Glossary — FulldomeFever

A full-sphere spatial audio format using spherical harmonics — the standard for professional dome audio.

Binaural Headphones

Regular stereo headphones with HRTF-processed audio to simulate 3D spatial sound for dome preview.

Channel-Based Audio

Traditional multichannel surround (5.1, 7.1) — fixed tracks for fixed speakers. The dome standard.

Cross-Reflectance

The light bounce problem in projection domes where bright areas wash out dark areas across the curved screen.

Evans & Sutherland's planetarium platform — from the first digital planetarium (1983) to Digistar 2025.

Digital Light Processing — micro-mirror projector technology dominant in fulldome venues.

The square fisheye frame format for fulldome content — circular projection within a 1:1 image.

Equirectangular

The 2:1 panoramic projection mapping the full sphere to a rectangle — standard for 360° video and VR.

Ultra-wide-angle optics that capture or project a hemispherical field of view.

Temporal resolution — why 60 fps is becoming the LED dome standard over traditional 30 fps.

Immersive dome-based video that fills the entire hemispherical surface — the format itself.

Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA)

3rd order+ Ambisonics (16+ channels) — the professional standard for precise dome spatial audio.

Laser Projection

Laser-phosphor and RGB laser illumination replacing lamp-based projectors in modern domes.

Direct-view LED display technology replacing projection — Cosm CX, MSG Sphere, RSA Cosmos.

Object-Based Audio

Dolby Atmos, d&b Soundscape — sounds positioned as spatial objects rendered to any speaker layout.

A dome theater originally for projecting the night sky — now an immersive canvas for science, art, entertainment.

Projection Blending

Multi-projector edge blending to create seamless imagery across the dome surface.

Real-Time Rendering

Live visual generation using TouchDesigner, Unreal Engine, Unity for interactive dome content.

Spatial resolution in domes — pixel density, human eye limits, what matters on a curved screen.

The umbrella term for all 3D audio in domes — Ambisonics, WFS, object-based, channel-based.

Node-based visual programming for real-time fulldome content and live dome performances.

Unreal Engine for Dome

Using Epic Games' Unreal Engine for fulldome content — highest visual fidelity available.

Wave Field Synthesis

Dense speaker arrays that physically reconstruct sound waves — creating acoustic holograms in space.