Have you ever wondered how flowing images are projected onto a castle in an amusement park, or how the Terracotta Warriors come to life in a museum? These so-called "special venue images" allow audiences to walk straight into a digitally projected world and interact with them in real-time.

Experts and scholars at the forefront of special imaging technology came together for an all-day forum at the Chaoyang Museum of Urban Planning in Beijing. Since its inception, the "International Forum on Special Venue Image" has become an annual event for professionals in the field.

Topics highlighted at this year's forum include how the imaging industry should deal with the vast amount of new technologies and what new possibilities there are for different industries using innovative projection concepts. 

Advanced technologies, such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, and AI, have a tremendous impact on how imaging technology is produced, developed, and applied. Hu Zhifeng, vice president of the Beijing Film Academy, said.

"In the past, it took great effort to produce special venue imaging. We needed to devote a lot of manpower and time to the production process," Hu said.

"But now, with 5G technology, it takes only a few seconds to download the data we need for putting together the image," he added.

The earliest special venue images appeared in planetariums and science museums. But in recent years, advances in tech have expanded them to performances, multimedia exhibitions, and many other occasions. Full-dome and panoramic-screen films are continuously being upgraded.

Ouyang Yue, audiovisual engineer of Radio, Film & TV Design Research Institute, has been working on the redistribution of hi-tech imaging resources to more venues and places.

"We'd like to use advanced technologies like 5G so that these visual presentations can even be available to people at home," Ouyang said. 

The Advanced Imaging Awards is also a highlight of this year's forum. It aims to recognize works that have contributed to the innovative application of imaging technology.

This year, the organizers have also set up a new Immersive Imaging Contest to seek creative talents in the field.

The annual conference is hosted by the China Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers as well as the Beijing Film Academy.

(Cover: The 2020 International Forum on Special Venue Image is held at the Chaoyang Museum of Urban Planning in Beijing, December 4, 2020. /CGTN)