The Children’s City Science Center, Dubai has upgraded its planetarium - contracting Global Immersion to supply the fulldome display and theater management system. The updated Science Center dome is now home to Global Immersion's first project in Dubai: an ultra-high resolution fulldome solution including a Fidelity Bright[TM] projection system and an advanced media storage and playback package – updating the original opto-mechanical system to a digital fulldome theater.
The installation of the fulldome solution was undertaken by staff at Children's City Planetarium following an intensive engineering training course at the Global Immersion headquarters in the South of England.
The Children’s City Science Center is an ‘infotainment’ facility in the Middle East. Exploring a wide range of sciences through interactive educational exhibits, children are exposed to, and engaged in, the latest immersive and interactive technologies ranging from 3D animation to audiovisual demonstrations. Since opening in March 2002, the 13.4 meter (44-feet), 102-seat planetarium has targeted five to fifteen year-old children with astronomy related presentations – both presenter-led and pre-rendered.
A custom Fidelity Bright [TM] solution has been supplied to the theater; consisting of six hand-selected, color-graded and matched projectiondesign(R) SXGA DLP(R) projectors. Using a rigorous optical mechanical technique, the solution design has been optimized to include an image distortion correction and pixel management system – facilitating a seamless, high fidelity projected image. The state-of-the-art Global Immersion Media Playback system is capable of playing uncompressed video and includes an automated backup and support system.
In a first for Global Immersion, Lead Engineer on the installation, Wesam Nabile, was flown to the United Kingdom from the Children's City Science Center to undergo a three-day training course at the Global Immersion offices. “This new approach being offered by us is to enable planetarium upgrade budgets to stretch that little bit further, and to give staff the option to maintain full control over their theater” says Martin Howe, Chief Executive of Global Immersion.
Graham Hodgson, Customer Support Manager at Global Immersion explained, “The design of our systems is so water-tight that we are able to fully plan and engineer the solution before we even begin shipping. Wesam was able to have one-to-one training with various departmental representatives from within Global, and then fly back out to Dubai and manage the installation of the fulldome system himself. Not one of our Engineers has had to go on-site to assist or support the project, the upgrade was successfully completed by the Planetarium staff within two and a half months of us delivering the hardware!”
Hodgson concludes “In addition to providing Children’s City with a turn-key, high-specification solution, we were able to offer a comprehensive training and support program that will ensure they fully realize the potential of their new theater - keeping within budget, this solution has provided a technologically advanced system package that will keep them ahead of the game in the immersive theater market.”
About Children’s City Science Center
Under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Children's City was opened in March 5th 2002. The Dubai-based Children's City is the first educational city in the UAE devoted to children between two and fifteen years old and allows young people to investigate, explore, play, discover, and learn about the world in which we live. The City is especially designed for children to interact and discover together as a family and within school groups. The center has several exhibits and programs focussing on applied sciences, nature, space exploration, human body, local and international culture, as well as a "children-under-five corner" and a planetarium.
About Global Immersion
With over ten years experience in the world of fulldome displays and scientific data visualisation, Global Immersion combines a broad range of proven technologies to create enthralling and exciting immersive theater. As a full-service team, they pull together exceptional theater design, advanced projection technologies, content production, user-friendly controls and advanced audio & lighting – all on a digital infrastructure.
Contact:
Beth Nicholas, Marketing Coordinator:
beth.nicholas@globalimmersion.com | 0203 004 6541
DLP is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments Fidelity Bright is a trademark of Global Immersion Ltd projectiondesign is a registered trademark of projectiondesign as
Image: Children's City Planetarium showing "Oasis in Space" by Spitz Inc. Image © Children's City Science Center
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The Future of FullDome: Pioneering a New Medium
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