Iberia Express celebrates its achievements with the projection of a virtual flight between Madrid and Tenerife

For 360º virtual projection, Newmedia used a geodesic dome with 6 proyectores Christie Roadster HD20K-J, as well as a 7thSense Delta Media Server player for image processing, Medialon to manage peripherals and a FHD461-X LCD flat panel to simulate a boarding gate screen.

Iberia Express celebrates having reached the 10 million passengers in three years and which has been recognized by the industry with the award for the 'most punctual low-cost airline in the world' by organizing a virtual flight between Madrid and Tenerife. To carry out this projection he used a dome of 360 grades provided by live event specialist Newmedia Creative Technology Studio y Christie.

Converted into an authentic Iberia Express plane, For three days, the Newmedia dome was the scene of multiple free admission sessions in which, on a journey through the history of aviation and the company's achievements during these first three years, Hundreds of passengers were able to embark on a virtual trip to the island of Tenerife.

“We wanted an event that would allow us to communicate these two milestones in a technologically innovative way.”, since it is one of the points that define a part of our DNA and in which we actively work, “always looking for products that make us stand out in that area”, says Paloma Utrera, Sales Manager at Iberia Express.

The biggest challenge was to generate a realism that the audience could experience being inside an airplane and the sensation of flying..

“We did a virtual simulation using an Oculus Rift virtual reality system that we fixed at a specific point and, in that way, simulate what would later be the platform or fuselage of the plane. Then, by creating a 360º movie in real time, We were modifying or changing the equator of the film to test the sensation of takeoff and landing., which without a doubt was the Achilles heel of this virtual trip. “Once we saw that this was possible, we took it to the scale of an Airbus A320.”, explains Diego De Anna, CEO of Newmedia.

Newmedia used a geodesic dome with an internal projection system using negative pressure of 21,7 meters in diameter and 11 high with an approximate surface area of 364 square meters.

Inside this structure, a part of the fuselage of an Airbus A320 was recreated in real size., the company's flagship aircraft. Mounted on a platform that had a sub-bass vibration system, 90 real seats provided by Iberia Express gave life to the plane.

Guests were welcomed as if arriving at an airport and taken to the dome through a glass tunnel that simulated the fuselage of the Airbus.. Once inside and settled in their seats, The aircraft staff gave the usual safety recommendations on all flights.

Next, through a vibration system in sync with the projection of images in 360 degrees, the sensation was generated among the attendees that the device was moving and taking off. Once in the 'air', after the classic greeting and instructions from the flight captain, images of Tenerife were projected, as well as an audiovisual production with the history and achievements of Iberia Express. And through sophisticated use of real and computer-generated images, the audience was able to recreate a real flight situation.

An immersive 360º flight

To stage this project, six Christie Roadster HD20K-J projectors were used to create the immersive environment of the dome., working at almost 3K resolution with more than 12 million pixels.

With five teams distributed symmetrically, the base and equator of the projection were made., and with a sixth the dome itself, which allowed having a 360º x 180º projection.

The six projectors were located on truss structures two meters high and mounted on a ball joint that Newmedia specially designed and which allowed the necessary angle to be adjusted between 0º/65º..

The Delta Media Server player 7thSense was used for image processing, which was uncompressed TGA sequence 4.4.4. It was also used Medialon as a control system to govern peripherals and a Christie FHD461-X LCD flat panel was installed on the outside of the dome to simulate the screen of a boarding gate indicating the time and destination of the flight.

The use of blending and warping was key to fitting the projection precisely into the irregular surface on which it was projected..

"In fact, This projection system is so complex that in some places up to more than four blending points converge., “four blending at the same point and on a curved surface”, explains Diego De Anna. “We perform both blending and warping externally from our Delta server, but we did it that way because of the issue of polar correction and autoaligment”.

The projection surface was 800 square meters and the resolution of 2,700×2.700 pixels, that is to say, close to 3K. The projected contents included CGI sequences, images shot in 360º, conventional 4K videos and archive material provided by Iberia Express.

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