Maya Scene Source – fisheye image / rendered with Domemaster3D
So you want to dive into creating fulldome content? Get ready for a wild and weird experience. You’re going to need a camera with a fisheye lens. Call it what you like: fisheye, fulldome, or domemaster… They all refer to the same thing.
Below is a collection of the many different softwares which support fisheye.
SECTIONS
— A Note for VR Animators
— 3D Animation: Fisheye Lens Shaders (Plugins)
— 3D Animation: Render Engines with Built-in Fisheye
— Compositing Software
— Automatic Projection Conversion
— Dome Mapping Software
— Realtime Performance Options
— VJ App Plugins
— Virtual Dome Playback
— Video Game Engine: Fisheye Options
— Academic Research
— Astronomy Software for Planetariums
— 360 Video & Panoramic Photo Stitching
— Presenting in the Dome
— Pseudo Fisheye Lens Shaders (Plugins)
— Hacks for Faking Fisheye (After Effects)
— Photography: Fisheye Lens Research
— When All Else Fails… Hemicube Camera
— Hacky Solution… Mirror Ball Camera
Updated with the latest fulldome & VR software on January 13, 2020
A Note for VR Animators
While my focus here is to collect software which renders fisheye, I have also kept my eye on software which supports spherical rendering. I’m not as thorough in this respect, but you will see a fair amount of mentions to spherical and I hope this helps out the VR crowd. Know that the terms Spherical, Equirectangular, and LatLong refer to the EXACT same thing.
Maya Scene Source – spherical monoscopic image / rendered with Domemaster3D
Maya Scene Source – spherical stereoscopic image (over-under) / rendered with Domemaster3D
3D Animation:
Fisheye Lens Shaders (Plugins)
A render engine that offers a built-in fisheye is a recent expectation and it’s quickly becoming the standard. But there are plugins which can add a fisheye lens shader into a render engine that doesn’t have it built-in yet. Within the fulldome industry, Domemaster3D is a popular choice.
Domemaster3D
— Requires use of Mental Ray (also supports V-Ray and Arnold)
— Supports: Maya, 3DS Max, Softimage
— Installer includes both the monoscopic and stereoscopic fisheye lens shaders. Also includes monoscopic and stereoscopic spherical lens shaders.
— The wiki page provides an excellent explanation of the many included tools. Also this fulldome 3d introduction article is very helpful in understanding how to create stereoscopic content for a dome.
— Be aware of the grey blurry line fix and the Maya physical sky fix.
— Original source: DomeAFL & Roberto Ziche & Andrew Hazelden
Cinema 4D – (supporting prior to R19)
— Blendy 360 Cam – monoscopic and stereoscopic – supports: spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic), fisheye, cubemap, cylindrical, little planet
— WFCam4D – supports fisheye and spherical
— DomeCam – supports fisheye
— GreyScaleGorilla Camera – supports fisheye
— CV-VR Cam – supports spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic)
Houdini
— DomeMaster – supports fisheye
— Houdini Fisheye Camera – supports fisheye
— Houdini Stereo Spherical Panorama Camera – supports spherical
LightWave
— Liberty3D UberCam / more info – supports fisheye and spherical
Arnold
— Oblique FX Obq_Shaders (fisheye support using Obq_AngularCamera / very unique shader of interest: Obq_KettleUVStereoLens)
— Oblique FX Obq_Shaders ports available for Maya, Softimage, Cinema4D, Houdini
Blender
— The Good Old Fisheye Camera – supports fisheye for Blender Internal
— DomeCam – supports fisheye for Blender Internal (but requires Hugin for stitching the hemicube renders)
Mental Ray
— LatLong lens shader – supports: Maya, 3DS Max, Softimage, Mental Ray Standalone – supports spherical
— CubeMap – supports spherical
3D Animation:
Render Engines with Built-in Fisheye
These render engines have fisheye support built into their framework. Most offer it within the camera attributes.
PlayblastVR
— Create immersive previz renderings of scenes in fisheye, spherical, cylindrical, and cubic formats.
