“Inventing a Collaborative Full Dome Production Course” by Bumgarner-Kirby

Beginning in the spring semester of 2006, ARTS Lab at the University of New Mexico began offering the world’s first full semester course in “Full Dome Production.” Students from Fine Arts as well as Science and Engineering backgrounds are required to work in collaborative teams to create and produce 1 to 3 minute large format digital video works designed to be projected in an immersive full dome multi-projection system.

Digital Full Dome Theaters exist predominately as Planetaria in Universities and Natural History Museums worldwide. LodeStar Astronomy Center built in 2000 at the New Mexico Natural History and Science Museum was the second digital domed theater of its kind in the world. LodeStar’s visionary director David Beining very soon turned to animation students at UNM seeking partnerships in full dome production. Beining encourages experimentation in the medium and is willing to entertain content ranging from his main mission content of public science education through fractal zooms, science viz, game development, artistic expression and student work. After several years of experimentation and collaboration on numerous small projects, UNM’s Arts Technology Center Digital Pueblo Project, supported through an NSF grant, began teaching high school students the basics of computer graphics through internships on small full dome projects.