Metreon - Carousel Interactive Technologies: home · novelist Moebius (Jean Giraud). Airtight...

98 S&VC February 2001 I www.svconline.com

By Judith Rubin

SAN FRANCISCO IS A FASCINATING STUDY IN OPPOSITES.

As one of the oldest West-Coast towns, it still has somearchitecture that’s well over a century old, like St.Patrick’s Church. Across the street from this church is

a technological monument called the Metreon. Metreon is Sony’s trademarked name for its own special brand

of urban entertainment center. Created by Sony Development,a division of Sony Corporation of America, the flagship venueis housed in a 4-story complex in San Francisco’s thriving Southof Market District.

Metreon features three unique, permanent themed attractions

developed by Sony through the licensing of unique intellectu-al properties. In each case, Sony took the work of a livingartist/author expressed in 2-D illustration and text and evolvedit into a 3-D, enter-the-book experience.

Where the Wild Things Are/In The Night Kitchen is an interactivewalk-through attraction for children, a restaurant and a retailstore, all based on the works of children’s book writer/illustra-tor Maurice Sendak. Wild Things takes a classic theme-parkapproach in allowing you to become a character in the story; youmeet and manipulate Sendak’s characters and creatures in theWild Things funhouse. The walk-through employs many stan-dard theatrical and magic devices.

(continued on p. 100)

SonyMetreon

San Francisco, California

I N S T A L L A T I O N

P R O F I L E

www.svconline.com I February 2001 S&VC 99

KEY ONE: COMMONALITY

A LT H O U G H M E T R E O N H A S T H R E E V E R Y U N I Q U E

entertainment attractions (The Way Things Work, Airtight Garageand Where the Wild Things Are), a single operations team mustmaintain all three. This team must also support special eventsand maintain security systems, overall building backgroundmusic and architectural displays. I made the decision early onthat at no time would the show quality be compromised, butthe attractions must share a common design philosophy and

use common components. This would make the attractionseasier to operate because they would share similar functions,use common components, and could share spare parts.

There are two main areas where a common design philoso-phy can make a huge impact on the ease of operations and main-tenance in a multi-attraction venue like Metreon: show controland audio-video processing. It is not surprising that these areasshare the common need for convenient human interfaces.Keeping the user interface design consistent can save an incred-ible amount of design dollars, with an even greater savings in

Designing Attractions the Operations Staff Will Also Enjoy


I N S T A L L A T I O N P R O F I L E S O N Y M E T R E O N

Where the Wild Things Are uses many theatrical sound and lighting tricks to create the full experience.

The Airtight Garage is a sophisticatedmulti-user game room for older childrenand adults based on the work of graphicnovelist Moebius (Jean Giraud). AirtightGarage fleshes out the other-worldly fla-vor and the futuristic fantasy environ-ments of Moebius’ work. You don’t somuch walk into the world of his novels asinto a world devoted to and inspired bythem. The attraction features three virtual-reality games created through the col-laboration between Sony and Moebius.

The Way Things Work — In Mammoth 3-D is a walk-through environment cul-minating in a 3-D video theater experi-ence, plus a retail store, based on thework of author/illustrator David Macaulay.Named after Macaulay’s best-selling book,The Way Things Work preserves the feel-ing of ink on paper and produces a senseof traveling through a giant version of the

book with its layman’s explanations andplayful illustrations of machinery.

Metreon combines these attractions withrestaurants, retail stores and a 15-screenmovie theater complex that includes theSony Imax 3-D theater, the very first large-format theater in metropolitan San Fran-cisco. Everything has been carefully cus-tomized for the Bay Area. The restaurantarea, A Taste of San Francisco, showcasesthe area’s unique chefs and eateries. Retailincludes Sony Style, PlayStation®, the Dis-covery Channel Store, and microsoft®SF.Sony Development is the master tenantof the building, designed by local architectsSimon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Morris,with Gary Edward Handel & Associates ofNew York. Developers were MillenniumPartners, New York, and WDG Ventures,San Francisco.

