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Exclusive: Behind the Scenes at the World's Most Technologically Advanced Planetarium!
Posted 12/25/08 at 08:00:00 AM by Norman Chan
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We were given a private screening of the standard show presentation, an production called Fragile Planet that was produced in-house at the Academy. Narrated by Sigourney Weaver (who also did the voice-over for the awesome Planet Earth Discovery Channel mini-series), the 25-minute show lifted us out of our seats and propelled us in a incredible journey through space. It's difficult to understand exactly how amazing the show is unless you're actually sitting in the planetarium. The domed display filled our entire peripheral vision -- the effect was so encompassing that at times we forgot where we were.
Flying through the solar system at near-light speed, soaring down over the landscape of the Moon and Mars, and then warping out to the outer reaches of the galaxy -- this is as close to being an astronaut as most of us are going to get. Even more trippy though was the optical illusion created by the dome's curvature. Even though the planetarium show isn't projected in stereoscopic 3D (though it's technically possible), the concave construction of the dome made some of the images look like they were popping out of the screen (like the illusion you see when looking at the front of a spoon).
The Academy has plans to bring a DVD and High-def version of the presentation to market, but hasn't announced a release schedule yet.
The show starts off with the planetarium's walls "disappearing" around you, so you can see the surrounding Academy exhibits. You're then lifted up through the ceiling, where you begin a superman-esque flight around the San Francisco Bay Area before zooming off into space.
Above and Below: the computer rendition of the Academy's "living roof", compared to the actual roof exhibit, where 1.7 million native plants and wildlife flourish.
As we fly faster toward space, the curve of the horizon begins to appear. You just can't get the same experience with Google Earth.
Near real-time scientific data acquired through research networks (like CineGrid) can be fed into the program and overlaid on top of the presentation's 3D models. The planetarium staff plans to incorporatethese feeds into future productions to bring awareness to environmental concerns.
"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world." - Carl Sagan
Next, the hardware behind the show
I want to see crysis on that
Submitted by vistageek on Thu, 12/25/2008 - 11:17am
I want to see crysis on that screen. (OK, I don't care if it only does openGL, just get those cards doing directX or hook up 3DTX 280 XXX's to each projector) That would be most cool thing ever!!! Oh, and while we are at it, let's enable stereo 3D with the glasses. (The best experiance ever even on a 24 inch monitor) I think I will have to put that experiance on my christmas wish list!!!
Missing links
Submitted by lewishaus on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 3:19pm
Went to planetarium this week - WOW!!! - and was looking forward to your article - but:
The 'stellar cartography lab' link <http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u17625/voyager_astrometrics_cut_0.jpg> leads to a blank page.
The 2nd phograph is blank. The link <http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u17625/planetarium_cut_sm.jpg> leads to a blank page.
The 'Star Trek's astrometrics lab' link <http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u17625/voyager_astrometrics.jpg> leads to a blank page.
Since no one else has mentioned these issues, I thought it was me, but I tried 3 different computers and encountered the same problems on all. What are chance of getting the links in this story fixed, please. Thanks.
Submitted by jbkirkpatrick on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 11:02am
What does that caption on page 4 (I think) mean that says "softwad and hardware blending"?
It sounds vaguely dirty....
(and I liked it and that scared me):)
Submitted by V-Lad on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 10:53am
I've been to the planetarium, it is something everyone should see!
Submitted by lemony on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 1:47pm
"If at any time during tonight's presentation you feel dizzy, just simply close your eyes and the sensation will soon pass."
I had to do this three times while reading the article.
Submitted by dgrmouse on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 8:28am
Reading this article, along with the "Load Letter" that heralded it, made me picture Norman's portrait replacing the "actual stock photograph" of the writer in the last issue's piece suggesting that we should write blogs for $10 a pop.
The second software system is called Global Immersion, which is the
hardware that powers the main presentation playback. The video is
stored in a proprietary Pixar format, and packs the 30fps video over a
string of files that require significant hardware muscle to process.
They're not just playing a large AVI file here. A combination of
software and hardware blending is also required to align the six
projectors so that the video is perfectly synced and aspected to look
like one giant display.
Classic! Way to go, Normie - you earned your $10 today!
Awesome and awe-inspiring!
Submitted by Number Six on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 5:42am
This was a great website feature! I love computers as well as astronomy, so was very interested in the new Morrison Planetarium and the hardware that runs it. Thanks MPC!!!
P.S. Please fix the cut-through image-- it's a bad link.
This reminds me of the IMAX
Submitted by Moneyless on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 8:24pm
This reminds me of the IMAX dome / OMNIMAX theater at the Ontario Science Center where I live, in Toronto Canada. :) The theater room is exacly the same on the inside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMNIMAX
Submitted by Queenof1 on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 1:51pm
If this planetarium was a dude, it would be my 2nd husband.
I think that I just
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 12:13pm
I think that I just experienced premature ejaculation.
LMFAO KEITH That thing
Submitted by s3th on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 11:23am
LMFAO KEITH
- That thing looks like its packing some pretty technical and phenomenal hardware. I wonder if they use regular HDD's or is their some other method of storage, I can just see an array of like 100 TB Velociraptors in RAID 0 or some shit.
- Also playing a game on that thing or doing anything, watching a movie on the worlds biggest projector, can you even imagine... With a little 2 x 4 mouse and a 6x 10 keyboard, your controlling a screen thats in like 100000x 100000 resolution, playing Crysis on that bay would need like 600 GPU'S.
Submitted by xs0u1x on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 12:19pm
for some reason i cant help but think that this would be badass to watch porn on. hahahah
Submitted by jtroll on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 10:06am
Mmmmm... nanoseams. So when are you guys going to be playing MoH II on this baby? You know you want to, Norm.
I brought my copy of Sins of
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 11:14am
I brought my copy of Sins of a Solar Empire, but we decided not to try playing on it.
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