Christie announced that its award-winning RGB pure laser projector, the D4K40-RGB, has been installed at the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort. With almost 2.5 million annual visitors the park regularly evolves its offering and the Christie D4K40-RGB is a key part of the technology set-up for the resort’s newest attraction, The Flight of the Sky Lion.
IPM Editor Judith Rubin deconstructs the Christie D4K40-RGB laser projector, the Rec. 2020 color space and the benefits of RGB laser over other forms of projection.
The Flight of the Sky Lion is the UK’s first ‘flying theater’ ride and is the main attraction in LEGOLAND’s new £20 million (USD$27 million) imaginary land ‘Mythica: World of Mythical Creatures.’ Inspired by the ideas of children, the focal point is the Sky Lion that is created out of 685,530 LEGO bricks. The ride itself stands 25 meters (82 feet) tall and visitors are transported below the Sky Lion’s wing to Mythica, where LEGO creatures, such as the two-headed Hydra and Fire and Ice Bird come to life. The adventure is projected onto a 20 meter (65 feet) high concave screen, and the gondola, in which the audience sits, is capable of a 30-degree swing, 23-degree pitch and a few degrees sideways movement. The ride was created by Brogent Technologies.
Merlin Entertainments, LEGOLAND’s parent company, commissioned Brogent to create the Windsor ride incorporating interactive AR elements with a combined creative and educational philosophy. The ride is encased in a 20 meter x 20 meter (65 x 65 foot) spherical dome which has a cut-out at the top through which content is projected onto the concave screen.
Stefan Rothaug, Marketing & Sales, Brogent Technologies, relates how the D4K40-RGB became the chosen projector for the ride:
“It was clear from the design of the dome that we needed a single projector solution,” he says. “It was all we had room for. As such we needed the best possible unit we could find, and that turned out to be the Christie D4K40-RGB. We were blown away by the vibrant color reproduction, and the advantages of laser over lamp projection have come into their own in a theme park setting. With rides operating 10 plus hours a day, and almost 365 days a year, maintenance costs can be considerable but with laser there are no costly lamp changes every two to three months. It was our first time using laser projection and it won’t be our last.”
During the design and specification phase of the project, Brogent was able to draw on the help of Christie Professional Services. Professional Services helped Brogent with modeling lifetime costs for various projection solutions as well as calculating total number of lumens required for the dome space. “We were delighted with the help we received from Christie Professional Services,” commented Rothaug, “and we will definitely be drawing on their help in the future.”