Metreon promotes the involvement oflocal, women-owned and minority-owned

businesses. This effort began at the designand construction phase, and San Fran-cisco area companies dominate the ven-dor list. The Sony team roster likewisecontains a remarkable number of Disneyveterans, including John K. MacLeod, sen-ior vice president of development andoperations for Sony Development; TrevorBryant, senior vice president of the cre-ative division, Sony Development; KariNovatney, vice president and general man-ager of Metreon; Scott Sinclair, executivecreative director of Sony Development;and David Spencer, senior vice presidentof the Entertainment Technology Group,Sony Development. (Since the comple-tion of Metreon, Sony Development hasmutated into Hyper Entertainment, head-ed by Mike Sweeney.)

INSTALLATION CHALLENGESEveryone concerned with the show design

(continued from p. 98)

and installation ran into challenges. Therewere challenges in combining the showdesign and architecture, working withina compressed construction schedule,adapting to the pre-existing buildingdesign, and incorporating the physicalaspects of the building and its mainte-nance. Natural light flooding through themostly glass northeast face of the buildinglimited lighting design. Fixtures wouldbe permanent and would be serviced bya building maintenance crew. Seismic andstructural requirements were stiff, partlydue to location (earthquake country) andpartly because the complex was con-structed on top of an existing building(the nearby Marriott Hotel’s undergroundballroom).

HVAC was the worst obstacle. Huge airducts would appear in places otherthan those specified on the plans,forcing show designers to com-promise. The HVAC componentsalso greatly reduced ceiling heights

in some places. Designers compensated byleaving the spaces without ceilings andpainting out the elements overhead; spec-ifying compact, versatile fixtures; work-ing closely with fabricators to keep weightand load-bearing at a minimum; and gen-erally adjusting and readjusting their work.

“Show design with a lot of theming washappening on top of standard buildingconstruction,” said York Kennedy of Gal-legos Lighting, which did lighting designfor Wild Things and the interiors of all themovie theaters. “There was the HVAC,which kept moving around. There waslots of hanging foliage. There was rockwork and character work, including swing-ing characters in the air. Our lightinginstallation and everything else had to goin before the swinging things went in.

While the crew was working on those,they’d knock our stuff back up into theceiling. Then we’d have to reposition andrefocus everything.”

“HVAC is always a problem,” concursDawn Hollingsworth of Moody RavitzHollingsworth, which provided lightingdesign and service for the Way ThingsWork attraction. “It never gets coordi-nated properly. What engineers put ondrawings is never what gets built in thespace. But everyone needs to have a fairchance to have the ceiling space. The rea-son you’re selling tickets — the reasonyou’re there in the first place — is actuallybeing impacted by these changes. Butthese things do happen on a construc-tion site. The most amazing thing is thatthey get built at all.”

The Airtight Garage is an interactive arcade based on the work of sci-figraphic novelistMoebius.

www.svconline.com I February 2001 S&VC 101

operations cost. I use the term “common user

interface design” to mean com-monality in anything an operatoror technician uses. This includeslocations of control panels andjacks on walls, procedures to startand stop the attraction and graph-ical user interfaces on computerscreens. It is also important to havea common scheme for the cableand component labeling, speakerand projector mounting and sys-tems documentation.

KEY TWO: COOPERATIONThere were three primary audio-video integratorcompanies and several other technology vendorsworking on the attractions. The three primary inte-grators are: David Carroll Associates for The WayThings Work, Baker Audio for Airtight Garage andthe Intellisys Group for Where the Wild Things Are.

We formed the Metreon Attraction TechnologiesTeam and handled issues of attraction standards. Itwas a great forum to discuss ongoing design andinstallation challenges, in addition to the key citycode issues that needed to be constantly addressed:wheelchair accessibility, seismic bracing for hangingsystems and the Underwriters Laboratories approvalof custom technology items like robots, animated

In each [attraction], Sony took the work of a living artist/

author expressed in 2-D illustration and text and evolved

it into a 3-D, enter-the-book experience.

