Illuminarium and Panasonic encourage you to discover Africa in the world's first virtual safari

‘Wild’, the first interactive show of the Illuminarium Experiences, places the viewer on a 360º virtual safari through the 4K laser projection of Panasonic, audio 3D, haptic technology in the floor and aromas.

Inaugurated a few months ago in the North American state of Atlanta, Wild It is the first interactive show of Illuminarium Experiences that 'transports’ to visitors across the African continent in the primer safari virtual of the world so far, with film locations from South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania that show the beauty of the savanna and the most exotic animals in the world in their natural habitats thanks to technology.

Founded by Alan Greenberg, Radical Media y The Rockwell Group, Illuminarium Experiences brings together best-in-class experts in content creation, theatrical design, interactive technologies and applications in scenarios, turning its facilities into a surprising combination between a museum, a cinema and virtual reality, whose objective is for the audience to be part of the show and to share it, removing the individual barriers of VR glasses.

Alan Greenberg, CEO of Illumination Experiences, this is how he explains it: “what museums are for art, cinemas for movies and concert halls for music, Illuminariums are for experiential entertainment. We have spaces of about 2.322 m2, with ceilings of almost 8 meters high, to create reprogrammable immersive environments, that surround visitors, in a sensory space of sight, sound and scale like no other”.

Integrated interactive technology

Enjoy an interactive experience and virtual reality without glasses or other elements is the goal of Illuminarium, that with its creative experiences offers “and collective and connected entertainment so that it is enjoyed as a shared human experience - adds Greenberg -, no hardware required, while 'behind the curtains’ We have a lot of hardware and software to make the experience happen.”.

Wild: the world’s first virtual safari, is the company's first show taking audiences from the majestic plains of the Masai Mara to the great herds of the Kruger National Park to the green watering holes of the Samburu Reserve, all without having to travel more than to Atlanta, where is the facility.

This unique interactive show is based on laser projectors, professional displays and camera solutions, all in 4K resolution, from the manufacturer Panasonic, fruit of collaboration as exclusive technology provider with Illuminarium.

Specifically, los laser projectors 3 chips DLP and native 4K resolution for large spaces PT-RQ50K, with a power of 50.000 lumens of brightness (more details in Digital AV), star in this virtual safari.

Illuminarium and Panasonic partnership also includes, how did this advance diary, the manufacture of a single lens ultra-short throw to produce an enhanced immersive experience in indoor entertainment shows.

The Panasonic lens ET-D3QW200 eliminates the separation between viewers and content, achieving highly realistic native 4K resolution at very close range and minimal light loss.

The wide scope of the video projection and its interactive elements make the Illuminarium experience unique; with haptic effects on the floor so that visitors feel the roar of a lion walking nearby and responsive elements in the bar space, like a flock of birds bursting from a tree when they approach.

The Bart at Illuminarium

At night and located in a smaller screening room is The Bart at Illuminarium, a bar that offers an immersive environment, with a series of different 'worlds’ interactive, including a Japanese night market and a crystal-filled cave, designed with a game engine to react to the movements and actions of visitors while they are having a cocktail .

To create this dynamic projection canvas, Both the virtual safari and The Bart use film that is captured with six cameras and stitched together to eliminate visible seams. Minus the space needed to project it, the film extends 240 degrees, wider than the human field of vision.

For this, Alan Greenberg turned to David Rockwell, who has designed interiors and spaces such as the famous Nobu restaurant in New York or the sets for the Oscar broadcasts and Broadway shows, in order to make the audience part of the Illuminarium experience.

As Rockwell points out, “To tell a story spatially you have to leave connections in the story so that the audience finds themselves in it., can look anywhere and walk to the movie elements. If it is a complete and hermetically sealed story, there are very few opportunities for people to get involved in it”.

The Illuminarium Lab

Next to its headquarters in Atlanta, Illuminarium is building a post-production center and I+D called The Illuminarium Lab; a research and development center in immersive entertainment and interactive technologies, in collaboration with technical partners such as Panasonic, Holoplot y Disguise, to which more will be added.

As its CEO assures, Alan Greenberg, “The Illuminarium Experiences will transport guests through an unprecedented combination of total sensory immersion and theatrical inspiration that would not be possible without the innovative technology of our partners.”, like Panasonic. We are proud to democratize places, the world's most incredible people and experiences through educational immersive digital shows, “socially conscious and very attractive”.

AV-over-IP technology

Another of the technological partners to create these innovative custom-designed spaces is Lightware and its solution UBEX (ultra bandwidth extender), that provides uncompressed audio and video content.

In the words of Brian Allen, vp. technology and content executive at Illuminarium Experiences, “It is a space that can take you anywhere, in a way never experienced before, through the most innovative technology. From the technical point of view, This requires us to offer the highest audio and video quality”.

In this sense, Allen adds that “every layer of our technology contributes to the experience we try to create. Our content is incredibly realistic and, that's why, we have to integrate technology that does not look like a projector and a screen, but the African Serengeti. We have to pay attention to the small details, such as color spaces and light output, to create an immersive experience”.

Lightware's UBEX solution is used to deliver reliable content with cer latencyo, “which allowed us to push the limits of technology by offering truly uncompressed content, and without any degradation in our camera signal, playback and projector”.

With the aim of deploying a flexible and future-proof system “we also use more fiber for each location, as we anticipate that the signals will have a higher bit depth, more color information and higher resolution. We wanted the ability to carry additional information for future growth. An AV-over-IP system gave us the flexibility needed for expansion”, Allen adds..

Illuminarium to open other facilities in Las Vegas, Nevada and Miami in 2022. to the show Wild will follow soon Spacewalk, an amazing journey through the solar system, in which the public will experience what it is like to walk on the surface of the Moon and Mars.

“We create different render lines for each show -Allen continues.. It was important that we integrate a flexible solution that would allow us to use existing technology while creating new shows. UBEX allows direct connectivity to different inputs and components that provide us with unprecedented flexibility in this huge installation”.

This uncompressed AV-over-IP solution can function as a virtual matrix using a standard Ethernet switch as a crossover point or working as a conventional point-to-point extender.

The unit allows the extension of uncompressed and high fidelity signals in 4K UHD a 60 Hz (4:4:4) via packet-based transmission. UBEX can simultaneously transmit and receive content with deep color streams and multi-channel audio.