Digital Projection celebrates the 'Cité de la langue française' with laser technology
The complex AV installation performed by ETC Audiovisuel in the historic French castle of Villers-Cotterêts has fifteen E-Vision laser machines at its core 11000 4K-UHD and 7500 of Digital Projection, that are managed with ten Onlyview media servers from this integrator.
Symbol of French Renaissance architecture, The historic castle (Château) of Villers-Cotterêts, located in the center of this French city, it was the scene where King Francis I signed the ordinance by which all administrative acts had to be drafted exclusively in French.
in 2017, during his first presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron He undertook to restore this iconic castle to its original beauty. Six years later, the Cité internationale de la langue française (International City of the French Language) with the help of ETC Audiovisuel, who was in charge of the monumental Audiovisual integration project.
In collaboration with the architecture studio Projectiles and the digital set designer Lundi8 (of the parent creative agency Artisans d'idées), The project aimed to Transforming the Museum Experience restored through the integration of the latest audiovisual technologies.
Due to its state of abandonment, The restoration work has been enormous and has taken a long time. As he explains Laurent Segelle, Head of Permanent Installations at ETC Audiovisuel, "This has been, No doubt, An important project for us and one of the largest we have ever undertaken in the museum sector, with very specific and complicated requirements".
specifically, The project has covered More than sixty audiovisual areas, with the installation of Eighty digital screens and twenty-five video projectors, among them fifteen E-Vision Laser laser equipment 11000 4K-UHD and E-Vision 7500 manufacturer's Digital Projection.
The management of this large audiovisual infrastructure is carried out with ten Onlyview media servers by ETC Audiovisuel, who are responsible for carrying out the necessary mixing and definition tasks of the installation.
"For the Villers-Cotterêts project, we opted for the Onlyview multi-streaming AV server, that we developed internally more than two decades ago," Segelle points out, to manage playback on multiple servers simultaneously. This allowed us to deliver sharper, flawless images, just as imagined by the image production team we collaborated with".
In addition, adds Segelle, "We synchronize the entire network to play content in a harmonious way, and we use multiple servers to facilitate warpings, overlays and interactivity through the Notch Gateway, that enables generative content creation, exemplified in the Magic Library device".
The Onlyview server provides a comprehensive set of tools, such as transmission in HAP image format, Notch Generative Content, Automatic calibration, 4K Streaming and Automation, essential functions to achieve the meticulous AV rendering conceptualized by the scenography company Projectiles.
"We had to carry out a Multimedia Museography Project in close coordination with the construction teams," recalls Segelle., as well as paying close attention to hide all systems, something that the client had asked us to achieve an impeccable integration of the technology in the historical environment".
According to this ETC manager, "One of the reasons we used Digital Projection's E-Vision laser projectors was the Laser-based technology, that favors a low power consumption and low-maintenance operation. We have worked together for years and a strong relationship has been forged, especially in the museum sector, where we have carried out important projects, how Eternal Mucha and Pompeii at the Grand Palais Immersif and the videomapping of the Passemant astronomical clock, at Versailles".
Thanks to this trajectory, "We are confident in the reliability and performance of the projectors from this British manufacturer, a safe bet to carry out this latest and ambitious project", says Segelle.
the single-chip DLP laser projectors Digital Projection Technologies offer high brightness and performance within a Compact and lightweight design. The use of Ultra-short distance lenses It was also fundamental to this project, especially in rooms where space was limited, to ensure optimal projection quality.
The exhibition Cité internationale de la langue française, which has a surface area of 1.200 m2 and Fifteen rooms divided into three sections, welcomes visitors in A château, A territory (A castle, A territory), a space in which the history and architecture of the castle is shown with a large chronological fresco, a tactile model and a projection.
In this introductory space, ETC chose to install a single E-Vision Laser projector 7500 4K-UHD Ceiling-Mounted Digital Projection, enough to offer a Stunning image and reliable on a Hemispherical inverted table, of 2,9 m wide.
In the Une langue monde (A global language), The exhibition La langue dans tous ses états (language in all its states) Introduce visitors on a journey around the world. Three ceiling-mounted E-Vision Laser 4K UHD laser projectors display Contained in two surfaces, from 3.9×3 M, each equipped with four projection screens suspended from the ceiling and wall-mounted, in addition to a third area that has Six screens more than projection of different sizes and heights.
As the tour continues to the Age of Enlightenment section, Visitors are invited to sit in front of a giant projection screen, of 6×3,8 M, powered by other E-Vision laser equipment from Digital Projection, Before going to the courtroom De la langue de fer à la langue d'émancipation (From the tongue of iron to the language of emancipation).
This space, reminiscent of a school classroom, welcomes visitors with an E-Vision Laser projector 6500 over their heads, that projects on a wall of 1,7 m as if it were a traditional blackboard.
In the living room La route des mots, Une Langue métissée (The Way of Words, A mestizo language) -possibly the most impressive and complicated-, four E-Vision 4K-UHD laser projectors with ultra-short throw lenses project content on a 360º dome, from 16×2,2M, synchronized with a four-channel PC running the Onlyview program to perform content mixing and warping.
The construction of this dome was supervised by Matthieu Dheily, of Sequoia Agencement, and ETC Audiovisuel conducted preliminary 3D tests to optimize the placement of Digital Projection's equipment.
The zones Dictionnaire de l'académie (Academy Dictionary), Dictionnaire des francophones (Francophone dictionary), Salle des jeux (Games Room) and La langue de Molière (Molière's language) have six E-vision laser projectors.
As Segelle points out, "In each space of this section we installed two E-Vision laser projectors oriented downwards and powered by two computers with our Onlyview program. The use of laser technology of this caliber favoured the placement of the projectors and ensured optimal performance in all of them.".
In the so-called 'games room', ETC has used the E-Vision Laser 4K-UHD models for a Dynamic projection on the wall, out of 5.2×3,2 M, activated by the Visitor interaction with a monitor, "while for the La langue de Molière we use an E-Vision laser projector to project images onto a curved surface, from 2.8×1,9 m”.
The exhibition continues in the room Une affaire d'etat (A matter of state), where visitors can see the ordinance signed by Francis I in 1539, an E-Vision laser device hanging from the ceiling displays this content on a 4.5×2,8M.
As the tour comes to an end, Visitors are in the sacristy room, one immersive space illuminated by four E-Vision 4K-UHD laser projectors that create a 360° visualization showing the evolution of words in the French language.
"From the first tests to the final installation, every aspect was meticulously orchestrated to preserve the historical and architectural integrity of the castle, in order to also inspire visitors to learn more about French as a language. We are proud to have made such an important project possible", concludes Segelle.
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