Honda RC213V-S is presented in a spectacular geodesic dome with fulldome projections

An immersive projection made in a geodesic dome of 16×8 metre, equipped with 6 Christie Roadster HD20K-J projectors, managed to recreate, in a very realistic way, the atmosphere of motorcycling during the introduction of Honda's exclusive RC213V-S bike.

Honda Motor Company wanted to introduce in a big way his new RC213V-S, a street motorcycle derived from the MotoGP prototype with which Marc Marquez won his world championships 2013 and 2014. and, for that purpose, organized an exclusive event at the Circuit de Montmeló taking advantage of the celebration of the Grand Prix de Catalunya 2015.

For the staging of this project it had the company Newmedia Technology Studio, who mounted for the occasion a spectacular geodesic dome, equipped with an internal projection system, where Honda was able to make the presentation of the bike to the media around the world.

The geodesic dome, with dimensions of 16 meters in diameter and 8 meters high, was equipped with six projectors Christie Roadster HD20K-J that made a 360o projection of a video specially made for the occasion that allowed attendees to feel the experience of driving a racing bike.

"When we contacted Newmedia we were looking for a new and different place for journalists to get excited living a unique experience, but above all we wanted it to be a very technological event", remember Carlo Fiorani, Racing Operations Manager at Honda Motor Europe and one of those in charge of organizing the event, with his partner Takashi Nakamura, executive of the company's PUBLIC Relations department.

The new Honda RC213V-S is a limited edition bike valued at more than 190.000 Euros (the most expensive Honda ever) which is manufactured only on request and from which a daily unit is produced at the factory in Japan.

Diego De Anna, CEO of Newmedia, explains the interest that the concept of 360o projection aroused at Honda. "It is a very technologically advanced company that seeks to bet on innovative concepts for its events. In that sense, fulldome screenings allow audiences to stop being a spectator to be part of the event itself. An immersive experience where the audience is wrapped up inside the show itself and that comes to break a little with the already trite videomapping".

To make the event possible six projectors on truss structures two meters high were installed inside the geodesic dome. Five of them projected the equator of the dome and the sixth the dome, blending and warping to fit the projection precisely.

The projection surface was 300 square meters and the resolution of 2800 X 2800 Pixels. The Delta Media Server was used to manage the projection 7thSense, as well as Medialon as a Show Master Control system. The entire installation was wired over Ethernet.

First, an animation was screened by the New Zealand studio The Darkroom 3K resolution and fulldome format, that generated the feeling in the spectator who was riding the bike on different roads.

Then another video was screened, specially recorded for the occasion and adapted to the curvature of the dome but in format 16:9 in Full HD, where Marc Marquez was seen behind the wheel of the Honda RC213V-S telling his feelings about the new bike.

"The great thing about Christie projectors is that they integrate and interact seamlessly into that workflow in a totally transparent way. In addition, brightness levels, contrast and luminosity of the projectors are excellent. And as for the lumen-weight ratio, perhaps it is the manufacturer that has best developed a product that with this luminosity has such a content of weight. likewise, the noise and hermetism of the machine is perfect. But for me, the most important thing about Christie projectors is that they are very resistant and tolerate very well successive montages", explains Javier Ruiz, Newmedia's technical director.

Diego De Anna highlights above all the optics of the projectors. "For this kind of extreme work, the issue of optics is fundamental, because we don't just focus on the central part of the curved surface, but also at the extremes, where up to five blendings converge, which is very difficult to achieve. With the Christie optics we use, the 1.2, you manage to focus on both the center point and the sides, achieving a perfect polar correction".

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/147699752[/vimeo]

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