Simulating a virtual fisheye lens for the production of full-dome animations
Daniel Ott, Timothy A. Davis · 2007
With the development of new projector systems and high bandwidth computing, dome theaters are emerging that immerse the audience's visual senses with large, 180° field-of-view animations. These theaters are seeking new and exciting custom content from artists, yet the production of such content is technically cumbersome and time-consuming. This paper discusses popular methods for creating 3D dome animations and explains how to implement a virtual fisheye camera lens for commercial 3D rendering packages to simplify the production process. In addition, we provide a method for previewing dome animations in a virtual dome theater using 3D software. Using these techniques, artists can recover technical production time that can be better spent enhancing the overall quality of the final animation.