Qlab, the heart of the video playback system.
Back in late 2022 when planning a media playback system for this attraction, I was struggling to find a hardware/software combination that could handle multi-screen synchronized video playback for my proposed attraction...
The initial goals for video playback required that the playback system be able to
be controlled by the show control system over a network
auto-startup and auto-shutdown with ride startup and ride shutdown procedures
incorporate multi-projector blending of multiple screens
allow seamless and blended transitions between different show scenes based on randomly generated ride sequences fed from the show controller
have simple and quick-to-operate surface mapping that could be completed each day during the ride startup procedure.
The finalized video playback system is made up of only a handful of components.... 2 Apple Mac Minis, 1 projector, and 11.6 nautical miles of HDMI cabling. The 2 Mac minis are sitting cozy in an MK1 Manufacturing Mac Mount System, and they feed 3 video feeds (one on one Mac, two on the other) over HDMI through a Redco Audio Custom Patch Panel to up to 3 projectors (Due to weather delays in construction there was only time to implement one of the 3 screens). Both Macs are running MacOS Catalina with Qlab 4, MM1 provides the video feed for the first scene, and MM2 would have provided 2 blended feeds to the UST "immersion" projectors located in the tunnel of the ride that provide less imagery and more lighting effects. (that sadly never were completed)
Using MacOS's auto-login feature, when booted by the front panel power on pushbuttons on the MK1 frame, each Mac automatically signs in without the requirement of a keyboard or mouse. After adding the QLab workspace into the login items for each Mac and enabling the "When workspace opens, start cue number" feature within QLab workspace settings, the startup process from button press to projector image is less than 20 seconds, with the Mac automatically loading the selected Logo screen to the projector. After disabling notifications, spotlight, and other MacOS features that could potentially cause issues with this boot procedure (by using QLab's "A Computer Prepares") I was able to completely start up the video playback system with one button press.
Virtual environment sponsored by Scans Factory
Produced by Cal Rustad
In order to streamline the shutdown feature (and allow the mac to be standalone in the rack without a keyboard or a mouse), using QLab's AppleScripting functionality I wrote a simple script cue to close all applications (with saving) and then shutdown the computer. This cue can be triggered by the show control system via the touchscreen user interface powered by our show control computer. It can also be triggered by the iPad used in projection mapping.
To trigger playback of all cues, Qlab communicates with the show control Onlogic Industrial Edge Computer running software from Entertainment Sciences Group.
With networking infrastructure provided by Thoughtful Integrations, network latency is virtually nonexistent on our simple closed network. There is a <0.8ms delay between all networked devices, and in this small installation SMPTE timecode was not required for sync between the separate video and audio systems, but could have been easily implemented.
Finally, to adjust and perfect the projection mapping to each of our surfaces at the start of every ride bootup procedure, the QLab remote app is used on an iPad 10 on the network to quickly fix any mapping errors caused by the shifting of projectors or the screen. Cues for whiteout, logo displays, and mapping grids are present in each of the QLab workspaces and can be triggered by buttons on this iPad as well in order to quickly pull up various imagery for testing.
QLab is the ONLY way to go when it comes to affordable video playback for home haunts and smaller temporary attractions. The optimization (even on older Apple gear like in our system) is very noticeable and its compatibility with networked control makes it an unmatched solution when implementing video with a show control system. Thank you so much to Chris Ashworth and Figure 53 LLC. for making the video for this ride come to life!