— Supports: Maya, Softimage
— Documentation
Blender
— Built-in fisheye and spherical for Cycles Render Engine
— Check out the Blendertarium forum
— Blender branch: Spherical Stereoscopic
V-Ray
— Supports: 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Maya, Rhino, SketchUp, Softimage
— Built-in fisheye, spherical, and stereoscopic spherical
— Guide to Virtual Reality
Cinema 4D
— Built-in fisheye, spherical, cubic-cross, cubic-3×2, cubic string
— Support added in R19
finalRender
— Supports: 3DS Max, Maya
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Arnold
— Supports: Maya, Softimage, Houdini, Katana
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
— Creating an VR Camera Node (Maya)
— VR Camera / source code
Maxwell Render
— Supports: 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, LightWave, Maya, Modo, Rhino, SketchUp, Softimage
— CAD toolsets: ArchiCAD, Bonzai3d, Form·Z, MicroStation, SolidWorks, Revit
— Built-in stereoscopic fisheye and stereoscopic spherical
— Webinar: tips for the new stereo VR lens
— PanoView Tool
FurryBall RT
— Supports: Maya, Cinema 4D, 3DS Max
— Built-in spherical
LightWave
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Krakatoa
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Clarisse iFX
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
RenderMan
— Fisheye supported but needs a custom lens shader (none publicly available)
— Built-in spherical
— Experimental support for stereoscopic spherical
— Any RenderMan compliant renderer supported (PRMan, 3Delight, Gorilla Render)
Mantra
— Fisheye supported but needs a custom lens shader (none publicly available)
— Built-in spherical
Redshift 3D
— Built-in fisheye, spherical, and stereoscopic spherical
POV-Ray
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Octane
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
3DS Max
— Built-in spherical: Panorama Exporter
Mandelbulb: 3D fractals
— Mandelbulb 3D – built-in fisheye and spherical
— Mandelbulber – built-in fisheye and spherical
Unknown Support of Fisheye in the following Render Engines:
— Vue – built-in spherical
— Modo – built-in spherical
— Corona Renderer – built-in spherical
— Indigo Renderer – built-in spherical
— Lagoa.com
— Iray
— Fabric Engine
— FluidRay
— KeyShot
— Thea Render
Compositing Software
Being able to composite your render layers, with fisheye in mind, can be quite tricky. And there isn’t much built-in support for the fulldome production workflow. But there are a wide variety of plugins which add fisheye functionality.
Adobe After Effects CC 2018 and later
— VR Converter effect
— Supports fisheye, spherical (equirectangular 2:1), spherical (equirectangular 16:9), cube map, cube map Facebook, cube map Pano2VR, cube map GearVR, sphere
Adobe After Effects CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6
— If you need to convert 360 video to fisheye so it can be watched in a dome, then After Effects can do the trick just using built-in effects. Yet this technique has no ability to adjust the camera angle and you cannot change the FOV accurately. It’s just a very basic conversion. If you need more refined control, there are plugins listed below which support the CS series of After Effects.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC
— Supports spherical (equirectangular)
Navegar Fulldome
— After Effects plugin
— Also includes an immersive camera After Effects and Cinema 4D.
— Supports fisheye and spherical
— Supports conversion of: Azimuthal Equidistant (Fisheye), Aitoff, Hammer-Aitoff, Gnomonic (Standard), Stereographic, Ortographic, Vertical perspective, Cylindrical equidistant, Panoramic equidistant, Spherical Mirror, Sinusoidal, Hemicube, TOAST
— Documentation / workflow tutorial 1 & workflow tutorial 2
Nuke / Cara VR Plugin
— Supports fisheye and spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic)
Skybox Studio
— After Effects plugin
— Supports spherical, and mirror ball, fisheye, cubic (Facebook, Pano2VR, NVIDIA)
— Documentation
— Tutorial: Motion Tracking and Object Replacement with 360 Footage
— Tutorial: Mocha Pro 5 compatibility
Skybox 360/VR Tools
SkyBox Post FX
SkyBox Post FX 2
SkyBox 360/VR Transitions
SkyBox 360/VR Transitions 2
— Plugins for After Effects and Premiere Pro
— 360 seamless effects: blur, denoise, glow, sharpen, fractal noise, digital glitch, chromatic aberrations, color gradient
— 360 transition effects: mobius zoom, random blocks, gradient wipe, iris wipe, light rays, chroma leaks, light leaks, spherical blur.
