view Duomo - Le Guglie

view B.I.T. print

VRWAY shot Arounder Milan with the intent of furthering the idea that panoramic images are not just for Internet usage as VRs, but may be used in all kinds of print advertising. So when the International Tourism Exposition 2005 (BIT) came to Milan this year, VRWAY proposed that the City of Milan (who had commissioned Arounder Milan earlier) use a huge, high-quality print image for its booth at the exposition. Sabatini Group constructed the stand in a 180 square meter space that also needed to accommodate three flat screen TVs, a passage for a fashion show and a back stage. A beautiful panorama of Milan’s Duomo cathedral, shot by Giuseppe Pennisi and stitched with Stitcher 4.0, was printed onto a 25m x 4m (82ft x 13ft) background. The source file was 15,000 pixels in length but a 72,000 pixel image was needed to get sharp results for the 25m length, so the image was re-postproduced on Macs and an output file of 2.5GB with 72 dpi resolution was given to the printers; Gruppo Sabatini installed a backlight system to illuminate the image. There were also plasma screens showing the Arounder website and CD screensavers of Milan were given away.

The result was a success and the printed panorama was frequently used as the backdrop for television coverage of the event, giving strong and unexpected visibility to the Milan tourism office. The City of Milan has now asked that VRWAY deliver a new image each year for its tradeshow booth; they will keep the main construction stand and just change the background image, an economical way to keep things fresh and still leave an impression.