a big digital display like this is equally powerful in different ways.”

DEFINITIVE DATA

While there is some crosstalk about whom to believe regarding climate change science, Lauri Halderman noted that museums are very trusted sources.

“We know that from public opinion polls [museums are] interestingly more trusted than the government, more trusted than newspapers,” Halderman said. “We’re fortunate that as institutions we have a lot of public trust; we want to use that to everyone’s benefit. We know that people are increasingly interested and want more information, and this exhibit is a way to put the information out in front of people without a lot of intermediaries.”

“The data is the data,” Trakinski said.

“Come see for yourself,” added Halderman. “Come explore it. You learn a lot by spending time with the data.”

THE ART OF CONTENT

Working with the creative teams at the museum was challenging for the AV integration team, said Don Parenta, relationship development manager, IVCi, but it was also a great learning experience.

“Content creation is its own art,” Parenta said. “The creators have specific needs, like color reproduction, for instance. Getting the color pallet over 36 panels is always a challenge with a tiled wall.” Both the AV integrators and the content team were committed to a compelling visualization with no compromise in video quality or legibility.

Museum stakeholders are also strategizing about how and when to update the exhibit content. “We have a few interactives that rely on annual data,” Trakinski said. “You can explore the climate record based on annual data points. Those will be updated every year. The large message area we will definitely update, whether it’s going to be twice a year, four times a year, or when there is something interesting that happens that’s related to climate change. We have the ability to be responsive.”

Once formal evaluations are conducted with visitors, the team will develop a full strategy as to the periodicity and the types of content changes.

LEAD WITH THE EXPERIENCE

For other museum stakeholders looking to bring next-generation AV into their venues, Don Parenta recommends thoroughly vetting available technologies.

“There are many options to consider on the visualization side, and also behind-the-scenes products like wall processors, signal distribution, mounting infrastructure, and more. Understanding the experience you want your visitors and your donors to have is critical. Spend time on mockups. Study the results before pulling the trigger.”

“I love the museum and this particular exhibit about change on the planet,” said Hans Dekeyser, Barco’s VP of sales, enterprise.

Dekeyser appreciates how this exhibit is using data and technology to raise awareness about a critical issue that can help humans and nature “live more seamlessly.” And seamless is the idea word, he said. “This UniSee provides the most ‘seamless’ visual experience for LCD video walls, and Barco is so proud to be a part of it.”

‘WE’RE PART OF THE STORY’

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” Our warming planet is a global problem requiring global solutions. To that end, museum designers and exhibition teams did not spend too much time advocating for individual solutions in this installation. “Yes, people should change their light bulbs, and conserve personal resources. That’s all very important,” said Halderman. “But ‘big picture solutions’ to climate change are what we need—not just individual actions, but thinking politically and voting.” While this is difficult to achieve, the American Museum of Natural history team hopes to “motivate people to become more curious, to become more knowledgeable, and to take that out into the arena of their lives.”

There’s another aspect to climate change that’s communicated by the data and this unique exhibit. “One side of the media wall is modern climate and the other side is about the paleoclimate,” Trakinski said. “We want people to understand that the climate is not fixed. Our climate has always been changing. Our climate evolves. Now we’re part of that system, so we can push it to evolve in one direction or another. There’s nothing fixed about our Earth today. Our climate was not always our climate. There’s a reason why humans evolved when they did, when life began when it did. It’s an ongoing story. We’re part of the story, we’re players in that story, and we want people to feel agency to act accordingly.”

Margot Douaihy is the editor-at-large of AV Technology magazine. She teaches at Franklin Pierce University.

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The legendary Concorde no longer takes to the skies with a thundering roar, but the supersonic jet—which flew 60,000 feet above the Earth at twice the speed of sound—lives on in a specially constructed hangar at Aerospace Bristol (England) complete with a vivid projection mapping display thanks to Christie and Projection Artworks.

Using Alpha Foxtrot—the last Concorde ever built—for the backdrop, Projection Artworks selected four Christie D13WU-HS 1DLP laser projectors for a unique storytelling projection mapping canvas. Using custom content that fuses iconic footage with exclusive interviews and graphical effects mapped on the right-hand side of the front fuselage, visitors embark on a 12-minute journey through the Concorde's storied past from its design to the technical intricacies of the engine. Celebrities who flew on the Concorde are part of the visual voyage as are flight paths and x-ray images, while the audio track features commentary from engineers, pilots, and stewards who worked aboard the vessel.

“We created three chapters of content for the animation with the first being the making of Concorde," said Gavin MacArthur, creative director, Projection Artworks. "Our aim was to capture the history and challenge of the project and the massive engineering undertaking involved. The second chapter was technical design. The third and final chapter centered on the emotional connection of those involved. From the pilots, engineers, and the people that built them, everyone [involved] has an emotional connection to this project. In this hangar, Concorde is the one standalone plane—it is the hero and our creative is the focus of that.”

Using a laser scanner to take accurate measurements at three million points on the aircraft, Projection Artworks completed 50 scans and created a 3D model. They then combined all the points to form one three-dimensional point cloud, resulting in an accurate model.

“It wasn't just technical, it was very moving," MacArthur said. "One thing that was apparent was a lot of people put a considerable amount of time into the Concorde project. It was a beautiful plane; you can't spoil it by putting bad content onto it, you've got to do it justice and make sure the information is technically correct.”

"After installing Christie laser projectors in previous installations, we knew they would provide the right balance in terms of chassis size with all the control capabilities we needed," said Jackson Taylor, head of technology, Projection Artworks.

More than 150,000 visitors went through the doors within the first 10 months of the attraction opening, and the exhibit continues to earn five-star reviews on several travel websites and social media.

"I was really proud of this project,” MacArthur said. “When you work on it, you almost have these blinders on; it's hard to stand up and appreciate it. When we watched it through for the first time we knew it was a job well done and the reaction you see makes it a lot better.”

The What: A 21st-century audiovisual and interactive solution for museums and visitor centers, Mad Systems’ patent-pending Facial Recognition and Color Recognition Controlled Media Delivery Systems are designed to deliver tailored media to exhibit visitors—with no need for phones, tablets, or anything else that distracts the audience.

The What Else: The Facial Recognition System can start recognition from a picture submitted by the visitor from home prior to their visit using their home computer or mobile device, from imagery and information collected when the visitor enters the venue using a kiosk or ticketing staff, or on an ad-hoc basis when they get to the exhibits. The user can select his/her preferences—such as preferred language, age group, interests, or a predetermined time limit for museum visits—and the Facial Recognition system will deliver media to the user based on these selections.

The Color Recognition System is based on a very simple concept: school groups and clubs often arrive at visitor centers wearing uniform, printed shirts, scarves, hats, or jackets that are bright colored and easily identifiable. When a group of visitors come to the entry, a camera looks at one of the shirts or jackets, and logs that color. A staff member, or a group member then tells the system what type of content to deliver—whether that is elementary content for younger children, or a more advanced experience for high school students. Even if no common color is worn, visitor center staff could hand out colored badges on lanyards or self-adhesive tags for clothing, and the system can still pick this color out to deliver customized content. Bright yellow could be used for vision-impaired guests, and blue for hearing-impaired visitors. Elementary kids might be issued red badges; a group of physics students might use purple. A Spanish language preference could be indicated by cyan, and other non-native English speakers could wear green.

