Cancun attracting more than 35 million visitors in 2018.

Background
Competition for business and the need to stand out has never been greater. Located on the beach and just a stone’s throw from the city centre, Melody Maker - named after the British music magazine of the same title ­­– describes itself as the world’s biggest party hotel, pairing the lifestyle and excitement of a beachfront hotel with the amenities of a luxury Resort. With more than 400 rooms over 16 floors, and an outdoor club that has played host to leading celebrity DJs and artists such as Paris Hilton, David Guetta and Armin Van Buuren, Melody Maker prides itself on staying ahead of the competition and delivering world-class entertainment experiences to its guests.

The challenge
As part of a recent upgrade to the hotel’s facilities, Melody Maker decided to raise the bar. With a desire to create a more immersive, more spectacular and more memorable experience for guests attending its events, Melody Maker took the decision to utilise the hotel’s exterior, transforming it into a giant 7,000 sq. m (1.7 acre) canvas, creating one of the world’s biggest permanent 3D mapping displays.

The installation – the largest of its kind for any hotel in the world – would also help Melody Maker stand-out from its competitors, whilst also providing a nightly visual spectacle attraction for onlookers, both on and off shore.

The solution
Tasked with delivering on Melody Makers’ ambitions, were Madrid-based New Media Creative Technology Studio and Kyiv-based Front Pictures – two projection mapping specialists with more than 30 years’ experience between them – who provided the projection system used to illuminate the hotel. The Front Pictures team, which has provided visual display solutions for some of world’s leading brands, including Ferrari, BMW and Disney, was responsible for system engineering and integration.

Using their vast knowledge and experience in delivering on such high-profile projects, the team decided to use four next-generation Datapath Fx4/H display wall controllers to distribute 32MP video signal (driven by a single powerful Screenberry media server) to 16 x Barco UDX-W32 projectors strategically positioned outside the hotel. In total, 3 km of optical fiber-cables were used to connect all the components together, creating the first permanent 3D mapping installation for a hotel.

“Datapath Fx4 display controllers are an ideal solution to increase the number of displays that can be connected to one media server,” comments Vitaliy Slyusarenko, Front Pictures CTO. “Combined with the unique features of our Screenberry media server, they allowed us to greatly reduce the overall system complexity.” He continued: 'Keeping it simple' is our philosophy in systems design, which has proven to be a successful strategy and is appreciated by our customers. That is what makes our solutions more affordable without compromising quality and reliability.”

Kit list solutions

• 4 x Datapath Fx4/H display controllers
• 1 x Screenberry media server
• 16 x Barco UDX-W32 projectors