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Projecting Data on a Sphere

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the higher-def dept.

necro81 writes "The NYTimes has an article in today's Science section that describes a four-projector system that displays images on a spherical screen. The Science on a Sphere system, developed at the Goddard Space Flight Center and used in some planetariums, can display and animate vast amounts of visual data from the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the other planets. The sphere is suspended by thin wires, and animating the image data gives the illusion of a free-floating, rotating world."

6 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Seattle Sci-Fi Museum. by 9gezegen · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are not one but two such displays at Seattle Sci-Fi Museum http://www.sfhomeworld.org/ One of them uses four projectors to project movie clips on a large sphere. I'm not sure about the second one since there are not projectors around (I suspect there is one inside) but it shows the surfaces of famous sci-fi planets. You can see this one at http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/brave_new_worl ds/index.asp

  2. Re:Shouldn't they be able to do with 2 projectors? by avalys · · Score: 4, Informative

    Let's say you had two projectors, one pointing at the north pole and one at the south. The resolution would be terrible near the equator, because a very small part of the projected image would cover a large part of the globe surface.

    In order for the resolution to be consistent over the entire globe, you have to either intentionally reduce the resolution of the projection near the poles, or add additional projectors.

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  3. Already in practice... I think by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Don't Adam Sessler and Morgan Web on Xplay already have spheres on to which the project various things, such as the Xplay logo or Adam's face?

  4. Re:I want one! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    A sphere, a string, 4 projectors positioned: one below, three above (and to the side), the angles between any two projectors should be the same.

    Each projector projects a 2D image as per normal - the centre of the image will be an image that is non-overlapping with the other images projected. You could imagine the image that is projected as being generated by your bog standard 3D application, texturemapping a sphere and rendering it from the point of view of each of the projectors, then applying a mask to enforce the non-overlapping aspect.

    You could do this with a bog standard PC with 4 display outputs and a bit of time.

  5. Re:Ehhh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Firstly, Disney fanboy nitpicking... the Haunted Mansion has been open since 1969, not 1955.

    Anyway... it's not the same effect. DoomBuggies.com has an explanation of it is done. She doesn't follow you around the room, though. That's something else.

  6. NOAA Science on a Sphere by zefram+cochrane · · Score: 3, Informative

    All jokes about the Deathstar attack aside, I actually had the privilege of seeing this display firsthand this past year. I was attending the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Atlanta, and NOAA was showing this display with information about the 2005 hurricane season. It is quite a large display, but it has the capability of showing large amounts of data in an entertaining and easy to understand way.

    Here are a few pictures of the actual display in operation...

    http://community.webshots.com/album/551340290QQkDQ E/