Abilene = Reporter News: Local

From: Subject: Abilene Reporter News: Local Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:51:39 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C42156.1057A560"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C42156.1057A560 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/cda/article_print/1,1983,ABIL_7959_2796920_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html Abilene = Reporter News: Local

Abilene Reporter News

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'Spirit guides' are high tech

By Shirley Adams / Special to the=20 Reporter-News
April 10,=20 2004

RICHMOND, Va. =97 Visitors to Frontier = Texas! may=20 find themselves at a loss for words in trying to describe the = holographic=20 "spirit guides" that lead them through the new museum in downtown = Abilene.=20 That=92s understandable. Some of the technology is so new it = hasn=92t been=20 named yet.=20

Bruce Hornstein, artistic director and producer of the = Western-themed=20 museum=92s visual and musical content, called the facility=92s = technology=20 unique.=20

"To the best of my knowledge, there is no other museum in the = world=20 where the public can experience such sophisticated virtual-reality = technology," he said.=20

H.C. Zachry, the Abilene advertising executive widely = recognized as the=20 "father" of Frontier Texas!, said the original challenge in = designing the=20 attraction was to "exceed the ordinary =97 and even to exceed the=20 unexpected."=20

Wanting Frontier Texas! to be an "absolutely unique" showcase, = Zachry=20 looked to Jay Paulus and Hornstein to pull together a creative = team=20 capable of making "historical figures walk and talk again in = true-life=20 dimension."=20

The project=92s designer, Paulus works for The Douglas Group = design firm,=20 which has offices in Houston and Washington.=20

Hornstein works for Pyramid Studios, a multimedia production = company=20 based in Richmond, Va. Paulus and Hornstein have known each other=20 professionally for years.=20

They helped conceive the spirit guides, the three-dimensional = figures=20 that populate Frontier Texas!. The guides, who appear in the = museum walls=20 and in exhibits, are historical characters representing diverse = segments=20 of the frontier population. They include a frontier woman, a = buffalo=20 hunter, a cattle driver and a Comanche leader.=20

The spirit guides establish eye contact with visitors who enter = their=20 "realm" and often greet them as they approach. Visitors can walk = to the=20 most distant corner of an exhibit=92s space, and the spirit guides = will=20 continue to maintain eye contact as they tell their story.=20

"It was amazing!" said Sharon Allen, who experienced Frontier = Texas! at=20 last weekend=92s gala celebration. "I=92ve never seen anything = like it."=20

Beyond holograms=20

The spirit guides have often been called holograms, but the = underlying=20 technology is a quantum leap beyond holography, Hornstein and = others said.=20 Specialty glass manufactured by A3D Technologies of Dallas makes = possible=20 the illusion.=20

"The glass projects the image into a three-dimensional volume = of=20 space," said James Connell, founder of A3D. He said the most = accurate=20 description for the spirit guides is "apparent 3-D images."=20

The result: lifelike figures that forge an emotional and = intellectual=20 connection with museum visitors.=20

"I think people were really surprised by the spirit guides," = said Neil=20 Simms, an employee at Frontier Texas!. "Their stories were so = compelling.=20 ... It makes you realize nothing on the frontier was easy."=20

After enjoying the spirit guides=92 stories, visitors end their = tour with=20 a dramatic multidimensional movie that lets them experience some = of the=20 harsh realities of frontier life.=20

Screens wrap around Frontier Texas!=92 circular theater in a = 360-degree=20 arc, and the seats swivel, allowing optimum viewing in all = directions.=20 Visitors face the approaching threat of a buffalo stampede from = one=20 direction before the herd envelops them.=20

"Do you know the song =91Little Joe the Wrangler=92?" Allen = asked. "Just=20 before the stampede rushed over me, I thought, =91This is the last = thing=20 Little Joe saw before he got trampled to death. This is what it = feels like=20 to know that your life is about to end.=92"=20

Allen, owner of Lytle Land and Cattle Co., an Abilene = restaurant,=20 recalled her experience as a powerful prairie thunderstorm slammed = through=20 the theater.=20

"Even knowing in my mind that it wasn=92t real, I found myself = sitting on=20 the edge of my chair, my heart racing," she said. "We know that = there is=20 death in the lightning, and there can be tornadoes in the clouds = when a=20 storm like that comes through."=20

Eric Heiberg of Park Productions, also in Richmond, composed = and=20 recorded a full orchestral score, creating a "larger than life = experience"=20 in the Frontier theater, Hornstein said.=20

Music and sound effects were carefully divided among 20 = individually=20 controllable audio channels. By using sophisticated technology, = Heiberg=20 could assign physical locations to specific sounds. Even if = visitors close=20 their eyes, they can pinpoint the location of an approaching = character.=20

Hornstein said the technology was simply a tool for his No. 1 = priority:=20 telling accurate and compelling stories about the Texas frontier.=20

"The technology wasn=92t the most difficult challenge," he = said. "Our=20 emphasis was on making (an emotional) contact (with visitors)."=20

Scott Senter, president of Senter Realtors in Abilene, was = caught up in=20 the drama.=20

"It certainly got my adrenalin rushing," he said.=20

If you go=20

What: Frontier Texas!=20

Where: 625 North 1st St.=20

When: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. = Sundays=20

Admission: $8 for adults; $6 for visitors age 60 and older or = military=20 personnel with valid identification; $5 for students or teachers = with=20 valid ID; $4 for children age 3-12=20

Shirley Adams writes for Capital News Service in Richmond, = Va.=20

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