Bishop Planetarium, Florida, USA, celebrates grand re-opening with Barco
The South Florida Museum’s Bishop Planetarium officially reopened on 26 June 2005. Images projected on the screen will be from state-of-the-art Barco projection systems, which will immerse their audiences in breath-taking scenarios.
“After a year of intense planning, coordination, and integration the team led by Barco has delivered a technically advanced planetarium that meets the educational requirements set forth by the South Florida Museum,” says Hernan Rodriguez, Director of Edutainment Americas at Barco’s Simulation division. “In addition, the theater has been configured to provide the latest digital capabilities to maximize the use of this important resource to the Museum and all in the city of Bradenton who contributed and count on its success.”The Bishop Planetarium at the South Florida Museum reopened on 26 June 2005, supported by state-of-the-art Barco projection systems. The planetarium can accommodate 130 viewers who will witness various exciting shows, ranging from journeys through space to music shows. Making the images possible are seven Barco SIM 4 DLP projectors, configured to paint a blended, seamless image on the entire dome. Six of the Barco projectors are located around the perimeter of the dome to create a panoramic image, and one is positioned at the interior of the perimeter to project the Zenith field-of-view for optimum balance of brightness and blending. An eighth projector, a Barco Galaxy WARP projector, creates a 30 ft x 20 ft image for videos, slides, and PowerPoint presentations.
“We are excited to count the Bishop planetarium as one of our latest installations, and we thank our partners for the service and hard work that delivered the quality so evident in the planetarium,” continues Hernan. “We thank the South Florida Museum senior staff, in particular John Howard and Alan Haines, for their active participation and leadership. Their cooperation was vital to the success of the project.”
Barco partnered with Sky-Skan to provide DigitalSky – the real-time digital planetarium and 3D graphics system. This state-of-the-art system from Sky-Skan consists of a versatile content development and image generation platform, capable of presenting high-definition video, real-time 3D graphics, and high-performance digital surround sound. Barco also partnered with Astro-Tec to provide the high-quality, seamless perforated dome screen.
For accurate alignment of all projected images and easy maintenance, the Barco digital dome system includes laser array alignment units, placed immediately underneath the projectors. These lasers project reference points on the dome, allowing for accurate adjustment and periodic re-alignment of the projection system.
The digital dome system is also equipped with Barco’s xRACU – a revolutionary solution that streamlines the set-up and control of the multiple projection system. The xRACU can simultaneously control up to 32 projectors and makes several projectors appear as a single projector to the user. The unit instantly detects the projector type, location, and when a projector is replaced, and it automatically downloads its display parameters. The Barco xRACU is “future proof,” using a common interface across all projector types and technologies including projectors not yet on the drawing board – and is backwards compatible.
About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, provides visualization and display solutions for professional markets. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco is active worldwide and has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco is quoted on Euronext Brussels and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company (Euronext: BAR; Reuters: BARBt.BR; Bloomberg: BAR BB).
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About the South Florida Museum
The South Florida Museum is the largest natural and cultural history museum on Florida's Gulf Coast. The museum is also home to the oldest manatee in the world born in captivity, who celebrated his 56th birthday in July. Snooty, as he is called, is the official mascot of Manatee County.
About Sky-Skan
For over 35 years, Sky-Skan has been the world's leading provider of media technologies and facility design for domed theaters. Sky-Skan's products and services include their trademark SPICE Automation Show Control System, SkyVision full dome video projection and DigitalSky digital planetarium systems, as well as complete turn-key facility design and construction management services.
There are over two dozen permanent SkyVision installations completed to date and over 300 SPICE Theater Automation systems installed in planetaria, large format film theaters, domed media theaters, museums and science centers around the world.
Sky-Skan is the only planetarium equipment supplier to maintain sales, production facilities and technical support services in Australia. Its other sales, production and technical offices are located in Nashua, NH, USA and Munich, Germany.
About Astro-Tec
Astro-Tec Mfg., Inc. is recognized around the world as the leader in design and manufacturer of projection screen equipment. Astro-Tec domes are fabricated of structural aluminum components and are installed by expert Astro-Tec supervisors. The dome is designed to achieve outstanding acoustics and maintain its shape when suspended from chains or mounted to a load-bearing wall. Astro-Tec developed and utilizes a patented seam technology and has recently developed the ultimate seam technology which is used on the horizontal seam. Both technologies combined, virtually renders the projection surface with a seamless appearance under most projection techniques. Our clients include school systems, colleges, universities, major museums and science centers. Astro-Tec was incorporated in 1963 and with 41 plus years of experience in the manufacturing of projection domes has made us a leading producer of screens in the world.
