IMAX Laser Projector is IN!

The new projector premiered to the public on October 29, 2021. Also, for the first time since 1995, a Hollywood movie was shown in its entirety on the dome – Dune. (2001: A Space Odyssey played for brief periods in 70mm in 1988 and 1995). On November 3, 2021, the new projector was showcased to Members and Donors. I attended that screening. The picture is STUNNING (no more dust on the film…a console operator’s nemesis) bright, crisp, just beautiful! The sound is also AMAZING. See more details below in the program that was handed out to guests. Here are a few photos I took that evening.

Same basic layout as the old film projector, but projector stays up all the time except for servicing.

Close-up of projector

Lots of computing power with this technology!

Lots of computing power at control console, too! (Where I worked for 45 years.)

Looking at “doghouse” (projector housing) from stage. The “pit” is empty! The pit used to house the original starball, then the Digistar projector, then the 4 next-generation digital projectors for planetarium shows. All gone. Notice the new LED lighting, too.

New projector is also used for planetarium shows. We got a brief demonstration. Doesn’t cover quite as much of the dome as previous digital projectors, but better images and more versatile.

Just an iPhone photo, but still shows great picture quality. About the same dome coverage at the film projector.

Full Dome Production News – issue 1

Hi, and welcome to the bi-weekly issue of Fulldome production news.

This may be a bit more technical than your average blog because it is intended for students and individuals who are interested in creating for a dome.

The “Democratization’ that has taken place over the last few years has taken what was a exclusive and expensive vocation – film making – and changed it in a similar fashion to the desk top publishing revolution some years before. relatively inexpensive digital non-linear editing tool, compositing tools, even CGI platforms that are completely FREE have changed the nature of film making. Now that revolution has come to the Fulldome world.

Today I have many links and references to Fulldome resources. and a special invitation to see and hear the first results of the recent invitation to create for our dome.

FIRST – SOME ADDITIONAL REFERENCES NOT ON THE ORIGINAL EMAIL ( Sorry to yell )

Video panoramas

http://www.360stories.net/

a site for the hemispherically obsessed

http://www.fulldome.org/

Arts lab – I don’t know how I missed this before

http://artslab.unm.edu/resources

A great company of Fulldome creators

http://www.dome3d.com/

Here is a good talk from Michael Daut, Director of Show Production/Marketing at Evans and Sutherland.
The talk was held at IMERSA, a major player in organizing Fulldome producers and venues.
http://www.fddb.org/fulldome-production-pipeline-by-micheal-daut/

Michaels talk is featured on the Fulldome database site: a good source of information about shows, tools and events.
http://www.fddb.org/

DOMEMASTER Photoshop action pack – I can’t wait to try these out!
http://www.fddb.org/domemaster-photoshop-actions-pack-overview-video/

STANDARDS   “We love standards – that’s why we have so many of them!” JY
IMERSA: “Celebrating and promoting immersive digital experiences for education and entertainment in planetariums, schools, museums and attractions”.
http://imersa.org/
Fulldome STANDARDS
http://imersa.org/standards

And so, here are MORE standards – even more stringent – but don’t be dismayed if your dome is less than 60 feet or you have less than 16 audio channels… These are LARGE screen standards.
http://www.whiteoakinstitute.org/digss_1.0.pdf

From the planetarium world
Here are a few good articles on Fulldome production in the Western Alliance of planetariums newsletter.
http://www.wacdomes.org/gwoarchive/GWO2013-03.pdf

Excellent astronomy visualization/planetarium software – the flat screen version is free, fish-eye/dome is not so free.
http://www.nightshadesoftware.org/projects/nightshade

Finally, the most amazing news – Dr. Joseph Waters Film Composition class at SDSU picked up the gauntlet we threw down at the Immersive Dome Theater Showcase we presented here on February 27th. I have 18 student videos to be presented on April 19th in the Heikoff Dome Theater. 45 minutes of material!
Think about it – in a bit more then a month his students used many of the Fulldome tricks I presented at the event. I also sent out some more detailed instructions, and they have really run with this thing. If you want the Fulldome production materials just let me know! (on-line soon).

I have long admired the talented David Beining and his yearly Domefest event, especially his association with the NMSU students and now we have our own version of this long running event here.

We screening part of domefest 2012 recently, and will do so again. Unfortunately, these are not public screenings, unless a huge groundswell of requests arrive…

Learn about Dr. Waters here:
http://music.sdsu.edu/newsite/index.php/faculty_bios/waters and here http://www.josephwaters.com/

You might want to attend Dr. Waters event the New West Electronic Arts and Music festival on the 26th and 27th of this month (2012!) too

 Next year we will hold this amazing, original content event at the Fleet on the 23rd of March, and the day before it will be at the Hillcrest First Unitarian Church.

http://www.nweamo.com/

John Young
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
(619) 685-5731

The First Image on the Heikoff Dome Screen.

After Thursday night exciting first light, Friday we got another first: The first Image!

