Musion Eyeliner

Visited Musion Systems in London yesterday for a site visit and demonstration of the Musion Eyeliner system. A commercial application of the Pepper's Ghost concept. This was the most impressive demonstration I have seen to date. Full 3D hollographic projection. Animated charicters interacting with real life actors, Dynamic scientific visualizations and Live Action illusions unlike anything I have seen. This product looks amazing on film, It is 100 times more impressive in person. Fantastic applications for immersive theater.

Ambient Experience

Philips amBX is a product for "ambient experience" technology for home entertainment. Combining recently available hardware (Germany, Holland currently, US and UK by Christmas)
amBX is also features a "state of the art" language and authoring tools developed out of the Redhill, Surrey UK - Philips Research Lab. I will be here for the next 7 weeks working with their development and creative teams. My first project will be to amBX enable the "Spaghetti Circus Pirates Film". The Authoring tool (all be it in a developing form) is fantastic. To give you an Idea, I have made a first pass of the 90 minute film in the last 48 hours. Tomorrow I will see my efforts in their amBX demo room.

My Favorite part are the Fans and Rumbler's... Much more to come as I begin working on new concepts in Immersive Theater. I am here for 8 weeks.

Pittsburgh

2 full weeks spent in Pittsburgh... Working at ETC on my new Immersive FullDome Arena Theater concept... much more to come as soon as I am allowed to talk about it. Exciting visit to see freinds and catch up with colluges and faculty on Main Campus. Had a delightful time seeing my old stomping grounds and ofcourse The Hkan... great people, good food, beautiful shisha, and now a fantastic selection of micro-brews. Good times. Nothing particurally Immersive in my visit... but the fantastic news is that the Immersive Theater Institute looks like it will continue to have life. I am now pretty much finished with my Masters Degree and I will become staff at ETC following graduation in November. Did get to visit The Earth Theater at the Carnegie Museam of History which was very exciting. Also help to put up an inflatable 5m Dome...

California

California was very interesting. I spent most of the time at High End Systems LA, but also had a chance to visit with Dan Green, former president of the CMU Drama West Coast Alumni Clan. He and his TV Scripting partner Mark (who you may recognize from 24) met with me for lunch in Beverly Hills. Lots shared and talked about...

I also had a chance to visit Zula USA to speak with them about the ETC. I took a trip down to Sandiego for one weekend to visit an old Friend of mine and we ended up at Airport, a Lounge Club in little Italy. Set directly underneath the landing flightpath to Linburgh Filed, this amazing club features on of the most advanced "themed" design and projection aspects immaginable. incredible spot. Once in the Garden it is fantastic to experience the acoustical sensation of a 737 flying directly overhead at a height of only a few hundred feet overhead, this happens every few minutes and reminded me of a conversation i recently had with an Acoustician on the human perception of large sounds and deep frequences. A Highly attractive and moving immersive experience. Airport also features very well done projection and LED lighting set up. Excelent work.

Digtial Lighting

For the past several weeks I have been in Los Angeles undertaking courses at High End Systems The Courses have included WholeHog Lighting Software and Desks, DL.2 Dynamic Digital Lighting/Projection System, and a technical certification for their entire line of moving luminaries including the all new ShowGun. This training has been fantastic and incredibly informative. The possibilities for the use of this technology within the context of Immersive Theater is fairly obvious. The Path it has led me down is to begin forming a concept for interactivity with dynamic digital projection systems. I am beginning conversations with High End System CTO about this concept, the results should be very interesting.

Acoustical Immersion

This week I had a meeting with an Acoustical Engineer at Kirkegaard in Boulder, CO to discuss the immersive properties of sound. Among our discussions was speaker placement and configuration for various types of spaces. The challenges of immerisve sound in Dome environments. "Immerison Jocky's" and their anologe counterparts Organists. Among his suggestions was that I speak to Organ Builders about their discussions on sound color, placement, and filling spaces with auditory illusions. Very Interesting. On to LA tomorrow. Where I will be exploring the world of Digital Lighting and Dynamic Digital Projection Systems.

Rainbows are Visions

I have been doing some reading this week on Rainbows, the science of optics, the myths and legends, the universality of the human appreciation of this immersive experience. As I continue to develop this blog on Synesthetic Media it seems important to look to the history of 'perceptive experience' and comment on ways in which our world provides natural analog illusion and wonder. As we look to become the creators of new immerive experiences we must look at how we can come even closer to the synesthesia of color and imagination which is transformed in our appreciation of the synthesis of light and water. One of the most interesting things I have learned through this research is that a third tier of a rainbow is 140º from the anti-solar point, meaning in order to see one you have to look in the opposite direction to the first and second rainbow. In context to the Full Dome Cinema discussions from DomeFest (see below) this was quite revolutionary.

The Rainbow Book "Immensely popular book on rainbows and their significance; many contributors, hundreds of photos and illustrations, printed on multi-colored paper" Created for the 1975 Bay Area Rainbow Show by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and published by Shambhala Puplications in Berkeley.

This book goes into great depth and understand through essays to describe all of mythological, cultural, artistic, and scientific knowledge on the human experience of rainbows and aura light phenomenon. Check it out and grab a copy if you see it as this book is no longer in print.