Thursday, June 26, 2008

Travels in June

I am a bit behind in blogging my travels which have been extensive over the past few weeks but I wanted to mention a few of the technologies and groups I have been working with and visiting while traveling.

MONTREAL -

The Society of Arts and Technology - SAT - is a gov't supported group for the development of arts and technology partnerships in Montreal.


D-Box - Motion Control Systems - VERY high end home theater motion control seating systems. I enjoyed their demo's alot it was amazing to feel the seat motion while watching movies and driving an F1 Simulator. Brilliant technology but very pricey.

I have been doing more work with Ubisoft for amBX - installing a new amBX theater for them. It has been brilliant... but that is all I can say.

DETROIT

As I passed through the DETROIT Airport I saw a couple of excelent immersive thechnologies... first was this tunnel - by Color Kinetics I am guessing... simmilar to the one in Chicago.


Second was the Jumping Jet Fountain - Which I understand they now have RGB rainbow jumping Jet fountain kits which are controlable RGB luminous water jets... very cool


LOS ANGELES

LA was fantastic with meetings with ThinkWell Design who are designers of theme park and location based entertainment projects including the vision below for Coney Island


I did some work at the Philips Hollywood office to update their amBX demo suite. Which now looks amazing.

I stayed at the Hilton Universal next door to Universal Studios... I had wanted to make a trip to see the rides their but I decided it was more important to spend a day at Disneyland. This was an excellent choice and I have a few highlight moments to talk about... namely Space Mountain which is always a favorite... brilliant use of lighting, sensory deprivation, motion and projection to create and immersive experience. I was very impressed.


Next To talk about is the finding Nemo submarine experience which was also fantastically done... a narrative story with lighting, projection and underwater special effects which makes the hour long wait worth every minute.


I would recommend to everyone that they experience the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as well with its fantastic animatronics and, pyrotechnics, projection and lighting effects. My personal favorites were the Fog Screen for Davey Jones as well as the Full Dome Night sky and cloud projections. Also the talking parrot and Skull/Cross Bones flag at the beginning are the best lip sync robotics I have ever seen.


Lastly it is very important to mention the Fireworks display around the Disney Castle which happens every evening. The RGB color changing castle and amazing choreography of Pyrotechnics, Music, Lighting and projection make this among the best fireworks displays anywhere. Disney has a very well defined branding and vision that keeps coming from Olfactory scents as you walk down the street to the lovable charicters they have a winning combination that keeps kids of all ages happy.

Monday, June 2, 2008

MUTEK 08 MONTREAL

This past Saturday I had the privileged of attending MUTEK '08 in Montreal hosted by the Society for Arts and Technology and Metropolis theater. Several Thousand electronic music enthusiast packed the theater for the performance which featured DJ's and Live acts from around the globe. Of major note from the show was the use of digital lighting and laser effects. a 4 block Stealth LED display and 200+ Versa Tubes all run on a Catalyst media server made an incredible impact on the visual elements of the production.