Cave of Lights, Volvic

Modulo Pi’s media servers at the core of an immersive cave of lights

Since February 2024, the Grotte de la Pierre de Volvic, France has been offering a new immersive show designed by Ateliers BK. Combining video projection, sound and light, the Grotte des Lumières (Cave of Lights) offers visitors an underground journey into a magical world. To bring this new immersive experience to life, service provider SGroup Equipement turned to Modulo Pi’s media server solutions, in particular its projection study and show control tools.  

Designed by Ateliers BK in association with WB-Show, the Grotte des Lumières is an immersive show designed to highlight the exceptional heritage of this natural site in the Auvergne region, which has been used by man since the 13^th century.

Ateliers BK and WB-Show called on audiovisual integrator SGroup Equipement to handle the project. The brief required the installation of a video system to create a 360° mapping projection on the walls of the cave, along with audio and lighting effects.

The projection study phase was essential to ensure the best possible preparation before integrating the AV equipment into the particular environment of the cave, which lies in a seismic zone. Sylvain Roos, Managing Director of SGroup Equipement explains: “We worked with the persons responsible for the seismic monitoring of the site to validate the installation areas and methods”.

SGroup Equipement‘s teams used the projection study and simulation tools of the Modulo Kinetic media server from Modulo Pi for the first time. The cave was scanned and a 3D model was extracted and imported into Modulo Kinetic.

Using the software, the video-projectors could be positioned in a 3D scene to simulate projection onto the areas specified in the design brief. Pre-warping work was even possible using the software, prior to the installation on site.

“We really appreciated the pre-work done with the system. The tool is very user-friendly. Our video technicians quickly found their feet. It was simple and effective” points out Sylvain Roos.

A total of fifteen Vivitek projectors have been installed for the new show, La Grotte des Lumières, including 9 x DU6198Z models. The projectors, installed in waterproof enclosures, are distributed throughout the cave and the eight stages of the show.

While installing this new equipment, the integrator had to deal with some of the audio and video gear already used in the cave for the historical tour of the site.To power all the projectors, teams from SGroup Equipement selected the Modulo Player media server from Modulo Pi. The kit installed includes 2 x Modulo Player Standard equipped with 2 and 3 outputs, and 2 x Modulo Player Pro equipped with 4 and 6 outputs.The media server was used to manage the video mappings throughout the immersive tour. Thanks to Modulo Player‘s warping tools, the images fit in perfectly with the walls of the cave, creating complete immersion at certain points along the route.

In addition to Modulo Player‘s mapping tools and media playback functions, the Modulo Pi media server was chosen for its embedded show control tools and ability to control all the elements of the show: Video-projection, sound, smoke machines, lights, etc. Sylvain Roos comments:

“What drew us to Modulo Player was its power and ability to connect a sound card, communicate with the lighting through Art-Net, etc. The server manages all commands, including switching the video-projectors on and off, and selecting the audio sources via relay modules, etc. Modulo Player handles the whole show control system. The power that comes with simplified control has been a real plus.”

The immersive show is strictly sequenced and offers perfect synchronization between the media distributed by Modulo Player, the audio, and lighting, throughout the 50-minute show.

The Grotte des Lumières show, launched at the end of February 2024, is open to the public every Wednesday and Sunday, alternating with the historical tour on the other days of the week. At the end of the year, another show, the Grotte du Père Noël (Santa’s Cave), will be offered to the public.

Once the installation was complete, SGroup Equipement implemented a simplified control system to facilitate day-to-day operations on site. “We needed a control panel at the front desk that was easy to use for non-technical staff” explains Sylvain Roos.

The control panels were created using Modulo Player’s UI Designer function, which enables custom interfaces to be created simply by dragging and dropping buttons, tasks, text or images.

Sylvain Roos adds: “A touch-screen tablet has been installed at reception, allowing the team to select the show, either the historical tour, the Grotte des Lumières, or the Grotte du Père Noël. The Grotte des Lumières offers two possibilities. The show starts every 25 or 30 minutes, depending on the schedule. A dong at the reception desk announces the start of the show and the public can then begin the visit. Everything is sequenced.”

Thanks to the central control panel, the reception teams can select the show to be launched, but also control the audio announcements, service lights, choose the power level of the smoke machines, or see the countdown to the next tour departure. Test sequences have also been integrated by S SGroup Equipement: “The teams on site can run test sequences to check that everything is working properly in the cave: Smoke, light, sound, video-projectors, etc. If everything is OK, they can launch the show” explains Sylvain Roos.

The Grotte des Lumières and historical tour will be on show until mid-November, before giving way to the Grotte du Père Noël, an immersive tour running 7 days a week during the holiday season.