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Rocket City Takes Off with World-Class Planetarium Huntsville embraces RGB laser Rocket City takes off with world-class planetarium By Judith Rubin “Huntsville deserves a world-class plan- tie, who specializes in custom solution devel- a knife—the black sky of the Milky Way etarium,” said U.S. Space & Rocket Center opment for immersive visualization systems providing a brilliant backdrop to the colorful (USSRC) CEO and Executive Director Deborah including giant screen, dome theaters, and 3D Earth,” wrote Paul Gattis, who attended and Barnhart at the ribbon cutting for the new, visualization centers. reported on the opening for AL.com. 248-seat INTUITIVE® Planetarium on Feb 28, Since its rollout, the Christie D4K40-RGB E&S quickly snapped up 10 of the new 2019. And now they’ve got one. projector has been singled out for high marks projectors: five to install at its corporate head- Named for its investor—local aerospace and multiple awards in the AV community quarters in Salt Lake City for planetarium and engineering and analysis firm Intuitive with respect to color, brightness, versatility dome cinema demonstrations, and five for Research and Technology Corporation—the and form factor. RGB laser projection tech- the USSRC installation, an E&S ESX 8K system new planetarium takes USSRC from analog nology, also called true or pure laser, uses indi- that integrates the Christie projectors with to cutting-edge digital, and from film dome vidual red, green, and blue lasers to generate to fulldome. By virtue of the custom technol- ideal light. This is unlike the more commonly ogy package supplied by Evans & Sutherland known laser phosphor projectors and key to (E&S), notably featuring five brand-new Chris- the ability of RGB laser projection to deliver tie D4K40-RGB laser projectors, this venue is a the expanded color gamut known as Rec. pioneering example of RGB laser projection in 2020 (explained in more detail below). planetariums, a new standard-setter in many “At the INTUITIVE planetarium, they’re ways and for multiple markets. learning to take full advantage of all these “We hope everybody will go and see this colors—making it possible for audiences to installation to witness the astonishing capa- see deeper into the cosmos, to see things that bility of these projectors and this system,” said were not visible before,” said Boyer. Doug Boyer, senior account manager at Chris- “The images on the screen are sharper than The Christie D4K40-RGB projector 32 Planetarian Vol 48 No 3 September 2019 Facing page: The U.S. Space & Rocket Center from the air, showing off the scale of the Saturn series rocket; exterior of the new INTUITIVE Planetarium. This page: inside the dome during the VIP evening. All photos courtesy USSRC unless otherwise noted. Replacing giant-screen new projectors are installed in a ring over- film systems head, replacing the single, massive film projec- As digital dome projection tor that formerly sat in the middle of the systems continue to improve, auditorium. As Johnson said, “One benefit of they find more applications. In the redesign was the ability to add premium addition to planetarium upgrades, quality seats in the center of the theater after they are increasingly embraced the IMAX projector was removed.” Digistar 6 and a Spitz Nanoseam™ screen to fill by themed entertainment operators for the entirety of the planetarium’s 67-foot diam- immersive, media-based experiences, and by Projector bragging rights Christie has rolled out two models repre- eter, 30-degree tilt dome. “Together with our museum and science center operators as a senting its second generation of RGB laser world-class alignment and blending system, versatile replacement for aging giant-screen technology: the Mirage SST and D4K40-RGB. the image looks stunning. We are excited to film dome systems. E&S has actively worked These are the result of considerable market be the first to offer this powerful new Chris- to fill the latter need with many successes, research and R&D aimed at raising the bar tie RGB laser technology to the market,” Presi- many of which use Christie projectors. The in many respects and designed to appeal to dent and Chief Operator Officer Kirk Johnson, INTUITIVE Planetarium is one of the newest large venues, planetariums, and domes. (The Evans & Sutherland. examples. D4K40-RGB is the all-in-one model installed According to Johnson, the relationship Journalist David Hitt summarized it aptly at USSRC, whereas the Mirage SST has a more between E&S and the USSRC developed in his report on the new planetarium for compact head and remote light source.) The through participation at various confer- Huntsville.org. “…the Rocket Center’s Space- product literature touts 40,000 lumens; all-in- ences for the planetarium and giant screen dome IMAX theater…was state-of-the-art itself