The Now Building is our largest immersive space, boasting a 4-storey high (14.5m), 3mm pixel pitch, 16k+ screen canvas. One of the largest LED screens by pixel density anywhere in the world. Located directly outside Tottenham Court Rd Tube station, it provides access through to Charing Cross Rd, Denmark St, Denmark Place and our subterranean live events venue. With an internal screen surface of 1,209 sqm, a floor surface of 439 sqm and a maximum capacity of 550 people.

This enormous public atrium can be seen from over 100m away from Charing Cross Road and features screen interactivity, directional sound, atomized scent and is fully rigged to accommodate high-impact staging and production.

The interior surface is made up of 5 connected LED screens, the largest of those is what we refer to as –the south wall – which is 4 stories high and over 8k resolution. The East, West and North wall are all approximately 4k while the ceiling is 8k, making this space alone 16k+ resolution.

Design Principles

Each of the Outernet spaces are comprised of a series of large LED screens, which should always be treated as a single canvas that has multiple sides. This could contain three unique copies of creative on each screen, the layout and positioning of content is dependent on the designer’s choice.

For design and content creation, our canvases are unfolded into a flat UV layout that assists the design process. A link to download the UV maps and AE Projects are provided at the bottom of this page.

Motion

When designing for our spaces we recommend erring on the side of caution when it comes to on-screen speed of movement,particularly when it comes to the south wall of the Now Building. As audiences could be stood very close to the screens, fast moving objects can be quite overwhelming.

If the main content of a layout is a video piece, then we suggest using slow moving animation on supporting aspects of the design layout so as not to distract from the main footage content.Consideration should also be given to how any content or experience translates when filmed on cell phones if you are intending for consumers to share that footage on social.

Screen Resolution, Dimensions & Images

Content Delivery Specification

To ensure your video, image and audio content is supported by our media systems, content must be delivered to specification:

Our media system is capable of handling multiple layers of image (with alpha), video and audio playback. Please refer to the "Media Playout: Realtime, Layers, text & animation" section for details.

Resolution (Screen take over)

• East Wall: 3680 x 3280
• South Wall: 8480 x 4800
• West Wall: 6476 x 3280
• North Wall: 6586 x 3280
• Ceiling: 8494 x 6094

Resolution (TV Standard in a container)

• 6K: 5568 x 3132
• UHD: 3840 x 2160
• HD: 1920 X 1080

If you don't have content or ability to create content that meets our screen resolutions we can place standard TV content in a container with a image background of your choice or colour.

Image

• Format: .png
• Alpha is supported
• Uncompressed 16 bit

Video

• Frame rate: 50fps / 50 Hz
• Video Codec: H.264
• Format: .mp4
• Bitrate: 65Mbps CBR
• Main profile (6.1)
• Quality: Highest
• Audio: Stereo profile below applies, please make sure video that contains speech audio is embedded

Audio 2 Channels

• Format: .wav
• Stereo
• 24 Bit depth
• 48Hz Sample rate

Audio Spatial

• Format: .wav
• Mono
• 24 Bit depth
• 48Hz Sample rate

Packaged Templates For Content Creation

The simplest way to create and render content for our screens is to use our templates, we highly recommend you do not attempt to create your own as these are tested and proven to work.

Please use this link to download our content creation pack which includes:

• Adobe After Effects Project
• Adobe Illustrator Project
• Adobe Media Encoder Presets
• Cinema 4D scene file with 1:1 scale model
• Autodesk .fbx 3D model of the screens

Please ensure that you deliver content before by the set deadline so that it can be checked and tested. Any late delivery's of files will affect our ability to guarantee a smooth playout.

Media Playout: Realtime, Layers, text & animation

The media system we use to playout content is Ventuz, a realtime graphics system that is capable of layering images, videos and audio content to be controlled via our automation system or manually triggered using our show control software. Please note for events a graphics operator will be provided to trigger content on screen.

Ventuz is capable of layering graphics content for compositing and managing background, foreground and transitional states. We can also create text, timers, video containers, SDI inputs, fade, mix and animate elements based on your needs. Please note that depending on the complexity of the creative execution and show requirements we will quote you the effort required for our designers to create, optimize and test the features mentioned.

We expect a list such as a show flow or a storyboard of segments detailing layers and features required for us to implement. With every event we will advise you on best practices and provide expertise if required to minimize errors.

Spatialised Audio

Our audio system in the Now Building is highly configurable and can be set up as a full L-ISA system with up to 64 stems being routed to the L-ISA processor via Dante. It can also be set up as a traditional L/R system. Alternatively, the system can be configured into zones, playing back different sources to each wall or corner, for instance.

Surround? 5.1? 7.1?