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Christie's 3D Immersive "CAVE" Among Discovery World's Most Popular New Exhibits

CYPRESS, CA (October 08, 2008) Christie has designed and installed a custom, fully immersive Christie TotalVIEW™ CAVE at the renowned Discovery World in Milwaukee at Pier Wisconsin.  Dubbed by Discovery World as Human Interactive Virtual Education (HIVE), the immersive 3D environment allows visitors a “near-real” experience of life around them by placing them in the middle of virtual, three-dimensional worlds that are breathtakingly lifelike, and provide for an interactive and educational “3D walk-through” of the museum’s latest and most innovative concepts. 

Discovery World’s HIVE achieves incredible levels of realism with Christie’s Mirage series projectors – the most installed 3D projection display technology in the world.  EON Reality, a partner with Christie, provides the interactive visual content management software that enables sensory and real time visual interaction. 

As “Real” as it Gets
The HIVE features high-tech projection on three 8’ by 10’ walls and the floor, providing a unique, fully

CYPRESS, CA (October 08, 2008) Christie has designed and installed a custom, fully immersive Christie TotalVIEW™ CAVE at the renowned Discovery World in Milwaukee at Pier Wisconsin.  Dubbed by Discovery World as Human Interactive Virtual Education (HIVE), the immersive 3D environment allows visitors a “near-real” experience of life around them by placing them in the middle of virtual, three-dimensional worlds that are breathtakingly lifelike, and provide for an interactive and educational “3D walk-through” of the museum’s latest and most innovative concepts. 

Discovery World’s HIVE achieves incredible levels of realism with Christie’s Mirage series projectors – the most installed 3D projection display technology in the world.  EON Reality, a partner with Christie, provides the interactive visual content management software that enables sensory and real time visual interaction. 

As “Real” as it Gets
The HIVE features high-tech projection on three 8’ by 10’ walls and the floor, providing a unique, fully immersive visual experience.  A set of active 3D glasses with motion-tracking technology completes the illusion, with the projected images shifting perspective in reaction to the person’s movements.  Visitors will find themselves hovering above the water, in a small town in Portugal, or flying through the solar system among nearly 30 experiences available. 

“Visitors will have a sense of presence and interaction with the images around them as they move about in the virtual worlds.   They’ll be able to ‘walk’ and ‘fly’ through the environment, manipulating its elements in hyper real-time,” commented Discovery World’s executive director Paul Krajniak.  “The 3D experience is so convincing that we even caution visitors who might be prone to motion sickness or vertigo.”

The HIVE is one of just two four-sided immersive environments in the world accessible to the general public.  It joined Discovery World’s many other interactive exhibits that use cutting-edge technology to teach visitors to be innovators and sustainers, according to Krajniak.

“In choosing Christie, we made a lot of comparisons and quickly recognized that their TotalVIEW CAVE solution was the best. Christie brings unmatched integration expertise in a wide range of virtual environments, allowing them to provide a highly customized system that helps us achieve our goal of showing visitors a true glimpse of the future,” Krajniak added.

He noted that the HIVE is unique in its ability to bring data together in a different way, to help people better understand and utilize knowledge.  For example, using survey and satellite information, the HIVE can generate virtual landscapes of cities to help determine the best uses for land, or create a 3D brain from medical scans to allow people to see the intricacies of the human anatomy.

“For 25 years, Discovery World has been connecting people with technology, using the latest innovations to help build a bridge between our daily lives and the natural world,” said Zoran Veselic, vice president of Visual Environments for Christie.  “Like Discovery World, Christie continues to build on its tradition of delivering leading-edge technologies to meet the sophisticated needs of our customers. Discovery World’s interactive 3D exhibit is the latest example of a customizable, powerful and widely-used advanced visualization solution available from Christie that will shape the way people learn and think.”

The HIVE was built through a partnership with the Milwaukee Area Technical College, which holds classes on-site, and whose students are helping to create and update content.  Discovery World is also exploring opportunities to work with local industries, such as architectural firms, that are seeking access to the latest virtual reality technology. The HIVE offers potential applications in manufacturing, architecture and design, medical modeling, and data mining.

About Discovery World

Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Discovery World is a complex and innovative concept that connects the natural world with human-designed technology, offering a large variety of educational, cultural and environmental programs for visitors of all ages.  These programs and exhibits are designed to provide life-long learning, inspire exploration and creativity among its visitors. For more information, visit www.discoveryworld.org.

About Christie

Christie, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925), is a leader in visual solutions for world-class organizations, offering diverse applications for business, entertainment, and industry. A leading innovator in film projection since 1929 and a pioneer in digital projection systems since 1979, Christie has established a global reputation as a total service provider and the world's single source manufacturer of a variety of display technologies and solutions.  With the acquisition of Vista Controls Systems, Corp., Christie offers the most complete and advanced solutions for cinema, live venues, control rooms, business presentations, training facilities, 3D and Virtual Reality, simulation and education as well as industrial and government environments.