In the Indianapolis Zoo’s Global Center for Species Survival, The Elumenati’s WorldViewer content engine powers a network of Elumenati displays as part of a new welcome experience for over a million annual visitors. The showpiece is Our Living Planet, an immersive biodiversity experience in the Schaefer Rotunda. Visitors enter the zoo informed, connected with nature and inspired to protect wildlife.
For Our Living Planet, The Elumenati designed and provided a 10m-diameter perforated aluminum screen suspended beneath the rotunda’s dome. Rather than a typical planetarium-style hemisphere, the screen is truncated with a black scrim at the apex. This greatly simplifies the blended projection solution and provides significant cost savings. The custom four-channel solution uses Barco F80 projectors, never blending more than two projectors at a time. The resulting image offers 1.65 arcmin resolution and nearly 45,000 total lumens. As always, the Elumenati design lets the technology disappear so that the audience is immersed in the 360° content without distraction. Everything – the projectors, the audio, the cove lighting, even a preview display in the lobby – is driven by WorldViewer and can be controlled by a simple user interface on a wireless tablet. Working collaboratively with the Global Center team The Elumenati also produced extensive content for the exhibit with 360° video of animals, fungi, and plants.
“When we learned about Elumenati’s ability to distribute content across flat screens in multiple locations, we were able to adapt our approach to the entire experience that people have as they come through the zoo,” said Bill Street, Senior Vice President of the Indianapolis Zoo and Director of the Global Center. In addition to the dome, The Elumenati provided a series of flat-screen LCD arrays also driven by WorldViewer. As guests move through the space, they experience looping images by world-renowned photographer Joel Sartore, videos highlighting conservation efforts, social media-style posts with QR codes they can use to learn more, and a dynamic preview of Our Living Planet content. WorldViewer makes it easy for zoo staff to refresh these monitors with conservation news as it comes online.
Zoo staff can easily manage all five systems through a simple HTML interface on the tablet, which drives each system individually using non-proprietary commands across the network. All the displays run on a single rack, featuring five custom-built, high performance image generators, all running WorldViewer – saving cost by eliminating the need for additional show control hardware.
In addition to design, installation, and ongoing support, The Elumenati worked closely with the zoo to build the content and show control system. Some species were filmed on location at the zoo, and other content was sourced from a roster of creators around the globe. A WorldViewer template for special events means the zoo can easily create themed experiences that feature everything from night sky astronomy images to photo slide shows and custom guest videos. “The benefit of the Elumenati system is that it’s ever-evolving and flexible – for special events like weddings or parties, or seasonal changes like showing spooky species at Halloween. WorldViewer just makes it really quick and simple,” said Kelly Griese, Public Relations Specialist for the Global Center.
Partners
The Global Center for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo is a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission. The Global Center staff supports and connects thousands of conservation experts working to secure a future for animals, fungi and plants in more than 160 countries.