I found this interesting concept piece.  Cool design, but one has to
wonder where the projector goes. :-)

The video is pretty neat, too.  I wonder if it will ever become a real product.

http://www.galacticemporium.net/2007/11/if-youre-like-m.html

http://tinyurl.com/yvgt9j

  >> Mark


   ____________________________________________________
   Mark C. Petersen, Loch Ness Productions
   http://www.lochnessproductions.com
   _____________________ GEODESIUM ____________________

Dear All,

We've made a variation on the earlier fulldome logo to have one as well
for 3D stereo fulldome productions.

These logo's can be used for example for brochures, posters, websites etc.

We've made the logo's as we needed them ourselves and there did not seem to
be a standard logo yet. We've looked closely at other industry standards
like dolby digital and HD-video to come up with a simple black & white logo.

Feel free to use these logo's for your own productions, they are all royalty
free.

They will remain in the download section of our website:
http://animation.mirage3d.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid\
=51


Regards

Robin Sip
Mirage3D
Hoenderlostraat 51
2573 RK The Hague
The Netherlands
+31 70 3457500
www.mirage3d.eu


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

fulldomers - double dome madness!

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/27/foer.php

cheers,
david

Dear Fulldomers,

This is Anthony Braun, former executive producer for
the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City,
writing to let you know that I am now working
independently and am available as a production and
script consultant for fulldome production projects.
From 2001 to 2006, I directed the in-house production
department for the Rose Center for Earth and Space at
the American Museum of Natural History, where I
oversaw the development, production and distribution
of two acclaimed space shows: THE SEARCH FOR LIFE: ARE
WE ALONE? and COSMIC COLLISIONS, as well as the
fulldome music show, SONICVISION (described by Variety
as “a Coney Island of the mind”; see below for more
show reviews).

As part of the supervision of those projects, I was
immersed in every aspect of production, from script
development to staffing; budgeting and scheduling on
through to the final audio mix. I was also centrally
involved in the creation of PASSPORT TO THE UNIVERSE,
and in the coordination of that effort with
simultaneous software development and facilities
integration essential to opening the Rose Center on
schedule on New Year’s Eve, 2000.

Through my participation in those often pioneering
efforts, I’ve experienced first-hand all facets of the
production cycle - editorial, administrative,
aesthetic, technical and financial - and gained a
unique perspective on the challenges faced by
individuals and institutions contending with the
intricacies of fulldome production, whether in the
context of ongoing operations or as part of a complete
re-build of the facility.

I offer services in the following areas:

• Editorial: I can assist in all phases of script
development, from creation of a treatment to script
analysis and rewrites.

• Project Planning: I can develop budgets and
schedules at varying levels of detail, ranging from
generic production models for use in administrative
planning to fully-researched script breakdowns for
projects near to production-ready.

• Staffing: I can help design appropriate staffing
models, not only for the production itself, but for
overall planetarium operations, both apart from and
interfacing with the production proper.

• Specific Production Issues: If there are specific
issues you are having difficulty with, I can help find
solutions.

My goal is to help bring clarity to the production
process and to anticipate, and thus avoid, common
production pitfalls.

Cheers,
Anthony Braun
abenbraun@...
(646) 784-2446


p.s.: Here is a sampling of reviews of the shows
described above:

Cosmic Collisions:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3311211.html?page=1&c=y
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/arts/17cosm.html

SonicVision:
http://www.variety.com/vstory/VR1117895887.html?categoryid=38&cs=1&query=sonicvi\
sion
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?StoryID=7655

Search for life:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E3DF1331F932A35750C0A9649C8B6\
3



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

Howdy all,
We are keeping up the insanity here at Denver's Gates Planetarium
and enjoying our brand new Global Immersion "Fidelity Bright"
system. There is nothing else that compares with an uncompressed
digital image and a seamless image. We now find ourselves in a
curious predicament. What to do with our gently used Barco
projectors and associated cabling, mounts etc. Do we swap them, sell
them for salvage? Is anybody using these Barco's? Anybody need
spares?