— Supports spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic)
— Tutorial: SkyBox Post FX
— Tutorial: Skybox 360/VR Tools / Documentation
SkyBox VR Player
— Includes plugins for After Effects, Premiere Pro, and SpeedGrade which automatically creates a bridge to easily view media in a VR headset
— Two modes available = 360 Mode: View your creation in 360° space (Spherical) in your Rift / Workspace Mode: Work in After Effects or Premiere Pro. Great for tweaking things while wearing your Rift.
— Supports spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic)
— Documentation
RE:Lens
— After Effects plugin
— Supports spherical, fisheye, super fisheye, rectilinear, super wide-angle zoom, mirror ball, and parabolic lens-mirror projection formats
— Overview video
CamSphere
— After Effects 3D template
— Supports fisheye and spherical
— Documentation / video tutorial / workshop
Full Dome Master to Flat Screen
— After Effects plugin
— Supports fisheye
Domemaster Fusion Macros
— Collection of custom macros for Fusion
— Supports fisheye and spherical
— Includes a camera rig that works with Fusion’s native 3D animation system
— Supports conversion of: Angular2CubicFaces, Angular2Equirectangular, Cubemap3x22CubicFaces, CubicFaces2Cubemap3x2, CubicFaces2GearVRMono, CubicFaces2GearVRStereo, CubicFaces2HorizontalCross, CubicFaces2HorizontalStrip, CubicFaces2HorizontalTee, CubicFaces2MrCube1Map, CubicFaces2VerticalCross, CubicFaces2VerticalStrip, CubicFaces2VerticalTee, CubicRenderer3D, Domemaster2Equirectangular, Equirectangular2Angular, Equirectangular2CubicFaces, Equirectangular2Domemaster180, Equirectangular2InverseAngular, Equirectangular2InverseDomemaster180, EquirectangularStereo2GearVRStereo, FisheyeMask, GearVRMono2CubicFaces, GearVRStereo2CubicFaces, HorizontalCross2CubicFaces, HorizontalStrip2CubicFaces, HorizontalTee2CubicFaces, MayaBackgroundGradient, MayaBackgroundGradientCubicFaces, MayaBackgroundGradientEquirectangular, MRCube1HorizontalStrip2CubicFaces, Offset, StereoAnaglyphHalfColorMerge, StereoAnaglyphMerge, StereoOverUnderExtract, StereoOverUnderMerge, StereoSideBySideExtract, StereoSideBySideMerge, UVAngular2EquirectangularGradientMap, UVDomemaster2EquirectangularGradientMap, UVEquirectangular2AngularGradientMap, UVEquirectangular2DomemasterGradientMap, UVGradientMap, UVPassFromRGBImage, VerticalCross2CubicFaces, VerticalStrip2CubicFaces, VerticalTee2CubicFaces
Domemaster Photoshop Actions Pack
— Collection of custom Photoshop actions
— Supports fisheye and spherical
— Supports conversion of: Inverse Angular Fisheye, Angular Fisheye to Equirectangular, Angular Fisheye to 2:1 Equirectangular, 180° Domemaster to 2:1 Equirectangular, Equirectangular to Angular Fisheye, 2:1 Equirectangular to Angular Fisheye, 2:1 Equirectangular to 180° Domemaster, 3×2 Cube Map to Cube Map, Vertical Cross to Cube Map, Horizontal Cross to Cube Map, Vertical Tee to Cube Map, Horizontal Tee to Cube Map, Vertical Strip to Cube Map, Horizontal Strip to Cube Map, Gear VR Mono to Cube Map, Cube Map to 3×2 Cube Map, Cube Map to Vertical Cross, Cube Map to Horizontal Cross, Cube Map to Vertical Tee, Cube Map to Horizontal Tee, Cube Map to Vertical Strip, Cube Map to Horizontal Strip, Cube Map to Gear VR Mono, Cube Map to New Cube Map, Cube Map Rotate X:+90 Degrees, Cube Map Rotate Y:+90 Degrees, Cube Map Rotate Z:+90 Degrees, Stereo Side by Side Extract, Stereo Over Under Extract
