This year however, marked a major step forward: The new Hippotizer V4 hardware and software system was put to work. One V4 Taiga, the flagship model of the new V4 range, performing a task that would have previously required at least three Hippotizer HDs, drove six video outputs, feeding all projection and LED screen content on the main stage - executing the show's artistic vision with perfectly executed looks, from a vintage theatre façade, to Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.
In addition, in the show's screens control room, a V4 Boreal provided live 3D visualization of the entire theatre and stage, including all media content, giving the programming team both accurate real-time and pre-viz representations of the show as required, including the moving screens.
"This was the first high-profile use of V4 and everything worked like a charm," says Green Hippo special projects director, Nigel Sadler. "LED content and projection graphics were played back from the Taiga and sent via the broadcast truck and through to the LED screens and Barco projectors. A single Taiga with six DVI outputs did it all flawlessly."
Sadler adds, "An exciting element of V4 is the Visualizer, built into the familiar ZooKeeper interface software. Amply used at the Oscars, the Visualizer allows the operator to simulate a whole building or set with all the screens and/or projection elements, and see how everything looks when fed with the content and effects from the Hippotizer system in real-time, of if required, as a preview before a look is actually sent to stage - all depicted in realistic hi-def quality - giving a God-like view, if you will, of the designer's creation."
"The market response to Hippotizer V4 has been remarkable," says TMB's Hippotizer product manager, Nicole Rizzo. "The success at this year's Oscars reinforces what we're hearing from designers and programmers everywhere, that V4 has raised the bar, setting a new standard for processing power and output capability."
(Jim Evans)
