New flagship attraction of the Futuroscope park, Chasseurs de Tornades takes visitors on a unique immersive experience. The attraction takes place at the heart of one of the largest circular LED screen in Europe. Made of over 800 Samsung tiles and powered by Modulo Pi‘s Modulo Player media servers, the LED cylinder offers a 21K resolution.
Since July 2, 2022, visitors to Futuroscope can follow a team of researchers in their all-terrain vehicle in pursuit of tornadoes. Chasseurs de Tornades is the result of 4 years of work carried out by the park and the company FMD to create an immersive experience supported by audiovisual technology.
From the preshow, the audience enters the experience thanks to the discovery of the Center for Extreme Meteorological Studies and its protagonists. Visitors then join a 6-meter (nearly 20-foot) long holographic theater mixing video and actors. For this preshow space, 20 Samsung IFR25 2.5mm pitch panels are installed and powered by a Modulo Player Pro media server by Modulo Pi, equipped with a 4K output.
The public then enters the attraction: a 120-seat dynamic motion theater surrounded by a 360-degree LED screen.
Photos courtesy of Modulo Pi.
Designed by Dynamic Attractions, the 11-meter (36-foot) diameter rotating platform has been designed to convey sensations of movement throughout the experience. It can move on 3 axes and turn up to 27 kmh (16 mph), lower itself by 20 centimeters (7 inches) and rise up to 1 meter (3 feet) thanks to a system of motors and cylinders.
The platform is surrounded by a circular LED screen composed of 800 Samsung IFR25 tiles with a pitch of 2.5mm. The cylindrical screen is 8 meters (26 feet) high and reaches 420 square meters (4,520 square feet).
Two parts of this circular LED theater go up and down as the show progresses, revealing real set elements, as well as actors and their all-terrain vehicle. There, a backdrop composed of 105 Samsung IFR25 tiles completes the attraction’s display system.
To power the 360-degree LED screen, four Modulo Player Pro media servers equipped with four 4K outputs have been installed. The Modulo Pi media servers allow to play the film designed for the attraction, corresponding to a video playback in a 21K resolution and 60 fps.
The media servers are also responsible for the audio playback of the attraction. The sound system of the immersive circular theater is based on the L-ISA spatial sound technology by L-Acoustics.
The attraction also incorporates varied sensory effects designed to represent the tornado, offering a total immersion to the audience.
To create such new attraction, Futuroscope spent €21 million (US$20.6 million) which is the largest investment for an attraction since the creation of the park.
