Question: Who are Visual Solutions?

Answer: Visual Solutions was founded by Jo Pauly in Brussels, Belgium in 2005, after gaining experience in the video industry for nearly 10 years prior. In 2012 Jo decided to take the next steps in producing video shows and difficult set ups in house, the first step in an interesting journey to come.

We are a relatively small company that works with some big key ideas that we always want to include in our projects: client relationship must be transparent and second to none, our teams consist of many different nationalities and people, all with the same passion for AV, all shows must be show that we can learn, and there is no such thing as ‘good enough’.

So Visual Solutions likes to step in at the start of the first brainstorm sessions, to guide the project into the direction where solutions can be found. We do the technical pre-production, advise content designers, setup the technical gear (projectors/LED) and operate the shows. All in very close collaboration with all involved 3rd parties. We are a company working with our like-minded team members from all over the world combined with a small intern PM team based in Belgium (Sander, Micha, Jo).

Q: What projects do you typically work on?

A: Visual Solutions’ core is working on challenging projects. Our main domains are international events, global projection mapping shows, car show press conferences, big TV shows and concert-touring programming, and occasionally an international corporate show. But it doesn’t need to be a BIG show to be an interesting show!

Q: How did you first discover disguise?

A: For one of my shows as a video engineer, we needed to support a big show in Russia. We were going to bring the projection equipment and servers, but not the operators. Since we needed to be able to keep the system online and stable, we decided to follow a 2-day fundamentals training at disguise (back when it was known as d3).

Q: What was one of the first shows you used disguise on? How did you find it?

A: I was given the opportunity to design the VER booth for Prolight & Sound where we extensively used and showcased their range of disguise machines. To me, that was my first show on disguise and I was immediately hooked and super excited!

The show consisted of showcasing a whole bunch of different high res LED screens, that needed to be fed pixel-to-pixel! At the same time, the visitors of the booth had to have a chance to see the 3D space of the booth with al screens and content playing in the virtual world.

A real first to me at that time was the stability and the ability to play out 50 Hz content on an overhead LED banner without it ‘shaking’ whilst horizontal moving. Since then, our relationship with the disguise team has got better and better…!

Q: Are there any key features of disguise that works well for you on projects?

A: Well, we are big fans of the entire disguise world. We use it for visualisation purposes, quick feasibility studies, as well as the awesome feed mapping, versioning, output flexibility and more. Another great advantage is the multitude of inputs and outputs that are present on disguise’s hardware. We can actually take in every single requested signal or protocol and if it’s not supported, we can always address the dev team and ask for an eventual driver update. What also attracts me to disguise is the people who work there and the community. We are part of the disguise family. Although we are always on the road, we meet at the strangest places and we all share the same passion for our business.

Q: What are some of the projects you have used disguise for?

A: Some of the shows we have used disguise on are: Tiziano Ferro European tour 2017, the inauguration of the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, European Union Climate change conference Malta, Longines Masters horse show Hong Kong – Paris, Philipp Plein Fashion Show Milan 2014, Moncler Fashion Shows Milan – Paris, Miu Miu ( Prada ) Fashion show, World Scientific Forum – Jordan, Camel Festival – Saudi Arabia, Vogue Arabia launch – Doha Qatar, Tree of Life – Milan World Expo, and Dior – Shanghai.

Q: How have you found the support from disguise?

A: disguise support is really reactive, the support we have received has been a big part of our success. Since we keep on asking -as key users- to lift disguise to a higher level, it sometimes occurs that we come across some bugs or issues that we’d rather have solved quickly.

The reactivity and professionalism of the support team is a big advantage for us when the UK is sleeping, the US jumps in…

Over the years it's been my pleasure to work on a few onsite projects with Jo, including a memorable show in Seoul where we spent a few nights warping projectors, as we described it later, turning a Fiat into a Ferrari using a hammer! Jo's inimitable sense of humour and unswerving dedication to getting the best result are an example and an inspiration to us all.

Ash Nehru, disguise Founder

Q: What does the future look like for Visual Solutions?

A: Well we would like to continue our path where we can keep on specifying Disguise servers as our servers of choice. We are always looking at ‘maxing out’ the newest hardware or product and giving feedback to disguise whenever that occurs.

Our future is full of exciting technical challenges and projects, I am sure, that we will be able to solve with the help of our experienced teams and our loyal suppliers and partners.

I would like to point out that the disguise community is a very healthy one, where one is not afraid to ask for help or support to another. We are all working on different creative domains, and we sometimes bump into one another. If we were to quote on the same show, we’d talk to one another to get the best result for our client or we try to co-operate!

In the end, it’s all about our passion for the visual world we work in and to never stop learning!

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