French engineering-led start-up Naostage has announced the world’s first automatic beaconless 3D tracking system, assisting AVL rental-staging and fixed-install professionals to create immersive, interactive live experiences.
Naostage’s tracking identifies and follows artists, performers and visitors wherever they are in a defined tracking area – allowing the automation of audio, video, lighting and media effects in real time, in sync with the show.
The product of four years of R&D, the easy-to-understand Naostage ecosystem is backed by ABAB and BPI France, which invested €1m in the company last year. It comprises three products: Kapta, a lightweight (12kg) riggable 3D sensor bar; Kore, a powerful AI processing server which uses AI to track up to 16 performers from a single box; and Kratos, the intuitive interaction-design software at the heart of the Naostage system.
‘From outdoor festivals to touring shows, visitor attractions, immersive experiences and more, Naostage’s fully automated solution streamlines and simplifies tracking workflow wherever it is deployed, helping artists, show designers and technical teams to improve productivity and reduce their costs while further elevating the live experience for fans and visitors,’ explains Naostage founder and CEO, Paul Cales.
As well as concerts, tours and festivals, the system can support fully automated shows in museums and entertainment venues where AVL actions can be triggered by a visitor entering the room. A cruise ship could also embark on multi-week voyage with a fully automated show, simplifying pre-production and reducing costs.
As a beaconless solution, Naostage requires no additional hardware, such as sensors or tags, to be attached to performers. Once rigged, the plug-and-play Kapta sensor scans the space in 3D, feeding data to the Kore processing unit that automatically identifies each target in real-time 3D. The Kore computer, which uses deep learning to build its tracking intelligence engine, has already been used for hundreds of shows, including pre-pandemic summer festivals and Orelsan’s residency at the Accor Arena in Paris, where the French hip-hop phenomenon wowed more than 90,000 fans in March.
Cales says that Naostage’s founders chose to put the system to the test in challenging conditions to prove the reliability of the solution in high-pressure live entertainment environments, such as tours and festivals: ‘Rental-staging conditions bring a myriad of challenges, including heat, dust and dampness,’ he says. ‘We knew it would validate the reliability and robustness of our solution in the harshest conditions.’
Now out of the testing stage, Naostage has been specified for major events including the 2022 Trackmania Cup, an eSports event taking place at the 20,300-capacity Accor Arena, Rilès’s upcoming summer tour, and the Vieilles Charrues festival.
Like Naostage’s hardware offering, Kratos is suitable for venues and productions of all sizes. This powerful, user-friendly software solution offers full show design functionality, including target patching, stage zoning, and the creation of scenarios, interactions and cues for automated, synchronised effects. Each 3D space and Kapta sensor can be calibrated in less that 20s, while dedicated modules allow easy control of outputs to external A/V equipment.
‘Our goal is to restore the meaning of live performance by reconnecting the artist and human to the potential of today’s audiovisual techniques and technologies,’ says Cales, who is joined at Naostage by partners Olivier Le Doeuff (CTO) and Nathan Van De Hel (COO), all graduates of the INSA de Rennes school of engineering.
‘Now, as we officially launch our unique, first-of-its-kind solution, we’re moving towards making that a goal a reality, one show, exhibition, production or immersive experience at a time.’
More: www.naostage.com