This grid is about 50 feet across

Of course, being engineers obsessed with getting the largest and brightest possible image  on our enormous screen, the first image is a test pattern. This image is a sort of polar grid, like the lines of latitude and longitude that cover the globe. Stretching from the far left to the far right,  this image from just one projector covers about 70 percent of the dome, about 50 feet across!  It’s sharpness will of course be greatly increased as it is focused and it will be improved in a number of ways.  My camera does not do it justice either!
Once a grid is looking good, and sharp across the entire surface, we can proceed to more interesting images.

Matt Roberts adjusting lens

Imagine with me for a moment, how difficult this is: Global Immersion has to cover not a FLAT screen, but the entire INSIDE of a large hemisphere. The ENTIRE area must be sharp and crisp and evenly illuminated.

But wait, there’s MORE!

We are using not just one but FOUR projectors. Each set of 2 projectors covers the dome. Why FOUR projectors then? Because they are doubled up, each area covered with the same image, exactly overlapping.This will make the image as bright as an IMAX film, a design goal from the beginning.

Mounting the SONY Projectors

On November 30th, the Heikoff Dome Theater was closed for one of the VERY few times in the 29 years I have worked here. The occasion was the installation of four SONY SRXT420 Projectors on the projector stands that had been installed in past few days. Each projector weighed in at 400 pounds, and they were skillfully  and carefully hoisted into place by our movers.

This ingenious wheeled contraption lowered the projectors onto the stands.

Very expensive and very delicate, the projectors were maneuvered into position and bolted down.

For the next few days the workers added air ducts to the system to bring the air that was heated by the four 4.3 kilowatt lamps away from the projectors.

cooling ducts on projectors

Like a plumbers dream, air ducts twine around the projector, slurping hot air away from the projectors

 The next step is to install the lamps and lenses, as well as the servers for both video and audio.

The first new speaker for the Space Theater

Here comes the first new speaker! It was manufactured by QSC Audio and made entirely in the USA in Orange County.

Only 1 inch clearance at the top of the forks as the first speaker arrives.

2 proud papas

Michael Krewitsky, owner of Professional Sound and Music and contractor for the new audio system and Barry Ferrell, Senior Director of Product Strategy for QSC Audio, manufacturer of our amps and speakers.

We had to mount these speakers at the Zenith, the very top of the catwalk – BEFORE the dome can be installed! But first we had to get it up there.

QSC audios high frequency speakers gets ready to fly, courtesy of Kevin (Clutch) Page and John Zweifel.

A black and tackle, using mechanical advantage very effectively allowed us to pull it up.

High Frequency speaker takes to the air

It’s firmly attached to the catwalk now, along with the second cabinet that contains the two mid range speakers.

Want the technical Specs?
Developed specifically for the unique requirements of professional motion picture playback, the SC-424 extends QSC’s commitment to the cinema market. As a member of the DCS Digital Cinema Speaker Series, the SC-424 is a four-way, selectable tri or quad-amplified screen channel loudspeaker system comprised of two main units – the MHV-1090 midhigh- very high-frequency system and the LF-4215 low-frequency system.

And MUCH more information located here:
http://www.qscaudio.com/products/speakers/dcs/dcs_sc424.htm

Our speakers have been modified and the 2 high drivers and horns are located in a sturdy birch cabinet. “Fly Points” have been added to safely allow the speaker cabinets to be “flown” via standard sound system procedures.

Once the dome is completed, the remaining speakers will be mounted on a unique rail system developed by Spitz, Inc and they will roll up the side of the dome. The rails will allow the speakers to be accessed for maintenance.

NanoSeam dome

The scaffolding is almost completed, and Dave, Joe and PJ are working on the insulation behind the dome. The dome-alition begins Monday! Matthew and I gutted the upper booth today, and placed the rack where the new amps will go.

I promised that I would talk about the new dome, so here is a rendering I did of the dome from the CAD files. Spitz, Inc constructed the original dome 35 years ago, at the same time they built and installed the original star projector.
Unlike the old dome, the new dome will not be a geodesic design, but will instead have horizontal and vertical struts; but of course they will all be tilted at 25 degrees!

Render of the new Nano seam dome

The skin of the dome will be the most noticeable feature – no seams will be visible. The craftsmen that install the dome will not overlap the sections, they will butt them against each other. Also they will be lining up the hole patterns to minimize the seams’ visibility. In the picture below, the rivet holes are slightly larger than the other holes, but to my eyes that is the only visible artifact.  There is a slight Moire pattern because of the difference between the resolution of the thumbnail image and the actual size. Click the image for a truer idea of what we are getting. Also, this picture was taken from about 12 inches away. From a few feet the seams vanish!

Extreme close up of Nano seam dome

The color will be different also. Instead of that old off-white/yellow color, the new skin will be a very light grey.
It’s reflectivity will be different also, slightly less than the old dome. This will reduce cross reflections, and allow us to run the IMAX lamp brighter than before. This also means there won’t be a bright spot on the screen if you are sitting on the side.

Old dome skin technology on the left - nano seam on the right