Specialists in CG large format immersive experiences

At-Bristol Data Dome Workshop - 22 May 2015

Paul Mowbray - Head of NSC Creative

Tweet us @nsccreative

Image: BAP Conference 2012

Immersive formats:

360° Fulldome videoVRStereoscopic 3DMulti-channel video wallsPepper’s ghost4D cue design including; aroma, light, wind and motion

Plus Broadcast, HD flat screen video and Online

Largest producer of high-quality digital planetarium shows in the world.Licensed content to over 600 venues around the world in 30 countries.Over 10 million people have experienced NSC Fulldome films worldwide.

Custom show room dome and content for architectural visualization

Live-action integration into CG environments

Breakdown movie >

Cross platform immersive science documentaryFulldome and VR, upto 8k 3D 60fps

What is Fulldome?

Many dome configurations:Uni-directionalOmni-directionalTiltedNo-tiltBigSmallPortableBrightnessResolution

Many projector configurations:

2 projectors6 projectors20 projectors12 projectors Double stacked systems for brightnessSingle projectors, Fisheye, Mirror

Many projector technologies:

DLPLCOSLCDLEDLaser

The technolgy and configuration is mostly irrelevant to content producers

Most planeterium domes are 360 x 180Uni-directional seatingAverage tilt of 15 degressAverage resoloution for 15m+ domes 2.5k-”4k”

No-one knows the exact numbers of digital domesEstimated to be over 1200 internationally75% of these are smaller, under 2k resoloution and mostly portable.

Never assume any standard in the dome world! If making a piece for a specific dome get the specs first

Technical challenges

4096x4096 pixels @30fps8x more pixels than HD content

40x more pixels than regular DVD

The resolution of the domes is growing 8k, 16k...

4096 x 4096 Fulldome

720 x 480 NTSC DVD

1920 x 1080 True HD / Blu-ray

4096 x 2304 RED ONE / 4K Digital Cinema

4096 x 4096 Fulldome

720 x 480 NTSC DVD

1280 x 720 WEB HD

1920 x 1080 True HD / Blu-ray

4096 x 2304 RED ONE / 4K Digital Cinema

4096 x 4096 Fulldome

720 x 480 NTSC DVD

1280 x 720 WEB HD

1920 x 1080 True HD / Blu-ray

4096 x 2304 RED ONE / 4K Digital Cinema

4096 x 4096 Fulldome

720 x 480 NTSC DVD

1280 x 720 WEB HD

1920 x 1080 True HD / Blu-ray

4096 x 2304 RED ONE / 4K Digital Cinema

4096 x 4096 Fulldome

720 x 480 NTSC DVD

1280 x 720 WEB HD

1920 x 1080 True HD / Blu-ray

4096 x 2304 RED ONE / 4K Digital Cinema

The first rule of Fulldome is...there are (hardly any) Fulldome rules yet

Traditional techniques don’t work as expected

New film language required

“domography“

Analyse, learn from others Lots of previews on FDDB.org

Camera Movements

Start slow

You are moving the audience

Things appear faster on the dome than on screen

Slow things down

Not all Fulldome display systems are created equal!Avoid blackAvoid whiteAvoid blueGenerally avoid solid colours

Avoid subtlety!

Avoid forcing people to dislocate their neck for long periods!

Editing

Cutting is possible but has a different effect

Keep the flow

Dissolves can help, instead of 1 second try 3

Keeping focus vs exploring the frame

Characters

Hard to get right

Even harder in a dome

No-one can read on a rollercoaster

Balance between visual / music / narration

And don’t forget...

TEST TEST TEST!

