Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019 - 59

Tel Aviv-based ARShow's production of Gulliver
reveals the future potential of AR technology for
theatrical performances. Photo Courtesy of ARShow.

when your gaze follows a monkey up to
the ceiling, the existing venue architecture is replaced with a digitally rendered
night sky that the monkeys sink into as
they fly further out of sight.
Examples of current productions using AR can be found in the work of Tel
Aviv-based company ARShow. Using
smartphone-driven headsets that employ the phone's camera as a visual passthrough, ARShow is able to add custom
objects and associated interactions into
the world of the viewer-or more to the
point, the world of the performance. See
the scope of integration ARShow was
able to achieve in the Gesher Theater's

production of Gulliver. By meshing its
proprietary Pinocchio 2.0 operating system with the best AR capabilities present technology affords, ARShow offers a
glimpse into what lies ahead for theatrical AR design.
Beyond integration into the live performance, equipment manufacturers are
leveraging AR to create powerful production tools aimed at technicians as well as
designers. At USITT 2019, Electronic
Theatre Controls Inc. (ETC) demonstrated its willingness to jump into the fray
with the release of Eos Augment3d, an
AR mobile app that synthesizes with its
new 3D programming environment bundled with the Eos lighting console version 3 software. While many functions
of the app are still under development, a
major selling point is the ability to mesh
your physical position onstage with the
software's digital understanding of the
same venue. From there, your movements on stage could be roughly tracked
and, with the push of a button, any selected moving lighting fixtures can immediately focus to your physical position. This
has the potential to dramatically accelerate recording/updating of focus palettes.

U.S. Emerging Designers Exhibit, PQ19

Additionally, if an RDM (Remote Device
Management) capable fixture throws an
error, the app could alert you on-screen
and point you towards the physical location of that fixture.
With this advanced use of AR already being implemented in theatrical
lighting, it is easy to imagine how AR
apps might provide sound designers and
audio engineers a visual approximation
of relative levels, distribution, and acoustic interactions of sound waves throughout a venue, or at a more basic level, a
console tutorial app that overlays visual
prompts to lead the user through the
functions of their new audio or lighting
desk.

New and Emerging Advancements

AR's inherently non-isolating nature
combined with the ability to be environmentally contextual has garnered
interest in a large variety of industries.
Theatre will also benefit from these recent trends in AR investment, including
developing AR for commercial use in industries that can utilize the smart visual
overlay functions for guiding the user
through physical tasks. Especially useful

Many people know USITT for its
Conference & Stage Expo. But we are
more than that. USITT is a worldwide
leader in design, sponsoring the U.S.
exhibits at the Prague Quadrennial of
Performance Design and Space for
more than 40 years. USITT is the U.S.
ce
center for OISTAT, the international
organization of scenographers,
theatre architects and technicians.
We offer masterclasses, online
learning and design symposia
across the disciplines.
We are the people behind great
design and cutting-edge technology.
We are there for every stage.
Also, we throw a pretty great
conference.
Houston, April 1-4, 2020

www.usitt.org
FALL 2019

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

| 59

http://www.usitt.org

Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019

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