Besides its amusement attractions,Metreon offers retail stores and cinemasin an environment that’s at once futuristicand distinctly San Franciscan.


“You have to enjoy thinking on yourfeet,” says Scott Sinclair, the project’s con-cept designer and a member of the Sonyteam that decided what to put into thebuilding. “You have to be able to deal withsomeone saying ‘I hate to tell you this,but there’s a piece of ductwork goingthrough your sky.’” Sinclair found theprocess very different from what he’dbeen used to in his days as a Disney engi-neer, where “the building would be shapedaround the show.” He also found it edu-cational. “I learned a lot about HVAC andbuilding codes. The architectural firmshad to do some learning, too.”

Sinclair continues, “The San Franciscocode restrictions are based on fear of earth-quakes. The resulting building is a hugetruss with heavy diagonal bracing and real-ly large columns. The city may fall downsomeday, but Metreon will still be standing!I respect architects a lot more now than Iused to. The codes are so restrictive thatif they can make a building that looksgood, it’s quite an achievement.”

Each attraction team relied on one ormore peacemakers to coordinate tasksand keep people communicating andfinding solutions. York Kennedy creditsGus Sanchez of Cupertino Electric, Paul

Strangmeyer, the floor foreman and DaveClare, vice president of Sony Entertain-ment group production, for keepingthings from getting too wild in WildThings. For playing valuable coordina-tion roles on The Way Things work, Delphi cited Hathaway Dinwiddie Con-struction, the tenant improvement con-struction managers, and MRH praisedChris Collins of Yeager Design. Audioproviders Intellisys Group and David Car-roll Associates both mentioned Sony’sMike Haimson (see sidebar).

TO THE MAXThe Wild Things show starts in thebedroom of the main character,Max, where through a combina-tion of scrim work and Pepper’sGhost effects, using a 50% mirrorand a Sony VPL-1800 projector, thescene magically changes into amoody child’s night forest. Guestsprogress through a Sendakiangallery of art, visual effects andinteractive elements. Images mys-teriously arise from a goblin’s smok-ing cauldron, thrown onto thesmoke (a fog effect supplied by

props and motion-controlled simulators.This multivendor team worked welltogether toward the success of all of theattractions.

KEY THREE: CONTROLSShow control was key in making theattractions easy to operate and maintain.We chose the Anitech Systems Media Pro4000 as the show control system for allattractions. It is rugged yet flexible andeasily expandible. Typically the MediaPro system is programmed and the showrun from a single start button. We useda custom operator control console tocontrol the primary functions of eachattraction. The OCC consists of several

pushbutton switches, a telephone and apaging microphone. It also has a 4-linedisplay for showing system health infor-mation and usage statistics. A standardMetreon OCC was developed anddeployed throughout each attraction.

The OCC also has another very impor-tant button: the emergency stop. Sincemany of the attractions in Metreon con-tain mechanical systems with movingparts, an emergency stop was needed forsafety purposes. Again, a standard Metre-on emergency stop circuit was developedand used throughout all the attractions.The Anitech manages an emergency stopvoltage bus that is released when theOCC button is pressed. This bus release

does not use software; it is driv-en by the release of relays thatcannot be reset without a key.

Before a Metreon attraction is restartedafter an emergency stop, procedure callsfor a thorough visual inspection and aninterview with whomever pressed theemergency stop. Since the city of SanFrancisco classified Metreon as a publicamusement building, a fire alarm eventmust also trigger an immediate shut-down of all the attractions and bring thelights up. This was built in to the Metre-on emergency stop unit and the Anitechsystem.

The OCC provides a convenient userinterface for the attractions with only afew buttons designed for the show oper-ations staff. The technical operationsstaff also needs to use the OCC, mainly



IST’s Ultrasonic Fog) by a sensor-activat-ed Sony VPL-900 video projector trig-gered when a person leans or reachesover the pot. Footprints on the carpettalk back when stepped on. In the echochamber, your voice is hilariously dis-torted by Sony microphone processors.More Pepper’s Ghost effects and theatri-cal illusions provide shifting pictures alongthe corridors.

