Six 4K Projectors Create Immersive Dome Experience at Morrison Planetarium

The Morrison Planeatarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is one of the largest all-digital full-dome planetariums in the world. Housed within the Academy's landmark Renzo Piano-designed building in Golden Gate Park, the planetarium seats 290 visitors beneath a 75-foot dome and presents immersive shows covering astronomy, earth science, and natural history.

Delivering a seamless, high-resolution image across the full interior of a 75-foot dome requires precise multi-projector calibration — one of the most technically demanding applications in professional AV. The installation was designed and integrated by Mechdyne, a specialist in immersive visualization and simulation environments with extensive experience in dome display systems.

The system uses six Sony 4K projectors, with warp and edge blending handled by Scalable Display Manager. Content is delivered by a 7thSense media server — one of the leading platforms for high-resolution dome content playback and show control. Together, the three components — Scalable's calibration layer, Sony's 4K projection hardware, and 7thSense's media server — form a tightly integrated visual pipeline that delivers the resolution and uniformity a world-class planetarium demands.

Scalable Display Manager's camera-based calibration ensures that all six projectors blend into a single seamless image across the dome surface, with consistent color and brightness throughout. Automated recalibration capabilities allow the system to be brought back to full accuracy quickly without specialized technician involvement — important for a facility that operates daily public shows.

The Morrison Planetarium installation was featured in Installation Magazine. Full coverage is available at the link below.