Museum-diorama opened in Voronezh after overhaul

2024: Opening of a diorama museum in Voronezh

On April 3, 2024, the IT group OTKRITIE announced that on January 25, 2024, the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Voronezh, a diorama museum was opened in the city after a major overhaul. Here, with the help of modern multimedia equipment, an interactive format tells about the difficult battles for the city, as well as about the most important stages of post-war recovery. The design and deployment of the multimedia basis of the diorama was carried out by the specialists of the IT Group OTKRITIE.

source = IT Group Opening

Visual: 9 projectors for immersion in the atmosphere

The choice of equipment for the diorama project was due to the need to ensure image and sound quality. It was required to cover large areas with projection, and projection systems were chosen as the main demonstration devices. For the same reason, equipment with optimal light power was needed: the main exposure screen has a size of 24 by 6.5 meters. The diorama is provided by 9 Panasonic projectors with brightness from 6,000 to 10,000 ANSI lumens, which made it possible to achieve a clear and bright image without losing details.

The peculiarity of the room is light walls and ceiling. But we turned this feature into a strong side. In fact, the only source of lighting during the show is projection, which gives us complete control over the illumination of the hall and immersion of the viewer in the desired atmosphere. At the moment the excursion enters the diorama space on the main screen, on the floor, on the map and on the back wall, the content is displayed in bright colors and a lot of light shades. There is a lot of light and the viewer can comfortably fit in the hall. As soon as the main video begins, all surfaces are darkened, only a dark picture of the main screen with black and red elements and a voiceover remains, attention is automatically focused on it. told Maya Rosina, Development Director of OTKRITIE Group IT

To check the performance of the technical concept, IT engineers of the Otkritie group came with a projector and several lenses directly to the diorama. For example, the project provided that a complex of projectors would illuminate both the floor and the back wall at the same time (with one projection).

Even the manufacturer could not say whether the equipment will be able to work out such a depth of sharply depicted space, leaving the entire surface in focus. The task was on the verge of projector capabilities, but they coped. It is also worth noting that in such a complex project, the work on which took us almost six months, it was impossible to do without a complete and detailed 3D model. There are too many elements that can interfere with each other and completely break the entire system. Plus, each of the participants in the process knew exactly what and where would be located long before the equipment actually appeared there. This avoided a large number of errors. noted Denis Baidakov, project manager

Sound

To completely immerse the viewer in the desired atmosphere, high-quality surround sound is needed, which would remain clear and readable anywhere in the hall. To implement the task, they chose the MX LAB speaker systems of the JL series. There are 12 of them in the hall, they are connected according to the 5.1 scheme. But it was not without solving interesting problems here.

Since the curved wall protrudes with the screen, we did not want to place any distracting elements in front of it. At the same time, the central channel in the 5.1 system is very important. We decided to use the screen itself as an acoustic lens. Two IVS were installed on the sides, which are turned towards the screen at a certain angle, the sound is reflected off the wall and as a result, the sound clarity and positioning are not disturbed. The wall coped well with the role of sound reflector. reported by Denis Baidakov

Two MX LAB BLAST subwoofers, secretly installed in the voluminous layout of the city of Voronezh, which has become the central object of the exposition, are responsible for the low frequencies, the reproduction of which is very important for dubbing, for example, heavy military equipment.

source = IT Group Opening

The city is divided into two parts by the river, and this feature of the landscape did not go unnoticed - a virtual river in the form of a projection also flows between the two parts of the layout. When the viewer is simply nearby, the map, which is projected onto a three-dimensional layout, displays the pre-war city. But if a visitor points a special device, a virtual "flashlight," at a given area of ​ ​ the layout, he will see it as it was by the time the city was liberated in 1943, when more than 90% of the buildings were destroyed.

source = IT Group Opening

The map is really large, the longest side is almost 5 meters, and we wanted to show the difference between the pre-war and military layers not on the entire layout at once, but only in those areas of its interest to the visitor. The decision told us the equipment already used to track the position of people in the hall - depending on this data, the content shown by the projectors changes. These are OptiTrack infrared cameras tuned to a narrow area of ​ ​ the spectrum, 850 nm. This allows the system to control where the "lantern" is directed, which is actually a lantern - it shines in the infrared, with a wavelength of 850 nm. Experimentally, we found out that the optimal number of flashlights is five. told Mikhail Basyuk, multimedia engineer "IT group OTKRITIE"

Control Center

To manage the complex, a server room was equipped with two fully filled rack cabinets. The control system includes a server for playing content, tracking people, monitoring all equipment, sound amplifiers, controllers, network equipment and a separate small part is used for another zone, "Alley of Heroes." At the same time, the equipment requires an individual approach to itself, especially in terms of power control - servers really do not like sudden de-energization, and the mixer console should be turned off only after the sound amplifier is turned off. Content management also requires some understanding of the logic of the system. In order to optimize the use of the diorama by the museum staff, a simple and interface was developed that allows, by pressing one button, to switch the operating modes of the diorama depending on the stage of the excursion, launch interactive functions or complete the demonstration of content, control the volume of sound, turn off or turn on all equipment in manual mode. Automatic start and shutdown of the complex on a schedule is also supported. After hours, almost all equipment is disconnected from the power supply, which saves energy. The control center also supports remote diagnostics and management.

source = IT Group Opening

Content

After we decided on the goals and the main idea, the method of presenting the material, the team set about studying historical documents, photographs, archival materials, and other resources to create cognitive, interesting, and most importantly, reliable content. At this stage, we were assisted by employees of the diorama museum, who provided a large layer of archival photo and video materials, and also provided methodological support. An honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh and the Voronezh region, rector of VGPU Sergey Filonenko took part in the creation of content filled with historical facts and details. Our team expresses great gratitude to him for his invaluable contribution to the implementation of the project. supplemented by Mikhail Basyuk

Based on the collected materials, a scenario was created that made it possible to reflect as a large array of interesting facts related directly to Voronezh. At the same time, it was necessary to maintain a balance between the density of historical facts and the general timing of the final video. A team of more than 20 people worked on creating the script, editing and post-production. These are not only specialists of the IT Group OTKRITIE, but also partners, without whose participation and support such a task would be seriously feasible.