Summarized from a discussion panel
"Planetarium Standards: Elevating the Profession"
presented at the International Planetarium Society conference
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 11 July 2000
© 2000, Loch Ness Productions.

The issue of standardization, or the lack of it, is of particular concern to us at Loch Ness Productions, perhaps more so than any individual planetarium or supplier. Planetarium shows are a prime focus of our business. Since 1980, our shows have been presented in planetarium theaters around the world, large and small. We'd like nothing better than to be able to provide a show package to our customers that didn't require hours of adaptation, reworking, and programming in order to present.

But, unlike movie theaters, we can't provide a single, usable "print" of our product that's the same for all our customers, because virtually no two planetaria are alike.

They have different slide projector arrays, different audio configurations, and different ways of controlling everything. Some theaters have tilted domes, some are level. Some properly have front-facing seats, others have the horrid "in the round" concentric seating. Some theaters have video projectors, some don't. Some have panoramas, but they're arrayed in different numbers and configurations from the next theater. Some have all-sky projector systems, with different lenses on the projectors from the next theater. Some star projectors are monochrome; others display colors. Some theaters have their planetarium projectors on elevators, to lower them so they're not in the slide projectors' way casting shadows; others have to "aim around the machine in the center".

How can we as planetarium show producers possibly provide show package materials with all the inconsistent and incompatible setups out there? With all the variations of theaters, nothing is universal beyond the generic slide show for the "lowest common denominator". When we start to include panoramas, all-skies, and video, planetarians whose theaters don't have the capability (or a differing layout) are left to fend for themselves -- either incurring additional expense for customization and adaptation, or simply "making do and hoping no one will notice".

While there are many more issues that standardization can address, in this presentation we'll concentrate on three main areas that concern us as show producers: