Entitled Believe, the event celebrated the latest in digital entertainment and creativity brought to life at the University’s new MediaCityUK site.

Centrepiece of Believe was Lowry to Life, an ambitious digital re-imagining of LS Lowry’s Piccadilly Gardens painting. Members of the public walking through Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre and at the University’s MediaCityUK building on Saturday literally became part of the art as special motion capture technology transferred their movements to Lowry characters shown on a giant projection of the painting at MediaCityUK, so the picture came to life with moving men, women and children.

Children (and a fair few adults!) took the chance to be terrified by a T-Rex at the University’s on-site TV studios at MediaCityUK where, thanks to green screen wizardry, they starred virtually in an adventure with BBC’s Dinosaur Planet and could then download the clip to keep forever.

CBeebies’ star Mr Bloom from Mr Bloom’s Nursery made a special appearance in the building’s ground floor exhibition space, where guests also had a go at some fun digital video games on iPad-like touchscreen tables, while a dazzling 7m x 3m video wall with the world’s best resolution showed impressive film and animation.

A spectacular 3D film of digital dancers, courtesy of renowned Austrian art technology group Ars Electronica, amazed viewers and the futuristic Digital Performance Lab played host to a dazzling array of augmented reality installations and live performance. A programme of workshops on animation, special effects, film production and writing also ran throughout the day.

Summer Fenton (5) from Bolton, who is doing a project on dinosaurs at school, was particularly looking forward to the BBC Dinosaur Planet experience. “The dinosaurs were really exciting and a bit scary,” she said, “and I loved seeing Mr Bloom.”

Eight-year-old Sabrina Hammad from Eccles visited Believe with her family and said: “It’s brilliant! I just want to stay here all day!”

“Believe was one of our biggest events this year and was our way of inviting the local community to help us celebrate the opening of our MediaCityUK building,” said Chris Larkin, University of Salford’s Director of Communications. “We’re delighted that so many visitors enjoyed our showcase of incredible creative entertainment and technology and had the chance to see the state-of-the-art facilities our new site can offer students, businesses and the wider community.”

Believe was supported by CityCo, Manchester’s city centre management company, and BBC Radio Manchester, and visitors could travel free to the event by tram and bus thanks to Salford City Council, Metrolink and Transport for Greater Manchester. Visit www.salford.ac.uk/believe for more information.