IMAX CONTENTS

S.no.
PAGE NO.

TITLE

1.

Abstract

2.

Introduction

3.

What is an IMAX

4.

History of IMAX

5.

Technical aspects
5.1 Intent
5.2 The Lens
5.3 The Projector

6.

Sound in IMAX
6.1 Dome

7.

Applications of IMAX
7.1 IMAX 3D
7.2 IMAX HD
7.3 IMAX Digital 3D
7.4 Technical Specifications

8.

Conclusion

Abstract:
IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format created by
Canada's IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display
images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film
display systems available at the time. A standard IMAX screen is
22 m wide and 16.1 m high (72.6 ft x 52.8 ft), but can be larger.
As of 2008, IMAX is the most widely used system for large-format,
special-venue film presentations. As of March 2007, there were
280 IMAX theatres in 38 countries (60% of these are located in
Canada and the United States). Half of these are commercial
theatres and half are in educational venues. A variation of IMAX
DOME (originally called OMNIMAX), is designed for projection on
tilted dome screens. Films can also be projected in 3D with IMAX
3D. Hyderabad, India IMAX has the worlds largest display screen.
The biggest "IMAX Dome" is in the Liberty Science Center in
Jersey City, New Jersey. The world's largest IMAX 3D cinema
screen is located in Sydney, Australia.

Introduction:
The difference between the IMAX sound system and the
surround systems in conventional theaters is that the
typical IMAX screen is close to a conventional 4:3 aspect
ratio, but much, much bigger. So you have a great deal of
vertical, which gives you the opportunity to do a 'voice-ofGod' loudspeaker. IMAX system power varies depending
on the size of the room, but it is typically in the range of
12,500 watts. The power is not there for the loudness; it's
there for clarity and freedom from distortion. The
enclosures are three-way systems using components
custom-designed and manufactured to specifications and
combines

four

low-frequency

loudspeakers

in

cabinet with nested high- and mid-frequency horns.

each

What is an IMAX:
IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film
format created by
Canada's IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to
display images of
far greater size and resolution than conventional film
display systems.
A standard IMAX screen is 22 meters (72 ft) wide and
16.1 meters (53
ft) high, but can be larger. As of 2008, IMAX is the most
widely used
system for large-format, special-venue film presentations.
As of March
2007, there were 280 IMAX theatres in 38 countries (60%
of these are
located in Canada and the United States). Half of these
are commercial
theatres and half are in educational venues. A variation
of IMAX, IMAX

DOME (originally called OMNIMAX), is designed for

projection on tilted
dome screens. Films can also be projected in 3D with
IMAX 3D.

History :
The IMAX system was developed by four Canadians:
Graeme Ferguson,
Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr and William C. Shaw. During
Expo 67 in
ontreal, Quebec, Canada, In the Labyrinth, their multiprojector giantscreen system had a number of technical difficulties that
led them to
design a single-projector/single-camera system. Tiger
Child, the first

IMAX film, was demonstrated at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.

The first
permanent IMAX system was set up in Toronto at Ontario
Place in
1971, and is still in operation. During Expo '74 in
Spokane, Washington
a very large IMAX screen that measured 90 x 65 ft (27.3
x 19.7 m) was
eatured in the US Pavilion (the largest structure in the
expo). About 5
million visitors viewed the screen, which covered a
person's total field
of vision when looking directly forward. This easily
created a sensation
of motion for nearly everyone, and motion sickness in a
few viewers.
However, it was only a temporary screen for the sixmonth duration of
the Expo. Several years later, a standard size IMAX screen
was installed,
and is still in operation at the renamed "Riverfront Park
IMAX Theatre."

