Immersive and Interactive Space – Naostage
Integrated Systems Europe 2024 (ISE 2024) is one of the world’s largest exhibitions dedicated to integrated systems and audiovisual technology.
Integrated Systems Europe 2024
It is one of the largest trade fairs dedicated to integrated systems and audiovisual technology. On the occasion of our second participation in this world-class exhibition, we produced a complete immersive show on our stand including sound, video and light in order to demonstrate the capabilities of K SYSTEM to manage a complex ecosystem making the latter a perfect tool for designing immersive spaces. This project was built around technological partnerships with L-Acoustics for spatialized sound, SMODE for the media server, Ereimul for the Elidy Big, La FabSonic for the sound design, and Cutback for creating immersive video content.
- A forest whose foliage on the ground and fireflies on the wall moved according to the movements of visitors.
- A neural network world where people could connect with each other.
- A galaxy whose asteroid field shifted depending on visitors’ positions.
- A painting game on the floor, as part of the “Floor Is Lava” game, whose aim was to avoid certain areas depending on the different scenarios.
For video, the space was equipped with an LED wall and a Kinesik LED floor, which displayed video content sent by the SMODE media server in real time.
K SYSTEM sent visitor positions via PSN to the media server, which handled the visualization of the LED screens on the floor and wall, as well as controlling the 19 ELIDY BIG fixtures on the ceiling, enabling ceiling tracking as well. For example, a luminous circle can be created as a video element and follow a spectator entering the immersive space.
In the small games created by the SMODE team, a symbol appeared above a visitor when they lost.
A Stream Deck (Elgato) used with Bitfocus Companion to send OSC messages to all systems (including KRATOS) allowed dynamic switching from one setting to another, all perfectly synchronized and in real time.
The compositions and visual effects were previously produced by Cutback. Another functionality that K SYSTEM allowed was to be able to create scenarios for each content.
The audio part of the immersive space was a collaboration between Naostage, LaFab’sonic and L-Acoustics. Alexis Reymond, sales manager with a sound designer background, developed audio mechanics and composed, with the help of his composer partner Jean-Philippe Lignier (SoftSound), a sound environment which was reproduced and spatialized by an immersive diffusion system designed and implemented by Fab’Sonic.
The objective was to create a harmonious, playful and surprising interactive sound environment. Visitors entering the immersive space were detected, tracked and associated with virtual musical instruments or sound-effect generators. These could play musical notes in harmony with the background sound of the scene, the static audio track, and with the other visitors, as though they were moving together across the keys of a keyboard, creating an interactive harmony that illustrated the dynamic video content. Visitors interacted physically and dynamically with the sound and image, becoming the living subjects of these poetic immersive scenes.
People detected and followed by K SYSTEM could trigger musical notes or sound design elements based on their position in a space divided into nine zones. 108 samples in total grouped into 3 sound banks corresponding to the 3 scenes (Jungle, Roots, Space) were assigned to each target according to their position in space and the current painting.
Each sound source associated with a visitor was spatialised using an L-ISA system. These sound sources were therefore spatially correlated with the visitors’ actual positions within the space. At the same time, an audio bed, comprising pads and spatialised sound design, played continuously to provide the harmonic foundation on which visitors could move and interact. An overview of the audio setup is available below. The samples were randomly distributed along the timeline to vary the behaviour of the immersive space.
Lighting fixtures used:
- 10 Ayrton Rivale Spots, positioned around the immersive space. They could be used with Naostage’s K SYSTEM or independently to create different atmospheres.
- ELIDY Strips and Ayrton MagicBlades, used to create immersive lighting atmospheres throughout the room.
- 12 Robe Spiider Washes, used to create lighting environments that reinforced the immersive effect of the video content.
- 18 ELIDY BIG fixtures, forming a warm-white LED ceiling that could be used either as a lighting source or as a video display.
The Ayrton and Robe projectors are controlled via Art-Net by a grandMA3 operating in grandMA2 mode.
Rivale projectors are used with the Naostage tracking system. They are therefore controlled in ArtNet by the console and a PSN signal between the grandMA3 and KORE allows the tracking to work.
In the forest scenario, when a person went to a corner of the room, the leaves were reset (video), the KORE also sent Telnet commands to the grandMA allowing the dimmer and color of the Rivale spots to be controlled.
In one of the game scenarios (The Killer), the projectors were used for tracking, allowing the killer to be followed in red.
In the painting scenario, several projectors followed several spectators with different colors.
