Urano Films, a multimedia and audiovisual production company from Catalonia, was commissioned to create the visual content for the centre and the overall integration of the audiovisual equipment, while Charmex, a partner of Christie, supplied the equipment itself. The centrepiece of the museum is a small film theatre screening a short educational 3D film on the life of bees. The theatre is equipped with a passive 3D system with two Christie LX450 projectors.
As well as the film theatre, the museum also has another two audiovisual systems: a virtual theatre system consisting of a pre-recorded image of an actor explaining the history of the village and its relationship with beekeeping, plus a honeycomb-shaped informative panel showing the process of honey making and the lifecycle of bees.
The three pieces are controlled by two players using iSMovie L software by inSynergie. The software was installed on a standard PC, transforming it into a player with a hard drive. When various computers are running at the same time with iSMovie, they can be perfectly synchronized via MIDI time code.
"This software is highly effective for the various elements in the museum. When the operator arrives in the morning, all she has to do is switch on the computers and all the elements begin functioning automatically, including the projectors of course", explains Manel Taberner, director of Urano Films.
Miquel Tresserras, projects director at Charmex, added, "The software controls everything from a touch screen: this includes turning on and off the projectors, as well as managing the passive 3D video (you can pause, resume, advance the time code ...) and even turning on and off all the systems in the museum. The system integrates perfectly with the two Christie LX450 projectors, and even provides information on the projectors' remaining lamp hours."
The 3D short feature Dolça (Catalan for sweet) lasts five minutes and is on view around the clock while the museum remains open to the public. It is projected in HD on a 4 x 3m screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3. The projectors use Silver Fabric linear polarised filters. The glasses are plastic passive 3D.
It was decided to go for passive 3D as the museum is relatively small, and also because of the short duration of the 3D video which doesn't call for active glasses. "If we had to install an active 3D system, the costs would have spiralled because both the projectors and the accessories (glasses, polarisers...) are much more expensive", said Tresserras.
(Jim Evans)
