PRODUCT NEWS
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| Chills and thrills supplied by SimEx-Iwerks and Alcorn McBride at Detroit Zoo’s new penguinarium
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| 06 Jul 2016 . BY Alice Davis |
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| Guests embark on a 4D polar exploration |
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Detroit Zoo’s new Polk Penguin Conservation Center features a 4D walk-through film experience provided by SimEx-Iwerks, it has been announced.
The 360-degree 4K projection and audiovisual system was carried out in collaboration with Alcorn McBride, in a journey that transitions guests from ground level to the underwater penguin-viewing exhibit. During the four-minute experience, visitors board the ship Endurance and learn the story of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.
The cutting-edge technology is an exciting addition to the animal exhibit, the largest penguin facility in the world and home to four different species. The adventure-themed 4D experience, which emulates Antarctic conditions using blasts of polar air and sea mists, also depicts the phenomenon of iceberg calving – when an iceberg splits and crashes into the sea.
Using CGI, stills, video, projection mapping, and 4D techniques like mist, hurricane fans and a snow machine, the design team created an immersive and thrilling journey.
“We recreated the ship as authentically as possible, placing the visitors on deck and illustrating the ordeal of the journey – the weather, the rough seas, the animals and the icebergs they observed,” said Richard Needham, SimEx-Iwerks creative director, who went to the Antarctic himself to gather some of the authentic video footage.
To handle the experience, SimEx-Iwerks used three Alcorn McBride A/V Binloop Uncompressed synchronised video players and five short-throw, ceiling-mounted digital projection 4K laser projectors.
“Alcorn lives and breathes synchronisation, which is very important to us,” Needham said. “The three A/V Binloop players deliver 21 channels, all in perfect sync, for the four-minute show. The content loops continuously all day.”
On exiting the underwater penguin-viewing space, visitors pass through a projection-mapped Antarctic Gallery, completing the experience.
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