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Introduction

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This is a normal Daz Studio Primitive sphere

32 x 16 polygons

200 meters diameter

But ! the Normals were inverted, to make it render properly when the camera is inside the sphere

And ! the UV coordinate's U were inverted, so it can render the textures applied to it non-mirrored when the camera is inside the sphere

warning: i'm not 100% sure this type of ball is the perfect match for spherical/equirectangular panoramas but it seems to work in most cases

you may want to try my mcjSphericalUV script which lets you re-UV-Map spheres and planes ! ( ground planes ! ) in a manner suitable for spherical/equirectangular panoramas

Also see : https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjsphericaluv

Also see: https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/spherical

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History

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June 8th 2015 release

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Installation

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Unzip the file found at the bottom of this page into your daz studio content folder

typically :

c:\program files\daz\studio\content

or

C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library

once installed the prop will appear in your library under

content/props/mcasual/

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Use

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for Software renders, make sure the Diffuse Color Strength is 0%

also the diffuse color needs to be black and strength 0%

the ambient color must be white , strength 100%

This way the lights in your scene wont have any effect on the surface

If there's shadow-casting Direct Lights in your scene, turn the "Cast Shadows" parameter of the sphere to OFF

Ideally the type of panoramic image you want to apply to the ball is called Spherical or equirectangular

so those keywords should help you find free and non-free panoramas on the web

here's a few places to look

- http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html

- http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-3-112847728?offset=10#comments

- https://www.flickr.com/groups/equirectangular/

If you dont mind the watermarks and it's for non-commercial use, i developped a way to convert the streeview mosaics into equirectangular images that can be used with mcjSkySphere

over here : https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/anywhereintheworld

nitty gritty

Generally, the Google street images are taken cameras mounted on a car rooftop, about 18 ft above the ground

Create your camera in Daz Studio, then set all its rotations to 0degrees

set the camera position to 0,0,0

You're now in the same situation as when the photo was taken

you can move the camera around a little but if you go too far from the center, the illusion will be lost

So this type of setup is best when the camera is at a fixes location and looks around

Your 3D figures can move freely around the camera

Other times The photos are taken by pedestrians, so, about 5ft from the ground

in this image, the GoogleStreet cameras are car-top-mounted

so i placed the aiko figure approximately 15 ft lower than the camera which is at 0,0,0

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License

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copyright mCasual/Jacques

You can use this models freely for personal or commercial use.

You may not resell, sublicense or rent this models in any way.

you may credit this prop to mCasual/Jacques

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,

INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR

PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE

FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,

ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH