This means that the planets and moons in the presentation are constantly orbiting and revolving in realtime during the performance. The planets and moons are texture mapped with actual surface photos of the planets and are modeled in a three dimensional world where they are illuminated by light from the sun in the animation. This gives a realistic and impressive sense of depth and scale that makes the viewer feel as if they are hovering in space watching the planets. Even when close up photos of the planets are shown they are superimposed over the three dimensional planet in the background. In essence, the animation is constantly moving and animating in a three-dimensional world during your entire performance.

All the images of the planets and our solar system and texture maps used for the planets surfaces are from NASA and similar resources. These are composites of satellite photos, soft landing or space mission photos and images captured by telescopes including the Hubble telescope.

This presentation is a real-time 3D animation that is constantly animating and responding to input during the live performance. The audience sees a 3D animation sequenced to the live performance and sees planets and moons rotate and zoom past as if they were in a spaceship flying through our solar system. A power point or slide show cannot even begin to offer the same visual experience for the audience.

The operator follows the score and at appropriate marked points in the musical score we provide - as it is performed live - they press the right arrow key on the keyboard which causes the next "sequence" to begin. The operator can refer to a "cue sheet" and look forward on the score to watch for upcoming cue points during the performance. A practice DVD is also provided to prepare the operator for cueing during the live performance.

The presentation is designed to run on a Windows computer running Windows 2000 OS or later. Although the program will run on slower computers, a Pentium III or better is preferred with a good quality graphics card. The faster the computer and the higher quality of the graphics card, the better the presentation will run. A laptop computer will automatically provide the ability to watch the presentation on the laptop monitor and hook a video projector to the external monitor output of the laptop. If a desktop computer is used it will either require a graphics card with 2 monitor outputs (one for the backstage cueing monitor and one for the projector) or it will require the use of a VGA splitter providing the 2 monitor outputs.

The executable file (for Windows OS) of the Live Orchestra Presentation to be manually cued to the performance, a Planets score marked with appropriate cue points; a training DVD showing the cueing of the animation to a performance of "The Planets", the executable file (for Windows OS) of the System Explorer for public use prior to the performance, and printed documentation with cue points and times for all the movements.

A person to follow the score and sequence the animation to the live performance, a computer to run the presentation configured as described above, one or more video projectors and screens (described below) for the audience, and appropriate length VGA cable(s) to run from the backstage computer to the video projector(s).

If you are using the NASA Astronaut introductions, you will need to send the signal from the line-out or headphone jack of the backstage computer to your house speakers. The only portion of the presentation that has sound is the NASA Astronaut introductions. The rest of the presentation is sequenced by you to your live performance, so it does not put out any sound of its own.

You may also want to provide computer(s) for the lobby if using the kiosk presentation.

The Standard Definition (SD) version of The Planets is 800 x 600 pixels (a 4:3 ratio) and will need a projector with at least that resolution.

The High Definition (HD) version of The Planets is 1280 x 720 pixels (a 16:9 ratio) and will need a projector with at least that resolution (probably a high definition projector).

As a side note, lumens refer to the brightness of the projector. If renting a projector, you should get one with as many lumens as you can afford. This will make the presentation appear brighter and crisper on the projector screen. We recommend that your projector have at least 3000 to 4000 lumens, ideally closer to 10,000 lumens.

The type of screen you need depends on whether you are using the Standard Definition (SD) version or the High Definition (HD) version.

The SD version has a 4:3 width-to-height ratio, and can be projected on a normal 4:3 screen.

The HD version has a 16:9 width-to-height ratio, and would probably look best when projected on a 16:9 screen. It can be projected on a normal 4:3 screen, but will have blank space above and/or below the image.

The kiosk application is a stand-alone program called the "Solar System Explorer". It allows the user to jump to specific planets and moons in our solar system and rotate, pan and zoom into them in real-time 3D. This application can be used in the lobby prior to the performance(s) or in other locations such as schools, malls, etc. to create interest in the performance and increase ticket sales. It is included at no charge.

We have provided a DVD, which contains a full performance of the planets being cued following the score. We suggest running the presentation on a computer and practice cueing it while playing the training DVD. The operator can cue the actual presentation to the music playing on the DVD and watch as the operator on the DVD is cuing it.

This is negotiated prior to execution of the contract and is specified in the rental agreement.
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Each rental agreement is negotiated based on the size of the orchestra, the size of the audience or venue and the number of performances. We would like to make the presentation available to all size orchestras and markets. We will consider special pricing on a case-by-case basis.

We require a 10% deposit of the rental fee upon completion and execution of the rental agreement to hold the dates. A minimum of 3 weeks before the performance 50% of the balance is paid and upon receipt of that payment the performance package is sent to you. The balance of the rental is to be paid and the performance package materials returned to Video Ideas the next business day after the performance.

Yes, the Original Version of The Planets Presentation is still available if you would prefer to rent it instead of the new Voyage of Discovery.

We offer use of screen shots from the animation, help in wording to describe the performance and use of the presentation, examples of flyers and marketing materials used for past performances and can even offer a 30-second TV spot at a nominal charge for advertising your performance dates and times edited and ready to send to your local TV stations as a PSA.

1) Orchestras have found that it is a much easier task to find "corporate" and other forms of sponsorship for this program because of its uniqueness. One orchestra raised full sponsorship by the 2nd phone call when it would have normally taken many calls if it had been one of their typical classical performances.

2) Retail-ready packaged copies of our Solar System Explorer CD can be sent to you on consignment. You can sell it at your concert for $19.95 and it only costs you $10.00. By using this program in the lobby as other orchestras have done, hundreds of dollars can be raised through sales of this incredible Interactive CD program.

There are five introductory videos:

1. Mars
2. Venus and Mercury
3. Jupiter
4. Saturn and Uranus
5. Neptune

The first introduces The Planets Suite as a whole, then introduces Mars specifically. The Mars intro video is 2 minutes and 24 seconds long.

The second introduces Venus and Mercury and is 1 minute and 48 seconds long.

The third introduces Jupiter and is 1 minute and 1 second long.

The fourth introduces Saturn and Uranus and is 2 minutes and 47 seconds long.

The last introduces Neptune and is 1 minute and 29 seconds long.

All together, the introductory videos total about 9.5 to 10 minutes in length.

On the instructions/options screen at the beginning of the presentation, there is a white bar at the bottom of the image indicating where the cueing information bar will be displayed during the presentation.

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Figure 1: instructions/options menu with white bar (very visible, for setup). Figure 2: example of information bar during presentation (less visible).

You are instructed to "crop" (or hide) the white bar at the bottom of the projected image, so that during the presentation the cueing information bar isn't shown to the audience. To do this, you have two options:

Aim/zoom the projector so that the bottom part of the projected image (where the white bar is located) misses the screen, and thus is not visible to the audience (recommended).
Turn off the cueing information bar using the option at the beginning of the Voyage of Discovery presentation.

We recommend that you use the first option (aiming the projector). However, there may be situations where this is unfeasible for some reason. If that is the case, the second option (turning off the cueing information bar) may work as an alternative. BE CAREFUL, though, because using this method means that the person cueing the presentation has less information to use when determining when to hit the cues. However, for someone familiar with the music and with cueing the presentation, this method can be used without too much difficulty.