Barco teams with SGI to install immersive and interactive high resolution stereoscopic projection system at Sci-Quest Huntsville, Alabama
Visiting students from fourth grade to college level at Sci-Quest experience and interact with the world's scientific discoveries in a full immersive theater facility - the only of its kind in a science center in the world.
When J.D. Horne, executive director of Sci-Quest selected SGI as main contractor, Barco - with worldwide references ranging from virtual prototyping in the automotive industry to molecular modeling and scientific research in the oil & gas industry - was the logical partner to commission the development and realization of the complete interactive stereoscopic visualization and audio portion of this project.
“One of our major objectives in building the Immersive Theater was to add interactivity, because if you can't let children touch something or create something or change something, you don’t really engage them” said J.D.Horne.” An IMAX theater production, for example, is an immersive movie experience, but it doesn't change; every time you go see it, it's the same scenario. I felt that if we could make an immersive theater with an interactive feature, then each visit to Sci-Quest would be unique, because the children would get to participate and steer the scenario of whatever data sets are being used. It’s like having an IMAX theater but with a steering wheel - you can go anywhere you want.”
“When SGI Professional Services, the prime contractor, chose Barco as its strategic partner, we were very excited to take the challenge,” explains Steve McCullough, Vice President and General Manager, Barco Simulation US, “as these ideas were completely reflecting the objectives of our Edutainment and Entertainment product group, which already developed innovative interactive stereoscopic projection projects for the Technical Museum in Vienna.”
The Sci-Quest theatre features fully immersive, stereoscopic viewing on an impressive 26.6x12-foot screen, supported with 6.2 surround sound in a 56-seat stadium-like, interactive 3D environment. Barco designed, delivered, and installed the state-of-the-art turnkey stereoscopic projection system including four passive stereo-optimized, edge-blended and color-matched BarcoReality SIM6 projectors to provide a seamless image. In addition, Barco provided and integrated the non-depolarizing 3D projection screen, the audio system including microphones and speakers, the switching system, cabling, and the automation and control system for the display.
During the March 7th V.I.P. preview, the audience experienced immersive, high-definition segments featuring the raw beauty of the universe captured by the Hubble Space Telescope; a 3D exploration of the DNA chain; the National Library of Medicine’s guided tour of The Visible Human; and a virtual tour of Nefertari’s Tomb, considered the most beautiful in Egypt’s Valley of the Queens and no longer open to the public. At the general public opening on March 15th, an interactive session allowed children to actually create their own planet by selecting the size, composition, and distance from the sun.
Sci-Quest also includes a “Superlab” in which high school science clubs, college students, and industry professionals will be able to develop engineering and graphic design projects in the lab and then render their final products through the SGI® Onyx® 300 supercomputer which drives the images to Barco projectors and onto the 26.6x12-foot screen in the Immersive Theater.
“If we can prove we can do this in Alabama, and thanks to this interactive stereoscopic technology from Barco and SGI’s expertise and supercomputers, we can and we will,” explains Horne,” we think we can offer something to the ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) members across the country. There are around 162 hands-on science centres, and we think a lot of those will be interested in this technology. Everybody wins in a situation like this.”
Barco Edutainment and Entertainment
Barco Edutainment and Entertainment (E&E), with headquarters in Belgium and in Xenia (Ohio), invites science centers, museums and planetariums that are either in the process of creating a new exhibition area or undergoing a major renovation to partner together and study possible avenues of collaboration. Barco E&E will help set new trends using the latest state-of-the-art technologies that shift the focus from mere “showing” to profound “immersing” and even more desirable “creating interaction” with the visitor.
