**Projector**:
Typically utilizes high-lumen, high-resolution engineering projectors capable of outputting clear and bright image signals. This ensures high-quality visuals on the spherical screen, delivering detailed imagery and vibrant colors to viewers.

**Fisheye Lens**:
An ultra-wide-angle optical lens that transforms flat images into a specialized format. It enables the projector’s light to cover the entire spherical surface, achieving a 360° panoramic display.

**Spherical Screen**:
Usually made of seamless, internally projected resin material with light-scattering properties. This ensures uniform brightness and seamless visual continuity, creating an immersive viewing experience.

**Auxiliary Equipment**:
May include video processors to optimize input signals by adjusting parameters like color, contrast, and brightness to meet the unique demands of spherical projection.

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**Working Principle**
The fisheye lens leverages its optical characteristics to distort and reshape flat images from the projector, adapting them to the spherical screen’s curvature. Projected light, processed by the lens, strikes the screen at specific angles, forming a coherent and continuous 360° image. In computer graphics, fisheye lenses typically involve two modes:
– **Orthogonal Fisheye Images**: Standard distortion mapping.
– **Equidistant Fisheye Images**: Achieve pixel uniformity across the spherical surface, enhancing visual consistency and naturalness⁵.

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**Key Features**
1. **Cost-Effectiveness**: Requires only one projector, reducing equipment and installation costs compared to multi-projector external systems¹.
2. **Space Efficiency**: Requires minimal space (installation area ≈ 1.5 × sphere diameter)¹.
3. **Ease of Installation**: A single technician can complete setup and calibration within one working day¹.
4. **Immersive Visuals**: Delivers 360° coverage with multi-window or multi-scene displays, supporting text, animations, videos, and other media for impactful, immersive experiences¹.

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**Applications**
1. **Science & Education**:
– Used in planetariums, museums, schools, and institutions (e.g., seismological bureaus, space agencies) to visualize topics like Earth sciences, astronomy, weather systems, and marine ecosystems through animations and simulations¹.
2. **Commercial & Entertainment**:
– Enhances brand exhibitions, product launches, and advertising in corporate/government showrooms, cinemas, bars, and clubs, attracting attention and elevating brand impact¹.
3. **Tourism**:
– Deployed in visitor centers or scenic spots to showcase natural landscapes, cultural heritage, or interactive experiences, offering tourists innovative ways to engage with destinations¹.