Christie, the global visual and audio technology company, has announced its technology is being used for a new show in Gujarat, India.
The company provided its award-winning pure laser D4K40-RGB projectors for the sound and light show on Gabbar Hill, which houses a traditional temple on its summit.
A natural canvas
The Ambaji Temple 3D projection mapping show is an idea conceived by the Gujarat state government and the Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board. It was designed to boost night-time tourism by utilising the 490-metre-high Gabbar Hill as a natural canvas to create an ambitious audiovisual (AV) show. The display celebrates the heritage and cultural significance of the sacred shrine.
“We are honoured to be given this opportunity to create a larger-than-life experience for visitors and pilgrims by taking them on a captivating visual journey featuring stories and legends of Ambaji Temple,” says Tricolor India Schauspiel creative director Himanshu Sabharwal.
“We had to achieve a projection coverage of almost 100 metres (328 feet) wide and 60 metres (197 feet) high on Gabbar Hill, which exhibits a dark, dull surface due to environmental conditions. This requires a fleet of high brightness projectors with unparalleled image quality. Christie’s D4K40-RGB fits the bill perfectly with 45,000 lumens and 4K resolution, providing us with vibrant and lifelike images.”
Rhino Engineers’ principal consultant, Narendra Naidu, adds: “This is the first time in India that an innovative 3D projection mapping show has been accomplished on a large natural landscape. We are delighted to offer our expertise to ensure that the theme and concept are perfectly aligned together during the execution. This is a landmark project in terms of scale, content delivery and the types of AV technologies used, and we have every reason to rejoice and be proud of what we have achieved.”
Towering projections
Six of Christie’s D4K40-RGB pure laser projectors have been mounted on two specially assembled projection towers, measuring approximately five metres in height. The first tower is fitted with two projectors horizontally adjacent to each other, and the second has four projectors stacked in a two-by-two formation.
The projectors are covered with Warrior weatherproof enclosures and placed roughly 120 metres away from Gabbar Hill, which has been identified as the ideal distance for displaying optimal visuals on the hill’s inconsistent surface.
“This is the largest projection mapping that we have presented on a natural landscape since 2016’s Dharti Aaba light and sound show in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district, which was staged on the hillside of Kanke Dam using four 22,000-lumen Christie projectors,” says Sabharwal. “For the Ambaji Temple project, our biggest challenge was the time constraint and bringing together all teams involved to complete it within a month. We are thankful to Christie for the timely delivery of the projectors on-site, as well as other teams that finished their tasks well in advance as promised.”
Christie’s enterprise sales director for India, Rishubh Nayar, adds: “We are thrilled that our high-performance D4K40-RGB pure laser projectors have been chosen to illuminate Gabbar Hill, which is home to the holy Ambaji Temple that this astounding projection mapping show is dedicated to. This is a superb demonstration of the capabilities of our D4K40-RGBs, which have elevated large-scale projections to new heights. Kudos to Tricolor India Schauspiel and Rhino Engineers for their hard work to deliver this milestone project for India and the entire world to see.”
Christie recently detailed how its projectors have been used for a major ride at Legoland Windsor, located near London, UK.
Night-time images: Tricolor India Schauspiel