The first permanent IMAX Dome installation, the Reuben

H. Fleet Space
Theater and Science Center, opened in San Diego's
Balboa Park in 1973.
The first permanent IMAX 3D theatre was built in
Vancouver, British
Columbia for Transitions at Expo '86, and is still in use.It is
located at
the tip of Canada Place, a Vancouver landmark.Over the
summer of
2006, IMAX's stock fell markedly (by as much as 60%)
with nouncement
of an SEC investigation, falling again when the announced
third quarter
earnings were behind the previous year's.The desire to
increase the
visual impact of film has a long history. In 1929, Fox
introduced Fox
Grandeur, the first 70 mm movie format, which quickly
fell from use. In
the 1950s, CinemaScope and VistaVision widened the
projected image
from 35 mm film, and there were multi-projector systems
such as

Cinerama for even wider presentations. While impressive,

Cinerama
was difficult to set up, and the seams between adjacent
projected
images were difficult to hide.

Technical aspects:
Intent:
The intent of IMAX is to dramatically increase the
resolution of the
image by using much larger film stock at a resolution
comparable to
about 10000 x 7000 pixels (70 megapixels).To do this, 70
mm film stock
is run "sideways" through the cameras. While traditional
70 mm film
has an image area that is 48.5 mm wide and 22.1 mm tall
(for ToddAO), in IMAX the image is 69.6 mm wide and 48.5 mm
tall. In order to

expose at standard film speed of 24 frames per second,

three times as
much film needs to move through the camera each
second.

The lens :
Drawing the large-format film through the projector was
a
difficult technical problem to solve; conventional 70 mm
systems were
not steady enough for the 586x magnification.IMAX
projection involved
a number of innovations. William Shaw of IMAX adapted
an Australian
patent for film transport called the "rolling loop" by
adding a pressed
air "puffer"to accelerate the film, and put a cylindrical
lens in the
projector's "block" for the film to be vacuumed up against
during
projection (called the "field flattener" because it served to
flatten the

image field). Because the film actually touches the "field

flattener"
lens, the lens itself is twice the height of the film and is
connected to
automatic piston so it can be moved up or down while the
projector is
running. This way, if a piece of dust comes off the film
and sticks to the
lens, the projectionist can switch to the clean side of the
lens at the
push of a button. The lens also has "wiper bars" made of
a felt or brushlike material which can wipe the dust off the lens as it
moves up or
down to keep the show clean.

The projector:
IMAX projectors are pin stabilized, meaning 4 registration
pins engage
the sprockets at the corners of the projected frame to
ensure perfect

alignment. Shaw added cam-controlled arms to

decelerate each frame
to eliminate the microscopic shaking as the frame
"settled" onto the
registration pins. The projector's shutter is also open for
around 20%
longer than in conventional equipment and the light
source is brighter.
The largest 12-18 kW xenon arc lamps have hollow,
water-cooled
electrodes. An IMAX projector is therefore a substantial
piece of
equipment, weighing up to 1.8 tonnes and towering at
over 70" [178
cm] tall and 75" [195 cm] long. The xenon lamps are
made of a thin
layer of quartz crystal, and contain xenon gas at a
pressure of about 25
atmospheres; because of this, projectionists are required
to wear
protective body armor when changing or handling these
lamps because
the flying shards of crystal (should the lamp fall and
crash) could be

deadly when combined with the high pressure of the gas

within. IMAX
uses a stronger "ESTAR" (Kodak's trade name for PET
film) base. The
reason is not for strength, but precision. Developing
chemicals do not
change the size or shape of Estar, and IMAX's pin
registration especially
the cam mechanism) is intolerant of either sprocket-hole
or filmhickness variations. The IMAX format is generically called
"15/70" film,
the name referring to the 15 sprockets per frame of 70
mm stock. The
bulk of the film requires large platters rather than
conventional film
reels.

The sound in IMAX:

In order to use more of the image area, IMAX film does

not include an
embedded soundtrack. Instead the IMAX system specifies
a separate
six-channel 35 mm magnetic tape synchronized to the
film. (This riginal
system--35 mm mag tape locked to a projectorwas
commonly used
to "dub" or insert studio sound into the mixed soundtrack
of
conventional films.) By the early '90s, a separate digital
6-track source
was synchronized using a more precise pulse generator
as a source for
a conventional SMPTE timecode synchronization system.
This
development presaged conventional theatrical
multichannel sound
systems such as Dolby Digital and Digital Theater
System. This digital
source came in the form of a unit called a DDP (Digital
Disc Playback) in
which the soundtrack was recorded onto multiple CDROM discs which

