Wowing crowds of 17,000 per night, Dutch superstar Marco Borsato’s Symphonica in
Rosso was held recently at Amsterdam Ziggodome Arena during 2016, The 12 sold-
out concerts were marked by technical creativity, innovation and wizardry.

Jo Pauly, d3 operator and programmer from Belgium-based Visual Solutions was
brought in to consult and design all video during the preplanning process.

Another first for BlackTrax, the motion tracking solution, was used to track key
performer, Marco Borsato on stage and on a guitar shaped interactive LED video
catwalk throughout the performance. BlackTrax was seamlessly integrated with d3
technologies 4by4pro media servers to manage content for the entire concert
including main stage LED wall, two IMAG LED walls and two rows of LED video
banners throughout the whole venue.

“We wanted a clean stage look, lots of video with orchestras on each side of a
guitar shaped stage,’ explained Jo Pauly. “We chose BlackTrax for its flexibility to
track and integrate with interactive content. It also needed to follow the artist on
stage and trigger time code and connect to the d3 media server used to visualize
rapidly some high-resolution stage views. We could make the complete output map
in our studio so on arrival at Amsterdam Ziggodome Arena, we just plugged in the
fiber cables to the LED wall and we were technically ready to go!’

Five BlackTrax cameras were positioned in the ceiling and were focused on the
catwalk as well as on a large part of the stage. “Using the BlackTrax toolset, we
integrated a restriction for the software to ignore any reflections of the tracking LED
from the shiny floor into account. We calibrated the set and wandered the space
using the BlackTrax calibration devices. Once this was done, we registered positions
within d3. Ever since that moment, we did nothave to modify any of the settings for
the upcoming 10 days – not even once!’

At the start of each performance and when Marco Borsato stepped out onto the
guitar-shaped catwalk, the stage was lit with the image of a guitar on the stage. By
combining BlackTrax with real-time effects generator, Notch by 10bit (previously
known as Demolition), Pauly was able to create the illusion that Marco Borsato’s
footsteps caused a ripple effect, or that fire was lit beneath his feet.

The d3 media server received positional data from the three Blacktrax LEDs
positioned onMarco Borsato and five ceiling mounted BlackTrax cameras. “These
were used to move Marc Borsato in the d3 virtual world,” says Pauly. “This data
interacted with video files processed in Notch, to make the video image come alive
where the singer was standing and with infinite accuracy. The use of Notch is a
real-time process that needed no rendering when BlackTrax position data was
received, visuals were generated instantly” added Pauly.

“During the performance, we were able to track the artist on stage and reproduce
content at its position. Any real time or last-minute content changes could be made
without having to pre-program our timeline. We could simulate the artist live using
tracking and could see how the content would react or how fluent the effect would
be,” adds Pauly. “My idea of using BlackTrax instead of a pressure-sensitive LED
floor, was enforced by some major international shows that didn’t seem to fully
appreciate the accuracy of a pressure sensitive floorings. Another advantage was
the fact that even when five musicians were walking on the catwalk, only Borsato’s
position generated interactivity. That was key to our visual effects.’