Projects: Cruise Ship Sets Sail With Experiential Video Wall

August 9, 2017 by Dave Haynes

Cruise ship giant Royal Caribbean International’s Ovation of the Seas took its first voyage in 201g with an experiential video wall on its main esplanade, using nine different pieces of themed, reactive content.

The permanent 8’ x 20’ digital art wall reacts to each person passing by, and can be controlled through gestural interactivity. It was put together by Boston’s Materials & Methods, and Montreal’s Float4 and its technology division, RealMotion.  The project uses RealMotion’s content control system.

An infrared camera tracks the movements of each passersby, and interactive programming translates their motion to visual effect, Materials & Methods explains on its website.  The visual content moves seamlessly between LCD screens and the lower resolution LED areas of the canvas, sharpened and softened respectively as the content spreads like pools of paint off of the high resolution displays. 

“When designing Ovation of the Seas, Royal Caribbean wanted to create an entirely new standard for guest experiences,” adds RealMotion Chief Technology Officer Sevan Dalkian. “They wanted to instill a ‘wow’ factor in every part of the ship’s public spaces. RealMotion technology was selected as the backbone for Materials & Methods’ vision for this first of its kind, constantly changing and evolving, gesture-driven art wall on the ship’s main esplanade that engages all 4,180 double-occupancy passengers who travel on the ship.”

Adds Dalkian: As interactive content producers, Float4’s team integrated the creative assets to bring the concept to life. A wide sweeping gesture can brush across the image, altering color or pattern, creating ripples, causing flowers to bloom or particles to disperse, revealing colors or adding layers. A short, sharp motion alters the canvas differently, giving the user the ability to paint with a quickly learned movement “language.” Watching the vibrant canvas respond to bodies in space is arresting, and invites an audience of every type of passenger to want to engage and play.

I like the mix and match of high-rez LCDs with low-rez diffuser panels. Big impact but lower capital costs.

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