SAAS

The month-long WHEN2050 exhibition was held in October last year at the Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) as part of the largest 3D arts festival in New South Wales - 3DEDRATS – which is hosted by the Macquarie University ICT Innovations Centre, Sydney.

The Year 10 students developed architectural prototypes for Australian cities in a 3D multi-user virtual environment that incorporated ideas of sustainability, aesthetic appeal and functionality, exploring designs that addressed perceived needs of the future in regards to communication, energy, food, housing, recreation and transport. Students were guided and mentored in their use of the 3D OpenSim software by teaching staff from Macquarie University ICT Centre and The University of NSW

Visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity to experience the students’ architectural designs in a 3D virtual world by interacting with the innovative 3D artwork, displayed in impressive scale using Panasonic’s 3D projector solutions.

Roger Buck, Director of Technical Support – Macquariei Univeristy ICT Centre, said:

“This was a very demanding project in a technical sense, and the Panasonic projectors worked exactly the way we had intended. We worked with Panasonic on some proof of concepts before we went into production and their assistance was invaluable at that vital stage.”

“From everything from delivering specifications to assisting with the installation and ensuring the smooth running of the exhibition, everything worked exactly as predicted and the Panasonic projector solutions were vital in the overall success of this project,” he added.

The artwork was exhibited at the Sydney College of the Arts, in a 3D projection room created using three powerful Panasonic PT-DW730E Series 1-chip DLP™ projectors, producing 7,000 lm of brightness and vivid, colourful images. These units projected the students’ images of futuristic architecture onto three walls to create a truly immersive 3D environment, and visitors were offered re-usable 3D eyewear to enjoy this breathtaking virtual world.

Two hologram booths were also set up at the exhibition, each representing a student-designed architectural building as an object standing around 1 meter high in space against the futuristic 3D backdrop, which was displayed on a Panasonic TH-47LF20W High Definition commercial Plasma panel in each booth. The hologram was brought to life using a Panasonic PT-FW430 Full High Definition LCD Projector boasting 3,500 lumens of brightness as well as a 600:1 dynamic contrast ratio to display the hologram with deep, rich blacks and incredible detail.

The final aspect of the exhibition involved the projection of live internet games onto the building fascias of the SCA clocktower, as well as onto the Westpac building in Armidale in partnership with the University of New England as part of the DEHub SLEX Festival. The games, designed by SAAS, could be seen from dusk until midnight thanks to the powerful Panasonic PT-EX16K LCD Projector, delivering a remarkably high brightness of 16,000 lumens designed to ensure sharp and crisp large-scale projection while attaining optimal colour performance.