Live shows featuring state-of-the-art digital puppetry could become more prevalent, thanks to a revolutionary live animation control system from creative production firm Super 78.

The company has won this year’s industry-leading Thea award for its Geppetto Animation Control System (ACS) technology, which is used in the Spongebob Subpants Adventure at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, and is set to bring modern-day puppetry to life at more parks in the near future.

The submarine-based immersive experience is hosted by Patrick Star, a 3D digital puppet controlled in real time by a show operator. Patrick is able to interact with the audience and respond to the environment, so no adventure is ever the same, especially as the audience participates in deciding the narrative of the journey.

“Up until now only destination parks like Disney would do these types of shows – Turtle Talk, for example. We decided to create something to suit regional parks, something repeatable that people would come back to over and over again – and something that was more affordable,” Brent Young, CEO at Super 78, told Attractions Management.

Super 78 has been developing Geppetto for several years and created the Donkey Live show at Universal Studios Singapore in 2009. Since then, the firm has been working to make the system affordable to smaller operators, as well as refining the technology and improving its capabilities.

“We wanted to bring an affordable feature-quality animation attraction with the most advanced live character system in the world to regional parks,” Young said. “And the idea has always been to create a platform that would work with any IP.”

The Geppetto system enables Spongebob Subpants Adventure to run as a 3D 4K show. A single show operator controls Patrick, as well as the show effects. The performer runs the show with a massive advanced-technology touchscreen monitor, controlling all the lights, sounds, bubbles, seat movements and scents with just a push of a button.

Super 78 is already developing the next generation of Geppetto, which has gameified performer training and rehearsal features and show feedback capabilities.

Young says he is also working on a Geppetto-powered digital puppet system called Pine-occhio. With cutting-edge animation based on the famous stringed marionette, it will boast a variety of brand new features.

According to Young, despite starting out as an internal R&D project, Pine-occhio has already garnered interest from attractions operators looking to buy.