14 January 2008

The Transparent Sphere

Celestial Machination:


"A missionary of the Middle Ages even tells us that, in one of his voyages in search of the terrestrial paradise, he reached the horizon where the earth and the heavens met, and that he discovered a certain point where they were not joined together, and where, by stooping, he passed under the roof of the heavens.... And yet this vault has, in fact, no real existence!" - Camille Flammarion (1888)


Heaven:



The Cybersphere (2000):


- "Users who enter this spherical system—which represents a new approach to VR visualization—can walk, run, jump, or crawl in any direction, while at the same time being able to observe an all-encompassing virtual environment. In this article we describe where the Cybersphere fits in the world of virtual reality interfaces, and discuss ways it can be applied to a cross-sectional audience, ranging from simple component visualization to highly complex military simulations."

- "The relative position of each layer is offset to enable rigidity. Sandblasting (with a suitably fine medium) the inner surface of the polycarbonate layer solved the
problem of preparing the polycarbonate surface for back-projection of images.
This technique also eliminated the potential problem of internal reflections
within the sphere."

- "An observation window, immediately above the access
door, is also incorporated into the structure. A raised platform on one side of the
sphere support structure provides a means of entry into the projection sphere.
Motorized support pads are incorporated into the support structure design to
provide additional support for the projection sphere plus occupant when the air
supply is turned off."

from Cybersphere: the fully immersive spherical projection system (PDF)

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