07 June 2009

Building a scaled-dome for spherical mirror projection using Blender


Fiberglass skeleton of the custom-made dome

I started to build small-scalle dome with fiberglass pole segments (those used for tents), inspired by some models I've seen made with canes, dome tents and information from Paul Bourke's paper [1]. I also looked at geodesic dome constructions but they seem less portable. My plan is to construct something which weights around 10 kilos in total (very light for a dome) and which could be easily transported and will fit in my studio for testing purposes.

I need the following components:
  • Dome (in construction)
  • Video Projector (using for now a Mitsubishi LVP-S50, which I got years back in Akihabara).
  • 180 degree spherical mirror
  • MacbookPro rnuning Blender 2.49


Above the schematics inspired by Burke's implementation at the Laupheim dome, Germany (a 10 meter dome)

First I purchased a couple of camping tents which provided me with a total of 34 fiberglass segments. I still need another 75, according to my calculations.

The model will have a diameter of 263 cm and a height of 165 cm. Below some of my calculations on an excel marksheet:



Below some specs of the spherical security mirror I need:



Mitsubishi LVP-S50


Suspended from the ceiling (test)

[1] 'Using a spherical mirror for projection into immersive environments'. Paul Bourke; Swinburne University, Melbourne, Vic 3122, Australia