Taking the Sistine Chapel to the World: Making Immersive Experiences more mobile and affordable

Imagine standing beneath the stunning skies of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel—not in the Vatican, but in your local community center—thanks to a multimedia exhibition brought to Poland through a groundbreaking collaboration and innovative technology.

Imagine standing beneath the expansive skies of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, enveloped by the divine drama and intricate details of one of the world's most treasured artistic achievements. Now picture this experience not in the Vatican, but in your local community centre, museum, or as part of a touring exhibition.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Vatican Museums, Emission House Manuscriptum in Poland, LIVE Agency, Scripta Maneant in Italy, and ARAM company, it was possible to bring the Sistine Chapel to Poland in an engaging multimedia exhibition using Panasonic projectors and innovative new technology.

One of the major inhibitors that has prevented these high-level, immersive experiences from going on tour before has now been solved. In immersive entertainment, the quest for solutions that are both mobile and affordable is driving ground-breaking changes in how experiences are created and deployed. A notable shift towards distributed architecture promises to revolutionize the delivery of immersive experiences to audiences globally, offering a glimpse into a future where the beauty of the Sistine Chapel can be shared far and wide.

A significant shift

Traditionally, immersive installations have been constrained by centralized architectures, where a single, often bulky hub forms the core of the operation. While effective under certain conditions, this model presents significant challenges for experiences intended to travel, with high-resolution synchronized content and complicated signal transportation making the infrastructure costly. The logistics involved in moving, assembling, and disassembling these centralized systems further add to their cost and complexity, restricting the flexibility and scalability of immersive deployments.

The advent of distributed architecture heralds a new era. It decentralizes processing power across multiple nodes directly within the projectors or displays. By embedding processing capabilities within the display units themselves, the need for extensive central processing equipment and complex wiring is dramatically reduced.

ARAM and HIVE combine

The new distributed architecture for immersive experiences revolutionizes traditional set-ups by decentralizing the processing elements. Using the Intel SDM slot in Panasonic projectors, HIVE has created a compact media server solution on a board called the BeeBlade, which integrates directly into the Panasonic display device. Locating the media processing engine in the display device significantly reduces the need for extensive cabling and centralized control systems.

The result is a more streamlined, cost-effective, and energy-efficient setup. This system also offers greater flexibility, allowing for easier transportation and quicker assembly, essential for touring immersive experiences. This new model represents a significant shift towards more sustainable and adaptable media server solutions in digital storytelling and immersive experiences.

Overcoming the challenge of Ethernet video synchronisation

One of the major challenges of a distributed architecture for immersive experiences that had to be overcome was the need for high-accuracy synchronisation of content via the projectors.

To achieve the higher line level accuracy required, HIVE took open-source instruction from Intel to make small modifications to the HDMI clock and to read the video timing. This innovative Beesync software enables the exact frame time of the distributed SDMs to be monitored and compared. If one is out of sync, the system can automatically speed up or slow down to compensate. The solution is scalable to any number of display devices.

The potential applications of this new distributed technology approach are vast, with the initial touring exhibitions of BBC Earth in Melbourne and the digital recreation of the Sistine Chapel benefitting immensely.

The art of the Sistine Chapel is brought to life for visitors unable to visit Rome.

Until recently, Michelangelo’s famous work in the Sistine Chapel could only be experienced in person with a visit to Rome. However, this incredible visual spectacle has now been recreated in an immersive experience using a distributed architecture approach with HIVE’s BeeBlade media server on a board in Panasonic Intel SDM-enabled projectors.

Polish AV integrators ARAM headed up the complex installation, opting for 39 HIVE BeeBlades inside Panasonic Intel SDM compatible projectors and three BeeBoxes that powered LED walls.

Unleashing creativity

In conclusion, the move towards distributed architecture in immersive entertainment marks a significant step towards making awe-inspiring immersive experiences more accessible and sustainable. As technology continues to advance, we anticipate a future where the limitations of immersive entertainment are not logistical but are instead defined by the limitless possibilities of creativity, innovation, and storytelling.

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"We are impressed with how the entire installation works with the decentralized BeeBlade system and how it helps to build multi-projector installations. This evolutionary change makes whole immersive spaces easier to install and operate."

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Discover more about the projection technology behind some of the greatest immersive experiences in the world and what might be best for your location: Immerse yourself in new experiences | Panasonic Connect

Taking the Sistine Chapel to the World: Making Immersive Experiences more mobile and affordable

A significant shift

ARAM and HIVE combine

Overcoming the challenge of Ethernet video synchronisation

The art of the Sistine Chapel is brought to life for visitors unable to visit Rome.

Unleashing creativity

Find out more

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