Natural history museum of BerlinCASIO projectors put T. rex in the spotlight

„Tristan“ has been drawing crowds to the Museum für Naturkunde – Berlin‘s natural history museum – since December 2015. The museum

staff have developed a sophisticated media concept that teaches visitors everything they need to know about the T. rex skeleton, including

the latest research findings. The concept uses eleven projectors from CASIO.

Bathed in a silvery-black light, Tristan lurks between the museum‘s nineteenth-century pillars. The skeleton of Europe‘s only Tyrannosaurus

rex measures twelve metres from nose to tail. Above visitors‘ heads, Tristan stretches wide his mighty jaws. The long, pointed fangs were

probably the last thing that a lot of Cretaceous creatures ever saw. This predator is so old that his actual age could be estimated a few million

years either way. All that is left of his enormous body are fossilised bones. Nevertheless, he remains an intimidating and fascinating specimen.

Natural history museum, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science

PROJECTORS

Even though it is just a fossil, the Tyrannosaurus

rex still exudes a threatening presence. This is

largely due to its big, sharp teeth. However, when

it was alive, the dinosaur probably suffered from

some severe toothache. This is suggested by a

type of bone tumour on the lower jaw of the T. rex.

You cannot miss Tristan — everyone is awed by the migh-

ty Tyrannosaurus rex when they first enter the 350 square

meter exhibition area.

It is only when visitors take a second glance that they

notice the slim information panels in the room.

500,000 extra visitors have come thanks to Tristan

It was around 65 million years ago that Tristan roamed the once flourishing landscape of the modern-day American state of Montana. The T.

rex has been the biggest attraction at Berlin‘s natural history museum since December 2015, after being discovered five years earlier. Some

500,000 visitors have gazed in awe at Tristan in the first half of 2016 alone. The museum would normally expect to see this many visitors across

a whole year. The museum staff have spent almost a year working to ensure that this exceptional exhibit is given the platform it deserves. A lot

of blood, sweat and tears went into designing the original media concept for Tristan‘s exhibition.

A T. rex with two heads? No way! The skull on the skeleton is a cast.

The original skull was given its own display cabinet in the exhibition room. This is not

just because it would have been difficult to fix the 180 kilogram skull in place. Another

reason behind using a cast on the real skeleton was to provide scientists with easier

access to the original skull.

The original and the animation: Thanks to projection screens that are almost transpa-

rent, Tristan is always in sight – even when visitors are reading information about the T.

rex on the information screens.

In comparison to Tristan‘s skull, the Green Slim XJ-A257 below the ceiling looks quite

tiny. With its slim design, the projector is ideal for exhibitions. An additional advantage

is its long-lasting light source, which lasts for an average of 20,000 hours without the

need to change the lamp.

What do Tristan‘s fossilised bones tell us around 65 million years after his death? Visitors

can read answers to this and many other questions on the animated information

screens. These ghost-like blue films are shown using five projectors from the Green

Slim series from Casio – each of which is suspended discreetly from the ceiling.

Animations that appear to be floating

Compared to the enormous skeleton, the five slimline information screens in the grand hall appear quite modest. Tiny lights glisten at the

sides of the black podiums. The text on the front of the podiums provides answers to the key questions about Tristan. The real eye-catchers,

however, are the tall, frosted glass screens on each podium. Dinosaurs dart ghost-like across a screen. A giant, shining version of the unusual

tumour on Tristan‘s jaw hovers in the air. In other animations, visitors discover what it is that scientists find so interesting about Tristan. The

position of each podium has been carefully chosen, so that it is still possible to see the dinosaur through the screens whilst watching the ani-

mations. You can hardly spot the source of the animations: Five Green Slim XJ-A257 projectors from CASIO are suspended from the ceiling of

the exhibition hall, projecting the silent footage onto the frosted screens on a continuous loop.

Displays surprise visitors with animated features

The six other projectors—XJ-UT310WN models from the Ultra Short Throw series, donated to the exhibition by CASIO—are even harder to

find. They are hidden inside the rock-effect concrete podium that serves as Tristan‘s throne. Their job is to bring the display cases embed-

ded in the concrete podium to life — a surprise that visitors are supposed to discover for themselves. At first glance, the display cases seem

quite empty — a replica of a single hollow bone, for example, lies forlorn in one of the spacious glass boxes. But when a visitor discovers and

triggers the inconspicuous sensor on the case, the reason for the empty space next to the exhibits becomes clear: Light suddenly streams

through the glass cases, revealing the previously hidden explanatory text. Blue dots light up next to each individual text box and short films

accompany the highlighted passages.

