For a substantial stretch of my media‑production career, I was all in on non‑planar projection—figuring out how to make these unconventional surfaces come alive with visuals that truly pulled audiences in. Alongside my colleagues at Spitz, Inc. (formerly Spitz Space Systems), my production company at the time, amalgamation house, animated multiple programs for this emerging medium as it transformed—rapidly—from partial‑dome shows to fully immersive 360° experiences.
It’s also crucial to address a gnarly challenge: how to present imagery that’s been geometrically conformed to the required fisheye (“polar projection”) distortion. When that content is displayed in a flat, planar format, it can feel visually “off” to anyone who isn’t familiar with the intended end format—especially when viewed on standard flatscreens.
What’s fascinating is that, after months of working with these “weird” frames, you develop a kind of visual fluency—you learn how to read them and mentally reconstruct what they’ll feel like in the dome. Until that intuition kicks in, though, producing content is tough unless you have regular access to a dome system for ongoing test projections throughout the production cycle.
Fulldome cubic projection projection explained: Courtesy of Brad Thompson, Spitz, Inc.
DomeStateChanges_ver.3.1 [2003]
A casual virtual tour through the history of domed architecture—spanning the many materials, technologies, and innovations that have shaped it. In other words: a fulldome video about domes. It turned out to be a great early experiment, letting us play with projection realism and bold graphic stylizations.
While public accolades aren’t my main focus, I’m happy to share that this fulldome piece was showcased in planetariums and domed theaters around the world. It was acknowledged by the fulldome community’s Audience Choice: “Domie” Award. I had the pleasure of directing an animation production team that included the wonderfully talented Chris Redmann, Kevin “Max” Callahan, and the quick-to-learn Drexel Digital Media students Jasper Zhang, David Abrams, and John A. Wasong.
Percepts :: Precepts [2005]