IMERSA_Logo_Blk_smallIMERSA News
February 2010

I
mmersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science & Arts

Celebrating and promoting
immersive and fulldome media for education and entertainment in planetariums, schools, museums, cinemas and attractions
 

Welcome to the IMERSA newsletter. Need a little more background on our organization? Please visit the IMERSA website, become a fan of the IMERSA Facebook Page, and join the IMERSA Group on LinkedIn.

 
News about the Convergence
of Fulldome Digital Video and Giant Screen Film

The interests of planetariums and science centers come together in the "convergence" of giant screen cinema (still mostly film-based) and fulldome digital video. Planetariums and science centers already have a lot in common, such as similar missions and audiences, and a tilting toward the latest interactive and immersive exhibition technologies. We're starting to see the sharing of content, facilitated by digital processes. Another sign of convergence is that IMERSA is working with other associations, such as the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) and the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) to facilitate dialogue between overlapping industry sectors.

The Convergence of Content

Forces of NatureNational Geographic's two new fulldome titles:
Sea Monsters
(2D and stereo 3D), and Forces of Nature
National GeogSea Monsters Posterraphic's award-winning giant screen film Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure is now available in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D versions for digital dome video projection. Sea Monsters brings to life the wondrous creatures who roamed (and ruled) the world's seas eighty million years ago. Evans & Sutherland is exclusive distributor.

A new fulldome version of Forces of Nature, produced for giant screen cinema by National Geographic and Graphic Films, has also been repurposed for fulldome exhibition. Forces of Nature explores intense weather phenomena such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes, literally following scientists who get "up close and personal" to these often catastrophic natural events to better understand why they happen. Distributed by Sky-Skan as well as Evans & Sutherland.

Solar StormsFilm 3D Sun becomes Fulldome Solar Storms
The giant-screen film 3D Sun, produced by Melissa Butts and distributed by K2 Communications, has been repurposed as a 20-minute fulldome feature, Solar Storms. Sky-Skan accessed the original 3D animation files , adding spherical stereo cameras and re-rendering each scene to make the most of the fulldome environment. Distributed by Sky-Skan.



Two Pending Trade Events Explore the Convergence


Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) Film Expo and Dome DayGSCA Logo
Los Angeles, California, February 23-24/San Diego, Calif. Feb 25 (Dome Day)
The giant screen community comes together at this event to promote and review new films and films in production, films in development and technical presentations. Of note: Molecules to the Max,  the first fulldome feature to be re-purposed for giant screen cinema, has been re-rendered in stereoscopic 3D for this year's event. It is distributed by SK Films. (Planetarians know this title as Molecularium.)

Of special interest to the fulldome community: GSCA Dome Day on Feb 25 at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Dome Day is primarily for the benefit of giant-screen film dome operators, to enable them to see screenings of new films on the dome. However, among these operators there has been increased interest in the added potential of digital dome systems. This year, with the kind cooperation of GSCA, Dome Day will include a presentation by IMERSA founding board member Ed Lantz about digital dome technology and its applications to giant screens. Thanks to GSCA and to Dr Jeffrey Kirsch and the Reuben Fleet for this opportunity to participate.

Dome Day will also feature two digital dome video demonstrations:  A presentation by Evans & Sutherland will use a single 4096x2160 resolution, 21,000 lumen SRX-T420 projector from Sony located in the Reuben H. Fleet projection booth. A second technical demonstration will be presented by Steen Svendstorp Iversen, co-founder and CEO of Sirius 3D. Steen will be working with two Christie digital projectors and displaying 3D stereoscopic  images on a portion of the dome - an exhibition technique that a number of giant-screen operators have already successfully adopted to expand their programming options.

Registration is required. Transportation to San Diego is available but must be arranged through GSCA.

Dome Day Asia 2010Dome Day Asia 2010! March 9, 2010
Hong Kong Space Museum, Stanley Ho Space Theatre
This event will feature a projection "shootout" enabling attendees to see the Sky-Skan definiti 8K digital fulldome projection system and compare it directly to 70mm film. Sky-Skan has prepared identical clips in film and digital for this viewing.

