The Museum's Science on a Sphere shows complex presentations on a 18 foot round screen. This data gives viewers an opportunity to experience:
“Create Your World”
Science on a Sphere Content Creation Contest
What is it?
Participants in our “Create Your World” contest are invited to create an image of something round.Just think of the possibilities….
- An artistic representation of Earth or a planet in our Solar System
- A natural history or cultural history event on Earth
- An object that is round, such as a basketball
- A science fiction or fantasy planet
- Anything else you can imagine!
The “Create Your World” contest is now open.Final entries must be received by the Museum of Natural History by 5:00 PM on Friday, September 28th.All participants will have their entry shown on Science on a Sphere during a special evening event at the Museum of Natural History during October.Winners will also be announced that week.
Entries are to be sent via email to Maggie MacIntyre (gov.ns.ca) or dropped off on a disk or flash drive to the Museum of Natural History.(Please note that disks and flash drives will not be returned to applicant.)
Final entries must be received by 5:00 PM on Friday, September 28th.
Entries should include the following:
- Name of artist(s) and age if entering Junior Category
- Image or animated sequence to be shown on Sphere.
- A short description of image or animated sequence.
Only one entry will be accepted per artist.Entry must not infringe on any Canadian copyright laws.
- Junior (Currently in Grade 12 or younger)
- Best Submission based on Science Fiction or Fantasy Genre
- Best Submission based on Natural History
- Best Static Image Submission
- Best Animated Submission
Logistics:
Science on a Sphere takes rectangular images and turns them into spherical projections.This contest allows applicants to make the rectangular image.The Museum of Natural History will then take the submitted images and write the required computer coding that will allow them to be projected on Science on a Sphere.
Image Types:There are two types of images that may be submitted for this contest.Prizes will be awarded for both types.
1)Static Image – A static image is a single PNG file.Once projected onto Science on Sphere, it will be possible to rotate the image.An example of this is a global image of Earth’s surface or the surface of a basketball.Static images do not include audio.
2)Animated Image – An animated image is either a series of PNG files or an MPEG4 file.An example of this would be our live weather dataset or the movie “Largest” – which plays on our sphere every hour during summer 2012.For an image sequence, SOS will display the images in sequence and play them like a movie across the entire sphere surface.MPEG4's allow for higher resolution and faster frame rates than image sequences. Transitions, special effects, and other computer graphics techniques can be added to a sequence through the use of off the shelf software like Final Cut Pro.Animated images can include audio.
File Names:File names must not contain any spaces or special characters.For image sequences, the images should be numbered in the order in which they should play.(i.e. image1.png, image2.png, image3.png, etc.)
Resolution:The images need to be plotted on an equatorial cylindrical equidistant projection. Many people just call this a simple lat/lon grid, where the image is twice as wide as it is high (rectangular).Static images are best viewed when using the resolution of 2048 pixels high by 4096 pixels wide.Animated images are best viewed at the resolution of 1024 pixels high by 2048 pixels wide.
File Format:Static images and image sequences should be submitted as PNG files.Animated Images should be submitted as PNG files or MPEG4 files.With MPEG4 files, render the video with the MPEG4 video codec at a minimum of 25 mbps. Just because a file has a .mp4 extension does not mean it will play perfectly on SOS. Be sure to check the codec that was used to render the file. The H.264 codec causes errors in the Science on a Sphere software.
Seams:Your image will form a seam where the two sides meet, at the top and at the bottom.It is important that the data should take up the whole image, with no borders or extra space around the edges. Even a pixel border will show up as a white seam! Try to get the data to match up at the edges of the image. If it doesn’t, a seam will appear where the mismatch happens and it won’t look seamless on the sphere. In addition to making sure that the data fills the entire frame, from 180° West to 180° East, also make sure that the data fills the entire frame from 90° South to 90° North. If there is missing data at the poles, fill in the area with a solid color or a basic land/ocean background to ensure that the dataset wraps properly around the sphere without stretching vertically.
Warping:As images will be projected on a spherical surface, warping is something to consider. The least amount of warping occurs near the equator, while the most warping occurs at the poles. Images can be tested for warping issues with programs such as Adobe After Effects’ CC Sphere or Photoshop’s 3D Sphere.
Animated Images: Animated images should have a run time of no more than 3 minutes.Series of images can easily play up to 15 frames per second.Please indicate if a specific frame per second rate is desired when submitting a series of images application.
Audio:Audio may only be included with animated images.Audio may be either a standalone file (for series of images) or embedded in the same MPEG4 file as the video.Audio files submitted as standalone files may be submitted as a MP3, MPEG4, WAV or AIF file.As with images, audio files must not infringe on any Canadian copyright laws.