The Bottom Line: Mad Systems’ Facial Recognition and Color Recognition Solutions provide media content that is tailored to visitors, without wristbands, RFID, or other interfaces. These unique systems use cameras and sensors to look at the space in front of an exhibit to identify the person or previously defined colors to deliver media in a way that matters to the visitor.

“Comeback Season: Sports After 9/11” is a new special exhibition at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum that chronicles the sporting world’s response after the 9/11 attacks. The exhibit highlights the vital role professional sports played in national mourning as fans rallied around a unifying message of hope and perseverance in the weeks and months following the 2001 attacks.

A full halt of all U.S. sports followed the attacks, with stadiums in the New York metro area used to support the relief effort. The exhibition displays large-scale crowd images and custom documentaries depicting fans’ emotions as the careful resumption of sporting events played an important role in the country’s healing process.

C&G Partners spearheaded the exhibition design and AV integration of “Comeback Season.” The company was tasked with exhibition layout, graphic design, sound, and media production for the exhibition, which uses various AV treatments to communicate a narrative designed to echo actual sports experiences to exhibition visitors.

“Comeback Season” is divided chronologically into nine sections, with additional stations dedicated to stories of victims and their families. Each of the nine sections includes dramatically large images, objects from the museum’s collection or on loan for the exhibition, poignant quotes, and media.

Digital media is a central element of “Comeback Season,” and BrightSign’s XT1143 players are used to power video distribution throughout the exhibition. The media players distribute nine custom-made, short documentaries to large monitors located in various stations within the exhibition. These documentaries artfully combine oral histories with powerful media excerpts and custom audio scores to depict the emotions of sports fans during these turbulent times.

“BrightSign’s players allow for a flawlessly smooth and crisp viewing experience, enabling exhibition visitors to relive and experience the return of games that helped heal the country,” said Jonathan Alger, managing partner who oversaw the project for C&G Partners.

BrightSign-enabled projection mapping intensifies the Halftime digital installation, one of the exhibition’s key elements. The large-scale projection map of fan-made ephemera shows the evolution of fan sentiment in the days, weeks and months following 9/11. Pairing BrightSign’s media players with projectors adds a powerful vitality to the tapestry of homemade fan posters projected onto three-dimensional panels.

“Comeback Season” is BrightSign’s latest involvement in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. The company’s media players also power video distribution for a large portion of the facility’s permanent exhibitions. “Comeback Season” opened in mid-Summer 2018 and runs until Spring 2019.

A platoon of camouflaged soldiers steps from a Blackhawk helicopter and eases quietly through the yellow-green night-vision glow toward its target. Once the troops assemble against an exterior wall, an explosion blasts through an adjacent door. The midnight raid is on.

It’s not real for visitors to the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL, but a new virtual reality (VR) exhibit with vivid audiovisual elements gets them as close to the action as possible.

“The museum wanted to show the experience of a modern soldier and [what it’s like] to be in their shoes,” said Kevin Snow, creative director at Luci Creative, one of the firms behind the VR experience. “We wanted to create some sense of empathy for how hard it is, through their eyes. The natural progression was to start looking at what we might do through the VR world.”

The First Division Museum tells the history of the first permanent division of the regular U.S. Army, formed in 1917, to serve on the Western Front of World War I, through tanks, artifacts, and more from every theater of war where the division has served.

Part of a major exhibit redesign completed in August 2017, the museum’s VR experience transports 14 visitors at a time to a compound raid from the cabin of a replica Blackhawk. Video content captured from a four-camera rig, including 360-degree footage, gives visitors the soldiers’ point of view, while augmented stereo sound effects blend with human voices for a realistic immersion into a modern military campaign.

“We felt that allowing people to get on board a Blackhawk helicopter, put on a VR headset and be immediately transported to the moment of being on the helicopter with a squad—and then go with those guys through the entire operation, and really see what it would be like—was something unique,” Snow said.

Museums are moving outside the traditional exhibit space by exploring creative ways of getting visitors inside their stories and subjects. Audiovisual technologies are playing a lead role in these immersive and interactive spaces.

At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, a 400,000-square-foot facility that welcomes more than a million visitors every year, a reimagined submarine exhibit combines video, audio, and physical media and effects to put visitors in a simulated World War II battle.

The U-505 Dive Simulator draws visitors deeper into the story of the collection’s 251-foot German U-505 submarine, captured off the coast of Africa in 1944, with an immersive, videogame-based sensory experience.

The simulation begins with a tutorial that weaves in historical context, showing how submarine crews reacted to threats from other vessels and aircraft in a combat setting. Then, the user is propelled into the heat of battle, with a challenging dive order to avoid a torpedo that leads to one of four outcomes based on the user’s skill level.

“The museum wanted to make it really difficult, actually, but approachable at the same time,” said Austin Mayer, interactive director at Leviathan, a creative agency specializing in digital media and interaction. “That [led to], ‘How do we make it fun, how do we make it immersive?’”

Each simulation station faces three HD LCD screens with a 5760x1080 composite resolution, arranged to give the user a wide-angle visual. Audio of the simulated mission—the sounds of the engines, a commanding officer barking orders—hits the user in 4.1 surround delivered by four loudspeakers in the headrest. Two ButtKickers, one under the seat and one on the steering column, take the place of subwoofers and give the sensation of movement and impact.

Creative uses of audio are also part of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, MS, which tells unvarnished stories of the civil rights movement in the state. Visitors walking through the first two of eight galleries randomly trigger flash points and hear barking dogs or harassment from disembodied voices. The effect addresses the culture of fear that African-Americans experienced in the Jim Crow era in the Southern U.S.

The museum’s centerpiece is a towering, reactive light sculpture that fills the central area connecting all seven other galleries, named “This Little Light of Mine” for one of three civil rights-era rallying songs used in the exhibit. Sensors placed in four different zones in the room detect movement, so as more people gather in the gallery, more voices are heard singing. Addressable LED strips adhered within the sculpture also react with increased intensity as the crowd grows, creating a brilliant, unifying collage of light and color.

“The initial story of civil rights is such a dark story, and it's such a strong story [that] evokes such strong emotions in people, that we needed a space for people to stop and take a breath before they continued their journey,” said Richard Woollcott, vice president of museum planning and exhibit design at Hilferty and Associates.

“The sculpture was designed to remind everybody that it was the combined forces of everyone working together, all of those lights coming together, to create the civil rights movement,” he added.

Ninety miles east in Meridian, MS., the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience incorporates RFID-triggered projection and curved LED screens to educate visitors on the state’s native creative luminaries, including William Faulkner, Oprah Winfrey, and Jim Henson.

Design firm Gallagher and Associates, which counts exhibits at the International Spy Museum and the National Archives in Washington, DC among its clients, drew from its team members’ experience in theatrical art and design for the museum project. The group’s extensive projection mapping experience was key to a series of overhead-projection pieces, including an exhibit on literary figures where 4K video animates a blank writing desk and typewriter with details on the writer’s life and writing style.

“The projection mapping technique we used really connects in a unique way a physical object [with the] cinematic storytelling environment,” said Ariel Effron, creative director at Gallagher and Associates. “That involves the very manual labor of mapping every key of the typewriter to be able to project them pixel accurate. We gain this sort of theatrical magic of the small-scale set.”

