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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."

17 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Perfect for mission briefings by amliebsch · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's just what I need to show my pilots where the shield generator is located.

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    1. Re:Perfect for mission briefings by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Insightful
      > That's just what I need to show my pilots where the shield generator is located.

      It's a planetarium turned inside-out. Or the offspring of a mating of a planetarium and a Klein bottle. In other words, it's a light trap :)

    2. Re:Perfect for mission briefings by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

      Many Bothans died for this post...

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  2. why not from inside-out? by WinEveryGame · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Isn't best projection on a sphere done from the center of the sphere?

    Since the application of this thing can easily require building a custom sphere, this seems a more cost-effective way to me.

    1. Re:why not from inside-out? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Since the application of this thing can easily require building a custom sphere, this seems a more cost-effective way to me.

      Assuming a requirement was the ability to hang the sphere to make it appear to float, then you'd have to figure out a way to have a fairly strong internal structure to support the projectors without creating seams from within the structure itself. Also you need to get power and video signals to the projectors and still keep your "disappearingly thin wires". Then there is always the major issue of cooling the major heat generating projectors within a sealed environment.

      Not that these issues can't be addressed, it's just that it comes down to just what you said, being "cost effective".

    2. Re:why not from inside-out? by Chirs · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How would you support the translucent screen? Any structural members would cast shadows.

  3. 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

  4. Re:Halograms by w33t · · Score: 3, Interesting

    actually, by combining this technology with this technology you could have a pretty cool visual representation of the earth and it's current space traffic.

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  5. 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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  6. Ooo Pretty.... by JayDot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Birthday Trip to the planetarium...

    Who wants to open the pinata?

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  7. suspended by thin wires by llZENll · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "suspended by thin wires"

    Come on now, can't they use some kind of magnetic levitation system? Or even an air cushion, that would be pretty cheap and cool.

    1. Re:suspended by thin wires by MustardMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Either of those options is gonna be some sort of elastic force - the sphere will bounce. Even a slight bounce in a normal projector screen is quite noticable. I can only imagine it would be a lot worse when you're worrying about the alignment of three projectors.

  8. Google Earth by Wormholio · · Score: 2, Interesting

    wow, this would be a cool output device for Google Earth.

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  9. Halo graphics by tepples · · Score: 3, Funny

    Could this be giving birth to the beginnings of 3D halographic techonology?

    No, that was the Xbox.

  10. Brilliant by GimmeFive · · Score: 3, Funny

    There are some arses here at the office that could now be used for IMAX.

  11. Doesn't that making zooming in unrealistic? by Retired+Replicant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The cool think about something like Google Earth is how you can zoom way in to see tiny details. If the display is an actual sphere, wouldn't you be kind of limited in showing anything at a scale other than that which can be represented on a physical sphere the size of the projector-screen?

  12. 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/