Habitat Earth

2015 release date. Kira acted as an editor and projectionist on the project. A Planetarium Projectionist is responsible for operating the theater and preparing the new content. It involves shepherding renders through to the planetarium, making a timeline using a command line like interface, and then matching the shot list to splice together a new reel.

For the educational content I used a live camera technique to reformat the view to fit a flat screen. I also completed the video audio editing and file delivery. I did not complete any of the amazing 3D work or awesome original music (there's a team of about 20 people to make the shows). 

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Low polygon 3D Models made in Blender.

Expedition Reef

Completed in March 2018. Kira worked on extensive photogrammetry and basic modeling in Blender for the show.

Here are some of Kira’s work in Expedition Reef:

Tetrapod- a way to reseed coral reefs by first growing coral polyps in a lab and then chucking them in the ocean in hospitable spots where they anchor and grow. Idea for the shape created by SECORE scientists. Autodesk is working with the team to refine the material to use and 3D print them in bulk. I just did the modeling. Definitely a BIG group effort to save the corals. 

Here are a couple test prints using different materials, and that's real coral back there in a tank. 

Photogrammetry of corals (underwater photography of the aquarium tanks turned into 3D models).

Coral in collections (from the 1900s) 

Underwater in a tank

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SENTINEL MISSION VIRTUAL REALITY

Kira contributed photography, compositing, and compression work for this project, generated the seats and composited it into the scene.

Incoming! (Trailer)

California Academy of Sciences

Kira conformed 4k dome master footage to 16:9 custom HD crops for this trailer, released in 2016 from the California Academy of Sciences, using Nuke and Premiere.

Habitat Earth (Trailer) | California Academy of Sciences

Employed as a Media Specialist, Kira continued her work with the Visualization Studio on Habitat Earth as dailies projectionist and expanded her editorial role now including voice over recording and editing in addition to more daily editorial support for the project.  Kira continues to be actively involved in distribution channels, expanding her role into working on live streaming events to promote the distribution and re-purposing the content for use in flat screen venues.

Awards: Director's Award at Central European Fulldome Festival

Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet (Trailer)   

California Academy of Sciences

Kira worked as a Media Specialist on this show. Kira continued on as the primary projectionist for dailies as well as providing additional support as one of the video editors on the production. She leveraged a set of custom tools in Nuke, Houdini, and After Effects to repurpose key sequences of the full dome show for use in schools, working to create an online course alongside the Academy's education department. 

She also made custom motion and still graphics for the Educator's guide. Kira also continued in her role as distribution manager expanding into prepping assets for web and interactives in addition to prepping the content for planetariums world wide. 

Awards

Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards
Nominated Best Visual Effects in a Special Venue

Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
Nominated Best Fulldome Program

Life: A Cosmic Story (Trailer)

California Academy of Sciences

Kira worked as an engineer for the California Academy of Science's visualization studio during the fulldome production of Life a Cosmic Story. She rendered Uniview Digital Universe content under the direction of Jeroen Lapre to recreate scientifically accurate representations of life developing on the planet millions of years ago in the 2010 production. Kira  acted as the daily projectionist to preview new content in the planetarium. 

She also took on night time render wrangling and load balancing to ensure the shots made it into the review sessions each day. At the end of the show Kira took on the job of distribution content manager working closely with Sales and Marketing to package and deliver the show to planetariums world wide.

Awards

Full Dome Festival at Jena Zeiss-Planetarium
Best integration of scientific data into a fulldome visualization
Best in narration

Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
Best fulldome program


ADDITIONAL AWARDS

Fragile Planet

Full Dome Festival at Jena Zeiss-Planetarium
☆ Full Dome Award of Excellence

ADDITIONAL WORK

LICK OBSERVATORY FULLDOME PHOTOGRAPHY

Exclusive, high-quality photography from inside the historic Lick Observatory.

B612 Production Engineer

4K fulldome show, flat screen, live presenter version in Uniview

The goal of B612 is to protect Earth from asteroid impacts. Kira helped with the B612 Press Release in 2012, acting as projectionist for dailies, Uniview render wrangling and distribution of the content. 

Media Specialist

Kira assists as a producer for digital media jobs, technically supporting Academy expeditions, and creating digital media content for the museum.

The International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge
Finalist Best Video