Domemaster

What is it?

A domemaster is a square image frame that contains a circular fisheye projection representing the entire hemisphere visible inside a dome. It is the native mastering format for fulldome content — the equivalent of what a flat rectangular frame is to cinema.

The projection is an equidistant azimuthal (angular fisheye) mapping: the centre of the circle represents the zenith (top of the dome), the edge of the circle represents the horizon (springline), and angular distance from centre maps linearly to elevation angle.

Resolution Standards

Resolution	Frame Size	Use Case
2K	2048 × 2048	Portable domes, legacy systems
4K	4096 × 4096	Standard festival delivery, most planetariums
8K	8192 × 8192	High-end venues, LED domes, Cosm CX
16K	16384 × 16384	MSG Sphere, Cosm 12K venues

A 4K domemaster contains approximately 13.2 million active pixels (the circular area within the square). An 8K domemaster: ~52.6 million pixels.

Pixel Utilisation

Because the active image is circular within a square frame, roughly 21.5% of pixels are wasted (the four corners outside the circle). Some systems use truncated domemasters (half-dome projections) to improve pixel density for unidirectional theaters.

Working with Domemasters

Content is typically created in one of three ways:

1. 3D rendering — CG software (Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini) renders directly to domemaster using a fisheye camera
2. Conversion from equirectangular — 360° video is reprojected to domemaster using tools like ffmpeg or DaVinci Resolve
3. Live capture — fisheye lenses on cameras capture directly in dome-compatible projection

Delivery Specifications

See also: Equirectangular → · Fulldome → · Fisheye Lens → · Resolution →

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