Here is a short list; 12 Barco SLM6 Executive projectors with zoom
lens (3 chip DLP, 1280 x 1024, 5500 lumens), spare parts, 24 used
lamp assemblies, 12 refurbished lamps, DVI extenders, custom wedge
mounts for a dome array of 11 projectors, (9) 180 foot runs of super
high quality (HEAVY) RGBHV cable. SEOS blending harware and software
for 11 channels.

I can provide a complete list and details off-line to anybody that
is interested.

Dan Neafus
dneafus@...

is there anyone using  NUKE
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/promo/nuke.html
as compositor for domemasters?

On Nov 11, 2007, at 7:20 AM, george wrote:

is there anyone using NUKE
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/promo/nuke.html
as compositor for domemasters?

I cannot specifically respond to the question from use of the
software, but my studio has found, in general experience over the
past 20 years, that it is usually best to NOT incorporate into the
production pipeline, software tools that are a by-product of another
studios production efforts.  In their mind, it's more of a way to
just make some additional money without any of the typical efforts
that a software developer has to offer to support their product.

Since their primary "product" is not the software... the upgrades,
tech support, or tutorials, etc. are not going to be there as they
would with a software developer whose only product is the software.
It's an odd way of making a decision, but we have found that in a
production pipeline, these kinds of by-product tools tend to create
problems.

Way back in the 80s, when we had to choose between Alias and
Wavefront 3D software... in the end, the decision was based on the
fact that Alias was in our time zone, while Wavefront was three hours
behind us. What does that have to do with anything you ask... well,
when we got to work in the morning and the render had died overnight,
we didn't have to wait three hours to call the support people...
these are the kind of things most people don't consider when it comes
to selecting software tools.

Tom

PS: yes, sometime the support isn't there with a software company
either.

************************************************
H o m e   R u n   P i c t u r e s

Tom Casey
President & Creative Director

100 First Avenue - Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
412-391-8200
mailto:tom@...
http://www.homerunpictures.com

On Nov 11, 2007, at 7:20 AM, george wrote:

is there anyone using NUKE
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/promo/nuke.html
as compositor for domemasters?

From your link, it looks like someone has picked up the software
from DD, where it was first written... might make a difference in the
support area, but considering that Shake is only a $500 purchase, in
comparison NUKE seems way overpriced.  Compositors are pretty much
all the same, just the GUI differs with the underlying code all using
the same methods.  We have used Shake on fulldome work and are quite
pleased... the node approach being better than, say the way
AfterEffects' workflow is set up.

Tom

************************************************
H o m e   R u n   P i c t u r e s

Tom Casey
President & Creative Director

100 First Avenue - Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
412-391-8200
mailto:tom@...
http://www.homerunpictures.com

NUKE was initially written at DigitalDomain by the programmer that later founded
NothingReal and wrote SHAKE.
In this sense one might think of SHAKE as a successor to NUKE.

On the other hand, SHAKE development was abandonned and won't evolve in its
current form.
Its technology will probably be resurrected in a future version of FinalCut or a
related Apple product (probably MacOS-only).

One of my clients tested a bunch of apps and recommends NUKE as the fastest he
ever worked with.

As a programmer I avoid AE and personally use and teach Eyeon DigitalFusion
(Windows/Linux) and hope to release a plugin for stereo-previewing (DCI and
dome3DStereo) Q2 next year.

Thomas Kumlehn
PIXEL PARTNER®
+49 177 / 6 990 990
Member of the networks XING and crew-united .

On Nov 12, 2007, at 9:02 AM, Thomas Kumlehn wrote:

NUKE was initially written at DigitalDomain by the programmer that
later founded NothingReal and wrote SHAKE.
In this sense one might think of SHAKE as a successor to NUKE.

