Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums
Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums
Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums
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Digital planetarium applications in<br />
powerdome.<br />
tors bringing their smartphone or other<br />
device with browser application can<br />
interact. The powerdome®WebInterface<br />
offers many ways of simultaneous interaction,<br />
e.g., in a quiz: Ask a question,<br />
and members of the audience can<br />
choose from several answers shown on<br />
their browser-capable devices. The correct<br />
answers are saved to a database,<br />
and a list of the best contestants will be<br />
shown on the dome.<br />
Another possible use is voting. Have<br />
your audience take part in a majority<br />
decision on which show or sequence to<br />
be played. Viewers can read descriptions<br />
on their smartphones and vote accordingly.<br />
The votes cast will be shown on<br />
the dome.<br />
The Web interface offers show producers<br />
novel capabilities to involve<br />
audiences. You can make use of freely<br />
available Web technologies such as SQL<br />
databases, php and Javascript for creating<br />
interactive show contents. We think<br />
that our powerdome®WebInterface is<br />
an extremely useful solution for remote<br />
control and an interesting approach to<br />
audience interaction.<br />
Extended integration of Uniview<br />
With the Uniview program package, users<br />
can expand their systems by a visualization<br />
platform for three-dimensional<br />
presentation of the observable universe.<br />
Powerdome® II offers the capability<br />
for all system commands admissible in<br />
Uniview to be placed on the timeline or<br />
actuated directly. This yields entirely new<br />
possibilities of integrating Uniview in the<br />
course of a show, among them the direct<br />
invocation of bookmarks, selection<br />
of time and place, and selection of a<br />
celestial body even before Uniview takes<br />
over. In this way, smooth transition from<br />
analog planetarium projection to the 3D<br />
sky and the combination of star projection<br />
with 3D effects can take place without<br />
the audience noticing any jump.<br />
Autocalibration<br />
Camera-based automatic geometry<br />
correction, originally developed for<br />
powerdome®VELVET, is now available<br />
for all other projection systems with<br />
mechanical masks. Autocalibration is<br />
not tied to powerdome® II but can be<br />
retrofitted to systems supplied earlier.<br />
Once it is installed, the user can effect<br />
geometry correction at any time. Autocalibration<br />
ensures consistent, exact adjustment,<br />
with the least time involved,<br />
and independent of the skill of a service<br />
engineer. For an eight-channel system,<br />
the procedure will take between 15<br />
and 30 minutes, depending on computer<br />
power. Once performed, the calibration<br />
need hardly ever be repeated. As<br />
a rule, readjustment is only necessary<br />
after maintenance work on individual<br />
projectors.<br />
Remote maintenance for powerdome<br />
and planetarium projectors<br />
For some years we offer remote maintenance<br />
services at a cost for powerdome<br />
systems and optical-mechanical<br />
planetarium projectors. On the user's request<br />
we access their selected computers<br />
for express help in case of questions<br />
or problems. We can collect log files<br />
from the systems or monitor projectors.<br />
Remote service is offered on a variety<br />
of levels – from online help in operation<br />
and maintenance to regular updating of<br />
powerdome and Windows.<br />
Since we introduced this scheme some<br />
years ago we have had positive responses<br />
from customers. If our specialists can<br />
have remote insight into customers’<br />
computers it is almost as if they sat right<br />
in front of them: They can diagnose<br />
and remedy faults, or be well prepared<br />
should a service trip become necessary<br />
nevertheless – a procedure that saves<br />
customers a lot of time and money.<br />
<strong>Innovation</strong> <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Planetariums</strong> 9, 2012<br />
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