The museum’s culinary experience takes this concept a step further. When visitors place RFID-tagged plates at specific locations on a dining room table, RFID readers trigger tailored video content from the overhead projection system. Visitors learn about regional cuisine and the favorite foods of famous Mississippians, like Elvis Presley’s peanut butter and banana sandwich.

The museum also features a video experience that takes visitors on a simulated boat ride through the state’s natural history, using a series of staggered, curved LED screens that engulf viewers for a three-dimensional effect.

“I think [that arrangement of screens] creates a much more immersive environment,” said Effron. “It puts visitors in a very realistic envelope.

“When you take it from two dimensional to the third dimension, the peripheral vision of each visitor is surrounded. You are now inside this environment.”

Christie has donated a 1DLP laser projector and lens to a new large-scale exhibit called “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man,” which opened at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. on March 30.

Each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a city of more than 75,000 people rises out of the dust for a single week. During that time, enormous experimental art installations are erected, many of which are ritually burned to the ground. “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” brings the large-scale, participatory works from this desert gathering to the nation’s capital for the first time.

Six major artworks are erected in adjoining streets and Five Ton Crane, an Oakland, California-based industrial arts collective, is one of three featured artists contributing to the larger group exhibit running until September 16, 2018 (with some works remaining on exhibit until January 21, 2019.

David Shulman, co-founder of Five Ton Crane, said, “Art cars have come to play a big role within the ‘Burning Man’ culture and the Renwick Gallery invited us to build a ‘mutant vehicle’ for this exhibit. Our concept is a 1920s Art Deco movie palace on wheels—in essence, an open air ‘drive-in movie theater’ and performance space. There are three rows of seats, a concession stand, candy and popcorn, and ticket booth, all done in our own version of 1920s style. Additionally, our exhibit is fully modular, allowing for the mutant vehicle to be built and then re-assembled inside the main first floor gallery.”

The Christie projectors power a series of black and white silent movies created by lead artist Bree Hylkema, which show on the screen throughout the Five Ton Crane exhibit.

“I am delighted that Christie agreed to support our creation through this donation,” said Shulman, who was already familiar with Christie’s visual technology through his role as chief financial officer of Obscura Digital. “Christie DWU850-GS projectors are the perfect solution for our art creation because Christie’s laser illumination eliminates the need for lamp and filter replacements and provides 20,000 hours of low-cost operation.”

“We needed something that could last for a long time, with little maintenance, that were powerful enough to withstand running 10 hours a day for six months—and that’s where Christie came in,” added Sean Orlando, co-founder of Five Ton Crane. “In the marquee, there is a monkey’s head, which was inspired by Hanuman, the monkey god, and his mouth is open. From the inside of the monkey’s head comes the beam from the Christie projector; it looks really cool.”

“We’re really appreciative that Christie was willing to work with on this,” concluded Shulman, “and it has been working out really well. The movies were created in-house by a collection of our artists and there are plans for six more movies to be added.”

Paul Dumpel, sales manager, Christie, said the specific nature of this large-scale art project, based on the concept of a movie theater, was a compelling reason to support the project with the donation of the two projectors and lenses. “Christie’s visual technology will be on full view at the Renwick Gallery for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who annually come through the doors of the museum.”

It’s opening weekend at the California Science Center, and nearly 12,000 visitors have made the pilgrimage to gaze at artifacts from a worldwide star who is both well-known and a mystery—not bad for a guy who’s been dead for about 3,300 years. The California Science Center is presenting the world premiere of “King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh.” It is the largest King Tut exhibition that has ever toured and it includes 150 artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb. Sixty of those rare objects had never traveled outside of Egypt before.

The exhibit, produced by IMG, is also celebrating the upcoming centenary of the tomb’s discovery. Immersive multimedia technologies complement the precious treasures to take guests on a journey of the pharaoh’s life and death, and Tut’s “quest for immortality.” This is next-level storytelling at its most creative, and AV is playing an integral role.

A JOURNEY LIKE NONE OTHER

The dual-level exhibit boasts three immersive gallery theater “experiences” as well as an assortment of artifacts. King Tut’s burial jewelry and transportation for his next life are a part of the exhibit, and high-tech theater experiences immerse exhibitgoers in the story of Tut’s journey through the underworld to the afterlife, bridging the gap between life and death.

Displays and multimedia presentations explore the history and work of archeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb in 1922. The burial objects are presented in the context of the Egyptian belief system. In a fascinating nod to modern culture, some displays highlight how subsequent CT scans and DNA analysis of the King’s mummy have revealed new information about Tut’s life, and further explanation about his mysterious death.

So how does a museum today show these priceless artifacts and tell the stories of Tut and his discoverer Howard Carter? It wasn’t easy, as the exhibit’s galleries span two floors of the museum featuring immersive and automated theater experiences. A trove of advanced audio-video technology and control brings visitors closer to the Golden Pharaoh’s experience.

Visitors first enter a theater space with a 23-footwide by 7-foot-high curved and acoustically trans parent screen displaying edge-blended images from three 4K Barco laser projectors. “That sets the stage for the entire exhibition,” said Paul Watanabe, assistant deputy director of operations at California Science Center. Visitors are treated to a four-minute film immersing them in the sights and sounds of this important piece of history.

A perforated screen was used so the audio from the speakers located behind it can permeate through to the audience. “That gives you the extra immersive impact of the sound emanating directly from the source image,” Watanabe said.

The custom curved screen is one of the “most epic AV experiences in the exhibition,” said Khalil Williams, general manager for electronic integrator Design Electronics based in Ontario, Canada. Building on the creative concepts and vision of the managing director of IMG Exhibitions, John Norman and Exhibit Designer, Fricker Studios, Design Electronics commissioned Strong-MDI to fabricate the custom screen. “One of its unique features is a 7-degree tilt, which limited the stress of the viewing angle, as the screen had to be installed over a door to create a dramatic reveal to the next gallery,” Williams continued. “We were also faced with a shorter viewing distance than normal, and tilting the screen created a strong sense of immersion. We were able to provide several projection studies, conducted by our partner SC Media, that helped to fine-tune the engineering necessary for this complex project in a way that made sense with the content.”

USING FUTURE-FACING AV TO SEE THE PAST

Laser projectors are the new gold standard for creating high-quality commercial theater experiences. Experience creators want the same quality and immersive experience they get in a movie theater to be part of these experiential adventures. (See spotlight below.) A secondary gallery treats visitors with another theater experience—this one about the events leading to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. “A really interesting effect shows the depth of walking down into a tomb, while at the same time showcasing the famous wishing cup, one of the stars of the show,” Watanabe said.

The third theater experience explores King Tut’s impact on modern culture, media, and everyday life. Display artifacts and presentations paint the picture of Tut’s story in a way that uses sound and projection technology to enhance these priceless artifacts, rather than stealing the show.

“On one hand we’re using cutting-edge high tech, and on the other we’re displaying something that had been carefully preserved over centuries,” Watanabe said. “It’s a delicate balance.”

Custom content enhances how the artifacts are displayed and how the museum conveys the information with a multimedia rather than hands-on experience. “It’s a little bit of a challenge, with this size exhibition. It’s a bit more advanced than what we’re accustomed to,” Watanabe said.