Proceeding gradually upward, youemerge onto a balcony overlooking thelower level. The balcony is a play areawith fake-out viewing devices that showyou your own rear end, speaking tubesthat let you communicate with the folkson the lower level and wisecracking littlegoblins that poke their heads out of holesand taunt you to push them back down.There are also devices that let upstairsguests manipulate characters to interactwith unsuspecting guests below, who don’trealize others enjoying the attraction aremanually creating the effects on the spot.The various mechanisms were producedby Sony. From the balcony area, guestsdescend by slide or ramp to the jungleplayground. Here, accompanied byvibrant klezmer music (Sendak himselfspecified all the music in the attraction)and with the cityscape visible through thehuge windows, you can operate parts ofthe giant Wild Thing character on the

wall by pulling ropes and stepping onspots on the rug. There are also blocks toplay with, made of dense foam painted toresemble wood; caverns to duck into,made of fiberglass finished as rock; andWild Things flora and fauna to grab onto,sculpted of steel and fiberglass forendurance.

This 15,000-square-foot attraction is com-plemented by a retail space of equal size.The space is themed as an old theater, witha stage for readings and performances,and a collection of Sendak characters asflats, dolls and sculptures, some suspend-ed from the ceiling and some leaning overcatwalk railings. The items for sale includetools for fostering children’s creativity, suchas high-quality art supplies, mixes for bak-

ing crunchy eyeball cookies and a fineselection of classic children’s literaturehandpicked by Sendak. In addition to hisown titles are works by James Thurber,Beatrix Potter, Laura Ingalls Wilder andothers. There are also licensed merchan-dise and high-ticket, one-of-a-kind itemsby artisans who work with Sendak.

SOUND SYSTEMPaul Chavez of Intellisys Group was audioengineer and project manager for WildThings, working with Sony’s sound design-er Aaron Richards. Others on the audioteam were Intellisys’ James Renney as pro-grammer/show control designer and JohnNeff, field supervisor/chief installer. All

to get information about the “health” ofthe attractions. This is particularly impor-tant during system start-up, shut-downand diagnostics. To accommodate thisneed, we created a Microsoft Visual Basicapplication that uses the RSView soft-ware from Allen Bradley to talk to theMedia Pro 4000. Each Metreon attractionhas an administration PC that has an RS-232 interface to the Media Pro 4000Intelligent Control Module. Since theattraction show runs entirely on themicroprocessors within the Media Pro4000, the administration PC is only usedfor system updates and as an attractiongraphical user interface. The RSViewsoftware uses the DF1 protocol to talk tothe Media Pro 4000 as a SLC 500 slave.Using Visual Basic, we were able to addmany nice graphical control and status

display features for each attraction.In Airtight Garage, more controls are

needed for the show operator than theOCC can provide to support the virtualreality game systems. When Metreonopened, there were 41 Quaternia gameunits, 29 Badlands motion simulatorpods, 21 Hyperbowl game units and 12miscellaneous game units. To controlthis enormous number of networkedgame systems, a Metreon operator con-trol panel was developed. The OCP con-sists of a touchscreen display with a Visu-al Basic application running on acomputer. The Badlands area has anOCP, and a second OCP is sharedbetween the Hyperbowl and Quaterniagame area. The OCP is used to verifythe health of each game system, to allowan operator to abort a game or reset the

whole game system, and to assist withcustomer team scheduling.

Each OCP computer is interfaced toboth the Media Pro 4000 show controlsystem and the game server for each ofthe groups of networked virtual realitygames. Since the OCP can “talk” to thegame server and the show control sys-tem, an event in the game can controlroom lighting and other special effects.The main function of the game serversis to process the virtual world, coordi-nating data for each networked player ina game. As players move or shootweapons, their positions in the virtualworld are calculated and updated by thegame server. The game system graphicsand audio effects are processed by thelocal game PC located in the custom-built cabinet. Each Badlands motion sim-

(continued on p. 108)

In the Night Kitchen is family-friendly dining after Wild Things wakes up kids’ appetites.



ulator system also has a motion control PCthat controls the DC motors for the 2-axis pod and the vehicle electronics.

