JPH10123939A - Fixed star projector for planetarium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable erasing an overlapped projected fixed star image, for example, in the case where a image projected and a projected fixed star image overlap each other, by arranging a projecting plate for generating an optional transmissive pattern by an electrooptical effect on a projecting optical system. SOLUTION: The fixed star projector 10 is arranged on every surface which is obtained by dividing the whole sky, and a fixed stars sphere is constituted of the aggregation of these. Light emitted from a light source 11 is condensed by a condensing lens 12, and transmitted through the transmissive pattern of a star projecting plate 20, then, a transmitted image is obtained, the transmitted image is projected on a doom screen D by a projecting lens group 14 as a projected fixed star image. As for the star projecting plate 20, the optional transmissive pattern is generated by using an electro-optic element which changes the optical characteristics when the electric field is impressed, and in this case, a liquid crystal element is in use. It is judged by a planetarium controller whether or not the projected fixed star image and the other projected image overlap each other, and fixed star shield information is calculated by the controller, and information on the transmission pattern for the fixed star is corrected so as to shield the transmissive pattern for an optional fixed star.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a planetarium stellar projector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a planetarium has the essence of reproducing a starry sky by projecting an image of a star from a star projector onto a dome surface (a screen, hereinafter both are defined as synonymous terms). I do. In this case, the stellar projection is performed by dividing the whole sky into 32 planes and using a stellar sphere having a total of 32 stellar projection devices including a condenser lens, a stellar projection original plate, and a projection lens. Here, the stellar projection master is a master representing the stellar image of the surface to be reproduced, and the stellar image is composed of pores drilled on the opaque original, and the light from the light source passes through these pores By doing so, a stellar image is projected. In other words, the stellar image is projected on the dome surface as a lump, using the stellar projection master of each stellar projection device as a unit.

[0003] On the other hand, a planetarium has a planetary projection device for projecting a planet separately from a star, and a skyline projection device for projecting a landscape such as the ground, a constellation picture, a nebula, a star cluster, etc. In recent years, video projectors and slide projectors for projecting natural phenomena occurring in the sky, such as lightning and aurora, and artificial objects, such as spaceships, have been provided. .

[0004]

As described above, the current planetarium has various types of projectors in addition to the star projector, but when these are used simultaneously with the star projector, these projected images are projected on the dome surface. Coincided with the projected image of the star. Needless to say, the projected images reproduced by these projection devices are almost always located ahead of the stars in the natural world, so that it is unnatural to project the stars superimposed on these projected images.

However, as described above, a stellar image is projected on the dome surface as a unit using the stellar projection original plate of each stellar projection device as a unit, so that a projected image of a specific stellar can be erased. Did not. In addition, the projection image of the star is based on the movement of the stellar sphere containing the star projection device (diurnal,
(The precession, latitude, and horizontal), the dome surface is moved every moment, and the projection image projected from various projection devices also moves on the dome surface at random, and in the case of a moving image, the shape of the projection image itself also changes. Therefore, it is impractical to create a stellar image of a stellar projection original plate by assuming overlapping projected images in advance.

On the other hand, a stellar projection original plate has a structure in which a projection image of each stellar is obtained by a fine hole, so that the diameter of the hole is changed or a filter is used in order to represent a stellar class difference (for example, Needless to say, the grade differences expressed by these were fixed and could not be varied as required.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a stellar projection apparatus which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and which projects an arbitrary transmission pattern by an electro-optic effect. A stellar image is projected by disposing an original plate on a projection optical system.

Therefore, according to the present invention, an arbitrary transmission pattern can be generated in a stellar image. For example, when a projection image of a star and another projection device overlap, it is possible to erase the projection image of the overlapping star. Produces an effect.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an optical system of the stellar projection device 10 according to the present invention. As described above, the stellar projection device 10 is arranged for each surface obtained by dividing the whole sky, and a stellar sphere is constituted by a set of these. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a light source such as a light bulb. Light from the light source 11 is condensed by a condenser lens 12 and passes through a transmission pattern of a stellar projection original plate 20 to obtain a transmission image. The projection lens group 14 projects the image on the dome surface D as a stellar projection image.

The stellar projection original plate 20 generates an arbitrary transmission pattern using an electro-optical element whose optical properties change when an electric field is applied. In this embodiment, a liquid crystal element is used.