would play the sound which was recorded to the discs as

a digital audio
file. This DDP system has been replaced in almost all
theaters with the
newer DTAC (Digital Theater Audio Control) system which
utilizes a
computer running the IMAX's proprietary DTAC software.
The software
works in a similar style as the DDP except that instead of
the audio file
being based on discs, it is instead played directly off a
hard drive in the
form of a single uncompressed audio file containing the 6
channels
which are distributed directly to the amplifiers rather than
using a
decoding method such as Dolby Digital. speakers directly
behind the
Many IMAX theaters place screen as well as distributing
the speakers
around the theater to create a three-dimensional effect.

The Dome:

In the late 1960s the San Diego Hall of Science (now

known as the
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center) began searching North
America for a
large-format film system to project on the dome of their
planned 76foot tilted dome planetarium. One of the front-running
formats was a
double-frame 35 mm system, until they saw IMAX. The
IMAX projector
was unsuitable for use inside a dome because it had a 12foot-tall lamp
house on top. However, IMAX Corporation was quick to
cooperate and
was willing to redesign its system. IMAX designed an
elevator to lift the
projector to the center of the dome from the projection
booth below.
Spectra Physics designed a suitable lamphouse that took
smaller lamps
(about 18 inches long) and placed the bulb behind the
lens instead of

above the projector. Leitz of Canada developed a fisheye

lens that
would project the image onto a dome instead of a flat
screen. The ome
system, which the San Diego Hall of Science called
OMNIMAX, uses a
fisheye lens on the camera that squeezes a highly
distorted 180 degree
field of view onto the 70 mm IMAX film. The lens is
aligned below the
center of the frame and most of the bottom half of the
circular field
falls beyond the edge of the film. The part of the field that
would fall
below the edge of the dome is masked off. When filming,
the camera is
aimed upward at an angle that matches the tilt of the
dome. When
projected through a matching fisheye lens onto a dome,
the original
panoramic view is recreated. OMNIMAX wraps 180
degrees orizontally
, 100 degrees above the horizon and 22 degrees below
the horizon for

a viewer at the center of the dome. OMNIMAX premiered

in 1973 at
the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center
showing two
MNIMAX features, Voyage to the Outer Planets (produced
by Graphic
Films) and Garden Isle (by Roger Tilton Films) on a double
bill.IMAX has
since renamed the system IMAX Dome. Many theaters
continue to call
it OMNIMAX. OMNIMAX theaters are now in place at a
number of
major American museums,particularly those with a
scientific focus,
where the technical aspects of the system may be
highlighted as part of
the theme interest. The projection room is often
windowed to allow
public viewing and accompanied by informational
placards like any
exhibit. Inside the theatre, the screen may be a
permanent fixture, such
as at the St. Louis Science Center (which also plays a
short educational

video about the OMNIMAX system just before the feature

film); or
lowered and raised as needed, such as at the Science
Museum of
Minnesota (where it shares an auditorium with a standard
IMAX
screen). Before the feature begins, the screen is backlit to
show the
speakers and girders behind the screen. IMAX Dome
screens may also
be found at several major theme parks. While the
majority of
OMNIMAX theaters in museums focus on educational and
documentary
films, on special occasions, as with the release of Charlie
and the
Chocolate Factory at the Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry,
major studio releases are also shown. The OMNIMAX
experience is
quite different from that of a regular IMAX theater. The
image wraps
around both sides of the viewer and upwards as well,
which can give

the impression one is actually inside the scene being

projected. (A plain
IMAX screen is large but does not create such a natural
feeling of
immersion because the viewer is aware that the scene
ends where the
rectangular walls and ceiling begin.) Another use of IMAX
Dome
technology is to provide an immersive visual experience
to go with a
ride simulator, as in The Simpsons Ride (replacing the
older Back to the
Future: The Ride). IMAX Dome was also used in the
former EPCOT
attraction Horizons and another Disney attraction, Soarin'
Over
California. "Soarin'" Featured at Disney's California
Adventure and
EPCOT.