Pre-registration is required. Email Sky-Skan for more information.

 
Entertainment Innovations, Dome Style
Inspiring examples of compelling entertainment inside and outside the planetarium

The Dragon's Treasure at City of DreamsDragon's Treasure at City of Dreams

Some of the largest and most spectacular examples of fulldome are being built in Asia.

City of Dreams is a large-scale integrated urban entertainment resort which opened in June 2009 in Macau. Within City of Dreams is The Bubble, said to be the largest special effects projection dome theater in the world and housing the $40 million spectacular Dragon's Treasure at City of Dreams.

The 500-guest, stand-up, 20 meter high dome theater presents a 10-minute, high definition animated multimedia production. Guests are immersed in a fantasy story of an undersea world populated by dragons.

This project will receive a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement this March, from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). The creative team includes Falcon's Treehouse LLC (media production),  Kraftwerk Living Technologies GmbH (construction and system integration), Brainsalt Media (video servers) and media producer Mario Kamberg.

According to the resort operators, this innovative show has enjoyed a very strong and positive guest response. Check out the video here

Il Mondo Della LunaHaydn at the Hayden
This opera-stargazing fusion is a fascinating example of the multimedia possibilities open to any planetarium or other venue with a dome theater.

In Jan 2010, the Hayden Planetarium in New York staged Joseph Haydn's comic opera Il Mondo Della Luna. The opera was presented in a trimmed, 100-minute version in the Hayden's digital dome cinema, enhanced with lighting effects and starfield projections.

Directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, the action was performed on an elevated stage while a Zeiss Mark IX Star Projector recreated the night sky around the actors.



Click the title above to read Judith Rubin's article about how planetariums large and small are creating their own fulldome productions in-house, using Blender and other software tools. (Originally published by IPS in The Planetarian.)


Directly related to that subject is the following information:

Ott Planetarium Logo


Ott Planetarium offers fulldome production workshops


Ott Planetarium  in Ogden, UT will be holding several Blender-based production workshops this summer. Blender is a free, open source, 3D content creation suite and Ott's instructors have developed an array of fulldome production techniques with the software.

Taught by veteran Blender user Ron Proctor.
Ron Proctor, Instructor

NOVICE
Students in the novice class collaborate on an open movie, like the one shown here. Learn the Blender Interface, Modeling, Animation, Materials, Textures, Modifiers, IPO Curves, and Video Sequence Editor. There are no prerequisites for the novice class.

ADVANCED
First half: Intro to Blender's advanced tools: particle systems, compositing, fluid dynamics simulation, physics simulation, and game engine logic. Second half: participants tackle a special effects project of their choosing.

Novice workshops, $600, June 8-12 and July 20-24

Advanced workshops, $800, June 15-19 and July 27-31

Combo discount: Novice + Advanced workshop for $1200.

Click for details and registration

Paul Frasier

Paul Fraser Joins IMERSA
Board of Directors

Paul Fraser, founder and principal consultant of
Blaze Digital Cinema Works has joined the IMERSA board of directors. Paul brings with him a solid track record of conceiving and developing strategic business-building ideas, as well as working through the full cycle of start-ups, post-launch adjustments, and sustaining operation phases.

"IMERSA is excited to welcome Paul Fraser to the Board of Directors,"
says IMERSA founding board member Ed Lantz.  "His recent work in digital dome program distribution, coupled with his comprehensive background in giant-screen films, make him uniquely suited to building bridges between these synergistic (yet well-differentiated) communities. Paul will be an invaluable member of the IMERSA board at this early stage in the organization's growth."

