MSG SPHERE

Exterior Content

The exterior of the MSG Sphere will be a truly unique creative canvas— a massive spherical lattice of high powered LED’s that will stand out even amidst the neon tempest of the Las Vegas strip. While the huge spherical display offers an exciting platform for creating and experiencing novel content, it also presents some complex challenges.

Our team kicked off an initial research phase investigating content pipeline and content strategy for the Sphere’s exterior (dubbed Exosphere — though I was partial to The Expherior). I was tasked with unpacking some of the high level goals, taking into account the multifaceted challenges associated with creating content for such an unprecedented medium. While I was familiar with interior dome content, the exterior proved to be a totally different beast. I derived some general rules to evaluate the 'strength’ of a depth illusion from any given perspective, and how the nature of the displayed content can affect the range of views at which the illusion is adequately maintained. By then considering different use cases and anticipating various content programming needs, we targeted our technical and aesthetic experiments so as to develop a set of practical demonstrations and best practices for developing exterior content.

Below, we’ll look at some of my explanations, diagrams, and experiments creating content for the Exosphere.

Content Considerations

Magic Container

Often, the most memorable moments and experiences are those that challenge and expand one’s internal model of what is possible. The Exosphere is an immense vessel through which to channel and inspire imagination. The grand scale of the canvas can foster meaningful connection from a distance— a mass shared viewing experience for the general public— and for venue guests at the base of the behemoth, it has the power to generate powerful excitement and anticipation for the show that awaits them inside.

Eyes on the Ball

As visitors approach the venue, the sheer scale of the orb will inspire awe as it stretches into the sky. Not un-relatedly, the viewer on the ground will have a perspective such that the displayed content stretches relative to their unique viewing angle, and the nature of the content will determine how well the illusion is maintained (more on that later). Additionally, the immensity of the structure coupled with the intense brightness of the LED’s will guarantee that the display will be also be visible from afar— including bird’s eye views via the considerable airplane traffic in the skies of Vegas.

Tricks for Illusions

As a general rule, there’s a direct tradeoff between the depth/width of an illusion and its readability from different POV’s. Taking sight-lines and programming into consideration, we devised techniques and best practices for maximizing impact and minimizing appearance of broken illusions. After understanding the possible technical solutions, we could better set priorities and make strategic compromises when providing the pinnacle experience for venue guests while managing to avoid broadcasting a broken illusion to the larger audience that sees the Sphere from afar.

Spherical Projection

Strengths

Seamless wrapping
Holds up from different POV’s
Leverages the shape of the Sphere

Limitations

Flattens at the edges
Works best with shallow depth illusions
Spherical content is less common than standard formats

Spherical Projection Distortion

Edges become flattened as the angle to the viewer increases. Thus, the deeper the illusion, the flatter the edges will look relative to the center. So long as the depth is not too deep, and its area is not too wide, the illusion will be convincing.