With a rapidly expanding attractions industry in Asia, companies far and wide are experiencing good business from the development of new resorts, theme parks and waterparks. Many of the designers and developers are looking to media – based rides to augment their offerings and give them the edge over their competition. Quite often, this translates into a desire to be bigger, better and faster than comparable attractions, and not just in Asia, but across the globe.
One such attraction is the Chimelong Group’s Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, China. Not content with small steps, the park has broken no less than five world records, including the largest underwater viewing dome and aquarium tank. Ocean Kingdom forms part of the Chimelong Hengqin Bay Hotel development, the largest of its kind in China, and includes seven themed areas that contain rides, live animals, a circus and a wide variety of retail and dining opportunities.
With the monster 22.7 million litre aquarium tank as a central feature, the designers decided to incorporate a dark ride called Deep Sea Odyssey that offered visitors breathtaking views into the aquarium, combined with an immersive scenic undersea experience. Executive producers Falcon’s Treehouse of Orlando produced the seamlessly integrated media content and were responsible for the development of a character called Pao-Pao, a whimsical fish-like submarine that leads the show throughout.
South African firm Digital Fabric were contracted to provide technical project management services during the planning stages as well as full onsite management and specialist installation services by Austrian system integrators, Kraftwerk Living Technologies, who were responsible for the entire media hardware and lighting scope of work. Digital Fabric’s Gavin Olivier commented on the ongoing relationship between the two companies: ‘We are engaged in several long-term projects with the Kraftwerk team, in Asia and the Middle East, and were very pleased to be asked to work with them on Ocean Kingdom. We have a good understanding of how they approach design and this saves a lot of time and effort, which is important when deadlines are tight.’
The ride is based on 121 rotating gondolas on a fixed track from German manufacturer Mack Rides. The 250m track is woven into the structural maze that underpins the aquarium tank, looping directly under the tank on two occasions via clear acrylic tunnels. The rest of the track time is filled with projections, virtual aquarium views and Pepper’s Ghost effects.
The system is based on a Brainsalt Media HD platform for delivery of all media to displays over fibre optic transmission lines. The displays are split between 27 Projection Design projectors and 20 flat panel displays in every possible mounting orientation to suit the heavily themed scenic displays.
Most notable is an undersea volcano scene that employs 8 Projection Design F32’s on a 16-metre hemispherical dome. The projection scheme is based around Brainsalt Media’s auto alignment system, which recalculates the warp and blend parameters as required, compensating for mechanical movement in the structure.
The projectors and alignment cameras are embedded in the scenic rockwork and as scenic construction involves a strong creative element, final positions are often only guaranteed after the work is done. This required specialised mount systems to be manufactured on site, achieved with modular engineered aluminium systems. DF Technical Director Alex Sanfilippo confirms: “With themed projects, everything has a degree of fluidity during construction, yet an 8-projector blend onto a dome requires absolute precision and rigidity, so the degree of mechanical accuracy is crucial to a reliable system.’ The volcano experience is enhanced by an extensive lighting design and various effects including powerful heat blasts.
The audio component throughout the ride is no less significant, with over 160 speakers built into the themed environment. All speakers are from the QSC AcousticDesign weather resistant range of products, with the majority being either 5-inch or 8-inch, dependent on visitor proximity. Each speaker is independently driven by QSC CX series amplifiers and QSys DSP. Once again, the integration into the scenic elements played a crucial role with the emphasis being on audibility VS visibility in most cases.
“It’s no great task to mount and wire 160 loudspeakers, but when each one has to be individually considered, checked on site and re-checked during and after scenic construction, the time required is exponentially greater and this is where an experienced planning team really counts, and there is simply no time for guessing,’ explains Sanfilippo.
Control over the media hardware is shared by Brainsalt Media and Crestron with many localised show controllers to manage the timeline-based ride loops, but with overall management and ride system interfacing across an Ethernet backbone. All controllers are connected to a master E-stop system with ride readiness reporting at all stages of the ride. The show control programming was handled onsite by a team of programmers from Kraftwerk. “Timing around programming and commissioning was very tight, as it always is,’ smiles Sanfilippo, ‘the deadline of Chinese New Year was not ever going to move, so any construction delays simply had to be dealt with.’
Almost contrary to the term “dark ride’, lighting within a themed-ride environment is of paramount importance. Of course the selective use of darkness can help to hide ride mechanisms, but lighting is essential to achieve the required theatrical effects and ambience in an immersive environment.
Deep Sea Odyssey has an impressive fixture list with a large base of ETC Source 4 Lustr LED profiles and D40 LED washlights. These are complemented throughout by several hundred metres of Proled RGB strip. The list of effects units is comprehensive and includes fittings from GAM, PPS WAVELight, Apollo, Wildfire, Rosco and City Theatrical. All generic dimming and switching is managed across two centrally located 48-way ETC Sensor3 Racks. The large quantity of LED products required a substantial DMX network throughout and this is managed on an SRS backbone. The overall DMX lighting control comes from the Brainsalt Media show controllers, which issue all start/end of day commands and scene changes.
In summary, Deep Sea Odyssey as a ride may not be the biggest or fastest, but it takes visitors through a Guinness Record breaking aquarium experience, using media, theming and awe-inspiring scale to make its impression. The opening went according to plan – on time and to specification and the Chinese New Year brought more than 30 000 visitors through the Deep Sea Odyssey ride on day one alone.
Kraftwerk’s Head of Implementation, Werner Spiegel, sums up the working relationship: ‘The distance between the headquarters of Kraftwerk Living Technologies and Digital Fabric is more than 8 000km. One would expect that a long distance relationship between two companies would be difficult when delivering complex and highly integrated turnkey projects. Having worked together for almost 10 years we are happy to prove the opposite, we now consider Digital Fabric as our primary partner for implementing major projects. Their work ethos, commitment to quality and approach on complex and milestone driven challenges is inspirational.’
Digital Fabric is a South African based market leader in the design and integration of systems for the museum and visitor attraction markets. With more than 30 years of combined experience, the team has consistently set new standards, specialising in bespoke developments and award winning interactive experiences, both in South Africa and across the globe.
Kraftwerk Living Technologies is one of the leading companies in the field of professional audio-visual system integration. The Austrian based specialists combine and synchronise high-quality systems to provide tailor-made overall solutions for the global market. For more than 20 years Kraftwerk has been engaged in the technical conception and development of AV solutions that find application in many different areas – from the entertainment industry to the automotive industry. Focused on providing highest quality and innovation, Kraftwerk has become a trusted partner for turnkey AV projects. The service range includes technical design, engineering, implementation and maintenance. Kraftwerk has executed numerous projects all over the world and has defined the standards for state-of-the-art system integration since its founding in 1992.