In The Way Things Work and Where theWild Things Are, there are maintenancecontrol panels for the animated props.These panels are called Hand-Off-Autoswitches. In the Auto position, the prop iscontrolled by the show control system. Inthe Off position, the prop may not be trig-gered. In the Hand position, the switchtriggers the prop once and the show con-trol system is still disconnected. The HOAswitches are used to test props that may befaulty or to isolate faulty props from theshow before they can be repaired. Thereare also HOA-like switches for the auto-matic doors in these attractions.Another convenient and standard Metre-

on attraction maintenance panel is theremote programming panel. Each attrac-tion has two or three RPPs with pro-gramming jacks for the lighting system,show control system and audio system. Ashow programmer can sit with the creativedesigner and adjust lighting, show timingand audio parameters while in the mid-dle of the show space. The RPPs wereused extensively to program and com-mission each attraction. They are availablenow to assist in changing any show param-eters or to test major pieces of new equip-ment from within the show environment.

KEY FOUR: A/V PROCESSINGThe next step after standardizing the showcontrol system and strategy is defining anaudio processing and distribution strate-gy. We standardized on the MediaMatrixsystem from Peavey. Each attraction has itsown Mainframe 980. The audio isprocessed by the mainframe and distrib-uted as digital signals via CobraNet to I/Odevices throughout the attraction. Audioanalog-to-digital conversion and digital-to-analog conversion is provided by CAB8is and CAB 8os, respectively. The Media-Matrix system allows the show’s audio rout-ing and processing to be designed graph-ically on a PC and compiled into themainframe. Real-time event control, suchas audio ducking for paging, can also behandled by the MediaMatrix system. Realevent control from the show is accom-plished via an RS-232 interface between theAnitech Show Control system and the

MediaMatrix Mainframe. On an emer-gency stop event, the attraction audio ismuted. When a building fire alarm is trig-gered, the attraction audio is also muted,and the building-wide emergency pagingmay be injected into audio signal path.

Developing a video processing and dis-tribution strategy is also important. Mostvideo at Metreon was stored as com-pressed M-JPEG composite video on hard-disk recorders and played directly to amonitor or projector. For compressedvideo storage, we used the V1m fromDoremi Labs. The Way Things Work maintheater required a higher level of videoquality. The theater uses three 18-foot-diagonal screens and we wanted to playback uncompressed video from a D1 orig-inal source. To meet this demand, weused four Diskcovery hard-disk recordersfrom Sierra Design Labs.

Audio storage is the last key item inour audio-video decision strategy kit. AtMetreon, background music is stored onCDs and played on Sony CDP-D500 indus-trial CD players. Audio for looping soundeffects are stored on PC cards that pluginto Digital Sound Modules within theAnitech show control system main cage.Sound effects that are triggered and/ormay overlap with sounds on the samedevice are stored on PC cards that are inthe Liberty system from Maris Ltd. Audiothat must be synchronized to video orother audio tracks is stored on TascamMMP-16 16-track hard-disk recorders. Sim-ple stereo audio tracks for video werestored on the Doremi video disk recorders.

Crown amplifiers are used exclusivelythroughout the attractions. Backgroundand specialty speakers used include JBL,Renkus-Heinz and Bose. ATK AudioTekmakes the front main theater speakersand subwoofer in The Way Things Workattraction. Video projectors and videomonitors were manufactured by Sony.

— Mike Haimson

Mike Haimson, principal of Carousel Interac-tive Technologies, worked for Sony Develop-ment as the senior project engineer for the Metre-on attractions. He was responsible for the overalldesign and installation for the audio, video,show control and other technologies involved inthe three main attractions. He can be reachedat [email protected].

