The Barco Magic-Y system Makes objects travel between worlds Barco s Innovation Partner Program: Innovative solutions for science museums and planetariums
Barco Innovation Partner Program for science museums and planetariums With a spirit of fostering innovation, Barco invites Science Museums and Planetariums that are either in the process of creating a new exhibition area or undergoing a major renovation of their offer, to partner together to study possible avenues of collaboration. Members of the Barco BIP Program benefit from a matching-funds scheme to finance the innovative part of their projects. Projects must exhibit 30 percent investment on innovation and prototyping, for each dollar or euro invested on product line systems from Barco or Barco Consortium vendors. The "Barco Innovation Partner" (BIP) program shifts the focus from mere "showing" to memorable "immersing" and facilitates "group interaction" among visitors. The BIP program is open to all members of the Science Museum and Planetarium community worldwide, with a limit to a maximum of 20 organizations. Technisches Museum Wien Agreement within "Barco Innovation Partner" Program results in MAGIC-Y system development for the new medien.welten exhibition. The "Technisches Museum Wien" (TMW) (Vienna Museum of Technology ) housed in a beautiful building just opposite the Schönbrunn palace - shows both technological innovations and the mechanisms of their development. The visitors are provided with an atmosphere that inspires discussion and motivates them to actively take part. The next area to be created within TMW is called medien.welten" (Information and Communication). This exhibit will tell visitors the story of evolution of media technology from ancient times to present days. With new discoveries every day, TMW wants to give its visitors the chance to participate actively and to offer immersion in virtual worlds, opening up many opportunities for experimentation. On their search for expert partners to reach these goals, TMW was first to sign the "Barco Innovation Partner " (BIP) program. A minimum investment of 30% for innovations and prototypes, will establish an example of new forms of cooperation between museums and international companies. Dr Otmar Moritsch from the Technisches Museum Wien and Dr. Raul Cid, from Barco shake hands to seal the BIP contract to cooperate together in the medien.welten project.
The MAGIC-Y is intended for group interaction in informal learning environments such as science museums where small groups of visitors will use it to engage in challenging activities in a setting intended to promote creativity and cooperation. "Group interaction in a rich c and develops technology ski Bridge building A group interaction demo to show Barco s MAGIC-Y system functionalities. Geometrical forms and colors, elements common to every culture, function as a universal language of expression. Children, families and school groups are confronted with two worlds depicted in large-size screens: a world of chaos on the left hand screen and a new world under construction on the right hand screen. A magic stick developed by Barco, called "MAGIC-Y ", allows participants to grab hold of objects out of the chaos in random movement, and move them across to the right hand screen to build the structures they need. Collaboration Participants can play different roles; there is the "master of chaos", the "builder", the "monitor" and a number of other actors interpreting and acting upon a variety of clues provided by the system. To be successful all participants have to collaborate and solve the challenges together. Interactions from persons to system Social exchange through discussing open-ended solutions Several choices are possible to come to a solution. Yet all have to work together in unison not to loose what has been achieved. So the "Monitor" has to jump back and forth on the floor according to a prescribed pattern each time new pavements have been added to the bridge to secure the bridge pavements already in place on the screen. Pointing Participants use the MAGIC-Y to point to objects on a projection screen. The position at which the wands are pointing are transmitted to the application program through ethernet, via the controller developed by Barco. The application program can then perform appropriate animation of the visible image, so as to close the loop.
Magic-Y june 2004 30-06-2004 11:00 Pagina 5 context stimulates social Learning ills. New challenges By simply running another contents set, new environments and new challenges emerge. Build the universe Photo courtesy of Sivax - Japan Person-to-person interaction Magic passes By making magic gestures with the MAGIC-Y, complementary actions such as object rotations, color changes, etc may be triggered, according to the program content. Magic gestures are easy to learn movements such as making a circle, a line, or Z-shape with the MAGIC-Y. As demanded by the scenario, recognizable gestures may be preprogrammed and stored in the "Gesture Library" of the Program Image Generator. Body movement detection By adding a floor-plane tracking unit to the system, typical body movements of the actors performed on a floor pattern may interact with the screen and with each other. Actors can pick up elements from surrounding screens and build their own Universe along with their friends. Watch out not to put too many Planets: your Universe may cave in! One has to be careful with the balance that rules all things. All participants become part of the grand illusion - it's great fun.