SynthEyes
— Supports fisheye and spherical
Mocha VR
— Supports spherical
Super Cubic
— Collection of Photoshop filters
— Supports spherical
GoPro VR Plugins: VR Horizon & VR Reframe
— Premiere Pro Plugin
— Supports spherical
SUGARfx Revolve 360
— Plugin for Final Cut Pro X, Motion, After Effects, Premiere Pro
— Supports spherical
360VR Toolbox /// 360VR Express
— Plugin for Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, After Effects
— Can convert between fisheye and spherical
Canvas 360
— Plugin for After Effects
— Supports spherical
Liquid Cinema
— Supports spherical
Wonda VR
— Supports spherical
— Software demo
DomeXF
— After Effects plugin
— Supports fisheye
Digistar Virtual Projector
— After Effects plugin
— Supports fisheye
Automatic Projection Conversion
Below are some options which are convert between various projections automatically. The options for keyframeable conversion are listed above in the Compositing Software section.
Flexify 2
— Photoshop plugin
— Supports fisheye, spherical, & wide array of projections / preview output modes
Dome2Rect
— A command line script that uses the open source Panotools library & MPRemap application to automate the process of converting image sequences between multiple panoramic formats.
— Supports conversion of: angular 2 cylindrical, angular 2 LatLong, dome 2 rectangular, LatLong 2 cubemap 3×2, LatLong 2 cubic, LatLong 2 cylindrical, LatLong 2 dome, LatLong 2 horizontal cross, LatLong 2 rectangular, LatLong 2 Mental Ray horizontal strip cube1, LatLong Stereo 2 GearVR stereo, LatLong 2 vertical cross
Realtime Conversion of Spherical to Fisheye
— VR to Dome Converter – more info
— Pano2Dome – openFrameworks App
— Pano2Fishy – Quartz Composer patch
Warping Fisheye Video for a Spherical Mirror Dome Projection System
— VLC Warp Movie Player
— VLCWarper
— Quicktime Warp Movie Player
— Quartz Composer – warp mesh patch
— Amateras
— Fishtank
— TGAwarp
— IMGWarper
NVIDIA Texture Tools
— Photoshop plugin
— Convert between different cubemap layout formats (GearVR, Octane Render, Vray Cubic 6:1 horizontal strip format)
Cube2Cyl
— libcube2cyl is a panoramic library for cubic to cylindrical projection conversion. Available in both C and C++.
Hemicube Stitching Software
— Glom
— PineappleWare Stitcher
— Domemaster Stitcher
— Cube2Dome
Environment Mapping Tools
— Supports conversion of: rectangular, mirror ball, fisheye, hemi fisheye, cubemap
Dome Mapping Software
Building a physical dome is one challenge, but mapping the dome to work with multiple video projectors is a whole different challenge. But using one computer for the dome projection enables all sort of amazing opportunities. All of the options below support the open source Syphon or Spout, which means that many VJ apps can easily be used (such as Resolume, VDMX, Modul8, Millumin, CoGe, etc.)
NestMap
— Automatically calibrate your projectors with a compatible webcam and process real-time stitching and blending of a Spout shared video stream
— Supports Spout
Blendy Dome VJ
— A realtime domemaster slicer designed for Fulldome VJing.
— Documentation
— Slice/warp up to 8 projectors in realtime
— Inputs accepted: fisheye and spherical
— Supports Syphon
Omnidome
— A tool developed for artists, VJ’s, set designers & VR creators to bring immersive experiences back into the real world. At the core it’s an arbitrary surface projection mapping tool.