Needless to say, the transmission pattern of each star represented on the star projection original plate in the planetarium must be astronomically accurate, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide an arbitrary pattern due to the electro-optic effect. In other words, the transmission pattern of an arbitrary star can be blocked if necessary. Next, a method of specifying a transmission pattern of an arbitrary star in the transmission patterns will be described. As is well known, in a liquid crystal, a pixel formed by an intersection of an X electrode and a Y electrode is arranged in an arbitrary display state (here, an X electrode group and a Y electrode group that apply a voltage to an element are opposed to each other in a matrix). Transmission pattern). Here, since the transmission pattern is generated by specifying the address of each pixel, the transmission pattern of an arbitrary star can be easily specified.

As described above, according to the stellar projection device of the present invention, it is possible to erase the projected image of an arbitrary star. Hereinafter, a usage example of the stellar projection device and a configuration of a planetarium implementing the stellar projection device will be described. FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 are views showing an example of using the star projecting apparatus when concealing stars in accordance with a skyline scene. In the production of the planetarium, when the scene changes from evening to night, the sun sets to the west, the scene of the skyline switches from day to night, the sky darkens, and stars appear. As the sun moves, stars rise from the horizon and sink into the horizon. In this case, in the natural world, at the boundary between the skyline scene and the sky, the stars entering the skyline scene from the sky are hidden by the skyline scene, and the stars heading to the sky from the skyline scene become visible. Here, in a state where the Big Dipper A and other stars B1, B2, B3 and B4 are projected on the dome surface D by the star projection device (FIG. 4), a skyline scene P is projected by the skyline projection device. FIG. 5 shows that the projection of the stars B1, B2, B3, and B4 overlapping the scene P of the skyline is stopped by blocking a specific transmission pattern of the star projection original plate as shown in FIG.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show this stellar projection device as a planet,
It is a figure which shows the example used when concealing the stellar of the part which overlaps with images, such as the sun and the moon. In the production of the planetarium,
In some cases, a planet, the sun, the moon, etc. are projected simultaneously to a stellar scene. However, hitherto, when a projected image of a planet, the sun, the moon, and the like is projected on a star, the star cannot be hidden and projected as in the natural world. Here, the Big Dipper A on the dome surface D by the stellar projector
FIG. 7 shows a state where the sun T is projected by the planetary projection device (FIG. 8) in a state where is projected (FIG. 7);
As shown in FIG. 9, the projection of the stars A1 and A2 overlapping the projection image of the sun T in the Big Dipper A is stopped by blocking a specific transmission pattern of the star projection original plate.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a planetarium in which this stellar projection device is implemented. In this planetarium, control information calculated by the planetarium control device 2 is converted into drive information of each projection device in the planetarium drive control device 3, and connected to the star projection device 10, the skyline projection device 6, the planetary projection device 7 is driven. At the same time, the planetarium drive control device 3 simultaneously controls the star projection master plate 20 of the star projection device 10.
The transmission pattern information of the stellar is calculated here, and this is sent to the liquid crystal drive information calculation device 21.
Upon receiving this, the liquid crystal drive information calculation device 21 calculates which address of the star projection original plate 20 should be turned ON / OFF, sends drive information to the liquid crystal drive device 22, and generates an arbitrary star image. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an operator console for operating the planetarium, from which an operation instruction is sent to the planetarium control device 2. In the figure, reference numeral 4 denotes a video projector for projecting a moving image, and reference numeral 5 denotes a slide projector for projecting a still image.

In the above, the position information of the projected image of the star projected on the dome surface is sent from the star projection device 10 to the planetarium control device 2, and the skyline projection device 6, the planetary projection device 7, the video projector 4, the slide The position information of each projected image projected on the dome is also sent from the projector 5 to the planetarium control device 2. Then, the planetarium control device 2 determines the overlap between the projected image of the star and the other projected images, calculates the shielding information of the star, and corrects the transmission pattern information of the star so as to block the transmission pattern of an arbitrary star. I do.

Next, a procedure for detecting an overlap between a projected image of a star and another projected image and blocking a transmission pattern of an arbitrary star will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. (Procedure S1) The position coordinates of each star image on the star projection original plate of the star projection apparatus corresponding to each surface divided to project the star on the whole sky are set as the origin and the position with the sky coordinates as the origin (when using the vernal equinox Is determined) and the coordinates are stored. In this case, the position of each stellar image with respect to the stellar projection original plate can be naturally specified because the transmission pattern itself is controlled by the planetarium control device, and the momentum of the stellar projection original plate itself is expressed as the momentum of each movement axis of the stellar sphere by the planetarium. Since the detection can be performed by the control device, the coordinates of each stellar image that moves every moment can be calculated as a result.