For most of his 25-year career, Fraser has occupied positions whose mandates were to develop a new business unit and new products or services. He has embraced new media technologies and led multi-disciplinary teams to build brands and grow revenues, often 'from scratch.' 
His leadership of new business initiatives has spanned:
  • Film & theaters (commercial digital theaters, digital film distribution, giant-screen films & theaters, digital fulldome, 2D/3D/4D)
  • Leisure attractions (technology-driven marketing services)
  • Interactive media (Web & wireless, content & applications)
IMERSA warmly welcomes Paul Fraser and the valuable perspective and experience he brings.

Upcoming Fulldome/Planetarium Events


Fulldome German 2010Make your travel plans now for the
4th Annual Fulldome Festival

May 4th-8th, Jenna, Germany

A public forum of the IMERSA group will take place on Friday, May 7.

Organized by Micky Remann and Volkmar Schorcht, the Festival offers an opportunity for producers to present their latest, unabridged shows to a jury and to the public while allowing fulldome theaters operators to meet professionals and to look for content . For the first time, full-length feature shows will be presented. The festival will see 27 all-new shows from producers in America, Asia, Australia and Europe. The festival will also feature two world premieres: Natural Selection by Robin Sip (Mirage3D) and tempus.ruhr by Rocco Helmchen, an artistic fulldome show introducing the largest conurbation in Europe (merging of cities to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area) by combining time-lapse photography and fulldome animation. Remaining a regular program item, the Student Festival will present, and award prizes to fulldome sequences created by students.
Click for more details.

British Association of Planetariums Logo


British Association of Planetaria Annual Conference (BAP)

7-8 May, Intech Planetarium, Winchester, UK

Intech Planetarium is a relatively new planetarium, designed and installed by Global Immersion, and the largest capacity planetarium in the UK.
Note: Program subject to change.

  • New full dome live presentation KS3 show Alien Worlds written by Dr Shipway at INTECH
    Flying UNIVIEW combined with storytelling session/Domecast with Ghana Science Project
  • Some members of Surrey Uni (who are hoping to set up their own fulldome company) want to introduce/discuss their Wake up and Smell the Coffee, A-level biology planetarium show which they made for the British Science Fest (funded by SEEDA).
  • Full dome inside mobiles - including optimal use of stellarium
  • New full dome show 'Natural Selection' Mirage3D

Association of French Speaking Planetariums - 13-16 May - Dijon, France
Manufacturers' news, workshops and debates, full sky shows, planetariums' news. Experience the  moon exhibition, visit to the wine coast in Burgundy and taste exotic dining at the Burgundy Botanical Garden.

Southeastern Planetarium Association (SEPA) 2010 Conference
Kingsport, Tennessee - June 8-12
Bays Mountain Planetarium is hosting. The theme is "The Art of Storytelling." Highlights of the meeting include keynote speaker, Dava Sobel, presentations and workshops, a storytelling workshop, field trips to the Gray Fossil Site and the Rocky Mount Museum, well-known storytellers, a state-of-the-art theater, vendor displays, and more. The Bays Mountain Planetarium Theater has just currently completed a $1.3M total refurbishment project. The heart of the theater is a Zeiss Skymaster ZKP 4 optical star projector. It also boasts the Zeiss Spacegate Quinto full-dome video projection system with Zeiss PowerDome and the Uniview 3D database/interface. Click here for more details.

DomeFest - 1st July 2010 (provisional date) held in conjuction with
2010 June 26-30 IPS 20th Biennial Conference: Alexandria, Egypt
In addition to DomeFest, there will be several fulldome events and IMERSA presentations run in conjunction with this International Planetarium Society Conference. Details to come.

GSCA Logo Chattanooga
Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX 3D Theater hosts
the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show 2010
September 25-27, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Dome Day (in conjunction with GSCA Conference)

September 28 Birmingham, Alabama

Host:
McWane Science Center and IMAX Dome Theater

Details to come. See Convergence News above for relevance of the GSCA events.

The Bishop Museum
Hosts the ASTC Annual Conference
October 2-5, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii
The Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Conference will feature a Fulldome Showcase. Check ASTC website for details as they become available.