— Documentation / Software demo
— Slice/warp 6 projectors in realtime (unlimited with commercial license)
— Projection mapping modes: whole sphere, fulldome, box (cave), planar
— Inputs accepted: fisheye, spherical, cubic, planar
— Supports Syphon
vDome
— Multi-channel projection software designed for domes. Provides realtime warping and slicing for domemaster input.
— Documentation / Presentation from IMERSA 2015: Intro to vDome
— Slice/warp unlimited projectors in realtime
— Inputs accepted: fisheye
— Supports Syphon
Splash
— A multi-projector modular mapping software primarily targeted toward fulldome mapping.
— Provided that the user creates a 3D model with UV mapping of the projection surface, Splash will take care of calibrating the videoprojectors (intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, blending and color), and feed them with the input video sources. Splash can handle multiple inputs, mapped on multiple 3D models, and has been tested with up to eight outputs on two graphic cards.
— Documentation / codebase activity log / SAT info / author info
— Slice/warp up to 8 projectors in realtime (may support more)
— Inputs accepted: fisheye
— Supports Syphon
Radome
— A platform for realtime interactive animation on a dome. It manages both 2D and 3D content for projection onto a fulldome installation with multiple projectors.
— Slice/warp 4 projectors in realtime
— Inputs accepted: fisheye
— Supports Syphon
Realtime Performance Options
With the rise of fulldome, VJing, and creative coding as an artform… it was only a matter of time before the artists were knocking down the doors.
Simmetri
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
— Supports Spout and NDI
Vuo
— Built-in fisheye (includes support for MirrorDome projection warping)
— Supports Syphon
openFrameworks
— Domemaster addon – fisheye addon
— ofxEquiMap – spherical addon
— Syphon plugin
Touch Designer
— Dome camera rig / example of use – fisheye addon
— Projection TOP – built-in to convert a cubemap to fisheye or spherical
VVVV
— Dome Pack – fisheye addon
— Dome camera rig – fisheye addon
— LatLong camera rig – tutorial for spherical support
Max/Jitter
— Domemaster patch – fisheye addon
— Syphon plugin
Processing
— Domemaster template – fisheye addon
— Planetarium library – fisheye addon (supports Syphon) – more info
— Syphon plugin
ParaView
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Maya
— VR-Plugin – explore Maya scenes in realtime stereo 3D (with a HMD)
Screenberry360
— Media playback software – built-in fisheye and spherical
Meduza360
— Fulldome realtime music visualizer – built-in fisheye
Vistastic
— Fulldome realtime music visualizer – built-in fisheye
— Supports Syphon & Spout
ForgeJS
— Javascript framework to build immersive experience for the web – supports spherical
VJ App Plugins
Plugins for VJ softwares which help you to convert footage for use in the dome
Fulldome VJ
— FreeFrame GL (FFGL) plugins
— Collection of effects and mixers which can be used in any software which utilizes FFGL plugins
360 VJ Pack
— Resolume plugins
— Realtime conversion of spherical to fisheye, rectilinear to fisheye, and fisheye adjustment
Virtual Dome Playback
If you don’t have access to a physical dome, then you can simulate your content on a virtual dome.
Festoon
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
Amateras Dome Player
— Built-in fisheye and spherical
DomePort
— Built-in fisheye
— Supports Syphon
Auto-Parasitic Light Calculation Tool
— Tool which simulates how projected light bounces off the dome and washes out the other side of the dome (also known as cross-bounce).
