Porsche Cayenne Launch

Feature

Porsche Cayenne Launch

By Cat Strom.

IKONIX utilise Avolites Ai for prestigious car launch; “NDI is the future for media servers.”

Based on the Gold Coast, IKONIX are highly skilled and experienced across multiple facets of any event or installation, including design and operation of audio, video, lighting, rigging, automation, power management, staging, and customised special effects. They are fast gaining a reputation for innovative content delivery, including projection mapping and pixel mapping, hologram and holographic projection, and for their work with media servers.

In June, IKONIX worked with Porsche Centre Gold Coast to launch the new Porsche Cayenne at Palazzo Versace. In a time-coded sequence, they used their new Ray Technologies RTI NEO SIX RGB laser bars and their new ROE Strips with Brompton Technology Processors. They also used the new NDI (Network Device Interface by NewTek) output feature in Avolites Ai media server to pre-visualise the entire sequence.

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“We were engaged to produce an opening sequence that would wow everyone in the room,” explained Richard Saunders, Director at IKONIX. “We were in pre-viz for a week programming lasers, lights and ROE Strips in Capture with Avolites Ai feeding Capture the three NDI feeds.”

NDI allows you to send video data over Ethernet, providing a robust way to send large video data quickly and accurately. Currently Ai supports up to 8 inputs of NDI which do not require any additional hardware.

In the initial pre-vis it was decided early on that they would be using NDI out of Avolites Ai into Capture. IKONIX have a pre-vis suite setup upstairs and their media servers downstairs, linked via fibre. The NDI output is patched in Ai and it appears as a source in Capture, this is then applied to their 3D model of the setup

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“With NDI being so simple to setup, as long as we are on the same network, we can see the source everywhere,” commented Richard. “This is all controlled via an MA Lighting grandMa2. The programming itself for the show took about five days, with timing being the biggest key point.”

The show itself was run completely via timecode with a Brainstorm Destripalyzer generating the time code which is then fed into the MA2 and Ai. Richard commented that when working with video, gigabit Ethernet with quality Cat6 or even fibre is the key, and a stable, robust switch is paramount for the very heavy network traffic.

“NDI is the future,” he added. “It has an extremely low latency, is IP based and an SDK that a lot of the big media server manufactures and integrators are picking up.” Render quality is a key element for IKONIX, and they believe that Capture generate the best quality renders on the market. Being able to integrate NDI, lasers, flames and water acts perfectly fits their design workflow.

“Avolites Ai gave us maximum flexibility on this, being able to output NDI on all fixtures in pre-vis plus being able to see the 3D model inside Ai in 3D is a huge advantage for us and the client,” said Richard.

The crew only had 4 1/2 hours to build the set, so it was designed for a quick install, allowing the client plenty of time for a rehearsal. The extreme time constraints meant that all the equipment was ground supported. The end result was two rear projection 20m x 11m screens with 20K projectors, 52 Roe Strips with Brompton processing, and two Ai servers (main and a backup) running the two projection screens and the Roe Strips.

“The Roe Strips are actually an LED video product as opposed to a lighting product so they don’t run ArtNet, rather a traditional video signal,” said Richard. “Their colour depth is far greater and the refresh rate is much higher so we can get a lot more gradient out of them. We particularly wanted that for this project as there was a lot of fast moving video.”

IKONIX also implemented their new Ray Technologies RTI NEO SIX lasers which are DMX controllable, with each of the six lasers in the bar individually controlled with their own scanning heads. “Basically they’re a 3 Watt RGB laser run like a moving light,” added Richard.

“They pan and tilt and have gobos in them with RGB control.” The video lasted 90 seconds and was a mixture of supplied content from Porsche and custom made graphic animations created by IKONIX. “We made content to suit the Roe Strips, and there were bits in between the video itself that were cut up with animation,” explained Richard.

“That animation went from the projection screen, out to the lasers, and the Roe Strips as well.” Also in the room were Robe Robin Pointes, ShowPro LED Profiles, GLP impression X4 Bars and TourPro Storm LED strobes.

This article first appeared in CX Magazine August 2018 – print and online.
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