Circle #65 on reader service card

the audio processing is done via a PeaveyMedia Matrix system. The Media Matrixis Windows NT-based and has an audio-to-Ethernet interface that involves a MediaMatrix 980 mainframe CPU to holdCobraNet digital sound processor cards,which plug into 100 base-T computer hubsthat plug into standard audio interfaces.Peavey-supplied software enables customsetup of a user-friendly graphical inter-face for remote monitor and control.

Audio effects emitting from props playon PC card digital playback units fromMaris. Background music runs on SonyRS-232 CD players. Speakers used in theattraction include EAW JF60s and JBLControl 25s for props and Renkus-HeinzTRC 61s for background music, plus someJBL Control 24 CT ceiling speakers andsome Renkus-Heinz TRC-81s. Amplifiersare mostly Crown ComTech. Everythingfeeds into an Anitech show control systemthat includes a custom hands-off audiopanel. The show control system aloneincludes some 2,000 wire pulls, 90 loud-speakers, 88 inputs and 80 outputs.

To streamline the audio work and sim-

plify installation and maintenance, Sony’sMike Haimson brought all the audio engi-neers together for weekly meetings toexchange ideas and establish some over-all audio standards. The Anitech showcontrol systems and Media Matrix proces-sors and operator control panels, forinstance, are used building-wide. “It wasan economy of brainpower,” commentsPaul Chavez. “If the audio had been devel-oped separately from space to space, itcould have been a disaster. Mike madesure that didn’t happen. Every team didn’t have to develop every single thing,and the operator benefited from the stan-dardization.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?The Way Things Work is a three-part expe-rience that begins with Melvin the TalkingRobot working the crowd. Next is a galleryfilled with humming mechanical exhibitsa la Rube Goldberg — with pulleys, gearsand rope, plus a booth where you seeMelvin’s human operator. A video pre-show is broadcast on a 50-inch diagonalfront projection screen by Stewart Film-screen with a Sony VPL-1800 projector,


Circle #67 on reader service card

ANITECH MP-4000Show Control 12V Digital I/O

to props and effects

RS-232 to projectors,CD players, AV hard disk, etc.

RS-232 basic admin

RS-232 DF1

HOA SWITCHESETC UNISON

Lighting Control

AIRTIGHT GARAGE

ADMINISTRATIVE PC

100 base-T100 base-T

to game systems

PEAVEY MEDIA MATRIXAudio Processing

and Control

Voice Paging

12V Digital I/O

12V Emergency Stop Bus

BUILDINGFIRE ALARM

RS-232

RS-232

DMX-512

EMERGENCYSTOP UNIT

OPERATOR CONTROLCONSOLE

OPERATOR CONTROLCOMPUTER

VIRTUAL REALITYGAME SERVERS

TOUCHSCREEN

(continued from p. 104)

High level control diagram.


and on two Sony PGM-200 R1U monitors.There are hundreds of these monitors,able to display both computer and videoinput, throughout the Metreon complex.

The pre-show sets you up for the mainshow, which is a 9-minute, 3-screen, “live”session in the 199-seat theater equippedwith eight Sony VPL-1800s. One is used foreach of the outer screens and two for the3-D center screen. The original plan wasto have double the number of projectorsworking on each screen for more bright-ness, but this was found to be unnecessary.The show includes in-theater effects suchas seat rumbles created by Aura trans-ducers and a water spray provided by MeeFog nozzles. Animation sequences were byBob Kurtz & Friends; Sony’s Valerie John-son produced the video, which is storedon Sierra Design Lab uncompressed dig-ital video disk playback units that process270 megabits per second and feed thedata stream to the projectors.

Audio playback is also digital, using aTascam MMP 16 digital dubber specifiedby David Carroll & Associates, which pro-vided project management and systemintegration for audio, video and show con-trol throughout the attraction. The WayThings Work uses speaker equipmentincluding C-6 three-way P.A. front cabi-net speakers from AudioTek, Control25Ts, Control SB subwoofers, and SP 212sand SP 222s from JBL, as well as Renkus-Heinz TRC 61s and TRC 81s. Amplifiersare Crown CT and Macro series. In thisattraction, as well as many satellite equip-ment rooms in the complex, engineerssaved precious space by using front-mount-ed, swing out equipment racks from Sig-nal Transport. The pre-show audio play-back is done with a pair of V-1M digitaldisk recorders from Doremi Labs.

