Powersoft Mover key to Illuminarium experience
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Through a convergence of technologies, Illuminarium’s immersive venues ‘will transport millions of visitors to places that they previously could only dream of experiencing’. By enabling audiences to see, hear, feel, smell and even personally affect an experience, Illuminarium places the guest ‘inside’ the narrative using techniques from traditional motion picture production and virtual reality combined with interactive features that facilitate the experience of the real world. In essence, Illuminarium exemplifies a “VR, without the glasses” experience.
Wild transports visitors to Africa through cinematic content shot by RadicalMedia on location across South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, showcasing the majestic animals in their native habitats. Complementing the exotic sights of a safari, visitors will also be immersed in its authentic sounds and scents, all without leaving Atlanta’s BeltLine. Wild will be followed by Spacewalk, a journey through the Solar System where audiences will experience what it’s like to walk on the surface of the Moon and Mars.
Although this content is key to the look of the show, another important aspect – the feel – could not have been possible without the inclusion of Powersoft’s linear transducer, Mover, which was used to design a haptic Infrasound floor to create realistic sensations such as the ground-shaking feel of an elephant‘s stomp or the low-end rumble of a lion's roar.
At Illuminarium, an impressive 162 Movers were deployed throughout the 8,000sq.ft room, making it the largest installation of the linear transducer to date. This Powersoft system has been matched with 12 Ottocanali 4804D amplifiers.
Mover is a compact linear transducer designed to deliver sound through haptic perception – by vibrating the surrounding environment, which the human body picks up and, through bone conduction, translates the vibrations into perceivable frequencies.
At Illuminarium, this linear motor / shaker has been used in its Inertial Drive version, which can be mounted directly on surfaces, including underneath floors. The ultra-low frequency reproduction and unmatched efficiency of Mover excites the surface and extends the low frequency experience.
Mover is based on Powersoft’s patented moving magnet linear motor technology introduced in 2013.
“Illuminariums are places that can take you any place, in a manner never before experienced, through state-of-the-art technology that literally allows the audience to feel an elephant walking in front of them or leave footprints on the simulated dirt floor beneath them,” says Alan Greenberg, CEO of Illuminarium Experiences. “Through this collective team of best-in-class partners, we are ultimately building a new media model to support Illuminarium’s completely unprecedented experiences and spectacles. And, this format is so exciting because it creates endless opportunity for content creators and makers who want to push the boundaries of tech and media experiences.”
Commenting on the use of Mover at Illuminarium, Powersoft US general manager Tom Knesel says, “Mover was engineered to provide the best and most realistic immersive experience to users. We are incredibly proud to be providing our patented haptic infrasound technology to help reproduce realistic sensations for visitors in what is set to be the next generation of entertainment venues.”
Following Atlanta, Illuminarium will open in Las Vegas in January 2022 and in Miami, at Mana in the Wynwood Arts District, in the autumn. Other North American locations under consideration are New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Austin.