The technology that makes the magic Test your knowledge of science Can you identify the scientific visual of the first 25 milliseconds of the sound of a saxophone from the visual of a neuron of the movement system of a shrimp? All visuals look like pieces of modern art. Helpful information e.g. what is a Neuron? - can be retrieved from a database and visualized on screen. A learning challenge for several teams. Up to 10 participants can use the MAGIC-Y handheld wand to point to objects on a projection screen. One or more wands can be directed at one or more of the screens driven by the application. The position at which the wands are pointed are converted to XY pairs. A dedicated controller performs image acquisition, processes images and produces messages to be sent via Ethernet to the application program computers. The application program can then perform appropriate animation of the visible image so as to close the loop. Program Image Generator 1 Program Image Generator 2 Magic ping pong Ethernet Controller Ethernet As you hit the ball or object it changes appearance, color and shape when entering the camp of your opponents. But the same is true for what they send towards your field. So you have to be agile and quick to win this futuristic game that highly intelligent aliens used to play. Barco Projector Detection unit Detection unit Barco Projector Partners Partners involved in the development of the "MAGIC-Y " contents library at present are Pointed point x-y coordinates > Alterface, a communications and remote sensing laboratory in Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium) Magic Y transmitter > de pinxi, Brussels, creates group interactive experiences by transforming ideas and scenarios into immersive shows, under the full, instantaneous control of the audience. > spin-off of the Technical University of Vienna (Austria) > Virtools develops a software suite that allows the creation of highly interactive applications to be deployed on the web, CD- ROM, head-mounted displays and highly immersive multiscreen environments. Magic Y storage device and charger After each game or "cycle" the wands are to be returned to a storage/charger unit. The MAGIC-Y is compatible with most Barco projectors and excels with the BARCOREALITY SIM6 and Barco GALAXY types. It can be operated in both front and rear projection configurations. Specific screen types especially rearprojection screens need to be qualified first to ensure proper reflection/ transmission characteristics.
Barco E&E Barco Edutainment & Entertainment: Making creative use of state-of-the-art projection technology. Based on its expertise in Immersive Projection Solutions (global references range from virtual prototyping in the automotive industry to molecular modeling and scientific research in the oil & gas industry), Barco recently created a dedicated "Edutainment and Entertainment" (E&E) product group. From brainstorming to development, coordination and installation on site Barco E&E - together with dedicated content development partners - offers innovative solutions to the Science Center Community. These concepts and realizations empower science centers to excel in their important role of providing a fun environment for informal science learning. Planetariums Dome-based Immersive Theaters Active on a worldwide scale Barco E&E is part of Barco Simulation - a division of Barco nv which also develops high-performance visual display products and solutions for Simulators and Virtual and Enhanced Reality applications. Barco Simulation - with main offices in Xenia (Ohio, US) and Kuurne (Belgium) and with sales & support offices in Europe, North & South America, Asia and the Middle East - has gained an international reputation for its customer-driven application engineering and projection system optimization know-how. Museums Science centers Aquariums The vision of experience Drawing upon its expertise in projection technologies, color calibration, optoelectronics and mechanics, Barco Simulation and its partners provide the solution to meet any Simulation, V&AR and Edutainment & Entertainment requirement. Theme parks Leisure centers Ref.no. R599666 June 2004 DESIGNED UNDER ISO Barco Simulation is an ISO 9001 registered company. The information and data given are typical for the equipment described. However any individual item is subject to change without any notice. The latest version of this product sheet can be found on www.edutainment.barco.com. MAGIC-Y are trademarks of Barco n.v. Other, non-barco product names appearing in this brochure are trademarks/registered trademarks of their respective owners. Barco Simulation US Headquarters: 600 Bellbrook Avenue - Xenia, OH 45385-4053 Tel. +1 (937) 372-7579 Fax +1 (937) 372-8645 email: edutainment.us@barco.com European Headquarters: Noordlaan 5, B8520 Kuurne - Belgium Tel. +32 56 36 82 11 Fax +32 56 36 86 51 email: info.edutainment@barco.com www.edutainment.barco.com