Sun Hung Kai Properties • 2015
Beyond 4K resolution media projection, setting new milestone in event projections
In Hong Kong, residential properties are being sold long before completion, which means that buyers do not have the opportunity to inspect the actual property before signing the purchase agreement. Developers have to draw support from a multitude of sales tools to sell properties still under construction. One of them is the use of advanced projection technologies – the setting up of a theatre in the showroom for staging promotional movies or entertainment programmes. The whole production is extremely sophisticated and professional, intended to give a better-than-cinema viewing experience to potential buyers.
This stunning 270 degrees theatre is formed by a 9-meters wide main screen with 2 adjacent side-screens making a 270 degrees surrounding screen. In front of it stands a huge diamond structure measuring some 3 meters in diameter.
270 degrees projection / Projection mapping
The show is a 6-minute video with rich imageries and 7.1 surround-sound effect, providing a full immersive audio visual experience comparable to theme parks and planetariums. Graphics and images fly in from all angles and appear across the surrounding screens, while projection is cast onto the multi-faceted diamond structure, simulating the sparkling radiance of jewellery. The audience is totally absorbed in the beautiful dream house environment rendered in CG and impressed by the breath-taking theatre experience.
The creation of such high-impact visual projections is attributed to a huge projection system, equipped with 8 projectors projecting at different angles. The main screen projector deployed is the industry-leading Sony SRX-T615 4K cinema projector, providing a true 4K image of high-contrast level 12,000:1.
Perfect alignment of grids and careful calibration are essential to a multiple channels projection installation. The seamless blending and wrapping among different projector images is done with the help of a camera-based auto-calibration system.
onActivity designed the display system and media serving solution, and managed the complex project from concept development to installation execution.
The challenges
With different brands and models of projectors used, colour calibration is essential and it is also necessary to make adjustments according to the movie content and onsite lighting effect.
Projection Installations – Stability is the biggest challenge. The 300-pounds 4k projector needs to be hung from the ceiling while the other projectors are installed on a tall truss. With people moving around, the vibration caused will lead to shaky images and gaps, so maintaining stability in the projection image is of paramount importance. An additional frame that supports up to 1 ton is built for the heavyweight machine while wires and shockproof materials are used to stabilize the other projectors.
270 degrees projection – The 2 side-screens feature a non-standard screen size, so the projection image has to be calibrated to fit the aspect ratio and result in a seamless and natural 270 degrees surrounding projection.
Projection mapping – The diamond projection is calibrated by a projection mapping software tool loaded with the 3D digital model file of the diamond props. However the props does not exactly match the computer file as it is handmade, so manual adjustment is required to ensure perfect mapping.