On the other hand, SHAKE development was abandonned and won't evolve
in its current form.
Its technology will probably be resurrected in a future version of
FinalCut or a related Apple product (probably MacOS-only).

... as always, we in the production roles are at the mercy of the
various application developers.  No matter what the tool, down the
road, it will be "not as usable" due to being sold to a new
developer, scrapped due to marketing goals, or obsolete due to new
standards.  I remember when we finally upgraded our dozen or more
licenses of PhotoShop... from version 4 to version CS2 (about 5
versions), Adobe was very upset with me... "why haven't you upgraded
for so long?"  "Because it was working fine for us," was my reply.

Tom


************************************************
H o m e   R u n   P i c t u r e s

Tom Casey
President & Creative Director

100 First Avenue - Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
412-391-8200
mailto:tom@...
http://www.homerunpictures.com

Howdy
Sigmas has 2 new lenses on the way

Sigma 4.5mm F2.8 EX DC  HSM Circular Fisheye lens:
The first 180 degree circular fisheye lens designed specifically for
APS-C  size digital SLR cmaeras.

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/news/news.asp?nID=3377

and a Macro Fish!

Fisheye lens with close up ability designed exclusively for use
with APS-C size digital SLR cameras
10mm F2.8 EX DC FISHEYE HSM


Interesting....

--
Mo Eb ,  Garry
----------------------------------------------------------
             *
           ***
    ***********
        *** ***      http://home.comcast.net/~garrystasiuk/
        *       *     Garry T. Stasiuk  <GarryStasiuk@...>

o  "There are only 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

Hi all,

We just uploaded a new four minute Quicktime movie of some of the
scenes we produced for the new Buhl "Traveler's Guide to Mars"
show... many of the motion capture scenes are featured.  It's on the
front case history page... just click on the top link image on the
left and you will see the link to the movie at the bottom of the
description.  It is not at the Fulldome@HomeRunPictures page yet.

http://www.homerunpictures.com


************************************************
H o m e   R u n   P i c t u r e s

Tom Casey
President & Creative Director

100 First Avenue - Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
412-391-8200
mailto:tom@...
http://www.homerunpictures.com

Hello,
I just wanted to share some information on a system developed at
Carnegie Mellon that automatically aligns a projected image with an
arbitrarily positioned surface.

Using a combination of fiber optic cables placed through the surface
and  a series of patterned images - the system can pick out exactly
where a projected pixel falls on one of the optical cables on surface.

[YouTube video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrGjJUBF_I

[Engadget Page]
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/16/diyer-gets-busy-with-automatic-projector-cali\
bration/
Or http://tinyurl.com/32v9xc --Moderator

[Hack a Day]
http://www.hackaday.com/2007/11/15/automatic-projector-calibration/
Or http://tinyurl.com/23aupj --Moderator

I have wanted to do the same thing for a while. Though my musings
included a couple of video cameras so that color, contrast, gamma
could be dealt with automatically. Though instead of fiber optics, I
was just going to use IR LEDs or simple grid painted on the surface
that is only visible when illuminated properly.

What do you think?

Enrico

> I have wanted to do the same thing for a while. Though my musings
> included a couple of video cameras so that color, contrast, gamma
> could be dealt with automatically. Though instead of fiber optics, I
> was just going to use IR LEDs or simple grid painted on the surface
> that is only visible when illuminated properly.
> What do you think?

There are a number of people working on such things.

I saw a very elegant system in action in a dome just out of Adelaide
(here in Australia) that has 27 projectors for a very high resolution
result. Their automatic alignment system involved a matrix of LEDs inset
in the dome surface, it was a perforated dome so they were only visible
when turned on. There was a single high resolution camera mounted on a
motorised rig in the middle of the dome. The procedure was totally
automated, the camera was swivelled to the right position, an image
taken, transfered to the computers which then adjusted the geometry
warping used by the computers driving the projectors.