AUTOMATED, REDUNDANT

The multimedia experiences and gallery exhibits are also all fully automated using a Crestron control system. Everything is activated on touch LCD panels within those areas. “It’s one button press, and the whole thing takes off, lighting included,” Watanabe said. “It’s not on just a loop with a video playing over and over again. This has made a huge impact making it so much easier to operate and to maintain.”

“The laser technology also means no maintenance for the course of the five-year internationally touring exhibition,” Williams added, happily.

So how do you network three galleries providing high-tech AV experiences on different floors of a museum? For the electronic integrators, the pathways to networking everything must have seemed like navigating a pyramid’s labyrinth.

“We were faced with the challenge of creating a single point of control over two separate floors,” Williams said. “In working with their IT department, we were able to bridge the separate systems for control with a VLAN on existing infrastructure, allowing simple end-user operation from a single touchpanel controlling all systems.”

Many of the source devices are housed in centralized equipment racks. “HDBaseT provided a key benefit for display technology located around and above priceless artifacts; this, combined with no-maintenance laser projectors, allows for typical service to occur safely behind the scenes,” he said.

The equipment racks were divided into configurable modules. “Using BSS Blu-Link, we were able to minimize the length of cable pulls to speakers, and the modular racks could be located within the best proximity to the majority of audio,” Williams said. “This flexibility also allows us to reconfigure the system when the venue layout changes.

“There is redundancy if the VLAN is down, as all of our equipment racks have their own redundant control processor, interface, router, and switching.”

Watanbe and his team at the California Science Center shined with this Tut-nological installation—and he’s already considering the future. “I’m looking forward to that level of automation being something that’s more common in some of our other galleries.”

Cindy Davis is a regular AV Technology contributor. Margot Douaihy, AV Technology’s editor-at-large, contributed to this story.

Museum Use Case Spotlight

A common challenge in museum applications is the placement of the projectors into the existing infrastructure. It could be in an old building with stone walls, high ceilings, and with limited possibility to make structural changes. In a public space, the projectors are expected to provide maximum visibility and exposure of the content, without themselves being visible or audible to the public. As a consequence, mounting flexibility becomes important. The need to hide the projector in the ceiling structure, to project directly up or down, front or rear, and often with the desired screen surface at an off-axis angle, calls for a flexible solution. The Barco F80 series’ shift and offset capabilities remedy these pain points in applications of this ilk.

The lens options for the Barco F80 series include support for two lens series: FLD/FLD+ and GLD. The FLD/FLD+ range is already in use on Barco F3x series (former projectiondesign F3x series) as well as the F90 and F70 platforms and can be reused on the F80. The GLD series is a new, more compact , and optimized lens range designed specifically for F80. With a huge selection of fixed and zoom lenses, they can cover any throw ratio from 0.42:1 to 9.75 :1. The lens shift capabilities vary with each lens, with a maximum shift of 142 percent. This gives designers flexibility in positioning the projector without suffering the artifacts of electronic image distortion (keystone), or having to put the projector in an undesirable spot.

For more info on the F80, lenses, and peripherals, visit www.barco.com/F80. Info courtesy of Barco.

Equipment Snapshot

* 7thSense Media Player in the Intro Theater
* Alcorn Audio Servers
* Barco F80 Series Projection
* BrightSign Media Players in Galleries
* BSS Audio Digital Signal Processors
* Crestron Control
* Crown Amps
* JBL Speakers
* Strong-MDI screen solutions

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The Netherlands Open Air Museum is a one-of-a-kind museum that gives the Dutch and visitors from abroad a unique view of the long history of the country and its people. The “Canon of the Netherlands” is the latest and most ambitious attraction. Built entirely indoors and partially submerged inside a giant egg-shaped dome structure, the Canon of the Netherlands transports visitors from the Stone Age to the present through a series of state-of-the-art, multimedia vignettes. Local AV design and integration firm Rapenburg Plaza worked with the Open Air Museum to make the exhibit successful, relying on 44 channels of Ashly Audio fully networked and DSP-enabled amplification.

The Canon of the Netherlands is divided into several sections, and within each section, several displays transport visitors through space and time using innovative audiovisual technologies. An entry zone includes 10 uniquely shaped screens, each with its own KEF Ventura 6 loudspeaker powered by its own channel of an Ashly nXp 1504 four-channel 150W multimode network amplifier with onboard DSP. In addition, four 100V Yamaha VXS10ST subwoofers add low-end support where needed and get their power and processing from an Ashly Pema 4250.10 four-channel 250W network amplifier with a built-in Protea matrix DSP.

The second section also includes 10 presentations, each supported by varying numbers of 6-ohm KEF Ventura 4 loudspeakers. In all, the second section uses 19 channels via five four-channel Ashly nXp 1504 amplifiers. “Many of the displays required wiring two loudspeakers in parallel,” said Wilfred de Zoete, sound control and sound engineer at Rapenburg Plaza. “The Ashly nXp Series can handle the 3-ohm load and very long cable runs that were unavoidable.” Finally, the “Canon” video wall concludes the experience for visitors. Two more Ashly nXp 1504 amplifiers deliver eight discrete channels of amplification to drive as many KEF Ventura 6 loudspeakers. Soundscapes fill the space and elevate the experience.

“The Ashly nXp 1504s are all used in different zones but with the same KEF Ventura 4 and 6 loudspeakers,” de Zoete said. “They give us the flexibility of a low-impedance setup and 150W per channel—ample power for this application. In installations such as this, there is no need for super high-power amplifiers. That is a benefit of the Ashly product line. In addition to the high-power amplifiers common to other manufacturers, Ashly also offers fully featured low-power versions. Thus, the client is not paying for extra output that will never be used. The fact that the nXp 1504 is just 1 RU gives the large system a small footprint.

“The Ashly Network Protocol is easy to use, feature-rich, and integrates perfectly with our show control gear. The most important network functionality is power on/standby, muting, and preset recalls. Although we often use Ashly DSP for intricate setups, we’re using the onboard DSP on the 10 Ashly nXp 1504s and one Ashly Pema 4250.10 in a pretty straightforward manner: mostly equalizing for optimum speaker sound and power consumption. Importantly, Ashly’s pricing is competitive and overall quality is solid, which allowed us to design such a comprehensive system while remaining within budget.”

When was the last time you danced with a sea lion, got caught up in a giant squid battle, or navigated a submarine labyrinth of kelp? At the National Geographic Encounter in New York City, entertainment developer SPE Partners has employed cutting-edge audiovisual technology to take visitors on a stirring voyage through the depths of the Pacific Ocean so visceral it almost makes you hold your breath.

“We had this idea to create this cinematic, walk-through experience and we went to National Geographic and we said, ‘Here’s our crazy idea; we want to do it in Times Square and 60,000 square feet, and we want to use new technology and new media to make people feel like they’re actually going on a dive without getting wet,’” said Alex Svezia, co-founder and managing partner, SPE Partners. “And they said ‘OK, you’re out of your mind; sure, let’s give it a shot.’”