AIRTIGHT OPERATIONAn interesting effect is seen at the frontof the Airtight Garage. As you enter the15,000-square-foot attraction created incollaboration with Moebius and themedas a slightly moth-eaten game room, water-ing hole and intergalactic space portal, youencounter a sculpture of Malvina, themythic female who colors Moebius’ books,holding a trapezoidal screen that flashesvideo images at the entrance. The pic-ture is rear-projected through a piece of

privacy glass using a Sony VPL 900 pro-jector. The featured sports are Quater-nia, a video console game; HyperBowl, avirtual bowling alley; and Badlands, anouter-space treasure hunt. Quaternia iswhat’s playing on the bulk of the 105stand-up game stations, each equippedwith a Sony PGM 200 R1U monitor.Putting you in charge of a bowling-ball-sized trackball custom engineered by SonyDevelopment Inc., Hyperbowl lets youknock down virtual pins on the streets ofSan Francisco. Sony VPL 900 video unitsproject onto tall vertical screens that allowspectators an easy view. The screens werepainted right onto the walls with a specialsubstance from Stewart Filmscreen. Bad-lands is a competitive game played in indi-vidual motion simulator pods, themed asspace travel vehicles housed in a “garage.”Jesler supplied the 28 ride vehicles. Eachis equipped with a Sony VPL-600 rear pro-jector that provides real-time CGI views ofthe game environment.

These multi-user games provide CGI 3-D-rendered environments using IntelPentium 3500 motherboards, RIVA TNT2 3-D graphics processors from NVIDIA,Diamond Viper V770 AGP video cardsand Diamond Monster sound cards. Thegames are linked through an Ethernetnetwork. Game controls were developedand manufactured by Sony.

Lighting design for The Airtight Garagewas done by Lightswitch, relying heavilyon the Lightolier 8201 track fixture.Lightswitch principal Abigail Rosen Holmesalso specified a few pendant fixtures fromAbo Light and Limburg Glass. There is nonatural light in this space; illumination islow and dramatic in keeping with a game-room atmosphere. The audio vendor wasBaker Entertainment Integrators.

“This was the most exciting project I’veever done,” says Douglas Knab, projectmanager with Sunbelt Scenic Studios, whoworked on Airtight Garage. As a longtimeMoebius fan, Knab said, “For me, it was theculmination of a lifetime of effort and art-work. It fit with the way I draw and thinkand work; and I tried to make it betterthan they ever expected it could be.”

Judith Rubin is contributing editor of Entertainment Design. You can e-mail herat [email protected].

Abo Lightwww.abolight.com

Circle (121) on Reader Service Card

Allen Bradleywww.ab.com


Anitech Systemswww.anitech-systems.com


Bosewww.bose.com


Crown Internationalwww.crownaudio.com


Doremi Labswww.doremilabs.com


EAWwww.eaw.com


Intelwww.intel.com


ISTwww.infoscantech.com


JBL Professionalwww.jplpro.com


Jeslerwww.jesler.com


Lightolierwww.lightolier.com


Maris Ltd.www.maris.co.uk


Mee Fogwww.meefog.com


Microsoftwww.microsoft.com


NVIDIAwww.nvidia.com


Peaveywww.peavey.com


Renkus-Heinzwww.rh.com


Sierra Design Labwww.sdlabs.com/products.html


Signal Transportwww.sigt.com


Sony Electronicswww.sony.com


Stewart Filmscreenwww.stewartfilm.com


Tascamwww.tascam.com



FOR MORE INFORMATIONI N S T A L L A T I O N P R O F I L E S O N Y M E T R E O N

Metreon - Carousel Interactive Technologies: home · novelist Moebius (Jean Giraud). Airtight...

Documents

Transcript of Metreon - Carousel Interactive Technologies: home · novelist Moebius (Jean Giraud). Airtight...