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Part 1: The Largest Film Ever Created
in CGI
Part 2:
Threshold Digital
Part 3: "I've got a challenge for
you guys"
Part 4: Storyboarding Science and
Religion
Part 5: The Problem of Playback
Part 6: FrameCycler to the Rescue |
Meanwhile, back at the Crystal Cathedral, the challenge of projecting the
image onto a 252' by 28' screen was being tackled. Electrosonic Systems
- a leading audio-visual systems integrator - was the company tasked
with installing the systems for the show. "Originally we considered
using High Definition MPEG servers for the digital content," says Bryan
Hinckley, Systems Sales Engineer at Electrosonic. "As the installation
proceeded, it became clear that we didn't have time to encode 7 screens
of high definition MPEG material. We tried using Windows Media Player
and a few other solutions, but in some instances insufficient
color-depth led to banding and in other cases we had in pixilation."
"Normally we don't get involved in the public presentations of our
work," said Derek Zavada, "but with a cutting edge project like this it
mattered as much to us as it did to Electrosonic to make sure that our
work looked good. We worked together to find a solution."
"It would have taken us seven or eight minutes to encode each minute of
content," explained Derek. "That would have meant anywhere from one to
three weeks to render out the project." Even for a facility as well
equipped with CPU power as Threshold Digital, that would tie up an
inordinate amount of their resources. "And the biggest problem with that
is whenever changes needed to be made, we'd have had to start the
process all over again."
Finally there was another problem specific to this production: since the
footage and the live performances needed to be synchronized, the
playback system needed to work with the realities of theater. During
rehearsals, the playback technology had to be able to stop, return to
various places in the script, repeat certain segments, skip ahead etc. -
just like the actors and acrobats. The problem was that, once
synchronized across multiple CPUs and projectors, it was difficult or
impossible for codec-based material to do any of that: it just played
through.
With only six weeks left before the opening, things were getting
critical…
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Founded in 1964, Electrosonic is a
worldwide leader in audio-visual design, product development, and system
integration for museums, live shows, themed entertainment and command &
control centers. |
