Introduction / Imported images not displaying correctly when rotated

[Paul Floyd]

Hi,

I am a amateur astronomer / school teacher who lives in Canberra, Australia who is currently trying to teach myself how to use Blender 2.77 so I can make my own planetarium shows. I have an astronomy education/popularisation website at www.nightskyonline.info which gives more information about my background.

I thought I would start out very simple and import a movie or image into Blender 2.77 on a plane so that I can use Ron Proctor's fish eye rig to display the movie/image in my planetarium dome (a borrowed very old Starlab dome plus improvised projection system using a data projector and data projector which I use at my school). That way I can position it or resize it where I want.

I am able to import them successfully. However when I flip the plane so that the side with the image/movie is on so that it is facing the fish eye rig, one of two things occur. Firstly, the image moves itself to the back of the plane! No part of the image/movie is visible in the rendered image. Or if it is visible, the writing in the rendered image is back to front!

Any advice group members could provide would really be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance,

Paul Floyd.

[Chris Miller]

I am a real novice using Blender.  When I import a movie, I use the "Import Images as Planes" tab in the file menu (image attached.  I make the plane shadeless.  Both sides of the plane show the image, so if the writing is reversed, I rotate the plane 180 degrees.  Let me know if this works!

Thanks,

-Chris Miller

Pogue Planetarium,

Grand Prairie, TX

[Murielle Parkinson Shallbetter]

I recommend two things:

1. Upgrading to the Cycles Render Engine (it is worth the extra work if you have enough ram for it) and use Ron Proctor's instructions on creating a fisheye lenses camera (see How to Render Fisheye with Cycles)

2. Try using a negative scale factor in the x direction.

[Ron Proctor]

This is a job for Cycles. Throw that old fisheye camera rig off a bridge.  :)

I recorded a mildly rambling video that I hope will help point you in the right direction: https://vimeo.com/184807835

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Ron

[Ron Proctor]

Forgot the link: https://vimeo.com/184807835

Will add to the above post as well.

Thanks,

r

[Paul Floyd]

Ron,

Thank you for recording the 'How to video'. I followed your instructions and it worked perfectly.

A big thank you ... especially for saving my sanity while starting on the long road of learning Blender to make a planetarium show.

Regards,

Paul Floyd.

[Paul Floyd]

Murielle,

Thank you for your suggestions. 

I have a feeling where I went wrong was to follow the steps in a Youtube tutorial which went though importing images onto a plane / as a UV material (or something like that). Given the Cycles render engine / fish eye camera worked so well, I must have chosen the wrong option.

Regards,

Paul Floyd.