 
Fulldome Planetarium News

Visual Acuity consults on Noble Planetarium redesign in Fort Worth
The redesigned Noble Planetarium at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History opened in late 2009. Visual Acuity was engaged to provide architectural guidance and technology planning, working closely with architect Gideon Toal. The new planetarium features removable bench seating for 100 people, a Zeiss ZKP4 star projector and SPACEGATE Quinto full-dome video projection system controlled by powerdome®.

Glaxo gift of $1.5M facilitates fulldome conversion for Morehead Planetarium

Chapel Hill, N.C. - Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has given $1.5 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to convert the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center's historic Star Theater from analog to fulldome digital video technology. In recognition of the gift, the theater will be renamed the GlaxoSmithKline Fulldome Theater. The theater reopened in February and is said to be the largest fulldome installation in the southeastern United States. Officials said they expect more than 160,000 visitors, including nearly 85,000 schoolchildren, during the next year. Full Story

Enchanted Reef
On Feb 13, Delta College Planetarium in Bay City, Michigan introduced The Enchanted Reef in new  "Delta Digital 360" fulldome theater
Enchanted Reef transports viewers to a mythical tropical reef where the inhabitants have always lived in peace until a volcanic catastrophe breaks the spell. The story is told through Jake, a young sawfish, and his buddy Shorty, a lively reef fish. In November 2009 Delta Planetarium upgraded its system to an Evans & Sutherland Digistar 4.  Full Story


Smithsonian NMAI Installs Global Immersion Dome Upgrade
The Lelawi Theater at the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington DC, USA, has reopened following the upgrade of the fulldome display system by Global Immersion. The theater underwent the renovation in November 2009 which included integration of a new four-channel digital projection and server solution.

The 12-meter diameter theater recreates the traditional campfire, native folklore scene - featuring a concentric design with tiered bench seating located around three display systems. The digital fulldome configuration allows the audience to view the 'sky' above, while a central 'camp-fire' is simulated using a video projector positioned below the floor onto a screen representing the flaming fire around which Native Americans would tell stories. This digital 'fire-pit' is surrounded by four smaller screens in the center of the theater which display accompanying show content.

Upton Middle School goes Fulldome
Upton Middle School Planetarium in the St. Joseph, Michigan Public School District recently converted to fulldome. Renovations on the 40-year-old planetarium began in September 2009 with the ribbon cutting held on Jan. 28th, 2010. The roughly $136,000 project was paid for with public and private funds with the majority of the funding coming from The Upton Foundation. The 9.1 dome seats 62 and was built by Ash Enterprises Warped Media. Opening shows are The Little Star That Could and Dawn of the Space Age.

 Fulldome Social Media Wall

Facebook LogoBecome a Fan of IMERSA on Facebook
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Join IMERSA

IMERSA is an international professional association advancing the art, science, profile, integrity and common interests of large-format digital immersive media and group interactive entertainment and cultural experiences including (but not limited to) immersive digital theaters and digital dome (fulldome) planetariums.

For membership categories, benefits and dues information,
visit the IMERSA membership page.

Sponsor IMERSA

Help our organization grow and fulfill its mission (and yours). IMERSA needs your support in order to create and participate in events, and to conduct activities and outreach that increase membership, foster strategic relationships, promote our message and provide benefits to members. Contact Martin Howe for details.

IMERSA Officers and Staff

Board of Directors: Dan Neafus, Ed Lantz, Ryan Wyatt, David Beining, Paul Fraser
Communications: Judith Rubin


IMERSA Newsletter - February 2010

IMERSA_Logo_Blk_small
Published by IMERSA.org
Edited by Judith Rubin and Mark Plattner
Executive Editors: Ed Lantz, Dan Neafus
You may reproduce or re-use the text in this newsletter with credit and a hyperlink to IMERSA.org.

SUBSCRIBE to the IMERSA newsletter - Send a message to Judith Rubin.