— Built-in fisheye
Navegar DomeView
— Built-in fisheye, cylindrical, spherical
— Able to import a custom 3D model of the planetarium
Domemaster3D DomeViewer
— Built-in fisheye, cylindrical, spherical, cubic (along with 12 other panoramic viewing modes)
— Available for Maya and Softimage
Inside Dome
— Built-in fisheye
DomeMod & DomeTester
— Built-in fisheye
— DomeMod (web browser version) / source code
VR Headset Video Players
— Whirligig – built-in fisheye (140°, 180°, 240°, 360°), spherical, cubic
— GoPro VR Player (previous known of Kolor Eyes) – built-in spherical
— Scratch Play / Scratch VR – built-in spherical, ASC CDL color-correction tools
— Live View Rift – built-in fisheye, cylindrical, spherical
— RV Player – built-in spherical (how-to enable it)
— Total Cinema 360 – built-in spherical
— VR Player – built-in fisheye, cylindrical, spherical, cubic, planar
— RiftMax – built-in spherical
— Virtual Desktop – built-in spherical
— 360VR Viewer – built-in spherical
— VorpX – built-in spherical
VLC Media Player
— VLC 360 – built-in spherical
— VLCSyphon – includes a Syphon server
Vrideo.com
— Built-in fisheye and spherical (monoscopic and stereoscopic)
Video Game Engine: Fisheye Options
The bleeding edge of fulldome work is in adding an element of interaction. Here are a few pieces of software which support fisheye.
Blender: Game Engine
— Built-in fisheye / example of use
— Built-in spherical
— Add-on: BlenderVR
Unity3D
— Fulldome Camera For Unity – Supports Syphon, BlackSyphon, Spout, NDI
— Domemaster package
— Data Dome Unity Toolkit – more info / documentation
— Custom fisheye camera rig / more info
— Spherical rendering (not realtime): VR Panorama 360 Renderer, Spherical Image Cam, 360 Panorama Capture
— Syphon plugin / Spout plugin
Omnity
— Unity3D camera – supports fisheye
— tutorial 1 & tutorial 2
Omnimap API
— Supports fisheye
— OpenGL, DirectX9, and DirectX10
NVIDIA Ansel
— Video game capture
— built-in spherical support (mono and stereo)
Unreal Engine
— No fisheye solution yet, but spherical rendering is supported (not realtime)
— UE4 Stereo 360 Movie Export Plugin
— DIY spherical rendering – requires the engine to be built from source code
— Stereo Pano Exporter thread
SGCT – Simple Graphics Cluster Toolkit
— Cross-platform C++ library for developing OpenGL applications that are synchronized across a cluster of image generating computers.
Paul Bourke
— Interactive fulldome research
Fisheye Video Games
— Blinky
— Fisheye Quake & PanQuake
— Dome Breaker
— Fulldome Space Shooter
— Fulldome Bootcamp
The Witness
— Documentation on how to create a fisheye lens shader
Unknown Support of Fisheye in the following Game Engines:
— CryEngine
— Stingray Engine
— Source Engine
— Leadwerks Engine
— id Tech 4
— OGRE
— NeoAxis 3D Engine
Academic Research
A random assortment of interesting research papers and experimental research that I’ve stumbled across.
Projection from Spheres
— Various transformations and projections as they apply to computer graphics
Rendering Omni-directional Stereo Content (Google Cardboard Dev)
— Pseudocode examples of how to create a virtual ODS camera
Perceptually-Based Compensation of Light Pollution in Display Systems
— “When projecting onto a dome, the projected image is corrupted by indirect scattering (cross-bounce). Our techniques retains more of these dark details while maintaining a final observed image that is perceptually closer to the unpolluted original image.”
Panoramic Video from Unstructured Camera Arrays
— “We describe an algorithm for generating panoramic video from unstructured camera arrays. In this paper we extend the basic concept of local warping for parallax removal.”
The AlloSphere
— Research facility with a unique spherical theater
— Check out their open-source software, specifically Cosm
Fast Non-Linear Projections using Graphics Hardware
— Research paper with full source code available
Real-Time Spherical Panorama Image Stitching Using OpenCL
— Research paper about webcam stitching in realtime
Astronomy Software for Planetariums
DigitalSky, DarkMatter, Uniview, and Digistar are the main softwares used by large planetariums. WorldWide Telescope, Stellarium, Nightshade, and Starry Night Dome are often used by portable domes or those on a tight budget.
