The ATC has created a new partnership with the LodeStar Astronomy Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico to create artists' projects for it's digital domed theater. LodeStar, and like theaters, are authentic immersive environments, as both image and sound extend beyond the cognitive plane. ATC's existing partnership with the HPCERC gives us a tremendous edge in producing such projects, since a key issue in creating these projects is access to computing power for rendering purposes. A 3-D model of LodeStar rendered in Flatland, an open source 3-D application, is available to artists for use as a sketching tool at the AHPCC.

LodeStar's innovative, digital domed theater includes a titled 55-foot diameter hemispheric screen, a full-dome, high-resolution digital video projection system and a Dolby 5.1 audio system. The SkyVision™ full-dome video system uses a mosaic of six synchronized video projectors to create seamless high-resolution digital video imagery to cover the 4750 square-foot domed screen which fills audiences' entire field of vision-creating digitally based IMAX™ like experiences. LodeStar seats 140 people.

Much of this new immersive digital projection system's potential is in its ability to accept nearly any digital format. This enables an artist to work in this medium in an affordable and accessible way. The SkyVision™ system of hardware and software can import and project images from any source-3D and 2D animation, digital video, scanned film, et cetra. With this, the production sources are solely at the artist's discretion, while image resolution, color pallets, and 'frameless' composition become part of the process during development. An artist working in this medium can review work quickly and inexpensively on the hanging dome after a few simple renderings using the SkyVision™ software, that prepares the images for the mosaic projection system. Low-resolution trials can be on the dome in minutes, allowing the artists to see their early work in the immersive environ of the domed theater.

SkyVision™ and related systems now dominate new installations of large-screen theaters. To date there are now more than 50 such theaters worldwide. The rapid expansion of this class of theater not only places demands for new digital material in this format, but also guarantees a very diverse and large international audience.

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