Our four video walls make Hunt a storytelling building, integrating architecture and digital media to facilitate exciting new forms of communication. This guide has been provided to answer initial questions and to enable or enhance your ability to produce effective large-scale content. It includes basic specifications, formats and other variables that merit consideration in the production of content. Each array of Christie MicroTiles has unique characteristics and the guide is organized by wall. Use this guide in conjunction with the templates and other resources in the Producer’s Toolkit at lib.ncsu.edu/videowalls.
To make video wall content requires familiarity with media production software and strong design skills. However, communicating your or your organization’s story or visualization in a bright new medium will be rewarding and fun.
You are encouraged to contact us before you begin production work. All content submissions are subject to the editorial review of NCSU Libraries. Email catonell@ncsu.edu.
Finally, once you’re ready to submit your content to us, go to this form to tell us about it. Happy making!
The Art Wall is particularly well suited to show digital artwork designed for the space. It can also be used to welcome visitors to the building, highlight the latest news and events, and advertise Libraries services. It is above our service point (the Ask Us) and near the Institute for Emerging Issues gallery and meeting spaces. It is across from the Technology Showcase. At night, it is visible from outside the building.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 5760 pixels, 20 feet, 15 MicroTiles units |
| Height | 2304 pixels, 8 feet, 8 MicroTiles units |
| Aspect ratio | 23:9 (2.5) |
| Ambient light | High during AM hours, medium at other times |
| Dwell time | Short; high-traffic area, not a lingering zone |
| Sound | None |
Prominently located to catch the eye of everyone entering the library, the Immersion Theater is Hunt’s premiere digital exhibit space. The right side of the video wall inside the Theater has a gentle curve, which gives content an immersive quality. Visitors can walk up closely to examine details or have a seat to let the experience soak in. Audio capabilities make this the ideal video wall for communicating with voiceovers and soundtracks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 6816 pixels, 21.3 feet, 16 MicroTiles units |
| Height | 2240 pixels, 7 feet, 7 MicroTiles units |
| Aspect ratio | 27:9 (3.05) |
| Ambient light | High during AM hours, medium at other times |
| Dwell time | Variable; seating in Theater encourages longer dwell times |
| Sound | Stereo with subwoofer |
Visible from both learning commons areas on the third and fourth floors, the Commons Wall is at the center of the library’s academic activity. The Roman stairs opposite the Commons Wall can accommodate a large number of simultaneous viewers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 2880 pixels, 10.6 feet, 9 MicroTiles units |
| Height | 2400 pixels, 12 feet, 10 MicroTiles units |
| Aspect ratio | 6:5 (1.2) |
| Ambient light | Medium-low |
| Dwell time | Highly variable; 20 seconds to walk down staircase or hours for sitters |
| Sound | Only for special events to limit disruption to Commons studying |
The Visualization Wall features the most unique shape of any of the video walls in the Hunt Library. Located outside of the Teaching and Visualization Lab and near our Makerspace, its columnar arrangement presents a canvas that will appeal to the adventurous designer. The best content for this wall takes advantage of the noncontiguous arrangement to produce interesting user experiences. Content can be designed on a single rectangular canvas—the wall will automatically create a “picket fence” effect. For creators wishing to design for the columnar shape, a Photoshop template of the layout is available at https://github.com/NCSU-Libraries/visualization_templates/tree/master/photoshop.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 3840 pixels, 25.3 feet including wall space, 9 MicroTiles units |
| Height | 1518 pixels, 10 feet, 10 MicroTiles units |
| Aspect ratio | 23:9 (2.53) |
| Ambient light | Medium-low |
| Dwell time | Highly variable. 30 seconds as people walk by or hours for campers. |
| Sound | None |
We can display image, video, and web assets. We can also run applications made in Processing, but other executable file types or other media content are not supported yet.
Video: .mov, .m4v, .mp4 Image: .jpg, .png
You can also deploy applications made in Processing on the video walls.
The MicroTiles array in the Game Lab on the third floor supports up to 40 simultaneous touch points, but the public video walls in this guide are not touch-enabled.
Yes and no. We curate our content program to inspire all Hunt visitors, not just the people who come for specific events. If you can create visually striking content about your organization that communicates the story of its impact, that’s something that all our visitors could benefit from. Generally, we’re looking for contributions to our permanent content portfolio that can wow our visitors day after day.
No. The Libraries does not have support staff dedicated to content production for the walls. However, we can offer advice on how to use our templates and we can point you to resources to learn digital media production. If you are interested in collaborating on sponsored research, please email catonell@ncsu.edu.
MicroTiles are produced by Christie, and are a modular display technology. You can learn more about creating content for MicroTiles with Christie’s very useful Content Production Guidelines found in the Producer’s Toolkit at lib.ncsu.edu/videowalls.
Engineering and Textiles students frequent Hunt (and, to a lesser degree, faculty). At night, students from main campus come to study there. The Library also houses Governor Hunt’s Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI). Their meeting spaces attract academic, corporate, and nonprofit organizations that host conferences, symposia, and lectures. Visitors to IEI and the Hunt Library tend to be highly engaged, thoughtful, and curious about the next big thing.
We encourage all of our displays to use language that is gender-inclusive and free of bias, in order to reach all visitors and members of the Wolfpack community. NC State's values include diversity, inclusion, and mutual respect; and it is important that this is reflected in all of our spaces. For tips on how you can incorporate universal design and social justice principles into your use of language, please visit this Inclusive Language Guide or these Inclusive Language Guidelines. When necessary, revisions to copy will be suggested.
The video wall content program is selective: while we welcome participation from the entire campus, we need to ensure that the quality of content is high. It is preferable to schedule a meeting with us at Hunt before you begin work. Contact catonell@ncsu.edu.
We want your content to create memorable visitor experiences: if it can be improved, we will suggest revisions to your work. Please allow time to schedule at least one meeting with library taff to test your first draft (e.g., to do a basic visibility/readability test for the typeface you use).
Design with those tiny gridlines in mind. Try to contain visual elements within one tile or a cluster of tiles. Bury the seams into larger vertical and horizontal elements. Avoid having text fall into the lines.
Work with the most saturated colors—reds, greens, and blues—to get the most compelling results. Avoid large, solid fields of pale colors, especially white.
Think big visuals and minimal text. The video walls are visual feasts, not reading platforms. Keep written content short: it should take no longer than 10 seconds to read all the text on a graphic. Ensure the text is easily read at the distance where the audience will be.
Visitors to the library are there to get things done, so audience attention spans can be short. Design content that has stopping power and is quickly interpretable.
The most important consideration begins with footage capture: shoot at 1920 x 1080 or better, with good color compression (4:2:2 or better), on cameras with good optics and large sensors.
In some cases, you may choose to edit your footage at the full resolution specified in this guide. However, in most cases, you may need to compromise to spare your processors by editing your video on a canvas size that is half of full wall resolution (e.g. 3408 x 1120 for Immersion). Just ensure your canvas is at the same aspect ratio as the ones specified in this guide. Export h.264 encoded .mp4 files with no letterboxing at between 50-100 Mbps.
Include 4 seconds of black pre- and post-roll on all videos. It takes a few seconds for the walls to display media once it starts playing.
Compress your audio so that there are no volume spikes. Then normalize the audio to -.1db.
Questions about anything? Email catonell@ncsu.edu http://lib.ncsu.edu/videowalls