
It has been a minute

Free and open source software for the planetarium dome and other immersive environments.

A few updates and some cool Chandra X-ray Observatory stuff!
Links mentioned in the episode:
Museum & Informal Education Alliance https://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum/
Kim Arcand https://www.kimarcand.com/
Walking Among the Stars (VR stuff) https://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/vr/
Chandra 3D models https://3d.si.edu/collections/Chandra
PPA Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pfVOHnkvAV_fdnKLdqzwA/videos
Stellarium Landscape zip files for easy installation https://github.com/waystar/StellariumLandscapes/releases/tag/v1.1

A few weeks ago, I watched this video, produced by the Griffith Observatory a year ago:
As in the demonstration video I watched, I used Gimp. Of course I could have used Krita, but Gimp is my go-to since I’m so familiar with it.
First I downloaded set of images from 2021-07-21 Perijove 35:
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?id=11074

I opened the three color PNGs as layers and colorized them accordingly.

Then I played around with the individual layers’ brightness and contrast settings, then combined using Screen as the blend mode.



After I got the colors close to how I liked them, I used the G’Mic Tone Sharpening to bring out the detail. (https://gmic.eu/index.html)


I spent very little time on it, about 25 minutes total. I’m pleased with it and look forward to showing others how to make their own.
An update on what I’ve been up to, followed by some useful sources for open textbooks.
Links mentioned in the episode:
The Changelog: Open source goes to Mars https://changelog.com/podcast/440
Learning with Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen Downey https://greenteapress.com/wp/learning-with-python/
Python for Everybody: Exploring Data in Python 3 by Chuck Severance https://www.py4e.com/book
Eloquent JavaScript https://eloquentjavascript.net/
MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/online-textbooks/
OpenStax https://openstax.org/subjects
Milne Open Textbooks https://milneopentextbooks.org/
The Missing Link https://milneopentextbooks.org/the-missing-link-an-introduction-to-web-development-and-programming/
American Institute of Mathematics https://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/
Games and Puzzles http://www.artofmathematics.org/books/games-and-puzzles
Green Tea Press https://greenteapress.com/wp/
OER Commons https://www.oercommons.org/
Open Textbooks Library https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
Introduction to Permaculture https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/introduction-to-permaculture
Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/
Links mentioned in the episode:
NASA 3D resources https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/
The Celestia Motherlode http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/
ESO https://www.eso.org/public/
ESA/Hubble https://esahubble.org/
NOIRlab https://noirlab.edu/public/
NASA Science Visualization Studio https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA Open Data Portal https://data.nasa.gov/
NASA Photojournal http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov
Planetary Data System https://pds.nasa.gov/
NOAA Science on a Sphere http://www.sos.noaa.gov/Datasets
USGS Apollo panoramas http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/maps/moon-apollo-landing-panoramas
The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/
Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT) https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/
OpenClipArt.org https://openclipart.org
OpenGameArt.org https://opengameart.org/
HDRI haven https://hdrihaven.com/
TextureHaven https://texturehaven.com/
3DModelHaven https://3dmodelhaven.com/
This week I followed a rabbit hole that led me to rediscover some projects I’d previously not liked, but now they have the potential to be what I need.
Links from the episode:
unfa channel https://www.youtube.com/user/unfa00
TechHut channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TechHutus
TechHut top 10 Linux apps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeVJydgFKWo
Vokoscreen https://github.com/vkohaupt/vokoscreenNG
KdenLive https://kdenlive.org/en/
KDE https://kde.org/
OpenShot Video Editor https://www.openshot.org/
ShotCut https://www.shotcut.org/
Blender https://www.blender.org/
And that episode title sounds better than the one I used in the recording. In any case, this week is some rambling from me in which I complain about stuff and complain about complaining about stuff some insightful thoughts on some of the ups and downs of using FOSS.
Links to software projects mentioned:
POV-ray https://www.povray.org/
Blender https://www.blender.org/
Krita https://krita.org/
Inkscape https://inkscape.org/
Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org/
Olive https://www.olivevideoeditor.org/
Natron https://natrongithub.github.io/
Hugin http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
OpenSpace https://www.openspaceproject.com
This week I chat about some interesting tools and tutorials for using Blender for non-visualization Astronomy stuff.
Links for this week:
Cycles X https://code.blender.org/2021/04/cycles-x/
Fulldome Production With Blender https://github.com/waystar/2019-Blender-Workshop-Materials
How to make planets in Blender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6224Wisxwxc
Darkfall Shader Library intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbj20u53uW8
The Shader Library https://darkfallblender.blogspot.com/p/the-shader-library.html
Mark Kingsnorth original nebula tutorial (files no longer available, but still good to read) http://www.markkingsnorth.com/2017/01/31/blender-nebula-group-node-tutorial-download/
Mark Kingsnorth Nebula Generator on BlenderMarket https://blendermarket.com/products/nebula-generator
3D Star Map (link to demo version and store in description) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRshK5qhJDA
Black Hole art from Void_SW on BlenderNation https://www.blendernation.com/2021/05/04/hand-picked-blender-art-4/
Create a Black Hole in Blender – Iridesium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5naMFeWTBeY
Procedural Galaxies in Blender 2.91! -CBaileyFilm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQXI5KownU
Procedural Solar Flare Shader Blender Tutorial! – CBaileyFilm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9anTO45bCM
Mustafar Procedural Lava Planet Shader – CBaileyFilm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCztNvPGq1w
Another update and a look at some interesting resources for learning to take astronomy data into Blender for visualization. It’s how the magic gets made!
AstroBlend https://www.astroblend.com/
AstroBlend https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAUcA4vXe2IPdnCjBslj6XQ
AstroBlend at 2015 Blender Conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vY-sl1oXME
Dr. Jill Naiman https://www.astronaiman.com/
Dr. Brian Kent https://www.cv.nrao.edu/~bkent/blender/
Matías Gárate’s Blender & Astronomy Tutorial. Using Voxel Data for 3D visualization https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjFmkbKBKd0WuhhbR2MGPXZyWW7TPcNSw
An update on what I’ve been up to and then checking out two more pieces of open source astronomy software.
Links for this episode:
Loading NASA Perseverance and Ingenuity models into Blender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36u94eMMHuU
Sunset Meditation show from Brown Planetarium https://www.bsu.edu/web/planetarium/productions-and-show-leasing#accordion_sunsetmeditation
Mark Kingsnorth Nebula Generator for Blender https://blendermarket.com/products/nebula-generator
Cartes du Ciel https://www.ap-i.net/skychart//en/start
Virtual Moon Atlas https://ap-i.net/avl/start