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The Pirates 3D+
Movie is a brand-new attraction added to the Sea World of Ohio theme
park. The event is a combination of a film, sound, and special
effects that immerse the viewers in an interactive experience. The
following page discusses SFX ProAudio/Show Control relationship with
the Pirates 3D+ Movie. | The computer used was a Pentium Pro 200, 32 Meg of
RAM, and two sound cards.
The Plus after the 3D
The
Pirates movie is not only a 3D film, but an experience that includes
lighting effects, seat effects and sounds, and other events that draw the
audience into the spectacle. The movie itself, as well as the soundtrack,
is controlled by an iWERKS projection
system. The iWERKS system outputs SMPTE time code that is converted to
MIDI time code, which is then used by SFX to manage the following
events:
- Sound effects directed to speakers contained
in every seat in the auditorium.
- Fading house lights.
- Controlling intelligent lighting.
- Activating seat buzzers in every seat in the
auditorium.
Unlike the typical live entertainment
situations that are common to SFX usage, this movie is a static event that
occurs exactly the same time after time. Because of that, the Pirates
workspace was set up to activate its events off of time code. This also
means that SFX does not need an operator; it simply waits for time
code.
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Examining the
Pirates workspace, you will see a number of cue lists. Multiple cue
lists were used to separate the different types of events that SFX
needs to control. Also note that each event has a time code number
that the event will trigger off of. The window in the upper
right-hand corner displaying the time code in green numbers is a SFX
plug-in.
Click
on the image to see a larger
version. |
The Cues view in the upper left ("Omni") sends
MIDI command messages to an intelligent lighting controller that projects
lighting templates in the auditorium before the movie.
Below
the "Omni" Cues view is the "House Lights" Cues view. This cue lists
contains a number of VCA effects. A VCA effect is a plug-in effect that
controls voltage through a specific card in the computer. You can also
specify how long it takes the voltage to change. That way, the amount of
time the house lights fade in and out could be set. The VCA card in the
computer can be wired into any appropriate voltage component. Below is
graphic that displays the properties of one of the VCA cues.
The Cues view titled "4D Show backup" contains
the sound effects cues that are directed to the speakers located in each
of the seats in the auditorium.
The Cues view in the center of
the desktop titled "Advanced Lights" sends MIDI commands to the
intelligent lighting controller that causes it to activate some of its
special lighting effects during the movie.
Finally, the "Seat
Buzzers" Cues view in the lower right, controls a contact-closure card in
the computer that is connected to external relays. These Relay effects are
also SFX plug-ins. Below are the properties for one of the Relay
effects:
Operation
Because of the time code
element, this workspace completely runs itself. Once a showing of
the movie has been completed, it does not have to be reset. It will
wait until it receives time code again, and automatically sync up
and execute the events. To the right is a graphic that displays an
alternate Pirates desktop. Each of the Cues views is being displayed
as an Array view instead. Coupled with a touch-screen monitor, an
operator can quickly activate effects if needed (e.g. if he or she
needs to manually operate the house lights).
Click
on the image to see a larger version. |
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Managing sound effects, MIDI commands, VCA
changes, and contact-closure firings, was made simple by SFX. Producers
created the cues lists, dragged the appropriate effects into them, and
modified their properties to set the right time code values, etc.
Modifying the show is simple and does not require complex scripting --
it's all
drag-and-drop. |