one, energy efficient design; long lifespan and sectors organized by IPS, IMERSA, GSCA, and when it opened more than three decades ago. minimal maintenance; small form factor with others. E&S and Christie often collaborate It had its own impressive bit of technology—a no external chillers; optimal illumination to provide the industry with opportunities 70mm projector that went on to be one of the performance of 20,000 hours to 60% bright- to see their products and systems in action, last of its kind. Visiting the IMAX theater for ness; 5000:1 contrast ratio, frame rate up to 120 and in the past five years this has included classic space movie like Hail Columbia and The fps; new, patented, sealed optical path; operat- demonstrations and comparison shootouts Dream Is Alive was a rite of passage for genera- ing on single-phase 220V power and ability to at the Science Museum of Virginia, Rich- tions of students in Alabama and beyond. It deliver more than 90% of the Rec. 2020 color mond (2014); The Tech Museum, San Jose would take something special indeed to live space. (2015); Ontario Science Centre, Toronto (2016) up to that legacy. The INTUITIVE® Planetari- “From a user standpoint, the difference in and McWane Science Center in Birming- um is up for the task.” color performance is very noticeable,” said ham, Alabama (2018). “These demonstrations “The U.S. Space & Rocket Center wanted David Weigel, USSRC planetarium director. illustrated how the ESX and Digistar systems to replace their aging partial dome 1570 film “You can pick out every single star in a star could be used to fulfill the USSRC’s mission,” with a top-of-the-line 8K digital system,” said cluster. I have noticed that the color range said Johnson. Johnson. “E&S designed, engineered, and inte- on the screen can’t be quite reproduced in Once the Rocket Center was ready for bids, grated the system in their facility, as well as photos—people’s everyday cameras don’t things moved quickly. “We began the bidding provided training and ongoing support to have the same range as these projectors.” process in January of 2018 and signed in May,” help USSRC bring astronomy and science Along with color, there are brightness and said Johnson. “The dome installation was education to audiences of all ages.” uniformity. Said Johnson: “The combined completed in December of 2018, and system Of the many benefits cited for the new brightness of the five projectors off the Spitz install was in February, followed not long system, a very noticeable one, is reclaim- after by the grand opening.” ing the sweet spot for audience use. The five (Continues on next page) Vol 48 No 3 September 2019 Planetarian 33 Having fun at the USSRC during the VIP Evening. NanoSeam was measured by our techni- the super bright projection,” adding that “the The conversation on color and cians at 4.5 foot-lamberts. This brightness is surround sound system can really rock the cross-reflection uniform across the entire dome image. The house.” Christie is keen for users to understand system brightness does not drop off nearly Johnson said, “E&S works closely with the leap in color capability facilitated by 50% towards the edges like a traditional film Christie as they develop new projector tech- RGB laser and has published resources or single digital projection system does.” nology. We not only have relationships with online, including the white paper by color “The projectors are amazing,” said Weigel. the sales team, but we maintain relation- scientist and entertainment specialist Matt “The depth and vibrancy of color and the ships with Christie engineering and product Cowan, co-founder of Entertainment Tech- clarity they provide are fantastic. The image is management and service. This close working nology Consultants, available at www. super bright, and yet the contrast is great. The relationship has enabled us to offer brand- christiedigital.com/techpapers/rec-2020- brightness is to the point where people can new technology right off the production line whitepaper.pdf and a free e-book, Illumi- take flash photography and it doesn’t ruin the and into USSRC’s theater.” nating ProAV available at christiedigital. experience for others. We can fully light the “E&S is very hands-on and knowledge- com/illuminationguide. Christie also hosts stage for special events and you really don’t able, especially in the planetarium space,” said color demo shootouts for first-hand, real-life lose that much on the dome at all because of Boyer. “Because it was a new product, prior comparison viewing of three color gamuts: to this install there was a lot of education up Rec. 2020 (facilitated by RGB laser) vs Rec. front, a lot of conversation between Christie’s 709 (associated with HDTV) and P3 (associat- project manager and the E&S tech team, as ed with DCI, the Digital Cinema Initiative).
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