Christie technology makes Hans-Peter Porsche's dream come true: a toy museum that comes to life

The heart of the TraumWerk museum is a large model train from 400 m² where the landscapes, the environment and, even, climatic and lighting conditions are recreated thanks to 30 DWU555-GS laser phosphor projectors and 39 media players Pandora Box. To control the equipment, the contents, As well as the different effects, Coolux Widget Designer is used. Quite a show that culminates with two minutes of mapping.

Nestled in the alpine surroundings of Berchtesgaden, the museum Dream work invites toy fans and those nostalgic for model trains to a very special trip. In 5.500 m² of exhibition space Peter Porsche's old dream comes true: show off your toy collection to the public. Historical brass objects are exhibited in the exhibition, steam engines, automotive rarities and a 21st century railway model.

“Traumwerk is the materialization of an old dream of Hans-Peter Porsche. We offer our visitors a fascinating universe and an impressive show that combines a traditional railway model with 360° projection mapping on the back walls and on elements of the model's own landscape., commentaFelix Schwenk, Project Director of the Hans-Peter Porsche TraumWerk.

For the model of 400 m² that occupies the heart of the TraumWerk, more than a hundred trains travel through a traditional Alpine landscape populated by miniatures of people, buildings and landscape elements, that come to life thanks to the projection of images.

These images overflow the surface of the large table, creating a world much larger than that of the landscape, recreated in the model miniature convoys crossing amidst views of meadows, mountains and majestic waterfalls.

Projection technology allows you to show the landscape and make very subtle changes to the miniature buildings that the trains pass by.: the landscape changes from day to night, and the same does the recreated environment and the houses, office blocks, churches or sports venues. A loop of about twenty minutes simulates day and night scenes and all types of weather conditions, culminating in a two-minute mapping show.

The design and technology concepts of this toy world are the work of the visual design team at Scouting. From the planning and installation of museum media technology, which includes the GS Series of Christie, has been in charge Burmester Event & Media technology, a company specialized in interactive systems that has been responsible for scanning and creating 3D objects and UV maps, del warping 3D, programming show files and media controls.

Thirty DWU555-GS laser phosphor projectors are used to support mapping work, using the Widget Designer Coolux to control Christie projectors and lighting and sound effects, as well as the reproduction of the content, managed with modular video processing system, playback and control Pandoras Box.

The creative team of this miniature world had a period of four months, from planning to final implementation. Nik Burmester, CEO de Burmester Event & Media technology, he tells it like this. “The relative brevity of the commission made it difficult to create a technical concept that would not overshadow the objects on display and that, at the same time, “It would serve the variety of uses that it would need and blend with the museum environment.”.

It was also important that the technology was fail-safe and that, despite long operating hours, will not require extensive maintenance, a crucial aspect for projectors. “We opted for the Christie DWU555-GS because it does not require bulb or filter changes and guarantees 20.000 hours of operation”, explains Burmester.

Christie GS Series models feature RealBlack, a technology that allows them to offer optimal contrasts and total black since, when this function is activated, light input is equal to zero. Other reasons that explain the choice of this solution are its compact size, the low energy consumption and the white design of the housing that facilitates the integration of the projector into the space.

To carry out planning and implementation, it was essential that the 3D representation of the space and landscape had maximum precision.. New scanning technologies and software tools were used to test and evaluate the different assemblies of the project to respond to the needs and limitations..

In the end it was decided to create 3D objects and UV maps of the surface of the model and the landscape to project on them.. “For the final 3D model we needed to condense, in a single file, a huge amount of data (around 2TB, capturing 500.000.000 of scan points) and various data formats”, comments Burmester. A fundamental requirement was that the dimensions of the mockup did not cause significant data loss..

To create the mapping, the entire landscape had to be scanned: each and every building and landscape element, on an area of ​​approximately 550 m², to which the background walls had to be added. “To do this we used the test images we had generated when producing the UV maps and poured them onto the corresponding 3D objects., later adjusting them to the real 3D geometry”, prosigue Burmester.

To manage the content, a total of 39 Pandoras Box. Projectors and playback devices are controlled by Coolux Widget Designer Pro, through a three-way interface that continuously indicates the status.

“We were looking for an easy-to-use control solution, efficient operation and that also offered on/off functions on the LAN and on/off and source selection functions on the projector”, recalca Burmester, which explains that, besides all that, It was necessary to be able to connect to the emergency shutdown of the system using a relay switch, mediante Coolux Sensor Link. In addition, Two STD range Pandoras Box managers were mounted to provide all playback devices with synchronized show control.

In addition to all the above, The exhibition incorporates several interactive elements, with technological content created by Pfadfinderei, so that the visitor feels as if they were traveling inside a train car or driving a locomotive. Tres displays LCD Christie FHD651-T de 65 inches with intuitive touch surfaces allow visitors to access detailed information about each of the trains that run through the landscape of the model.

Equipment used:

• 30 Christie DWU555-GS
• 39 Pandoras Box Player
• 2 Coolux Media Manager
• 1 Coolux Widget Designer
• 3 Christie FHD651-T
• 1 Christie FHD651-P
• 1 Christie Quad HD84