The Sphere
mssv.net
mssv.net
The other problem was that the story, [Spoiler Alert] has an environmentalist theme but it was being told on the world’s largest LED screen in a giant air conditioned death star in the middle of the desert. I found this kind of ironic.
And the main message was "It's okay, we'll just go out and recreate Adam and Eve on other planets until Earth has had time to heal."
The guy who makes electric cars or the one that runs an online catalogue?
The visuals were so engaging that I had to look away to avoid motion sickness once or twice. My brain got used to it quickly. Totally worth the trip and fantastic. One complaint was the lack of bathrooms.
burying the lead here!
> https://www.thesphere.com/plan-your-visit/maps
By the way: In Firefox (127.0.2), Clicking the "View Map" button next to some map just opens an empty tab.
Of course you (likely) didn't. But since Firefox is quite popular among people who care about privacy on the internet (a relevant part of the HN audience), I gave this information as a kind of public service announcement (PSA) that might be relevant for the HN readers.
Tropical Islands Resort is a tropical water park (Germany): 690 feet wide and 351 feet high.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Islands_Resort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tropical_Islands_Halbe_14...
The height is nothing much, but the main factory is 2,607 ft (794 m) along the longest dimension.
I find Vegas pretty boring but this was worth the trip.
If it were in Cambridge I could understand the objections to the aesthetics. But this is Vegas! The style guide is basically just "go ham".
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403286/
The basic rule is... don't accelerate the camera, positionally or rotationally, basically ever. You can present constant velocity or rotation, but even then it's risky.
It takes a lot of discipline to not move the camera inappropriately in an environment like The Sphere. Hollywood people don't like to be told that the camera shouldn't pan, track, etc. But really, it shouldn't... unless you want a whole bunch of very uncomfortable, sad, sick people in the audience.
source: my sis got overwhelmed by the sphere's antics and was escorted out to that room. it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere on their website.
sis said it was a very jank experience overall but it did calm her down.
I think the choice of the movie was poor. People don't go to the Strip to see some dystopia thing. MSG needed to pick something actually entertaining.
At least they did not stick with the original name of "MSG Sphere" for the venue.
30 years ago, la geode already existed in Paris : https://www.lageode.fr/
I got good memories of this as a kid, and if you are in the area, it's definitely a must-do in the city. Especially since it's attached to one of the most fun science museums you'll get to visit with a lot of interactive bits.
I do want to get into the sphere to experience what 3 decades of progress have given us.
wikipedia says the geode is closed til september 2024 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_G%C3%A9ode.
what kinda shenangigans are going on there?
[1] https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panrama [2] https://vimeo.com/199136507 [3] https://www.panrama.net/pages/histoire.html [4] https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4htqhr
Seems like the author got the best non-VIP seat he could too. I wonder how the worst seat (or non-seat, like an isle) in there fares for immersion.
The sound system + sphere geometry is also interesting for similar reasons, you get good sound no matter where you sit. I even brought ear plugs because concerts are always too loud, but didn’t need them in the Sphere show, they seemed to use their ability to achieve uniform coverage to set the volume at loud enoug but non-ear-destroying levels. (The WP article also talks about the sound system.)
He said it was amazing.
Like the early IMAX, though, I'll bet making media for this sucker will be eye-wateringly expen$ive.
I know a lot of people who take acid in Vegas and I think a crazy fractal animation would look great on this device.
They have a dedicated camera with an amazing custom big sensor (77.5 mm x 75.6 mm with a 18024 x 17592 px resolution).
[1] https://theasc.com/articles/sphere-and-the-big-sky-camera
The point being made in context here is valid, about depth perception and immersion, but picking nits, to me this guess doesn’t feel right at all in terms of describing the viewing experience. The main viewing area is center front, opposite from the “good” seats in the middle, and there’s nothing within 20m of it, or even 50m I’d speculate. The good seats are probably 80m away, and most of the rest are further. No matter where you sit, the undistorted view is across from you, you tend to look away from the very closest part of the screen. So people on the sides might be close to their side of the screen, but are primarily looking at the stuff across from them and in the center front. The parts that are within 20m are designed to be periphery no matter where you are. Except for the floor, where I might have been within 20m, but I was looking at the band 20m away, and only looking at the screen for stuff much further.
Sounds like they're talking about the same thing. :)
Yeah, this sounds exactly like 'presence' for a seated VR experience. And I suppose for the same reason: no matter where you look, there the Sphere or VRHMD is.
IIRC the idea for a Sphere(tm) was dropped for London, but keeping "The" in the title, to their credit, does give them impression it is the "one and only".
Its the dry heat, so its really not that bad. The only thing that makes it bad is perception when rapidly changing from artificially cooled air conditioning. With this in mind I also found it perplexing he kept mentioning climate change, probably because he couldn't take the heat. If you get used to the climate you have substantially less need of environmental control factors like air conditioning, your appetite decreases to compensate for the heat, and instead your thirst for water (not sugary garbage) greatly increases. Those factors result in physiological changes that alters a person's perception to their natural environment, but whatever.
I have lived in Kuwait for several years and its tied with Death Valley, California as the hottest place where people live at around 129.3F. (The actual hottest place on the surface of this planet is the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia.) Yes, I promise, you can get used to 110F degree weather and be just fine for hours so long as you continually hydrate and protect your eyes and skin from excess sun exposure.
“It’s hot as hell in here.”
“Yeah, man, but it’s a dry heat”
The author calls the story of the film garbage, I think the article is garbage.
Such a pretentious collection of nonsense statements and non-questions.
> Given panoramas’ use as propaganda for war and colonialism, I don’t want to valorise the past or the present. It’s not hard to imagine incredible uses for the Sphere’s technology. But like the places it best simulates, the Sphere’s ultimate service may be as a refuge from the heat of the world.
lol
(All the air travel for tourism is another story, climate-wise, but that would apply regardless of whether it took place in the desert or anywhere else :P)