Hi all,

Let me just chime in with something that I thought of when seeing these
very cool videos of the calibration system at work. The pixel roller
would be amazing to implement in a dome - amazing and amazingly hard:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pixel+roller

Posted for mere inspiration rather than actually adding to the
discussion, I still hope you enjoy it.


Regards,

Jan Warnstam
Market Relations Manager

SCISS AB
Office phone: +46-8-214-011
Personal phone: +46-8-559-24-620

E-mail:  <mailto:jan@...> jan@...
Web:  <http://www.sciss.se/> www.sciss.se

Sorry for cross posting:

Thought you'd be interested in the following:

I would like to draw your attention to the third European
workshop and conference in Immersive Vision to be held in
Plymouth, UK, from 25th-28th March 2008

The aim of the meeting is to debate how best to exploit the
unique qualities of dome environments to enthral, entertain
and educate our audiences. We hope to attract delegates who
are content producers, science educators, digital artists,
IT specialists and cognitive psychologists (amongst others)
and we anticipate some lively debates!

We have structured the meeting so that, following a single
keynote late on Tuesday afternoon, successive days focus on
why dome? how dome? and what dome? We have invited key note
speakers to lead on each of these topics and are now
requesting further contributions from interested groups and
individuals - see the conference website at
http://www.elcetl.org/conference. The website also gives
details on registration, travel and accommodation at the
conference venue in Plymouth – an historic, maritime city in
the beautiful south-west of England.

Please feel free to contact our conference secretariat – see
http://www.elcetl.org/conference/contacts.html - for more
information on any aspect of this meeting.

Hope to see you in Plymouth next Spring ..

The Immersive Vision Team

University of Plymouth
elcetl@...

www.plymouth.ac.uk/cetl/el


--
Pete Carss - Research Assistant, Immersive Vision
[ i ][>][...] - Institute of Digital Art and Technology
CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning)
Experiential Learning in Environmental & Natural Sciences
University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, Devon, UK

I asked the guys at whitetowersmedia if their new Astronomyths movie
was formatted to play on the Minolta Media Globe...we have a pretty
small dome.  This is the message they sent me regarding that...

Regarding your equipment I am not sure I can answer confidently your
question. We will be delivering to you our show on full-dome original
format, 29.97 frames per sec, jpeg sequence. I suspect it will be ok
but I would suggest you consult first with your supplier just in case.
Should s/he need additional information, and you find it convenient,
let them contact us directly.

Not to sound completely clueless, but does that mean it should be fine?

No, they'll be sending you dome masters, a format that the
original MediaGlobe (not sure about MediaGlobe2) cannot
handle.  If you have any video editing software in-house,
you may be able to import the jpeg sequence and export it as
an 1024x1024 .mpg or .avi.  I believe those are the only two
video formats supported by the classic MediaGlobe.

-Mike

> We will be delivering to you our show on full-dome original
> format, 29.97 frames per sec, jpeg sequence. I suspect it will be ok
> but I would suggest you consult first with your supplier just in
> case.

> Not to sound completely clueless, but does that mean it should be
> fine?


Mike Smail
Planetarium Producer
LASM - Pennington Planetarium
225.344.5272 x145

It sounds like they're going to send you a big, fat set of
still images that you can make an MPEG with.  If you have
TMPGEnc or Adobe Premiere, you can mux the MPEG yourself
quite easily.

Let me know if you need any help.  You might also want to
check out the Mediaglobe Users Group too:

http://groups.google.com/group/mgusers

You can connect wit a lot of helpful MG users there.

--
Ron Proctor
Production Director
Ott Planetarium - Weber State University
weber.edu/planetarium
801.626.6871

You can also drop it into After Effects.

I got the disc and the paperwork.  It's odd they are sending out the
dome masters.  I'd guess they figure that way each site can sequence out
to their system without issues cropping up about codecs and so on.  They
are relying on customers honesty.

I believe they said the masters are 2200 X 2200.  It shouldn't take to
long to feed those through for your video master.

