The solution that powers Throttle Up is a combination of three key stand-alone technologies that had never been combined before: the Float Hybrid gaming engine, interactive motion-sensor navigation, and HD holographic projection technology.

We worked with technology companies to develop a unity game engine that could display 200+ interactive Jet Engine parts. Over five months of intense UX testing, we customized SoftKinetic gesture-based navigation software to create bespoke interactions. A DepthSense 311 motion-sensor camera tracked users’ sweeping and rotating hand motions, and triggered the game engine’s real-time rendering of CG elements. These technologies came together seamlessly to give users the feeling of controlling and custom-assembling a GEnx jet Engine.

The entire experience was rendered interactively in real time and projected onto a dual-layered 40-inch-wide diagonal Musion holographic projection screen in a custom-built “black box stage” half the size of a basketball court.

Because we sought to put the GEnx story in the hands of users, we knew authenticity was crucial to success, and this drove the design of our experience. We leveraged GE-owned elements – real GEnx CAD files for the over 200 engine parts, which were rendered in 3D. We also recorded a live GEnx engine takeoff to compose the most authentic sound design possible. The seven-minute experience was flanked by looping documentary videos of the real GE employees who build jet engines in Durham, NC, and Peebles, OH.

Since the success of Throttle Up, GE has begun planning for two additional installations at aviation and technology events around the world.

We knew that proving innovation at the scale that GE is known for comes by using the media as the message. Thousands of people came to our DUMBO, Brooklyn, site to experience Throttle Up during our five-day installation. In that time, we also received over 1.7M Twitter exposures and 19,000 unique visits to our Throttle Up Tumblr page. People were lining up for over two hours to participate in the experience.

Press coverage ran the gamut from a Fast Company feature to PSFK, Popular Science, and Creativity Online articles. All referenced the unique suite of holistic technologies we leveraged to give users a truly immersive experience.

When we began the Throttle Up journey, our goal was to push GE storytelling beyond the one-sided norm and give users a sense of what it takes to build and launch a life-sized jet engine. Since then, we’ve seen a spectrum of opportunities open – from producing Throttle Up installations across other GE verticals to the possibility of a temporary exhibit with the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. We have also developed and tested a scalable 3D experience that can run off a standard computer and be placed in smaller locations, so we could bring Throttle Up to venues worldwide.