Soaring 170 metres above Portsmouth Harbour and the Solent, the Emirates Spinnaker Tower is taller than the London Eye, Blackpool Tower and Big Ben and has become one of Portsmouth’s major attractions since it opened in 2005. Visitors can walk across its 100m high glass skywalk and get breathtaking panoramic views of the city, country and seascapes stretching 37 kilometres (23 miles).

The attraction wanted to place the venue in the context of the city and create an eyecatching entrance with a large immersive introduction to the city of Portsmouth, its history and the Tower’s place within it. This would be in the form of an animated film projected onto a 5-metre wide curved wall to excite and captivate visitors as they enter the attraction. It was important to the venue that the projectors are quiet, unobtrusive and, most importantly, reliable.

Heritage Interactive installed two of Optoma’s 6,000-lumen laser-phosphor projector, the ZU650, with short throw lenses.

This high brightness WUXGA resolution ProScene model with 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast provides 20,000 hours of impressive, virtually maintenance-free operation without the need for lamp or filter replacements. This makes it an ideal solution for installations where access is problematic or restrictive. It is also suited to quieter environments, smaller rooms or those with low ceilings due to the fact it has no lamp – so needs less cooling.

Flexible installation is provided by 360˚ rotation and portrait mode operation, combined with an extensive lens shift range and five optional lenses. HDBaseT comes as standard and almost all functions of the projector can be controlled remotely across a network.

Director of Heritage Interpretation at Heritage Interactive, Bill Yerkess, said: “We chose the laser-phosphor projectors as they are quiet and, with no lamps to replace, are a lower maintenance solution.”

The projectors were warped and blended with a Chameleon GB-200 blending processor to project a five-minute animated film onto curved 5-metre wide wall.

The Chameleon GB-200 can merge the overlapped edges of two or more projectors to create one seamless image. It provides a simple and fast solution to an otherwise complicated and labour intensive procedure. It has two channels, so a single processor can serve two projectors and includes both black level uplift and multi-region colour correction, which makes matching multiple projectors
quick and easy. In addition, it allows sub-pixel control of the alignment of both images with up to 289 individual points of adjustment on each projector enabling use on both flat and curved surfaces.

The Chameleon can also be used for stacking, when a project needs higher lumens. Stacking overlays images from multiple projectors to produce a higher brightness.

Completed in 2016, the animated film takes visitors on an entertaining historical journey through the bustling port city of Portsmouth including its infamous pirates and famous residents such as Queen Victoria and HG Wells.

Bill said: “The imagery is colourful and bright and looks brilliant.”

Jenny Nolan, Marketing Manager at Emirates Spinnaker Tower, said: “The new installation is a real enhancement to the attraction. It is a perfect introduction in the visitor journey and has really engaged our guests to learn more about the city before they go up to see the 23 mile views and brave the glass Sky Walk.”