Swiss Chocolate Adventure offers a sweet immersive projection with Panasonic technology

As part of the Transport Museum of the Swiss city of Lucerne and following the tradition of this country in chocolate marketing, those responsible have created Swiss Chocolate Adventure, a multimedia exhibition for visitors to take a virtual tour, from the port of Hamburg to West Africa, to the world of cocoa with the help of Panasonic projection technology.

As if it were the well-known movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (although without so many vicissitudes for its characters), the Lucerne Transport Museum (Swiss) has incorporated the Swiss Chocolate Adventure exhibition into its proposal, that proposes to the 'chocoaddicts'’ a multimedia journey to the world of cocoa, in a country known for its tradition in the treatment and marketing of this sweet food.

For twenty five minutes, Visitors take a spectacular tour with the help of new technologies to learn about the origins, chocolate production and transportation, which begins through a container-shaped elevator that takes them on a virtual journey from the port of Hamburg to West Africa, one of the largest cocoa production areas.

After leaving the container, visitors board one of the ten carriages (similar to those of an amusement park) to travel the chocolate route. Throughout the journey, the carriages stop in various themed rooms, as well as in front of large-format projection screens in which experts in this food explain its preparation with the help of high-resolution images and videos..

A highlight of this sweet route is the so-called intermezzo, during which the ten vehicles leave their stations to glide through the exhibition in a joint choreography, which is accompanied by sounds and impressive projections to create an immersive experience for visitors in the world of cocoa.

To achieve, Ten PT-DZ680 projectors from Panasonic, nine of which incorporate this manufacturer's ET-DL030 ultra-short distance lens, which allows the projection distance to be reduced by 60% compared to conventional short distance systems.

This feature is one of the main factors that led the museum to opt for the Panasonic solution. The projections, the movement of the wagons, mobile background scenes, Thematic rooms and sound form a complex choreography to create an immersive experience for visitors.

This is how Valentin Spiess explains it, general director of iart company, the Swiss-based company responsible for the conceptual design of the exhibition: “we were looking to create an immersive experience that was entertaining and informative. We use short distance lenses for two reasons; firstly because it allowed us to carry out large-scale projections in limited spaces, that would have been impossible otherwise. Y, in second place, because we could hide the projectors in the ceiling, out of sight of visitors.

Another requirement in selecting the projectors was that they be silent., since they are located in the upper area through which visitors pass on their tour, “And the Panasonic systems met exactly these conditions,” says Spiess.. The solution as a whole is very interesting., since there are other wide angle type projectors on the market, but they don't have that much quality, either in terms of resolution, brightness or definition”.

The DLP projector 1 Panasonic PT-DZ680E chip offers 6.000 luminosity lumens, WUXGA resolution and the manufacturer's specialized RGB Booster technology, providing a high level of brightness and realistic color and image reproduction. This system is equipped with a double lamp and an ecological filter that provide reliability and operational stability for uninterrupted use 24 hours a day.×7, as the museum required, which also facilitates its expansion and integration into multiple applications.

Panasonic visual solutions have also been installed in other areas of the Swiss transport museum. For example, at the i-factory exhibition, that offers visitors an interactive experience to explain the basic techniques on which information technology is based.

The central elements of i-factory are four multimedia tables, multiuser and multitouch, showing images provided by ceiling-mounted projectors from this supplier that use a mirror to achieve this.

As Markus Ottinger points out, IT director of the Lucerne Transport Museum, “we needed a low noise projector, high WUXGA resolution and excellent definition for this application, because the tables work as a touch screen, with the camera tracking from below. Besides, It was essential that the projectors were reliable and resistant because the 365 days of the year.

In another of the exhibitions that can be seen in this museum, called Media Factory, Visitors can create their own television shows, for which Panasonic visual and broadcast solutions have been installed so that they can experiment with the operating methods used in television and broadcast studios.

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