With innovation at the forefront of all we do at White Light,

we constantly strive to embrace emerging technologies and harness the potential

of these for development into new concepts. As our Head of Business

Development, Lee Dennison says: “It’s White Light’s own method of technical

alchemy, utilising the techniques and capabilities of different tech to develop

new solutions for a range of sectors.”

With this in mind, last week at the Science Museum we transformed their Level 1 exhibition space for our first “Virtually Reality” showcase. Over 300 guests attended the three-day, drop-in style event, dedicated to the technology that is revolutionising the broadcast, education and events markets.

With our award-winning SmartStage as the centrepiece, guests were able to experience first-hand augmented, virtual and mixed realities. Through interactive demonstrations, they learned how this transcends the limitations of a studio’s four walls and traditional green screen, to create environments where users can fully engage with immersive content. Case studies from the Olympic Winter Games 2018 and University of Michigan Ross School of Business highlighted the flexibility of SmartStage and inspired new ideas for applications in other sectors. As one guest commented: “For some time I have wanted to stand on an interactive stage which didn’t exist…until now!”

As always, we also wanted to champion some other pioneering manufacturers that we work with and give them an opportunity to profile exciting new products on the horizon. The first of these was BlackTrax, whose tracking and data capture technology have helped to enhance SmartStage through the automatic tracking of presenters and enabling specific location-based content to appear. The capability of BlackTrax as a tool inspired us to further demonstrate the flexibility of the SmartStage technology in a very different format, without any cameras or live stream. The solution was to create a dark space for exploration with a virtual torch to reveal seemingly hidden content. With this concept, the user becomes the camera and generates the content to their own perspective, which can be customised by age, gender, language or other specific needs. This yields unlimited experiential scope for the heritage sector, to transform the traditional guest journey for special exhibitions.

2019 AV Award winner Holoplot has brought a new dimension to audio technology, with revolutionary 3D beamforming and wave field synthesis technology. Guests were blown away by the impact of this directional sound capability and the personalised experience that it provides – with no audio system in visible sight.

disguise were also on hand to demonstrate their latest workflows for XR integration, as well as their state-of-the-art OmniCal camera-based projector calibration system. Different physical models were used to show how this interactive technology and live data can be utilised to drive projection-mapping experiences.

Using the power of VR, Preevue produce precise visualisations for spaces, construction and architecture. Combining 3D laser scan surveying and VR technology, these visualisations enable stakeholders to accurately review designs and activations before making a commitment. This is hugely exciting for theatres and other venues that host large-scale live events, where the access and set-up times are restricted.

Magic Leap allows users to see and interact with digital content around them by virtue of augmented reality glasses, which help to fuse the real and virtual worlds. Showcased in synergy with Unity’s real-time 3D content platform, which reacts to the surrounding environment, guests were able to interact with a more engaging and immersive experience than ever before.

Finally, Samsung have pushed the boundaries of LED digital signage with their market-leading IF Series. Their 1.5mm pitch panel was on display, featuring high dynamic range (HDR) and dynamic peaking for unparalleled image quality on a scalable LED video display.

Looking back over the three days, Lee comments: “There’s no doubt that our first “Virtually Reality” was a huge success. With the wealth of emerging technology to see, some of it still in its conceptual phase, we set our guests’ minds racing with the future development potential in store. The Science Museum provided the most fitting venue for a showcase of this nature, where the past, present and future of ingenuity all co-exist!”