Steve Cooper
Technical Coordinator
Science Center of Iowa
401 W. ML King.
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
515-274-6868 X:231

This is actually pretty common, since the producers probably don't have your
particular equipment.  This way, you can make sure the video is optimized
for your particular setup.  Further, if you were to upgrade your projection
equipment, you can render a new video master for it!  (As long as that's not
banned in the terms of the license.)

We do the same thing here when producing for different equipment.

--
Ron Proctor
Production Director
Ott Planetarium - Weber State University
weber.edu/planetarium
801.626.6871



On Nov 30, 2007 8:52 AM, Steve Cooper <stevec@...> wrote:

> I got the disc and the paperwork. It's odd they are sending out the
> dome masters. I'd guess they figure that way each site can sequence out
> to their system without issues cropping up about codecs and so on. They
> are relying on customers honesty.

The ASTRONOMYTHS full dome originals are actually on 3300X3300 jpeg
sequence and on 30 or 29.97 frames per second.
We could also easily convert it to mpeg format for the interested party;
they just have to figure out what their system reads.
Let me take the opportunity to ask anyone who has seen the demo for some
feedback, we would be grateful. Please right directly to me at
kgiant@...
Thank you in advance.

Konstantinos Giantsios
Managing Director

White Tower Media LLC
12 Sorou Street, 15125 Athens, Greece
Tel. +30 213 027 3742
kgiant@...
www.whitetowermedia.com

Hi all!

In our annual tradition, there is a holiday greeting in fulldome
style at the link below... this year with something special for
fulldomers!

http://www.homerunpictures.com/holidaygreetings2007

Enjoy!

Tom



************************************************
H o m e   R u n   P i c t u r e s

Tom Casey
President & Creative Director

100 First Avenue - Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
412-391-8200
mailto:tom@...
http://www.homerunpictures.com

The following are the notes for a fulldome course recently compiled
for the Graphite (ACM Siggraph) conference held in Perth, Australia.
    http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/papers/graphite2007/

[Just in case that's too long:
      http://tinyurl.com/yvhfba --Moderator]

While it doesn't contain the "guts" of the course (my discussion) it
does give the outline of the course which may be of interest.

Hi,

Looking at buying a camcorder to do some taping with and
wanted to see if anyone has experience using the Sony HDR-FX7
with a fisheye lens to make capturing for a dome easier?

Camera link -
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/493467-REG/Sony__HDR_FX7_3CMOS_HDV\
_1080i.html

[TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/24at8l --Moderator]

The dome we are using is a 6M dome so not that large.

this lens -
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/488782-REG/Century_Precision_Optic\
s_0HD_FE3X_SH6_0HD_FE3X_SH6_0_3x_Ultra_Fisheye.html

[TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/ysxt7c --Moderator]

Seems to have great potential and would allow for a great
image when cropped from my hunch.

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated!

Sean Cawelti
California Science Center

Greetings from frosty Salt Lake City!

We have some exciting news to report from the Clark
Planetarium.  With the support of our Board of Directors,
Clark Planetarium Productions will be expanding in terms of
staff, rendering abilities, collaborations and contracting.
All of this has to do with increasing the quality,
resolution, and frequency of new dome show releases.

So the first step is staff:  On January 3, Salt Lake County
Personnel will formally list an opening for TWO full-time,
fully benefited Modeler-Animator Producer positions.

A preliminary job description looks like this:

DIGITAL DOME SHOW MODELER/ANIMATOR

Under the direction of the Programs Manager, and in
cooperation with other planetarium modeler/animators,
produces Clark Planetarium fulldome digital video programs;
participates in all phases of star show planning,
development and production including concept, synopsis,
treatment and script consultation; creates animation and
supplemental special effects video sequences and Digistar3
theater programming; participates in the design and
development of 3-D computer animated sequences, audio,
storyboard, animatics, photographic and art script
components; participates in the installation of star shows
to include programming theater control computers and real
time scripting; conducts general and periodic preventative
maintenance on theatre computer systems and rendering farm.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a
Bachelor's degree in Physics, Astronomy, Computer Science,
Mathematics, Computer Art and Design or other closely
related field PLUS two (2) years of experience in a field
closely related to these duties; OR an equivalent
combination of related education and experience.

