From single-projector designs to complex installs, Christie experts fill knowledge and staffing gaps
Christie® does more than manufacture display technology. Our global fulfillment team brings together engineers, solutions architects, and project managers who can support AV projects at any scale. The same specialists who contribute to complex, high-profile installations can also advise on a single-projector design during pre-sales.
We work with integrators and our partners to add expertise and support where needed so they can deliver great service to their clients. Bringing the right expertise in early can save time and money, reduce risk, and help achieve the intended result.
An ambitious installation: Seamless 360-degree projection at OdySea Aquarium
One of the team’s most ambitious installations was OdySea Aquarium. Christie sales lead Eric Rosenberg describes OdySea founder and CEO Amram Knishinsky as “a true visionary and absolutely brilliant human being.” Knishinsky wanted visitors to enter more than a conventional lobby. He envisioned a vast, moving underwater environment featuring lifelike animations of the aquarium’s animals, from otters to sharks, created by Hollywood creative director Paul Washburn. The finished experience was extraordinary.
How Christie supported the project
Christie’s fulfillment team supported OdySea before, during, and after installation. The team helped define the system requirements, guide the design, coordinate technical work, support commissioning, and train staff after installation.
Initial planning and system design
Early conversations with Rosenberg and the Christie team helped OdySea define what's possible. The aquarium approached Christie directly after initial conversations with potential integrators stalled. The team at Christie recommended Phoenix-based CCS (now AVI-SPL), which quickly identified the need for structural and electrical contractors and helped put the project on a stronger footing.
Christie engineers are familiar with demanding projects, but OdySea presented an unusual design brief: Create a seamless, 360-degree projected immersive environment around giant, custom-made glass-globe aquariums suspended from the lobby ceiling, while ensuring the projected light would not harm the animals inside. The walls rose 23 feet (7 meters), and one wall curved.
The system combines 12 HS Series projectors with Christie Mystique™ for warping and blending and a twoloox (Pandoras Box) media server. In addition to helping CCS design the projection system, the fulfillment team managed the installation and coordinated the electrical, structural, and content teams. “The clients get the benefit of the team, with a great deal of experience,” says Chris Savoie, the project’s solutions architect.
The team spent significant time on projection design. “The hard part was finding the optimal spot for each projector and then not only getting the pixels squarely onto the surface, but also avoiding the fish globes,” Savoie explains. “We had to let CCS know precisely where to place the projectors. I made sure the signal paths were good, the content would work, and the media server was set up correctly.”
Projector warping and blending for a seamless image
Using 3D mapping, Mystique created an accurate model of the projection surfaces needed to align the imagery across the flat and curved walls. “Because only one of the four walls was curved, we decided not to bring in a LiDAR contractor. When we arrived on-site, I used a theodolite to take multiple measurements and map the points. I then turned that data into an accurate model we could use to geometrically correct the imagery across the curved surface and align the pixels.” says Savoie.
Because the team could not attach anything to the walls, it mounted laser markers on the ceiling in a sequence that Mystique’s cameras could detect. Savoie measured each laser location so the software could verify the exact position of every marker in 3D space.
The walls of the aquarium lobby are transformed using a suite of our ProAV solutions.
Content coordination
Content coordination was essential across three parts of the system: Mystique, the media server, and the content provider. The Christie team briefed the content company early so it could prepare material for each projector and account for how images would blend across the room.
“The resolution, the color, and how they map the color are important,” Savoie says. “You don’t want dark scenes where images blend. We had conversations with the content provider to ensure images were bright where the projections overlap. We gave them parameters and conditions for what was going to look good.”
Post-installation support and success
The result became clear as the installation took shape, and OdySea executives, including Knishinsky and his family, visited to see the progress. Savoie remembers their reaction: “They stood in the middle of the room, and you could see it on their faces, especially as they watched a shark swim across all the walls. Knishinsky smiled and gave me a huge nod.”
The technical work remained invisible to visitors, as intended. “The ultimate benefit is the experience when somebody comes in from the street,” Savoie says. “There is an enormous amount of high-level technical work behind it. They just know it looks amazing, and that’s what we’re trying to deliver.”
We work with integrators and our partners to add expertise and support where needed so they can deliver great service to their clients.
After completing the installation, the team provided a full day of training so OdySea staff could operate the hardware and software confidently each day.
This example represents one of the hundreds of projects Christie’s fulfillment team has supported. To discuss support for an AV project, from pre-sales design and specialized engineering to customization, project management, commissioning, and training, contact your Christie sales representative.