(Procedure S2) The coordinates of the boundary line between the picture and the sky portion of various projection devices other than the stellar projection device are set as the origin and the position where the sky coordinates are set as the origin (the vernal equinox is often used).
Decide and store the coordinates. In addition, as a method of obtaining a border of a picture, a method of separating a picture into a sky part and a picture part and binarizing it along the border line, obtaining a distribution of transmittance (or brightness) of a projection original plate, A method of setting a threshold value based on a difference in density between a part and a picture part may be used. In this case, in the case of a still image such as a planetary projection device, a skyline projection device, or various slide projectors, the position can be specified in advance because each pattern is fixed with respect to the projection master, and the momentum of the projection master itself is different from that of the projection device. Since the momentum of the movement axis can be detected by the planetarium control device, it is possible to calculate the coordinates of various projected images that move every moment as a result. or,
Even when the projected image is a moving image, for example, when a digital image is projected by a projection apparatus using a CRT as a projection base, the position of each pattern that changes with respect to the projection base can be specified as digital information. Since the momentum of the projection original plate itself can be detected by the planetarium control device as the momentum of each motion axis of the projection device, the coordinates of various projected images that change and move every moment can be calculated as a result. Further, in the case of a projected image projected by another type of projection device, it is necessary to devise a method of scanning the image of the projected original plate image and detecting the position of the picture in real time.

(Procedure S3) It is determined whether or not the projected image of the star and other projected images overlap on the dome surface.

(Step S4) Whether it is necessary to block the projected images of the overlapping stars in accordance with an instruction from the console or a preset program (for example, if another projected image exists in the natural world behind the stars) In this case, the star is not shielded) and the shielding information is calculated.

(Step S5) The transmission pattern information of the star is corrected so as to block the transmission pattern of an arbitrary star.

(Procedure S6) The control data is sent to the liquid crystal driving device, and the transmission pattern of an arbitrary star is blocked by changing the transmittance of an arbitrary pixel of the original stellar projection plate.

The above is an embodiment for using the stellar projection apparatus of the present invention to prevent a projected image of a star from overlapping another projected image. It is to be noted that this stellar projection apparatus can be used for the following applications. Add it. By setting the transmission pattern corresponding to each star image to an arbitrary transmittance, the magnitude of the star is expressed. This makes it possible to accurately reproduce magnitudes and also to reproduce changes such as novae.

In the transmission pattern corresponding to each star image, the color of the star is expressed by selecting a filter effect of an arbitrary color tone. In addition to accurately reproducing the colors of real stars in the natural world, it is also possible to point out a specific star in a description of a planetarium program, to color the star itself instead of a pointer, or to explain the constellation Can be colored.

In addition to the transmission pattern corresponding to each stellar image,
By simultaneously generating images of constellation pictures, nebulae, the Milky Way, the pointer, and the like, it is possible to enhance the effect of production.

[0025]

According to the present invention having the above configuration,
The unnatural situation in which a projected image of a star is projected on another projected image is eliminated, and more accurate starry sky can be reproduced.

Also, since the brightness and color tone of a given star can be freely changed, it is possible to reproduce a more accurate starry sky close to the starry sky in the natural world. Can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a planetarium implementing a stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an optical system of the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a planetarium implementing the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of use of the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of using the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of using the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of using the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of using the stellar projection device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a dome surface showing an example of using the stellar projection device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 stellar projection device 20 stellar projection master

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A stellar projection device in a planetarium, wherein a stellar image is projected by arranging a stellar projection original plate that generates an arbitrary transmission pattern by an electro-optic effect on a projection optical system. 2. The stellar projection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an arbitrary transmittance can be selected in the transmission pattern. 3. The stellar projection device according to claim 1, wherein a filter effect of an arbitrary color tone can be selected in the transmission pattern. 4. When an image projected by a projector other than the star projector and another projected device of the planetarium and an image projected by a star projected by the star projector overlap on a screen, an arbitrary transmission pattern in the overlapped star is cut off. A stellar projection device for a planetarium according to any one of claims 1 to 3.