Australasian Planetarium Society

There are three, 4m diameter, iDomes available to a good home. They are currently dismantled and available (free) for pickup from Argenton (near Newcastle). If anyone is interested please send me an email. First come best dressed.

Shells only, not the projectors

I haven’t contributed to this group for a while so here are a few bits and pieces.

Two exhibitions to look out for this year, both employing the 6m diameter, 8 x high resolution projector system that is DomeLab. One will be in the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, the other in the National Museum in Canberra. If you are interested in the subject matter feel free to drop me an email.

iDomes are still going strong, installed this at ECU two weeks ago, nice bright high resolution projector (excuse the ceiling, not finished yet).

And finally, for those who may be interested in the opportunities of interactive movies in domes, I captured sheep shearing footage a few months ago from the Barossa valley (it’s tough work but someones got to do it). 360 interactive YouTube videos below, set the quality to high but even then it’s a poor representation of the originals which are 8000 pixels x 4000 pixel equirectangular projections, so a match to the creation of a 4K fisheye video.

If you are wondering what they are for, it is training of veterinary students. Obviously they can be interacted with online (as here), in domes such as the iDome, in cylindrical displays and of course head mounted displays.

For all of us who were amazed at the results of the just concluded Rosetta comet mission, it is very sad to hear that Klim Churyumov, co-discoverer in 1969 of Comet 67/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, died this weekend. It was wonderful that he could live to see his comet close up thanks to the amazing Rosetta mission which just ended in spectacular fashion with both the Rosetta and Philae spacecraft now resting on ‘his’ comet’s surface. (Photo: Klim Churyumov at the International Planetarium Society 2016 conference in Warsaw in late June this year with myself on right and Martin George of Launceston Planetarium.) — Mark Rigby

At long last pioneering multimedia artist J-Walt is bringing his amazing show to Australia.  Spontaneous Fantasia is a live immersive reality musical experience that uses the latest in interactive computer graphics techniques to bring paintings to life.  J-Walt commences his first ever Australian tour at the Melbourne Planetarium on Saturday the 8^th of October, followed by performances in Brisbane and Perth.

A computer animation artist who performs his art, J-Walt writes the software, composes all the music and invents complex techniques to render breathtaking virtual vistas right before your eyes while juggling between his drawing tablet and his joystick.

Unfolding in real time, Spontaneous Fantasia uniquely takes the audience on a virtual reality odyssey of fantastic worlds filled with 3D sculptures, dancing figures and landscapes all designed from scratch by one-man orchestra, high-tech wizard, J-Walt.

He has invented such interfaces as “The Anitar”, a guitar-like animation controller which integrates a joystick with a Wacom computer drawing tablet. He also uses a two-handed magnetic wand; a control box with buttons and sliders; a gaming joystick; and a two-handed game controller similar to those for Playstations and Xboxes – all of these will be connected to a powerful gaming-type PC – J-Walt single-handedly sucks the viewers into virtual worlds. He has performed for thrilled audiences around the US as well as in cities around the globe, including Amsterdam, Hamburg, Warsaw, Hong Kong, and India.

The LA Times said, “2006 technical Oscar-winner J-Walt Adamczyk says his art is almost like puppetry, but really his “Spontaneous Fantasia” is beyond words. Animated trippy landscapes, gestural shapes moving through 3-D graphic spaces — oh, just go.”

Tour Dates:
7^th October    Melbourne     Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks
15^th October  Brisbane         Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
22^nd October  Perth               Scitech Planetarium

The IPS Fulldome Festival in Brno wrapped up last night with their Gala Evening and the presentation of awards.  The festival has been fantastic and Jiri and his team at the Brno Observatory and Planetarium have done a brilliant job.  So who won?

The Best Educational Production award went to The Man From the 9 Dimensions. A breath taking examination of the elusive nature of a Theory of Everything.

The audience choice award for the Best Movie Award went to Solar Superstorms.

And the final prize of the night, the Festival Director’s Award went to the latest production from the California Academy of Sciences, Incoming!

Congratulations to the winners!

And now onto Warsaw.

  The IPS Fulldome Festival in Brno is now under way.  The Brno Planetarium is a really impressive facility.  Located at the observatory on a hill top above Brno they have two domes.  The larger dome is 17metres,     with a 7 degree tilt, seats 189 and runs an RSA Cosmos system.  The smaller dome is only 6 or 7 metres and uses a optical star projector. The entire facility was completely upgraded around four years ago.  They have done a fantastic job, the planetarium theatres are both really comfortable (excellent seats) and the building is modern and beautifully designed.

One other great feature is their rooftop deck which includes observing telescopes that have a retractable roof.

The festival have been under way and the schedule has been intense.  There are 66 shows (over 26 hours worth) in the competition. And the shows have been running from 9am until 10pm.  What is great to see is that the festival has been so well attended.  The festival organisers have done a fantastic job, and they have managed to get a really good number of sponsors involved.

Today is the last day of the festival and the gala awards will be announced tonight.