— Openspace – supports Spout
— DarkMatter
— DigitalSky
— Uniview
— Digistar – supports NDI
— World Wide Telescope
— Stellarium
— Shira Universe
— Nightshade
— Starry Night Dome
— TheSkyX
— Sky Explorer
— Event Horizon
— SpaceEngine
— Spacetime360
— SpaceCrafter
360 Video & Panoramic Photo Stitching
Multi-camera 360 video rigs require stitching all of the footage together. Panoramic photos too.
— Autopano Video / Autopano
— VideoStitch Vahana VR / PTgui
— Mistika VR
— Cara VR Plugin (Nuke)
— StereoStitch
— Argon360
— OwlLive
— Hugin
— WonderStitch
— Facebook Surround 360
— Radeon Loom 360
— Insta360 Pro Stitcher
— Kodak Pixpro 360 Stitch
— PT3D
— Mill Stitch
Presenting in the Dome
Giving a talk at a conference… in a dome? This will help.
— Presenter360 – supports fisheye
— Powerpoint Dome Template – supports fisheye
Pseudo Fisheye Lens Shaders (Plugins)
These Maya plugins distort the camera view into a circular shape, instead of capturing 180°. Not recommended if you want true scene immersion.
— JS_Fisheye / JS_Panoramic – Linux & Mac
— Shaders_P
— MentalCore
Hacks for Faking Fisheye (After Effects)
Do you need to fake the distortion of a fisheye lens? There are a few built-in effects within After Effects which can do the job. But be aware that you cannot simply take any flat image and perfectly convert it to fisheye. That is impossible. But you can sometimes use these hacks to enhance the illusion and better warp the footage onto the dome. Most of these are variants of the ‘Spherize’ effect.
Photography: Fisheye Lens Research
This is by no means comprehensive, but instead meant to be a collection of interesting gems that I’ve stumbled across. This is NOT a list of suggested fisheye lenses to use for modern photography or video. I’m merely collecting interesting research and documentation of how fisheye lenses work.
— The Fish List – fisheye lens catalogue
— Fisheye optics explanation
— Fisheye lens designs and their relative performance
— Fisheye lens options for digital 4k projectors
Michel Thoby: Panorama Research
— About the various fisheye projections of the photographic objective lenses
— Creation and use of synthetic circular fisheye images
— Introduction to the Least-Parallax Point (LPP) theory
— Review of the Canon EF 8-15mm f4 Fisheye Zoom
More than 180 – by Warik Lawrance
Many fulldome producers adhere to the strong belief that only one type of lens should be used in a planetarium. That lens is a 180⁰ fisheye as it perfectly fits the shape of the dome and causes no distortion of the image. However, this is akin to a film producer or cinematographer only ever using a 50mm standard lens by reasoning that it perfectly fits what the human eye naturally sees. In reality, cinematographers use a wide variety and range of lens sizes to their stories because they are incredibly useful and powerful tools which assist the narrative. So what is the range of lens sizes that can work in the dome? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using different lens sizes? And how can they be used to the best effect?
History of fisheye lenses for photography
— Nikon Fisheye – Nikkor: the full story from the origins to the present, with 9 prototypes including a 5.5 mm FoV 270°
— Perimetar, Sphaerogon, Pleon: the definitive compendium about these super-wide fisheye lenses of the ’30s concieved by the firma Carl Zeiss Jena
Salvador Dali at a book signing, by Philippe Halsman, 1963
When All Else Fails… Hemicube Camera
Sometimes fisheye lens shaders don’t work in certain weird situations. Such as rendering certain types of particles, post render action, experimental shaders, and whatnot. In these cases you can fallback and create a hemicube multi-camera rig and then stitch the renders together into a fisheye.
Hacky Solution… Mirror Ball Camera
This is my least favorite option for rendering fisheye images. The idea is that you point the camera at a perfectly reflective sphere. So it requires that you have ray tracing turned on, and probably the amount of bounces raised. But the huge limitation is that your renders will not contain an alpha channel! And for me, that is simply unacceptable.