LOS ANGELES – The 20th annual E3 convention for the video game industry took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center here June 10-12, and Microsoft held an elaborate press briefing for its Xbox gaming systems just before the event, June 9, at the Galen Center here. The design team for Microsoft’s Xbox visuals, which used video gear from Chaos Visual Productions, also relied upon a Chaos-supplied d3 setup for visual management. Along with five d3 4U v2.5 units (1 master, 2 slaves, 2 understudies), Chaos provided nine 30K Christie projector (6 active) and three 9mm Winvision LED walls for the event. The design team credited the d3 setup for helping the elaborate visual elements come together within a five-day time frame.
More details from d3 Technologies (www.d3technologies.com):
With all eyes in the video gaming industry on the live-streamed press conferences, all E3 exhibitors pulled out the stops to show what’s in store for the upcoming year. As in previous years, Microsoft’s Xbox console presented its games previews with help of Zed Ink, an experiential marketing agency specializing in emotive & immersive events.
Erin Hearne was appointed as the project’s Creative Director and Drew Findley as screens producer. Content creation company Toy Robot was brought on board as well, and all worked together on creating an impressive show. The project’s lighting designer, Manny Treeson from NYX Design, doubled in role as hardware system designer. Not only did he look after the best LED / media server set-up, but also after the structure for the workflow.
Ensuring efficient delivery of video content from the different game development companies, who were all included in the press preview, was one of the key challenges of the project. With a large amount of content layers and the set-up time for the show being only five days, the Xbox event at E3 could be seen as a good example of a high-pressure environment, where there is little time or space for corrections or alterations.
d3 Solution
That’s where d3 came into play: with it’s powerful simulation features, content workflow and simultaneous editing tools, it allows everyone involved to see what a show will look in advance of starting the build up, streamline communication and management, and save time on site . With the Xbox stage featuring three 9mm LED screens with a resolution of 3840×1080 overall, supplied by Chaos Visual Productions, as well as three double stacked 30K Christie projectors (provided by Creative Technologies North America), Manny opted for a very solid server infrastructure: with five d3 4U v2.5s in total, three active d3 4U v2.5’s were used in a single master, dual slave and dual understudy network.
Manny explains: “We started working with d3 very early in the process. As we, the creative team, began the overall show design, Erin wanted to explore how the video content would pay across the physical design as the dynamic cameras (jibs, steadicams, tower cams) moved throughout the arena. d3 was wonderful during the design phase.”
Stephan Hambsch from Chaos Visual Productions, supplying the d3 systems next to the LED walls, adds: “We had been in discussions about this event for a few months, as the show’s success hinged on the fact that the infrastructure was able to handle the designers needs – preparation played a key role.”
With a short set-up time available, both Stephan and Manny mention d3’s MultiEdit feature as a valuable time-saver. “MultiEdit was priceless for this show”, says Stephan. “It allowed Jackson Gallagher and Nils Porrmann, who were onsite for programming and operation, to work simultaneously. So while Jackson was pre-programming one track with newly delivered content, Nils was sequencing the final edit. This is usually a very time-consuming process, so MultiEdit helped to reduce time drastically. With these types of shows, everyone usually expects a headache, but it went extremely smoothly.”
Nils adds: “We were certainly able to make the content team’s job more fluid. Programming content changes normally takes a larger part of the day, but now we could work through alterations faster than the team could render the amends.”
Chaos Visual Productions started working on the full pre-visualisations two weeks in advance of the show, staying in close contact with Manny and Drew, building the show in 3D right up until the set-up. After the event, Manny expressed his sentiments for the team, and the show: “I’m really proud of the entire team, it truly was a fantastic show. I’d also like to take a minute to say thank you to the d3 team, as we’ve felt supported throughout the entire show process.”
Microsoft Xbox Press Briefing Prior to E3 2014 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
Galen Center, Los Angeles, June 9, 2014
Project Summary
Client: Zed Ink
Creative Director: Erin Hearne
Lighting Designer / Hardware Systems Designer: Manny Treeson
Screens Producer: Drew Findley
Content creation: Toy Robot
Project set-up, programming and operation: Nils Porrmann (dandelion & burdock)
Programming and operation: Jackson Gallagher
Rental Partner (d3/LED): Chaos Visual Productions
Chaos Visual Productions Project Manager: Marty Wickman
Media Management: Jason Davis
d3 System Engineer: Stephan Hambsch
Scenic Designer: Kris Bast
Equipment used:
5x d3 4U v2.5 (1 master, 2 slaves, 2 understudies)
9x 30K Christie projector (6 active)
3x 9mm Winvision LED wall
