This slideshow was presented by Ed Lantz (Vortex Immersion) and Paul Fraser (Blaze Digital Cinema Works) at the 2010 Dome Day session of the Giant Screen Cinema Association in March 2010.

1. Digital Dome Production
& Market Overview
GSCA Film Expo
Dome Day
RH Fleet Science Center
February 25, 2010
Ed Lantz Paul Fraser
Ed@vorteximmersion.com Paul@blazedigitalcinema.com
Ed@imersa.org Paul@imersa.org
www.imersa.org

2. Fulldome Display Growth Markets
Events Domes
Themed Entertainment Digital Planetariums
Giant Screen
Digital Cinema

3. Sampling of Fulldome Theaters
Volkswagen Autostadt
Wolfsburg, Germany
Morrison Planetarium
California Academy
of Arts and Sciences
San Francisco, CA
Hayden Planetarium
Papalote Museo del Niňo Bibliotheca Alexandrina Rose Center for Earth and Space
Mexico City Alexandria, Egypt American Museum of Natural History
New York, NY

4. Stereoscopic 3D Digital Domes
Images Courtesy Sky-Skan
• ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center: • Foundation for the Hellenic
Hilo, Hawai’i World: Athens, Greece
• Infitec 3D Stereo • Infitec 3D Stereo
• Opened Jan. 2008 • Opened 2007
• Integrated by Sky-Skan
Sky- • Integrated by SEOS

5. Portable Domes
VORTEX Mobile Dome SciDome™
• Portable Planetariums, Art Exhibits
• Events, Tradeshows, Festivals, Screening Rooms
• Geodesic, Inflatable, Negative Pressure Screens

6. Themed Attractions
$40M Bubble Theater at City of Dreams Casino in Macau, China
• Immersive projections becoming more pervasive
• Scalable without limit
• New wave of innovation

7. Dome Master Format
Longitude
0º
-
+90º +90º
90º
0º
Polar Fisheye
(Equidistant Polar) -
90º
180º

8. Spherical & Panoramic Photography
Panoscan Digital Spherical Fisheye
Panoramic with Pano Bracket
Camera www.bophoto.com
www.panoscan.com
GigaPan
Multigigapixel
Panoramic
Photography
www.gigapansystems.com

9. Spherical Live Action
4K Time Lapse
Fisheye
RED Camera www.PMWCreative.org
w/Fisheye
www.dome3d.com
Immersive
Ladybug®3 Media’s
Spherical Digital Dodecahedral
Video Camera Video Camera
www.ptgrey.com www.immersivemedia.com

10. Spherical Projection Formats
Single Projector Edge-Blended
Projectors
Single Frame
Sub Frames Fed by Separate Servers
(Fed by one or more servers)

11. DLP Projector Edge-Blend
Edge-
6-Projector Edge-
Blend (DLP)
2880 x 2880 Dome Master
6.5M pixels on dome
16 pixels/degree
29,250 lumens
>1800:1 contrast
6 projectors (DLP)
6 channels @ 1400 x 1050

12. Dual 4k Fisheye with Edge-Blend
Edge-
Dual Fisheye System
4096 x 4096 Dome Master
13M pixels on dome
22.7 pixels/degree
14,900 lumens
1800:1 contrast
2 projectors (Sony SXRD 4k)
8 channels @ 2k x 1k

13. A New Medium…
• 4K x 4K Immersive Cinema Productions (up to 8K)
•30 fps typical, 60 fps available on most systems
• Spherical rendering & editing tools
• Real-Time 3D Performances
• Growing libraries of datasets
• Audience interactivity
• Surround Audio
•Up to 23.1 audio channels
• Industry Standards Emerging

14. Fulldome Theater Compendium
www.lochnessproductions.com
• Voluntary worldwide digital dome compendium
• Operated by Loch Ness Productions
• Best available industry data
• IMERSA initiative underway to expand database

15. Fulldome Theaters Worldwide
700
600
Number of Theaters
500
400
LF Film Theaters
IMAX Theaters
300
Digital Domes
200
100
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year Opened

16. Fulldome Theater Breakdown
• 622 Digital Screens Worldwide
•Half in U.S.
•36% are in Museums & Science Centers
•37% are in Universities and School Districts
•35 million annual attendance
• 63% are Single-Lens Fisheye Systems
•Small and portable domes
• 3300 Planetariums Worldwide
•110 million annual attendance
• 157 Unique Show Titles
Mark Petersen, “State of the Dome 2009,” DomeFest 2009

17. Theaters by Dome Diameter

18. Leading System Providers

19. Most Widely Distributed Shows

20. Leading Show Producers

21. Digital Planetariums
Real-
Real-Time Navigable, Scientifically Accurate
Astronomical and Astrophysical Datasets
Images Courtesy SCISS AB www.scalingtheuniverse.com

22. Real-
Real-Time SciArt Productions
Prof. Tom Duscher’s ICH2 J.Walt Adamczyk
live interactive performance Real-Time 3D
Kiel Planetarium, Germany Visual Music Performance
Glendale Community
College
c-the speed of light
Bella Gaia phase7
Kenji Williams Berlin, Germany
& Dr. Kachun Yu
Denver Museum
of Nature & Science Real-Time Interactive
SciArt Performances

23. Immersive Cinema Productions

24. Immersive Cinema Productions
• 24-minute 4K animation can cost $150K to $1m+
24-
• Most are between $300k to $600k = $15-$25K/min
• Annual license fees:
• Large domes $25K+
• Medium domes $15K - $25K
• Small domes $5K - $12K
• Portables $2K - $5K
• Distribution fees 25%

25. Immersive Cinema Productions
Children’s Programs
Music Programming

26. Immersive Cinema Productions
Digitized Giant-Screen Films

27. Immersive Cinema Productions
Shows Marketed on Theater Websites
2007 2008 2009
67 77 117*
(* of 157 unique titles available)

28. Immersive Cinema Productions
Most Active Show Producers:
Vendors Planetariums/ Independent
Museums Producers
E&S/Spitz Houston MNH Mirage3D
Sky-Skan Clark Planetarium Loch Ness
AMNH, NY
NSC, UK
Denver MNS

29. Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science & Arts
IMERSA is an international non-profit professional organization
that celebrates and promotes immersive and full-dome media for
education and entertainment in planetariums, schools, museums,
cinemas, events and themed attractions.

30. Founding Sponsors

31. Giant Screen Film vs Fulldome
# Screens/Shows GS Domes Fulldome
Diameter >60’ 100+ 70
Diameter <60’ 5 550+
Cinema Quality All A Few
Science Centers Nearly All 36%
Live Action Prod. Nearly All A Few
Real-time Prog. None Most All
Shot for Dome Few Nearly All

32. Giant Screen Digital
Standards Efforts
• IMERSA – Scalable specification up to cinema
quality dome.
• DISCUSS – Digital Immersive Screen
Colloquium for Unified Standards and
Specifications
•Led by John Jacobsen of White Oak
•Seeking NSF Funding
• GSCA Technical Standards Task Force
•Led by Andrew Oran of FotoKem

33. Thank You!
Ed Lantz Paul Fraser
Ed@VortexImmersion.com Paul@BlazeDigitalCinema.com
Ed@imersa.org Paul@imersa.org
www.imersa.org