Absent Presence

We have so much to share for the month of November even though it may seem like we have been hidden in the shadows for quite some time. You may not hear from us often or see us when the show starts or when the curtains open, but we are all over the world working on a ton of interesting, spectacular projects that we would have never imagined working on years ago. This month is no exception on how far our imagination, creativity, and hard-work has propelled us to new horizons. While there are plenty of projects we are working on this year we are going to share what has opened this month only. Let’s dive right in.

Over in Midtown Manhattan, Radio City Music Hall has undergone a complete tech overhaul for their Christmas show where they have included a brand new 8K LED wall, and digital projections that extend all of Radio City’s arches. With the help of batwin + robin productions, there is now enhanced video projection and LED content that leverages Radio City’s new projection system. It is a total visual transformation where the entire audience and orchestra is immersed in the experience and due to the new technology requirements, we were tasked with updating the show control programming to glue everything together. This entire production features the talented Rockettes and cutting-edge technology that makes this 90-minute extravaganza truly awe-inspiring. The Christmas Spectacular show will run from November 10, 2017 – January 1, 2018, so be sure to attend or you will have to wait until next year!

Nearby in Times Square there is a new attraction that will sure get the attention of NFL fans. The NFL Experience in Times Square allows visitors to go on a hero’s journey where they enter as a fan, become a player, and leave as a champion. It gives fans a glimpse into the inner sanctum of the football life of a player by combining interactive displays, physical artifacts, and a 4D cinematic experience. An absolute interactive journey that includes both virtual and augmented reality to transport you onto the field and capture the high-intensity experience. To make this experience possible, we brought our expertise in network architecture, audio DSP, and show control programming that greatly contributes to this project’s success. Whether you are a casual or avid fan, there’s content that appeals to all levels of fandom.

If you are ever in the DC area and want to fuel your history knowledge, there are two brand new exhibits that encapsulate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Story of the Bible. The National Geographic worked on a very interesting project where they did a historic restoration for the Tomb of Christ using new technologies such as: lidar, sonar, laser scanning, and thermal imaging to preserve this ancient sculpture. Unlike anything you’ve seen in a typical museum, the Tomb of Christ exhibit offers a 3D experience where groups are able to virtually visit the church and learn about its fascinating history. This exhibit has triggers for open captioning show sequences, and programmed audio DSP that syncs with the show control system. We were privileged to be contacted at the right time to take care of the control system and technical configuration on how the systems communicate. Once you are done checking out the Tomb of Christ, head over to the Museum of the Bible where it’s a few blocks away from the National Mall in Washington. This biblical inspiration showcases how the Old Testament and New Testament has intersected society and even how it transformed our society. And to help tell this story we were brought on board to help the Museum of the Bible with network and control programming. Not every history lesson has to be boring, and to captivate the visitors, the Museum of the Bible has featured a digital canopy of trees, a 140-foot-long LED display, lights that emit in glass walls and polished floors that keeps visitors on their toes as they walk and learn about the distant past.

In the spirit of the holidays, Universal Orlando Resort has marked the debut of not only the Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but also an all-new downright magical Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s. The holiday castle show has been decked out in holiday decoration, all in keeping within the Harry Potter universe. It features a jaw-dropping projection-mapping light show that makes the Hogwarts castle a stunning, joyful seven-minute show. The surrounding trees are adorned with Christmas lights that ignite in a sequential fashion and the entire section of Hogsmeade is dimmed for each show. All these magical events needed show control so we worked diligently to make this special project one to remember. And if the castle show wasn’t enough to satisfy your illusory needs, the updated Holiday Parade at Universal has been overhauled with all-new floats, music, LED lighting that will make your holiday vacation truly memorable. The Holiday Parade needed an updated audio system. We went ahead and developed a Q-Sys plugin to establish consistent audio synchronization to ensure proper playback for the parade. So, if you are in Orlando for the holidays be sure to stop by Universal - it’s an all-encompassing thrill-ride with a magical holiday spin.

And that just covers what’s happening in the US – let’s head over to international waters! We are proud to announce our first completed project in Russia. Nothing is more exciting than working on an exhibit that involves our favorite childhood superheroes. The Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is an interactive educational exhibition that has opened this week in a shopping center called AVIAPARK in Moscow. This particular exhibit needed our assistance with the A/V network deployment, setup, and configuration to have the necessary technical foundation. Each visitor will get a unique chance to immerse themselves in the cinematic universe of Marvel. At the exhibition, you can see the costumes of Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, the shape and weapons of Hawkeye and Black Widow, Captain America's outfit and much more. At the exhibition, it will be possible for the first time to test oneself as allies of superheroes and to become participants in their training program: to study the operational data, classified works and experiments that are known from the stories about the Avengers, and officially join their support team. Visitors to the exhibition for the first time will have the opportunity to learn the sources of the origin of the Avengers, as well as the scientific basis of the legend of superheroes.

The adventure continues with the next wave of vacation travel on the Regal Princess cruise ship. Spend more time relaxing and less time worrying about the details by using the new Ocean Medallion that personalizes the guest experience. The Ocean Medallion is the size of a quarter and can be worn 4 ways: as a wristband, pendant, clip or even in your pocket. It helps you navigate through the ship, streamline the boarding process, order your favorite drinks, make dinner reservations, or even receive excursion invitations based on your interests. It’s a sea of amazing vacation possibilities that you won’t find anywhere else as this is the first cruise ship to feature the Ocean Medallion. And while you are on board the Regal Princess, be sure to check out the Sail Away Show, for which we created a custom guest generated photo sequence application where pictures are shown live from the entire trip personalized to different individuals.

And just when you think we haven’t had enough to work on already, we were also exhibiting at IAAPA 2017! With very little time to prepare we were able to pull off a very successful booth set-up and we were given the opportunity to catch up with old friends from the industry and meet new ones that are interested in our product, ISAAC. So, remember, even when Smart Monkeys may look like we are absent – we are working passionately behind the scenes on projects and our product that transforms experiences and transcends reality. And one more thing we forgot to mention before you go...have you heard about the new update at The Comcast Holiday Spectacular?