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Sphere Project Example
Resolution
While important, resolution alone does not guarantee good image quality. Color saturation, contrast, and frame rate are equally and sometimes even more important than raw pixel count.
Color Saturation: Laser and LED light engines have improved the color saturation of single chip DLP projectors so that they now rival 3-chip projectors. All OmniFocus systems offer excellent color saturation.
Contrast: All projection systems project some light, even for black. This is known as “video black”. Typically, this is only important for blended multi-projector solutions and dark images (i.e. stars in the night sky). When the image is bright, the contrast is limited by cross-illumination from one side of the screen to the other. Elumenati’s LED products offer great LED color saturation while eliminating video black and cross illumination for fantastic image contrast.
Resolution and Frame Rate: Can HD be higher resolution than 4K? The answer is yes. If an HD display is run at 120 Hz frame rate and the 4K at only 60 Hz, the lower resolution display will offer better resolution for any object moving faster than 2.5°/sec. For perspective, that object would need 72 seconds to sweep across the 180° of a GeoDome Portal!
Rule #1: For all projection environments, controlling ambient light is more cost effective and results in better image quality than simply using brighter projection.
GeoDome Globes are fully exposed to the ambient light of the room. We classify our options by appropriate room brightness. The ambient light categories are:
- Bright (40 ft-L): Corporate lobby, airport
- Dim (25 ft-L): Hotel lobby, museum exhibit, restaurant
- Dark (15 ft-L): Enclosed, full light control.
Rule #1: For all projection environments, controlling ambient light is more cost effective and results in better image quality than simply using brighter projection.
GeoDome Evolver installations have the good fortune of complete light control. As a way of comparison, old analog planetariums typically offered screen brightness levels just below 1.0 ft-L. Because of this, we chose a minimum screen brightness standard of 2.0 ft-L. The following chart shows the maximum dome diameter recommended for each Elumenati projection solution.
Brightness
Rule #1: For all projection environments, controlling ambient light is more cost effective and results in better image quality than simply using brighter projection.
The Theater is the only OpenDome screen that can tolerate bright spaces. It does so by blocking out all the light. The Portal and Panorama screens must be in a light controlled environment. The level of lighting however is only one factor. The distribution is also very important. Spotlights can cast very strong shadows onto an OpenDome screen tremendously degrading the overall image quality. The ambient light tolerance presented in the design options assumes even ambience with no hard shadows from point sources.