According to Svezia, it took three years from initial concept until the Encounter’s opening in October 2017. After setting things in motion with National Geographic, SPE reached out to Falcon’s Treehouse, the attraction design division of Orlando, FL-based firm Falcon’s Creative Group, to formulate the technological approach. “It all starts with storytelling,” Svezia said. “We wanted to tell a specific story about traveling through the Pacific Ocean. We gave Falcon’s Treehouse the story and a wish list of what we wanted, and they came back with solutions.” Falcon’s then coordinated their design with Austrian integration firm Kraftwerk Living Technologies, which carried out the installation.

Captained onward by a jaunty tour guide who enjoins visitors to “swim along” from room to room, the Encounter begins with a grand precedent of what’s to come: a 30-foot-wide screen that melds seamlessly with the floor, illuminated with edge-blended projection. Two large Panasonic projectors display a 4K underwater scene on the main screen, while an array of downward-shooting Epson projectors extends the spectacle, allowing visitors to walk about the sea floor. Implementing interactivity through motion-capture cameras, creatures like stingrays react to guests’ footsteps, swimming to and fro to avoid danger. QSC speakers—which are used throughout the Encounter—envelop the explorers in the ambiance of the deep, further enhancing the experience.

From there, the tour heads into a space simulating a coral reef where large, glossy rear-projection screens linked with Microsoft Kinect sensors allow visitors to stir up bioluminescent organisms with hand gestures, while more motion-activated, ceiling-mounted projectors cover the floor with interactive phosphorescence.

Next, the transpacific voyage enters its overnight phase, and visitors are ushered into a room that is darkened to near pitch blackness, where they are submerged in the songs and cries of whales all around them, courtesy of an IOSONO three-dimensional sound system and a score featuring actual audio from the oceans depths. The passengers then emerge into a dimly lit passageway flanked by projection screens, where Panasonic large-venue projectors present a territorial battle of two Humboldt squids, whose duel ping-pongs about the space, from one screen to the other. Visuals for this are CGI, created by Oscar-and Emmy-winning visual effects company Pixomondo—the firm responsible for the dragons in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Upon successfully navigating a supremely disorienting, mirror-walled maze of giant kelp—made even more flummoxing through the use of Samsung mirror displays at the dead ends—visitors enter a more lighthearted exhibit: a hall featuring a series of large, portrait-oriented Samsung flat panel displays, each featuring a unique CGI sea lion with a distinctive personality. Using Kinect sensors mounted above the screens, the mammals respond to guests’ gestures and body movements with jocular acrobatics.

The Encounter concludes with a spectacular finale—a roughly 4-minute-long CGI video created in 8K resolution at 60 frames per second, in 3D, and mapped onto a 40-foot-tall curved dome by 24 projectors. Intended to simulate being trapped in a bait ball, visitors stand on a raised platform and are engulfed in a parade of marine activity—including tornadic schools of fish and menacing sharks—fluttering above, below, and around them.

According to Svezia, each frame of the video took some 23 hours to render; the full presentation required the simultaneous use of continuously operating server farms in three countries and took roughly nine months to complete. “That was like, we killed some people doing that,” Svezia joked. “They were like ‘No way can you do that,’ and we were like ‘Yes, it can be done. 8K at 60 frames per second in a 40-foot curved dome’…That’s the first time that Kraftwerk’s ever been asked to project at that resolution. So that was new for them. The stitching of an image from 24 projectors is extraordinarily complex.”

After the Encounter’s voyagers’ journey is complete, participants resurface into the educational portion of the tour, featuring areas replete with hands-on touchscreens, games, and social media-linked kiosks where they can learn more about the animals and habitats they’ve just experienced, and share their pledges to help keep the oceans clean.

• In addition to the public-facing areas of the facility, there’s also a 5,000-square-foot event space that can accommodate up to 600 guests, featuring a Bose Pro Audio system and a 40-foot-wide Samsung Prismview 2.5mm pixel-pitch direct-view LED wall; according to Svezia, this is the first facility to receive this brand-new display line from the manufacturer.

From two control rooms, the entire Encounter’s AV runs over some 9 miles of fiber optic cable. “Everything’s hardwired, hard-coded; there’s nothing in the cloud,” Svezia said. Three full-time staff members manage the AV onsite, where they oversee the systems from open to close. “Things do eventually glitch, and they’re able to fix it immediately,” Svezia said. “If it’s a bigger update or reboot, they do it in coordination with Kraftwerk in Austria. But day-to-day maintenance, it’s all done onsite with our staff.”

But Svezia said that choices in equipment limit the amount of maintenance that’s needed: all the projectors are laser-based, so they don’t require lamp replacements, and the alignment of projectors involved in mapping exhibitions is done automatically via camera calibration at the start of each day.

In terms of a refresh schedule, all of the technology in operation is meant to last at least three years—when the Encounter’s scenery will be swapped out for a different theme, such as outer space, and the production teams will formulate a new way of immersing visitors in an experience they couldn’t get anywhere else. “That’s the whole meaning behind the National Geographic Encounter brand: to take people to places they may not get a chance to go,” Svezia said.

The What: Leyard and Planar have launched the Planar Simplicity Series 4K, expanding the Planar Simplicity Series line of LCD digital signage displays to include five new Ultra HD models.

The What Else: The Planar Simplicity Series 4K comes in a wide variety of sizes (43, 55, 65, 75, and 86 inches), and feature built-in speakers and integrated signage tools, such as USB playback with scheduling and LAN distribution, eliminating the need for third-party hardware. They feature a quiet, fan-less design, and feature native 4K resolution at up to 60Hz to support smooth video and mouse tracking.

“We’ve expanded the Planar Simplicity Series LCD display line to address the growing need for simple, robust, and affordable signage displays that fully exploit beautiful and engaging 4K content that is now so readily available,” said Steve Seminario, vice president of product management, Leyard and Planar.

The Bottom Line: Designed with simplicity and affordability in mind, the displays deliver superior image quality and video performance, enabling Leyard and Planar to meet the full range of signage needs with the Planar Simplicity Series. The displays are well suited for retail, museums, corporate communications, quick-serve restaurants, and small companies with a limited budget that would like to capitalize on the benefits of digital signage.