HAVE PROVEN PROFESSIONAL SKILLS IN:

* 3-D modeling, texturing, lighting, shading, etc.

* Various multimedia, including video, audio, imagery and
imagery output and how to integrate them.

* Videography and video production.

* Computer animation.

* Graphics and video creation, editing, compositing and
manipulation.

* High-end video production and network systems at a high
proficiency level.

* Microsoft Windows as well as other OS experience is a
plus.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION:

*Do Not* send letters or application materials to the Clark
Planetarium. This position will be officially announced by
the Salt Lake County Personnel Division on January 3.  Watch
for the posting at this site:

https://www.jobs.slco.org/

Once there, click on the "Current Job Openings" link.  All
the instructions on how to apply is there.  Again, don't
send anything to me; all materials must go directly to the
County Personnel Office (after the announcement is
officially posted).

Consider working with one of the most dynamic planetarium
production groups on the planet!

Sincerely,

Mike.

******************************
Mike Murray
Programs Manager
Clark Planetarium
110 South 400 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
(801) 456-4949
******************************

In an attempt to avoid replying to the same questions over and
over again, I have put a spherical mirror projection FAQ together.
It can be found here
    http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/projection/domemirror/faq.html

[TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/34qxee --Moderator]

I will be in northern Indiana next week, flying in & out of Chicago. I
really want to visit the Adler Planetarium. I was wondering if anyone
could tell me anything about it and specific things I should see while
I'm there. I've seen the trailer for Time Space, and I am really
looking forward to getting the show in our planetarium in Commerce, TX.

On Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:36 pm (PST) kristinstuff@... wrote:

> I will be in northern Indiana next week, flying in & out
> of Chicago. I really want to visit the Adler Planetarium.
> I was wondering if anyone could tell me anything about it
> and specific things I should see while I'm there. I've
> seen the trailer for Time Space, and I am really looking
> forward to getting the show in our planetarium in
> Commerce, TX.

Sure, TimeSpace is fun, especially the opening tour of the
Old West style town.

I was deeply impressed by one of their floor exhibits --
a very high resolution series of beautiful photomontage
panels of the whole Milky Way, backlit.  It might easily be
fifteen feet long.  I could have pored over it for hours.

More imagery: in a technology room downstairs they have a
handful of computers driving an array of LCD panels,
where you can zoom or pan around any of a collection of
very-high-resolution astronomical pictures using a game
controller.  Those are beautiful too.

In the same tech room (and maybe elsewhere in the museum too)
there's an Elumens immersive display -- looks like a tilted-up
snowdish -- with a computer-driven display.  You sit near
the center of the snowdish and can tour through
three-dimensional datasets (stars in space).

On the other end of the techie spectrum, there's a
historic planetarium -- a metal sphere, maybe ten feet
across, capable of polar-axis rotation, with little
holes drilled in it for the brighter stars.  A few
people climb in and watch the show (if it's working
at the moment).  Cool to see what can be done that way!

I could put in a plug for the Black Holes planetarium show too,
but our group did some of the animation so that might be unfair.

cheers

    Stuart Levy, NCSA, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    in sunny (at last!) Champaign, IL

Thanks, Stuart! All the exhibits and things you mentioned sound
excellent. I am really looking forward to it. I hope I have time to see
all of it!

The Black Holes show that you mentioned, is it the planetarium show
that's been out for a couple of years? I think we have it in Commerce.
It's one of my favorite (Astronaut takes that trophy). I really
appreciate the new vocabulary (spaghettification?) :-)