Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 26, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The environmental conditions in a tunnel are more than unfavourable. When it is being drilled into the rock, it is loud, hot, dusty and dirty. The engineering masterpiece and the elemental force of the gigantic machines required for it can only be captured with difficulty in real images.
The devices that make it possible for passenger and freight trains travelling through the Swiss Alps to use the newly constructed Gotthard Base Tunnel in future weigh thousands of tons and are more than half a kilometre long. After its completion (expected at the end of 2016), the 57-kilometre tunnel will be the longest in the world and is a static and technical masterpiece for the companies carrying it out that is second to none.
The company Maschinen- und Stahlbau Dresden has taken on an important task in the project. “The so-called ‘worm’ is a 2,000-ton and 600-metre-long trailing installation that transports rock and rubble out of the tunnel and finishes the tunnel walls,” explains the branch manager of Maschinen- und Stahlbau Dresden, a branch of Herrenknecht AG. “Of course, you also want to honour such a renowned and top-class product accordingly and be able to present the technical function of the installation comprehensively in action to future customers. But under the real conditions of tunnel construction with little space but lots of dust, steam and noise, this is, however, extremely difficult. We found the saving solution at MedienTeam Dresden. There, the extensive functions of the ‘worm’ were simulated very vividly in a 3D animation film. This showed our trailing installation in full action in a sectional view of the tunnel. And our technology was as new as in its delivery condition.”
Thomas Ruddat, mechanical engineer and managing director of MedienTeam: “Based on 2D design drawings as well as the existing film material, we produced a complex 3D simulation of this impressive engineering technology. Accompanying this, we created an interactive DVD in which all individual segments were shown rotatable through 360 degrees. This visually reveals to the viewer all the details and refinements that were combined with all the technical data. Our customer thus received a very modern marketing tool for trade fairs, the Internet, presentations and print media alike. This virtual world can then even be upgraded to a 3D configurator for new cus-tomers.”
The full-service agency, active in Dresden since 1993 and audited by KfW and RKW, has, alongside the classic services of an advertising agency in the fields of print, online and communication, concentrated above all on the technically highly demanding and much-sought-after genre of film and post-production, 3D animation and visualisation.
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Further Links:
- MedienTeam Dresden GmbH