The hidden animations are part of the museum‘s philosophy. Uwe Moldrzyk, head of the Tristan exhibition, explains: „We use media to create

an atmosphere that makes everything even more exciting than it already is. So at first glance, it shouldn‘t look like media at all.“ He adds that

this is why the museum likes to come up with its own ideas, rather than choose the „standard option“. „Firstly, we always consider what‘s rele-

vant to the exhibition topic. Then in some cases, it becomes apparent that we can achieve our goal by using media.“

CASIO quality was selected for the display cabinet concept

Both the projector-animated display cases and the glass information screens are the collective brainchild of the twelve-person team behind

the exhibition. Valentin Henning, media technician at the museum, worked with his colleagues to test out a single CASIO projector in order

to see what effects could be achieved using different glass screens. „It had to have a certain lightness to it. That was important to us“, explains

Henning. „The projection screens are perfect, because the visitors can continue looking at the original exhibit whilst also taking in additional

information.“

Setting up the display cases required some experimentation – with just one day to go before the opening, Henning added extra film to the

glass cases to ensure that the text only became visible once visitors activated the sensors. By contrast, it was obvious from a very early stage

that CASIO projectors would be used for the Tristan exhibition. „The light sources should not require extra time to switch on. They should

be there as soon as we switch the power on. That was really important to us“, explains Henning. „The fact that their lamps can last for around

20,000 hours without needing to be changed was also one of the reasons why we asked the company to support our exhibition“. As for CA-

SIO, it was an easy decision. Mario Fellhölter, project co-ordinator at CASIO, was immediately blown away by the request: „This was a case of

someone working closely with our projectors and then asking for us specifically. And we were thrilled by the project itself too!“

Valentin Henning is a Media Engineer at the Museum für

Naturkunde Berlin. Although – or more precisely because –

media is used in a very discreet and targeted manner in the

museum, the expertise of a media expert is a valuable addition

to the team.

There is just a single bone to see in this glass

display cabinet – or so it seems at first glance. At

the push of a button a sensor starts a projector

underneath the display cabinet and the free space

in the glass cabinet is filled with texts and informa-

tional films.

Informational signs are easily updated via WLAN

The special exhibition is set to run for at least three years, but Henning doubts that he will ever have to climb a ladder and fiddle with the pro-

jectors during that time. If new research findings concerning Tristan come to light and need to be displayed on the information screens, all

the media technician has to do is take a seat at his computer. If required, he can simply access all eleven projectors via WLAN and upload new

footage into the devices‘ memory – for example, if the scientists involved in the project discover how Tristan died.

A pioneering implementation

Visitor feedback has shown that the museum made the right choice with its subtle media concept. And the entire museum industry is im-

pressed by the glass information screens and animated display cases. „We‘ve already been asked multiple times how we achieved it from a

technical perspective“, head of the exhibition Uwe Moldrzyk is happy to report.

There is real excitement over the creative media concept at CASIO too. „Our collaboration with the Tristan exhibition has shown us that there

are some entirely new application possibilities for our projectors“, says a delighted Mario Fellhölter. „We‘re also very proud that our projectors

have helped to make the exhibition team‘s vision possible in such an impressive way“.

The products

The museum had already decided that CASIO projectors would be

used in the Tristan exhibition at the very start of the planning pro-

cess. This is because the exhibition required light sources that could

deliver high performance as soon as the power was switched on.

Thanks to the direct On/Off function, with a single push of a button

the XJ-A257 is ready to start and has reached its full brightness after

no more than five seconds. This high level of efficiency ensures that

operations in the museum run smoothly. The second argument for

using CASIO projectors in the T. rex showroom: the long operating

time without the need to change the lamp.

Six of the XJ-UT310WN models from the Ultra Short Throw series are

integrated into the exhibit.

The devices are hidden in the concrete pedestal underneath the

dinosaur. These hidden projectors provide the animated features

for the exhibition with brilliant colour reproduction from a short di-

stance. The moment a sensor is triggered, texts, markings and short

films appear in the glass cases, which are lit up from below. The clear,

vivid images with rich colours appear within a very short time thanks

to the special CASIO light source – making these projectors ideal for

the exhibition concept.

The animation shows images of Tristan‘s computer tomography performed at the

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. And this is only the beginning of the exploration

of the T. rex skeleton. Visitors can also learn about new scientific findings: There are se-

veral updates planned for the animations over the course of the exhibition. The media

engineer can upload the new films to the internal memory of the projectors from the

comfort of his desk.

Uwe Moldrzyk manages the Tristan exhibition. Uwe and his team have worked on the

exhibition concept for almost a year.

This also included a trip to the excavation site in the US state of Montana.

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