• Last week's Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) at the Amsterdam RAI drew record numbers of exhibitors and attendees from around the world for four days of business, education, and networking. It was the largest show in ISE's 15-year history. Below are event details and official figures released today by the Integrated Systems Europe team.
• "Throughout 15 halls, visitors experienced a vibrant showcase of the latest AV and systems integration technologies, products and solutions as ISE confirmed its position as the international destination of choice for AV professionals.
• The number of exhibitors totaled 1,296, of which 294 were exhibiting at ISE for the first time. Combined, they filled 53,000-sqm of exhibition floor space. Floor space already confirmed for ISE 2019 currently stands at 103% of the total booked for ISE 2018.
• The number of registered visitors by the end of the show had reached 80,923, an increase of 10.3 percent on the 2017 edition. Importantly, almost 20,000 visitors attended the last day of the show. On a distinctly positive note, over 30 percent of the total attendees were visiting ISE for the first time, a key benchmark for exhibitors in their quest to develop new sales leads.
• Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Events Managing Director, commented: “It’s been a great show that has delivered on all fronts. I’m delighted to report that visitor numbers and exhibitor satisfaction have both been very high. On behalf of ISE, I’d like to thank all our attendees, exhibitors, partners and our co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA. This combination has made ISE what it is today and ensures that we are able to build on our successes year on year.”
• Highlights of the show included: an Opening Address from architect and inventor Carlo Ratti that explored the evolution of smart building and ‘Senseable Cities’, nine dedicated B2B conferences covering a wide range of AV topics from innovation and design to theme park ‘night-time spectaculars’, a Stand Awards competition, ‘Tech Tours’ to three leading AV installations including the Amsterdam ArenA and five days of professional development programming curated and delivered by AVIXA and CEDIA.
• ISE 2018 also saw the debut of the World Masters of Projection Mapping competition, a joint venture between the Amsterdam Light Festival, RAI Amsterdam and ISE. The competition saw leading video artists’ project video artworks onto the EYE Filmmuseum in the centre of the city. The competition culminated in Florian and Michael Quistrebert receiving the winner’s award for their artwork Stripes 5 on the last day of the show.
• Many exhibitors once again used the show as a launchpad for hundreds of new products, technologies and solutions. Technology and business trends included: a growth in IP and the crossover between broadcast and AV; commercially viable virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies and solutions; the increase of devices for the smart home; the divergence of digital signage with both smart systems and ‘plug and play’ gaining traction; the increase in small pitch LED displays; 4K everywhere; IoT everywhere; the growth of projection mapping; networked audio and the continued progression of the collaboration market.
• For both AVIXA and CEDIA, the show provided a unique platform for the associations to reinforce recent initiatives and to cement their key role as providers of exemplary professional development programmes.
• ISE 2019 will be held at the RAI Amsterdam from 5-8 February 2019."

Sony is adding five new WUXGA resolution models to its family of laser light source projectors. Each is designed for a range of commercial mid-range installation applications including education, faith, corporate, and museums.

The new models include the VPL-FHZ120L (12,000lm) for larger venues, the VPL-FHZ90L (9,000lm) for mid-sized classrooms, and the compact VPL-FHZ66 (6,100lm), VPL-FHZ61 (5,100lm) and VPL-FHZ58 (4,200lm). These new projectors grow Sony’s laser offerings to more than a dozen and take advantage of laser light source benefits, including increased brightness, ease of use, and installation flexibility.

Each model uses Sony’s Z-Phosphor Laser with a blue laser as its light source complemented by a 3LCD optical system, to achieve the full spectrum of light and continuous, clear RGB color. The five new projectors feature auto color calibration, a function that enables users to maintain the best picture quality over time and Sony’s instant on/off, which can be used to begin presentations at full brightness, with almost no warm-up/cool down time.

The VPL-FHZ120L and VPL-FHZ90L use a newly developed LCD panel with enhanced light resistance, and for the VPL-FHZ120L, an optical compensator to realize high contrast that delivers stable brightness and high-quality image with vibrant color reproduction.

The VPL-FHZ120L is designed for auditoriums and conference halls requiring AV solutions to support live performances and ceremonies. The projector fully covers sRGB, making it suitable for applications requiring precise color reproduction such as in exhibitions and museums.

The VPL-FHZ90L is suitable for mid-sized classrooms or corporate meeting rooms, even those with challenging installation environments due to natural lighting or bright spaces with ambient lighting. This allows students and meeting attendees to take notes and review presentation materials while still clearly viewing the projected images.

Both models also benefit from a new range of features including industry-leading wide lens shift capabilities and six lens preset positions for instant recall and enhanced usability. New HTML content display functions offer the ability to project customized content including logos, news, or advertisements via the network or a USB memory stick, even when the projector is on with no input signal.

The three new mid-range WUXGA models—VPL-FHZ66 (6100lm), VPL-FHZ61 (5100lm), and VPL-FHZ58 (4200lm)—feature compact bodies designed for small to mid-sized rooms, while taking advantage of the full benefits of laser projection: long-lasting brightness, up to 20,000 hours of maintenance-free operation, and no need to replace lamps.

All of Sony’s new models are compatible with the latest software packages such as Vision Exchange active learning solution, Display Power Management software and IP Remote App.

Pictured: The Security Control Centre at the French terminal in Coquelles includes a 20sqm Leyard TWA Series LED, ultra-fine pixel pitch of 1.8mm video wall. Ask Jeff Von Horn, sales and engineering manager, and Joe Jackson, market manager of AVI-SPL’s Control Room Group what's the biggest AV game-changer for command and control rooms in 2018, and they both agree. “The biggest change I see is that direct view LED (DV LED) offerings from several big-name brands are becoming more prevalent and cost effective,” said Jackson. “This technology eliminates the bezel in traditional tiles or TVs in a video wall layout.”

Von Horn concurred and added more detail. “The current state of the art is 0.9 millimeter pixel pitch,” he said, “and then I have seen some below that.” A finer pixel pitch translates to better resolution but with an increase in cost. “Customers must consider the application for their design in order to determine which technology best suits their particular need,” added Jackson.

Compliance Matters

While there are various manufacturers producing DV LEDs, Van Horn explained, “we don't do much business with them if they're not TAA compliant,” something all government and some business clients require. The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) requires that the U.S. Government may acquire only U.S. made or designated country end products.

The Far Side

A finer pixel pitch means higher resolution and a higher cost. So why would a fine pixel pitch DV LED be useful for a video wall in a command and control center if operators are sitting several feet away? They wouldn’t necessarily need an ultra-fine pitch, so there would be a cost-savings if a video wall was spec’ed with 2.5 mm pitch (and everything in between).

But depending on an organization’s budget, future-proofing for higher resolution content is a reasonable consideration. “We're seeing a lot of partner activity with our wall processors supporting large LED wall applications,” said Bob Ehlers, VP of Business Development for RGB Spectrum. “Who would have ever thought that they would get so large, that 4K would blow up that large?”

One of the most obvious benefits a DV LED video wall is that it appears virtually seamless because the panels or tiles do not have bezels. Depending on the vendor, tiles can accommodate any size or shape wall, and they are not constrained to the shape a tiling of 16:9 panels would create. DV LEDs also have a high refresh rate, a wide color gamut, and they achieve “true black.”

Ehlers added, “When you have the luminosity, and a gigantic room with somebody sitting 100 feet away in the back of the room, and the screen size is so large, that 4K does still matter.”

The Near Side

Concurrent with the trend in fine pixel pitch is a dramatic decrease in the cost of 4K resolution monitors, which is helping operators in smaller command and control centers go UDH. “We're actually seeing designs now where people are coming to us and saying, ‘Well, I don't have a video wall, but I've got four workstations where I want wall functionality on those workstations,’” Ehlers relayed. A multi-windowed display on a larger format 4K display can supplant four 1080p monitors. "With OLED and MicroLED, and some of these new technologies coming along that have really true color depth and luminescence, to where you can go in and look at an image and see a black object in a black background, and discern it — it is pretty incredible.”

In applications such as video surveillance, Ehlers explained, “They use dynamic range (WDR) and are able to discern different light levels. So if I have a camera that's looking at a dark area, and I have dark objects moving through, now I can actually see it.” This type of clarity couldn’t be discerned with lower resolution displays. “The display technology keeping up with the image technology on the transmit end is enabling the use of high dynamic range (HDR),” he said. Optimizing luminescence and brighter colors is increasingly meaningful for commercial applications.

Where does 4K have the most impact right now? “On the desk, right in front of you, 4K matters probably the most,” Ehlers concluded. “But then when I get gigantic displays, 4K seems to be taking off.”

