Questions About IMERSA
Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science & Arts. We are a 501 C6, not-for-profit professional support organization specializing in the fulldome and dome theater industry.
WHAT'S FULLDOME?
Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video projection environments where the viewer is surrounded by the video projection in a hemispherical angle of view. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments. Even though astronomy is the most common topic, there are no content limitations and it’s now used also for entertaining shows and other hyper-realistic presentations. More from our Media partner Fulldome Database.
Have you been to a Planetarium recently? In the last two decades we have witnessed a dramatic convergence of technologies and techniques under the dome, fueled by the convergence of virtual reality, numerical simulation, 360 cinema and immersive performance arts. With their unique technologies and architecture, planetariums have greatly expanded their potential for transporting audiences to distant places or times.
The modern digital planetarium is designed as a gathering place for immersive storytelling, continuing their legacy of surrounding audiences with a virtual recreation of the night sky. Modern digital planetariums have real-time simulation software that recreates an interactive virtual universe inside the dome. These virtual environments allow audiences to gain direct experience about a place or phenomenon that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to observe in real life. Visualizations that dynamically show phenomena from multiple vantage points, coupled with a curriculum explicitly designed to address popular misconceptions, have become powerful educational tools.
Because of their size, fulldome theaters provide a visually immersive experience for large numbers of audience members, while other virtual reality technologies, such as head-mounted displays and CAVEs are limited to one or a few users. Everybody in the dome can experience the immersion without glasses or special devices. All of them can look around independently and preserve the fidelity and the context of the scenery. Audience members tell us that they enjoy the social atmosphere of the dome, interacting with presentations or in some instances with each other.
Large field of view and interaction with the content provided in order to create unique interactive narratives enhances learning processes because the spectators participate in collaborative group-based experiences in domes and spherical theaters where:
- video and audio truly surround the audience
- evoke an emotional response, through sensory deprivation, amplifying our awareness
- demand attention, masking distractions so the audience can easily follow the action
- present a unique sense of self awareness in time and space
By James Hyder Editor/Publisher, Large Format Examiner, IMERSA Media Partner
www.lfexaminer.com
SO WHAT DOES IMMERSIVE REALLY MEAN?
IMMERSION, THE STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS WHERE AN IMMERSANT'S AWARENESS OF PHYSICAL SELF IS DIMINISHED OR LOST BY BEING SURROUNDED IN AN ENGROSSING TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
The word has been applied to everything from handheld video games to ultra-high-res digital presentations projected on huge hemispherical domes with multi-channel audio. Virtual reality systems with head-mounted displays are considered immersive, as are so-called “caves,” research systems that surround one or two users with 3D images projected on the faces of an 8–10-foot cube.
Most writers on the subject agree that the essence of immersiveness is giving viewers the impression that they are actually in the place depicted by the presentation. This illusion depends on successfully fooling several senses, principally sight and hearing, and eliminating or reducing any cues that would tend to break the illusion.
The basic principle in creating a visually immersive experience is to fill the audience’s field of view. As everyone knows, the closer something is to you, the larger it appears to be, that is, the more of your field of view it fills. A larger object farther away can appear to be the same size as a smaller one that is closer.
So with an image projected on a screen, a smaller screen can be made to seem bigger simply by getting closer to it. As long as the image quality is high enough that the viewer doesn’t begin to see film grain, digital pixels, or other distracting artifacts, the experience is nearly, if not precisely, the same as seeing a larger screen from farther away. As we will see, almost all efforts to create immersive motion picture experiences have involved increasing the amount of information presented, with larger film frames, higher frame rates, or both.
We support an international community of professionals and enthusiasts, who create shared reality experiences in achieving the full potential of their chosen medium.
We advance the art and technology of shared reality in dome theaters, and the immersive ecosystem.
IMERSA is a driver and nexus for communication, collaboration, experimentation, discovery and promotion of inspirational group experiences in dome theaters.
Our home office is in Denver Colorado.
Our PO Box is; 11083, Englewood Colorado, USA 11083-80151
- DAN NEAFUS - CEO
- RYAN WYATT - Director and Vice President
- MICHAEL DAUT - Director and Vice President
- CAROLYN COLLINS PETERSEN - Director Emeritus
- KAREN RONEY - Secretary Treasurer
- JULIETA AGUILERA, PH.D - Director
- RUTH COALSON - Director
IMERSA supporters are; artists, teachers, innovators, designers, animators, producers, operators, creators, funders, entertainers, film-makers, photographers, videographers, presenters, scientists, and researchers.
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Immersive Media: digital technology or images that actively engage one's senses and may create an altered mental state: immersive media; immersive 3D environments. Also activity that occupies most of one's attention, time, or energy.
