Screenberry servers drive dome projections at the CULTVR Lab

Award-winning creative studio 4Pi Productions chose Screenberry media servers to drive dome projection at CULTVR - Europe’s first immersive arts lab.

4Pi Productions started using Screenberry back in 2013, when they obtained a media server with automatic calibration for their mobile 7m dome used for ‘The Dance Dome’ project. The art collective travelled with it around the world, delivering immersive experiences to the public.

Now, the 4Pi Productions team is using three Screenberry media servers at their new art venue CULTVR Lab, which opened in 2019 in Cardiff, Wales. The Lab is the first venue of its kind in Europe. It creates an environment for artists, technologists, movie and theater makers, academics, and performers to come together to explore the capabilities of the fulldome medium and immersive storytelling. It also serves as a venue for events such as live concerts and presentations.

The Screenberry servers power 12m, 6m, and 3m negative pressure domes manufactured by Front Pictures. 4Pi Productions is using the servers to automatically calibrate projection, drive 360 playback, capture and output live VJing on a dome, and review their 360˚ content right on spot.

“The extreme versatility of the software has allowed us to broaden the horizon of our projection system beyond 180º. The regular updates keep adding new functionality and features, we know that we haven’t even touched the edges of Screenberry’s fulldome functionality yet in terms of what we can do,” says Wright.

According to Wright, Screenberry also makes fulldome systems more accessible. Its hybrid graphics-processing engine makes the most efficient use of available hardware. Meanwhile, its automatic camera-based calibration achieves great image quality even with consumer-grade projectors.