Desktop Dome Visualisation Tools

Dome View - Navegar Dome Port - SAT*AllSky Viewer (Japanese)*German one, can’t remember name!Use your 3D Package (3dsmax etc)

*freeMostly superseded by Oculus Rift now

VR Visualisation Tools

Whirligig - Player and Publisher for Rifthttp://www.whriligig.xyz/

PlayblastVR - Quickly push content to players from Mayahttp://www.andrewhazelden.com/

Lots of other tools now coming due to VR pushThere are differences so important to test in a dome also

Computer Generated 3D and 2DReal-time engines

Live CaptureTimelapse

Computer Generated 3D and 2D Software Tools

3D3ds MaxMayaSoftimageCinema 4DLightwaveBlender (Open Source)

2DAfter Effects NukeDigital FusionPremiere ProFinal Cut ProMotion

Peripheral Packages

MudboxZbrushVueTerragenRealflowMotion BuilderPhotoshop

Render Engines

Mental RayV-RayFinal Render Arnold

Camera Rigs vs Lens Shaders

Camera Rigs Can be cumbersome More software supported

Lens Shaders Quick and easy Straight to the dome

Real-time engines

Unity Unreal EngineBlender VJ tools - Touch Designer, vvvvProjection mapping tools - vDome, Blendy Dome

Don’t forget the audio!

5.1 surround sound is almost a standard but each dome has unique characteristics making mixing challenging

3D spatial sound is one of the next big things in dome creatively but very few systems in the world at the moment

Dolby ATMOS, Isono, Wavefield Synthesis, Object Based Audio

2D Dome Space Plugins

Navegar - FulldomeSAT - Dome Cam 2.0Andrew Hazelden ScriptsE&S - Virtual ProjectorsSky Skan - DomeFX

Fulldome Stereoscopic 3D

Parallel Camera TechniqueHighly developed existing flat screen techniqueUse any render systemFlipped when looking behindNo S3D to the sidesAll depth budget inside the domeNo negative stereo without post-convergence

Fulldome Stereoscopic 3D

Stereoscopic Lens ShaderRequires specific render engines and raytracing (Mental Ray, Vray)Full panoramic S3D everywhere you lookHigher degree of control of stereoscopic effectAllow for head tilt and roll which is important in the dome enviroment

DomeMaster3D - http://www.andrewhazelden.com/

BRAIN SHEAR

The DISPARITY between what the brain SHOULD be seeing and what it’s ACTUALLY seeing is what causes PAIN.

Divergence - When your eyes move outwardsVertical Disparity - Things not matching upAccommodation - Fast changes in stereo depth

PhotogrammetryAutodesk 123D CatchMicrosoft PhotosynthXrez

Green screenRegular flat capture integrated into CG fisheye footage

Live capture

First decision is decide what size and resoloution dome your work will be screened on

Single camera vs multi camera vs budget

Cameras

iPhoneCompact with lens adapter - Canon G SeriesGoProDSLR - Canon, Nikon4k+ Digital Cinema Cameras - Red Epic, Canon C500

Lenses

Circular Fisheye

Truncated/Cropped Fisheye

Wide angle

For cropped sensors(Canon 650D, 60D, 7DNikon DX format)

Sigma 4.5mm Sunex 5.6mm

For full-frame sensors(Canon 5D, Nikon FX Format)

Sigma 8mmCanon 8mm-15mmPelang 8mmNikon 8mmNikon 6mm

Multi-camera rigs

GoPro FreedomGoPro HeroLadybugTotavisionImmersive Media DodecaSA360 Panoramic Camera

Stiching and Processing

PTguiKRpanoLRtimelapsePhotomatrix

TimelapseIntervelometerTripod

Spherical/Gigapixel CaptureGigapanNodal NinjaFreestlye and fix in post

Resourceshttp://www.fddb.org/

http://www.imersa.org/standardshttp://www.andrewhazelden.com/

http://fulldome.ning.com/http://extranet.spitzinc.com/download/

Freedom 360Kolor

Fulldome Festival JenaSAT iX Symposium

http://nsccreative.com/Google groups - Dome-L, FAR: Fulldome Animators Resource

Yahoo groups - Fulldome, small_planetariums Facebook - 360 Video Professionals, Fulldome

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Specialists in CG large format immersive experiences

Thanks

Paul Mowbraypaulm@nsccreative.com

Tweet us @nsccreativensccreative.com