Panasonic has partnered with the Australian Museum and Wizard Projects to create an interactive multimedia exhibition that brings dinosaurs to life with help from its projectors, lenses and an engineer specially flown out from Japan for the project.
The exhibition Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family explores the recently revised tyrannosaurs family tree and features large-scale projections powered by Panasonic projectors and lenses, such as a walk-through tunnel that surrounds visitors with dinosaurs wandering around Circular Quay.
“It was really difficult to do a large-scale projection in this particular area because of the height of the ceiling and the length that the projection needed to run horizontally,” said Francis Daley, head of AV at Australian Museum.
AV installation specialists Wizard Projects used four rear-projected Panasonic PT-DZ870 projectors on either side of the walk-through and a front-projector to achieve the illusion.
Michael Sheldrick, project manager and engineer at Wizard Projects said, “The 3D mapping and geometrical warping functionality has been crucial in rear-projecting onto a flexible fabric, and the really short throw has saved us heaps of space. The projectors also enabled us to be able to get a really vibrant look on the screen.”
Edge blending technology on the projectors helped create a seamless image from the multiple projectors.
“Trying to edge blend short throw projectors at the best of times is very difficult,” said Michael Sheldrick. “As far as I’m aware, this is the first time that four projectors have been edge blended with these lenses, and we managed to pull it off thanks to Panasonic, who flew an engineer out from Japan specifically to help with this.”
Panasonic projectors are also used to animate the shadow of a life-sized Tyrannosaurus skeleton in the exhibition (pictured above). At first it appears to be a static shadow but the display comes to life every few seconds to show the dinosaur moving its head and body.
Panasonic gear was used to create an augmented reality display that creates the illusion of dinosaurs walking amongst visitors who stood in front of the screen.
The exhibition Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family runs until 27 July 2014 at the Australian Museum, Sydney.