Abstract: An illumination system having a lighting dome, a vertical light source, an image acquisition means, and a light controlling means, a system controller and a three-axis servo system wherein the dome is of unitary printed circuit board construction populated with a plurality of surface mounted light emitting diodes is disclosed. The dome has a first longitudinal axis and is bendable along hinges formed through the circuit board to define a partially enclosed dome having eight octants or sections, each section having an upper and lower tier portion defining a plurality of planar illumination banks, which illuminate an object from 360.degree. around the object and from predetermined angles relative to the first longitudinal axis. The vertical light source, which is a planar printed circuit board populated with surface mounted LEDs, and the beam splitter are provided for illumination of the object with light parallel to the first longitudinal axis.