Cindy Davis is a contributing editor of AV Technology. Photography courtesy of Leyard and Planar.

The What: Peerless-AV has begun shipping its newest kiosk, the Ultra-Slim Portrait Kiosk (KIPC35 Models).

The What Else: Peerless-AV can integrate an Ultra-Slim Portrait Kiosk with a wide array of components such as a flat panel display, media player, touch technology, camera, and software from various digital signage partners, including NEC Display Solutions, Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic, Philips MMD, LG, AOpen, and more.

In addition to a slimmer design, the new line of Ultra-Slim Portrait Kiosks offer a robust set of features, including eight-way, tool-less adjustment to quickly position the display within the kiosk window for a flush alignment; enhanced security through hinged rear doors with combination locks, allowing access to parts requiring maintenance; customization through a range of aesthetic options, including multiple colors, and vinyl wraps to meet the needs of any environment or brand; and ADA compliance.

“Our new Ultra-Slim Portrait Kiosks offer self-service configuration, or we can offer turnkey installation and hardware integration, all from one manufacturer,” said Brian McClimans, vice president of sales, Americas and APAC, Peerless-AV. “With these kiosks, we are able to minimize the design and build time for integrators, while still offering a completely custom solution.”

The Bottom Line: Featuring a sleek, preassembled design with lean frames and a small footprint, Peerless-AV’s Ultra-Slim Portrait Kiosk serves as a digital signage solution for applications including corporate, education, transportation, retail, and more.

In the professional AV industry, from ISE to InfoComm, systems integrators get a lot of fanfare. Rightfully so. One peek at SCN’s Top 50 Integrators List reveals a staggering array of talents and tenacity, not to mention the billions of dollars of value in complex AV projects. But the readers of AV Technology understand that there is much more to the AV installation story than the integrator. Day to day, hour to hour, the tech manager is the gatekeeper of AV system performance and content. The in-house tech director is in charge of the upkeep and uptime of the wireless AV and collaborative tech that helps users work, learn, collaborate, and thrive.

Margot Douaihy

We’re proud to be one of your tech manager forums. AV Technology’s mission is to bridge the knowledge gap between the AV and IT disciplines and equip you with the information you need to make the best technology decisions for your organizations. Our mission is exemplified by our January 2018 cover story, the stellar Julie Johnston, director of learning spaces Indiana University’s IT division, University Information Technology Services (UITS). In her portfolio, Julie leads the Learning Space team that consists of Student Technology Center, Technology Center Consulting, Learning Space Design, Collaboration Technologies, and Classroom Technology Services and Support. Julie has become a formidable force in the edtech world, and her Mosaic Initiative is now synonymous with exemplary active learning. Her creativity, technical rigor, and passion will inspire you. We are thrilled to share her story.

And don’t miss our January guide devoted to real-world scenarios for remote monitoring. As our contributing editor, Cindy Davis, argues: “It is no longer ‘good enough’ to have all of your audio and video equipment and systems on the network.” AV connected to the network should provide actionable information in real time for immediate troubleshooting, diagnoses, or analysis. If not, then it’s time to take a fresh look at your monitoring. Dive into this special guide on page A1.

We explore the opportunities and challenges faced by AV pros as they phase into IP broadcast. We always keep a practical side to our coverage, evinced by Nestor Amaya of Coveloz. “We’re definitely not taking the position that it’s go IP or go home. Different distribution platforms require different post-production workflows, and these are more easily implemented using software-based post production applications running on IP.”

IP was central to the AV conversation in 2017, in 2018 the AV/IT convergence story promises to be even more important. I hope you see your own questions, challenges, and passions for technology reflected in our coverage. What do you want to see more (or less of) in 2018? Tweet me @AVTechnologyMag. Best wishes for a rewarding 2018.

INSIDE
• AV Monitoring Gets Real in 2018: Analysis by Cindy Davis
• Quality Monitoring of Remote AV over IP
• Parametric Analysis
• Mission Critical: The AVOC
• Five Case Studies That Make the Case
• Solutions Showcase

Click here for our January 2018 Technology Manager's Guide to Remote Monitoring.

This article was sponsored by Optoma Corporation.

The growth curve for flat-panel displays in professional settings is anything but flat, but video projectors will continue to thrive in a wide assortment of pro-AV installation applications, led by more affordable and reliable laser-diode projectors.

Flat-panel growth has been propelled by falling panel prices, higher brightness levels, and less maintenance compared to lamp-based projectors, yet in many applications, flat panels aren’t up to the task, said Optoma Technology, a top-three seller of projectors in the U.S. pro-AV channel.

Projectors are the right choice, for example, in medium-size and larger venues, including typical classrooms, where displays exceeding 75 inches are needed to make basic presentations easily readable by everyone in the room. In these applications, projectors are more cost-effective. At screen sizes of 84- to 98-inches, flat panels cost 10 to 90 percent more than the projection alternatives, and at 108-inches and up, flat-panel options just don’t exist. If an interactive solution is needed, projection’s cost advantage grows further (See Interactive Display Solution chart).

Pro-AV Benefits in the Classroom

Size matters in many applications.In the average 22x27-foot U.S. classroom, 13 of 30 students asked to copy six short items from slides displayed on a 70-inch 4K flat panel wrote at least one item incorrectly, Radius Global Market Research found.

With a 65-inch flat panel, only about two students would be close enough to engage in analytical reading of detailed information such as information in Excel spreadsheets and chemistry tables, added Brawn Consulting. Eight students would be positioned optimally only for basic reading. And in a conference room, all viewers must be within 9.5 feet of an 80-inch flat panel to get a desktop-equivalent viewing experience or better, PKE Consulting found.

As a result, projector opportunities abound in class rooms, board rooms, auditoriums, lecture halls, conference rooms, churches, entertainment venues, simulation and gaming, museums, stores, and other venues.

Optoma’s ProScene series ZU850 laser projector

In K-12 classrooms, Optoma suggests laser- and lamp-based ultra short throw (UST) projectors delivering anywhere from 3,200 to 6,000 lumens, such as the Optoma ZH400UST based on room size and ambient light levels (See Optoma Laser Projectors). And in larger venues such as higher education lecture halls, Optoma suggests ultra-short to ultra-long-throw laser- and lamp-based models delivering 4,000 to 12,000 lumens, such as the ZU850.

Optoma’s ZH400UST ultra short throw (UST) laser projector

Additional Opportunity within Large-Screen Applications

Houses of worship and museums need models delivering 5,000 to 12,000 lumens in ultra-short to ultra-long-throw variations, depending on room size and light conditions. And for retail digital signage, ultra-short to ultra-long-throw models, along with ultra-portable LED projectors, will suffice with brightness levels of 500 to 4,000 lumens.

For his part, Futuresource analyst James Kirby foresees “a wealth of lucrative opportunity for projection within large-screen applications and even within certain digital-signage applications.” Because of “large possibilities in relatively untapped markets such as retail and hospitality, projection has the ability to offer a unique display solution to a large total addressable market,” he added. “Projection mainly loses share within those verticals that don’t have a specific requirement for large screens,” Kirby continued. For example, in meeting rooms with less than a 16-person capacity, “a flat panel may compete with a projector in terms of price, and provide great enough size.”

