Colombia. The Planetarium of Bogotá has just become the most advanced astronomical enclosure in Latin America with the renewal of its projection system that now includes two Christie Griffyn 4K32-RGB pure laser projectors managed by Christie Pandoras Box 8 and by the Christie Mystique camera-based alignment and recalibration solution.
In short, an integral Christie solution to which the planetarium has added the hiring of Christie Professional Services for preventive maintenance of the system.
After 52 years using opto-mechanical projection systems in its dome, with capacity for 376 people, the planetarium was looking for a technological leap that would allow its audience to live immersive experiences in the most realistic arts, science and technology and with the highest quality. "The starting point was clearly the resolution," recalled Carlos Molina, coordinator of the Planetarium of Bogotá, which is under the orbit of the District Institute of arts (Idartes) of the Mayor's Office of the Colombian capital.
"We needed 4K projectors, as most planetarium productions come in that resolution, but we also wanted an environmentally friendly solution that didn't use lamps, had greater durability of the light source and was more energy efficient, as is the case with the Griffyn. The equipment also offers us more vivid colors, better contrast and great light power (34,000 lumens) to cover our 23-meter dome, tripling the luminosity of our previous system."
Joaquín Gutiérrez, director of Bigvideo SAS, one of the companies that won the public tender for the supply and integration of the project in partnership with the companies Merge and AV Design, commented that the Griffyn "was the perfect choice for its versatility, cutting-edge technology, light power, resolution, size, weight and price, in addition to its possibility of being upgraded to 3D in the future".
Carlos Molina also highlighted the reliability of the Christie brand: "The use given to the projectors in our planetarium is very intensive, with eight or nine sessions per day using equipment with a high level of demand, and with Christie we feel safe thanks to the proven performance of its machines in the most demanding conditions".
The two Griffyn of the planetarium work in blending, one of them covering the northern hemisphere of the dome and the other the south, each bathing approximately 70% of the dome and thus achieving a suitable overlap for the necessary blending/warping. The projectors have been equipped with special Navitar lenses for projection on concave surface, which allows a homogeneous focus by 90%.
For the control of the projection, two Pandoras Box machines are used, specifically a Manager and a Server with the Pandoras Box 8 software, as well as the Christie Widget Designer tool to create custom applications. "Pandoras Box is a very robust solution that deals with the planetarium to launch the contents, also capturing double 4K signal at 60 hz from the Digistar 7 station, the astronomical software of Evans & Sutherland that was acquired for the project," said Joaquín Gutiérrez.
In addition, the Christie Mystique Large Scale Experience alignment and recalibration software has been installed, which allows the projectors to be aligned with ease. "This is a very versatile and robust solution to automate the warping and blending processes by allowing with a single click to align, calibrate and mix multi-projection matrices with great precision, in this case using three cameras," added the director of Bigvideo.
In turn, the Planetarium of Bogotá has contracted Christie Professional Services to prolong the life of its AV systems and make the most of its investment. "As it was an important investment in equipment, we were interested in having preventive maintenance and real-time monitoring of the system, as well as diagnoses and quick solutions to possible problems, to minimize downtime," explained Carlos Molina.
The truth is that the new projection system of the planetarium will turn the dome into a space full of alternatives, because in addition to pleasing astronomy fans with immersive trips to the galaxies, it will allow to project audiovisual, theatrical and musical samples, becoming a true immersive theater and a laboratory of audiovisual experimentation.
Diego López, general manager NOLA & Andean Region of Christie, concluded: "We are very happy that the Planetarium of Bogotá has trusted in the potential of Christie's integrated solutions to carry out its renovation. We are sure that they will help it position itself as one of the most modern astronomical enclosures in the world due to its state-of-the-art technology. We also want to thank our partners in this work for their enormous solidity, dedication and commitment to a project as avant-garde as this has been for the region."
