The Belgian company Alterface creates and develops interactive cinemas and Dark Rides with 2D and 3D images, special effects, moving seats and shooting systems. With some 60 active attractions throughout the entire world, Alterface is one of the largest names in its sector. For the production of masters and prototypes, Alterface relies on an MDX-40A milling machine from Roland DG. For them the flexibility, speed and cost-savings are the greatest advantages.
In 2001, Alterface was founded by Benoit Cornet as a spin-off of the Louvain-La-Neuve University. Originally Alterface developed presentation systems for museums, but after several years, they began to focus on interactive attractions for amusement parks, recreation centres etc. Today, Scandinavia and Asia are Alterface's greatest fans, but closer to home, the company has also installed numerous popular attractions, including in Phantasialand (Germany), Bobbejaanland (Belgium) and Futuroscope (France).
"In close collaboration with the customer, we develop a spectacular attraction, one which appeals to all of the senses. The participants see, hear and feel the adventure. For example, they hear a storm and feel wind and water on their skin. Vibrations, smoke and lighting effects make the experience complete. In this setting, they play an interactive game where they shoot screens and physical objects in the scenery with a 'gun'. At the end of the game, the winner appears on the screen with his or her photo. This stimulates competitiveness and ensures that the players become very engrossed in the game," says Benoit Cornet.
The designers, programmers, engineers and technicians from Alterface design and develop the complete attraction according to the wishes of the customer. In keeping with this, they also design the 'guns' used to play game. For the production of the prototypes and masters of these guns, they use an MDX-40A milling machine from Roland DG. Graphic designer Jean-Paul Grun explains: "We are always looking for new possibilities. Before we could only offer our customers a few models of guns from which to choose. Now we have a much broader range, and we also develop unique guns at the request of our customers. Thanks to the MDX-40A, it is much less expensive to test new designs and introduce changes. It all goes quite a bit faster than it did when we made everything by hand in MDF. In addition to that, we now work with a more durable material. We make those prototypes to be able to test how the weapon lies in the hand. Often small changes are needed. With the milling machine, it all goes very quickly and precisely."