More Advantages: Other projection advantages include the ability to scale images to many sizes, and projectors are easier to install than large flat panels, requiring only one installer instead of three, Optoma said. Projectors also deliver wider viewing angles, better reflection rejection, and greater portability. Projectors can be moved to different walls, rooms and venues entirely.

For now, flat panels have the edge in brightness, but projectors fill niches that flat panels can’t at any brightness level. Among them: projecting images onto curved surfaces and onto 3D objects (projection mapping) such as building exteriors and vehicles in car-dealer showrooms. In addition, creating a large bright image up to 500 or 600 inches is less installation-intensive and more cost-effective when “stacking” multiple projectors instead of tiling multiple flat panels on a wall, said Brian Soto, Optoma’s head of U.S. product management.

In the class room, projectors deliver an additional benefit. Not only are flat panels more likely to get broken accidentally in classroom settings, but interactive flat panels require more maintenance because dust particles collect between the display glass and the touch overlay, Soto said.

Laser direction: With the advent of more affordable laser diode projectors, projection’s future gets even brighter. Laser models offer greater installation versatility and longer light-source longevity than lamp-based projectors. Laser also delivers lower lifetime ownership costs and higher contrast than lamp projectors.

Light-source longevity makes laser ideal for frequent-use applications such as museums and digital signage. Laser diodes’ useful life runs at least 20,000 hours, at which time brightness slips to 50-70 percent of initial levels.

Laser longevity also reduces lifetime ownership costs below that of lamp projectors – even after factoring in laser’s up-front up-to-50 percent price premium. With lamp life typically hovering around 2,500 to 3,000 hours, you’d have to replace a lamp up to eight times to match laser’s 20,000-hour life span. With lamps and filters typically costing $299, plus a $350 labor charge, the cost of eight lamp and filter replacements hits $5,192, said Bob Guentner, Optoma’s senior manager of technical sales and training. “There are virtually no maintenance costs with laser at 20,000 hours,” he said.

For less-frequent usage, laser still makes sense, especially when projectors are mounted in relatively inaccessible locations where lamp replacement isn’t inconvenient.

Laser Versatility: Installation versatility is another laser advantage. Laser projectors run cooler than lamp models, so they can be tucked into cabinets or placed close to walls, sprinkler heads and air conditioning sensors. Power efficiency also reduces size.

Because they run cooler, laser projectors can be mounted in any projection direction at any angle without the risk of heat buildup, which occurs in typical lamp projectors whose airflow might be restricted by an unusual mounting angle. As a result, laser projectors can be mounted on the ceiling to project down to the floor or mounted to the floor to project up to the ceiling. That opens up new sales opportunities because, obviously, ceilings and floors aren’t the best places to install flat panels. Likewise, laser models can be mounted in portrait orientation.

Laser’s growth niches include short- and ultra short- throw laser projectors intended to replace lamp projectors currently in classrooms and conference rooms, Guentner said. Such projectors are well-suited for interactive presentations because users can manipulate images by touching the projected image without blocking the projection beam.

Because of laser’s advantages, “the projection market is growing again in education,” Soto added.

And laser is just getting started. “We’re still in the early stages of laser,” said Jon Grodem, Optoma’s senior director of strategy and planning. “Every generation of laser brings about higher brightness and a higher lumens/watt ratio as laser diodes come down in price.”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Transform the Ordinary

eBrochure: The Future is Here

Peter Jackson, CEO of Bluescape (bluescape.com) On December 14th, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission repealed “net neutrality,” the 2015 Open Internet Order that classified broadband service as a utility covered by Title II of the Communications Act. The goal of the 2015 net neutrality order was to protect the “open internet.” The objective of the 2017 repeal, as stated by the FCC, is “restoring internet freedom.” Both are worthy goals, so why is everyone up in arms?

Imagine the internet is the system of roads we use every day to get to work, run errands, visit family and friends, etc. Now that the internet has been “freed” a third party can decide which roads you can use and which you can’t. In this case the third party is likely to be a handful of broadband companies including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, among a few others. They can now create bundles of internet access services much like how we purchase cable TV today: North and South interstates are included in the basic package, but if you want to go East or West—or on any local roads—you’ll have to pay more. Imagine subscribing to a bundle of social media sites for $20/month and another $50/month for streaming video and $35 for a bundle of news sites…you get the picture. How much are you, the consumer, willing to pay?

Let’s dig into the business and economic impacts of the repeal further. For years, businesses have been rapidly adopting cloud-based applications ranging from accounting software to content collaboration and ideation systems. Some of these systems are aimed at improving employee productivity, and some are designed to enhance the customer experience. Regardless of what the applications do, the reversal of net neutrality will directly affect the ability of companies of all sizes to meet the continually evolving expectations of their customers.

For smaller businesses and those in the growing gig economy, this decision could be devastating. The “open internet” essentially leveled the playing field and enabled business of all sizes to compete, globally. With the so-called “free internet” (as the FCC is billing the repeal decision), instead of providing an equal opportunity for all to reach potential customers, the internet becomes an expensive channel only big business can afford. Entire business models of today’s fastest growing companies could soon no longer be viable.

One of the arguments in favor of the recent decision is that prior to the 2015 regulation none of the service providers engaged in the practice of throttling access. And some providers have pledged that they will not change their practices and begin blocking or throttling websites as a result of the FCC’s decision. That’s great, but we all know publicly traded companies are beholden to their shareholders and continually under pressure to increase profits. What happens if they change their minds and decide to leverage their position of power? There is nothing to stop them unless the FCC is willing to engage in reactive policing.

There is no question that the massive changes in how we communicate, consume content and interact with each other do require some policy changes to stay current, just not this one. Internet access can’t be a political football that is punted around by every new administration.

Despite fiery rhetoric on all sides, too few will ultimately gain from the repeal of this legislation and as the financial, economic and employment impacts are realized, people will rise up. It’s time to update legislation to meet the realities of the twenty-first century before it’s too late.

The What: Adder Technology, the IP-based KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) specialist, will be unveiling its latest innovation at next year’s Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) event in Amsterdam. The existing Adder solutions on show at ISE 2018 will include the Adder CCS-PRO8 command and control switch, which allows operators to control up to eight machines across eight (or more) displays using one mouse and keyboard.

The What Else: The Adder CCS-PRO8 also features FreeFlow technology, which enables users to move from one display to the next simply by moving the mouse across a screen border. The new AdderLink XDIP will also be on display. Ideal for small to medium-sized extension and matrix installations, the solution uses existing infrastructure to provide extension and switching between different computers. The AdderLink XDIP can also be used in multiple configurations, features intelligent EDID and a local feed through port.

The Secret: Adder Technology will also be using ISE 2018 to unveil a new, yet-to-be-announced product, the details of which will be released in the build-up to the event. Attendees at ISE 2018 will be the first in the world to see the product and view live demonstrations.

The Why: John Halksworth, senior product manager at Adder Technology, says: “ISE is one of the biggest annual events on our calendar, and we’re looking forward to showing the thousands of attendees how high performance, IP-based KVM technology can bring a wide range of benefits to control rooms and working environments across different industries."

INFO: ISE 2018 will take place on 6-9 February 2018 at the RAI Amsterdam. For more information around Adder Technology’s product range, check out www.adder.com and visit the team at ISE 2018 on stand 10-P182.