We’ve reached the time of year when the temperature has a lot more people thinking about heading to the high seas for a sunny getaway to… well, just about anywhere that isn’t so darned cold. And Royal Caribbean International is making your trip to a sun-splashed locale more engaging with interactive content.
RealMotion, the technology division of experiential design studio Float4, recently provided the backbone for an interactive video wall for Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas cruise ship that took its maiden voyage in April 2016. [related]
Described by Royal Caribbean as the newest and third ship in their Quantum Class of ships, Ovation of the Seas is “designed to take cruisers to new heights in guest activities, entertainment and dining options,” according to the cruise line’s promotional materials.
“Royal Caribbean wanted to create an entirely new standard for guest experiences,” said RealMotion CTO Sevan Dalkian.
“They wanted to instill a ‘wow’ factor in every part of the ship’s public spaces.”
Royal Caribbean officials chose RealMotion technology to build on Materials & Methods’ vision for this constantly changing and evolving, gesture-driven art wall on the ship’s main esplanade that engages all 4,180 double-occupancy passengers who travel on the Ovation of the Seas.
The RealMotion solution enables continuously changing content on the 8’ x 20’ digital art wall that reacts to each person passing by, said Dalkian, and can be controlled through gestural interactivity.
As interactive content producers, Float4’s team integrated the creative assets to bring the concept to life.
A wide sweeping gesture can brush across the image, altering color or pattern, creating ripples, causing flowers to bloom or particles to disperse, revealing colors or adding layers.
A short, sharp motion alters the canvas differently, giving the user the ability to paint with a quickly learned movement “language.”
“The installation is featured at the heart of the ship in the main esplanade and consists of eight LCD displays that are staggered asymmetrically,” said Dalkian.
The displays are surrounded by frosted glass panels backlit by LEDs. An infrared camera tracks the movements of each passerby, and interactive programming translates their motion to visual effect.
The visual content moves between LCD screens and the lower resolution LED areas of the canvas, sharpened and softened respectively as the content spreads across high-resolution displays.
There are nine themes of visual interactive content, so individuals encounter an entirely different interactive experience each time they pass, said Dalkian.
The build was designed to be modular and low-impact, for a quick and efficient installation process onboard.
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The wall was first fully constructed in Materials & Methods studios alongside Float4’s programming support and disassembled as a kit of pre-wired panels and movable parts with built-in capacity to adapt to varying installation circumstances while achieving extremely precise tolerances.
It was designed to be entirely front serviceable, allowing for easy access for any required maintenance throughout the life of the wall.
