RenderHeads were hired to create software which ultimately would be part of the Ford stand at various motor shows.  We worked closely with our client to realise their design and vision for two specific components of a large system:

MediaStation
Given a visual design from the production company, we worked with our client to create MediaStation, which forms an important component of the user-feedback and interaction experience during the show. Because it is audience-facing, MediaStation has to be visually impressive. Part of the specification was that it had to run on large, custom-built plasma touchscreens.
MediaStation allows VJs to browse rapidly through thousands of pieces of audience-submitted content.  The software has to handle the constant stream of new media, in the form of text messages, images, and videos.  The VJs use MediaStation to preview the content, and in the case of videos and images, perform simple editing live during the show.  The VJs select the best content and use the MediaStation to build playlists which are submitted every 15 minutes to an Apple Mac Pro, which feeds the data into existing VJ software to perform a live show.

MediaProcessor
RenderHeads also created a back-end tool which runs automatically as part of the chain that new media goes through when it is submitted. MediaProcessor processes videos and images, preparing them for the MediaStation and other systems in the show by quickly and quietly performing various manipulations, such as thumbnailing, padding and resizing.

Both MediaStation and MediaProcessor will be used at various motor shows in 2007, including: Geneva, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Barcelona.



VJ Jess using the MediaStation at the Geneva Motor Show.
Video courtesy of Jeremy Mac Lynn.


VJ Olga Mink demos MediaStation at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
Video courtesy of FreshCreation.nl.

MediaStation and MediaProcessor were both written in C# using the .NET framework. We developed the graphics rendering engine using the XNA framework. At the time, XNA had no video support so we integrated DirectShow.NET for all video playback and processing. We had to support the QuickTime video format up to PAL (720x576) resolution. Our client set up a large media server which we communicated with using SOAP calls. The UDP protocol was used to communicate with our client's video spooler machine to synchronise the MediaStations with the VJ's main performance.  During the shows, the software handled thousands of pieces of media each day. All the software was prototyped, designed, written, optimised and bugfixed within six weeks. Three weeks were spent working from our offices, three were spent with the client for final testing and integration.

Technologies used:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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