FOSSdome – Page 2 – Free and open source software for the planetarium dome and other immersive environments.

Episode 8: Some Resources for Astronomy Visualization with Blender

FOSSdome

Episode 8: Some Resources for Astronomy Visualization with Blender

00:00 / 17:01

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

Episode 7: Open Source Astronomy Software Carte du Ciel and Virtual Moon Atlas

FOSSdome

Episode 7: Open Source Astronomy Software Carte du Ciel and Virtual Moon Atlas

00:00 / 8:52

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

Episode 6: Open Source Astronomy Tools KStars

FOSSdome

Episode 6: Open Source Astronomy Tools KStars

00:00 / 12:56

A look at free and open source desktop planetarium software KStars, and why it deserves a a spot on the hard drive.

Links for this episode:

KStars https://edu.kde.org/kstars/

KStars user docs https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/kstars/kstars/index.html

Inkscape https://inkscape.org/

SVG format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics

Episode 5: Open Source Astronomy Tools ESASky and Aladin Sky Atlas

FOSSdome

Episode 5: Open Source Astronomy Tools ESASky and Aladin Sky Atlas

00:00 / 11:45

Links mentioned in the episode:

Prairie Skies Spotlight on Galaxies April 2 https://youtu.be/dh0biQnJmFQ

ESASky https://sky.esa.int/

ESASky documentation https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/esasky-help

“How to Use ESASky” https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/esasky-how-to

ESASky educational activities https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/esasky-for-education

Aladin Sky Atlas https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/

Aladin Lite API documentation https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/doc/API/

Aladin Lite API examples https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/doc/API/examples/

Aladin tutorial on embedding chart https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/doc/tutorials/interactive-finding-chart/

NOIRLab Arp 199 image page https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab1912a/

Episode 4: Open Source Astronomy Tools -Stellarium

FOSSdome

Episode 4: Open Source Astronomy Tools -Stellarium

00:00 / 16:47

And intro to open source astronomy software and a bit of an overview on Stellarium.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Stellarium https://stellarium.org

Stellarium web https://stellarium-web.org/

Waylena’s post on custom Stellarium landscapes https://fossdome.com/a-stitch-in-time-or-space/

Waylena’s post on using Stellarium remote https://fossdome.com/stellarium-remote-fun/

Hugin Panorama photo stitcher http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

GIMP https://www.gimp.org/

Episode 3: Thoughts on Getting Started in Blender

FOSSdome

Episode 3: Thoughts on Getting Started in Blender

00:00 / 14:11

This week I talk about how I got started using Blender and ways to go about learning it if starting today.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Darkfall Cosmic Shaders https://darkfallblender.blogspot.com/ , https://youtu.be/vbj20u53uW8

Blender https://www.blender.org

Waylena’s inexplicably popular 8-second video https://youtu.be/PICxEYvYT-

Blender online user manual https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/

Blender Fundamentals playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa1F2ddGya_-UvuAqHAksYnB0qL9yWDO6

Waylena’s Blender for Fulldome Workshop Materials https://github.com/waystar/2019-Blender-Workshop-Materials

Ron Proctor’s Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RonProctorProfile/featured

Cosmic Shaders from Darkfall

I saw this on my YouTube subscriptions feed last week. Very cool stuff. There is a good blog post on using the add-on as well: https://darkfallblender.blogspot.com/2021/03/blender-add-on-shader-library-version.html

Downloaded the python script from the Pastebin link provided in the blog post. Then installed the add-on through Blender Preferences.

The Shader Library is accessed through the 3D View. If you don’t see the tabs on the right, hover over the 3D View and hit the “N” key on the keyboard.

There are several shader types and options to choose from.

The add-on creates the node tree for the shader. This is a great way to quickly see what node trees can do without creating them from scratch.

I added some compositing to get a nice glow in Cycles.

Have to separate out the Environment (background as set up in “World” panel) and blur foreground alpha separately from the image to get that nice glow.

I always look for a Cycles way to make things glowy since I ultimately use fisheye for use in the dome. Eevee is super fast and that bloom is wonderful, but it’s a no-go when rendering straight to fisheye.