Da blogt er

  I learnt about PixiEditor at the Libre Graphics Meeting in Nuremberg. It looks like the main focus is on creating pixel art for games. However, version 2.0 features a very powerful node graph tool. To compare it with GIMP, I tried to reproduce the Chrome Ball tutorial using PixiEditor. It took me two evenings to learn the necessary skills, as there are significant differences. Firstly, I don't need multiple layers; I can do everything I need to do with one layer and nodes. Even the gradient is a node. The biggest problem was the 'Panorama Projection'. PixiEditor has no filter or function like this. However, it does have a Skia Shader node where you can write your own shader in SKSL, a variant of GLSL. Initially, I tried to map the image around a sphere, which worked after a lot of learning and testing. However, the result was nice but not what I was looking for. Just before giving up, I had the idea of looking into the code of the GIMP/GEGL 'Panorama Projection'...

Prologue : I originally planned to publish this blog post during the LGM 2026 in Nürnberg. Sadly, however, the  image  from the museum's object catalogue is under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, so I was not allowed to use it to create a VR panorama. Fortunately, however, the museum has given me permission today to use it under a CC0 1.0 license. At the Germanische Nationalmuseum , I discovered this 360° map of the Nuremberg area from 1581. I just had to convert this 360° round image into a panorama for VR glasses, especially as it is the oldest one I have ever seen – it is almost 500 years old! https://objektkatalog.gnm.de/objekt/La140   First, I removed the decorations in the corners and cleaned up the image. Then, using the workflow described in this old  tutorial , I created an equirectangular 360° panorama. Finally, I added metadata with ExifTool to enable Google Photos and other panorama viewers to detect it as a 360° panorama.    The embedded A-Frame I used s...

Since I wrote the original tutorial , GIMP has evolved, so I've created an updated version that makes use of the new features. The most important new features are that you can now use linked layers, layer groups and non-destructive effects. This tutorial discripes how to create this chrome ball with GIMP. First of all you need a equirectangular panorama . If you don't have one you can get one from HDRI Haven . For this tutorial I took this one: https://hdrihaven.com/hdri/?h=bell_park_pier This time I chose the 2k version because it is faster to process. Of cause you can use other resolutions if you like. Now create a new image with 2048x1024px and delete the background layer:   Then open the image in GIMP with "File -> Open as Link Layer..." and duplicate the layer. The "Open as Link Layer" gives you the possibillity to change the image later.   This is the background layer on which the chrome ball sits. We now need a second layer for the ball itself...

First of all what is Aerialod and why do i need an alternative. Aerialod is an tool to create fast 3D voxel images out of height maps. Advantages and Disadvantages of Aerialod Advantages: User-Friendly: Aerialod is an easy-to-use tool for creating 3D terrain models. It caters to both beginners and experienced users who want to achieve results quickly. Freeware but not Open Source: Aerialod is free to download but does not allows users to modify and extend the source code. Variety of Features: Aerialod supports the generation of various terrains, the use of real satellite data, and the creation of synthetic heightmaps. This makes it a versatile tool for different applications in geodata visualization. Disadvantages: Lack of Advanced Features: While Aerialod offers many useful functions, it may lack some advanced features found in professional 3D rendering tools, making it less suitable for certain applications. Not Open Source No new version since 2023. Overall, Aerialod presents an in...

Online Tools Use an online extractor e.g.: Depth Map Extractor or Depth Extractor (both don't work with my example file from the Google Pixel 6a) Use Photopea. Photopea is even able to import all other images inside the metadata. You can use this tutorial or directly go to https://www.photopea.com/ .   Command line Tools Depth-map-extractor an Python script optimised for photos from Huawei  phones. Phonedepth , a small command line tool to extract depth data. Creating not extracting In 3D tools like blender you can simply render the mist pass/depth map and then use it in other programs: AI: There are several AI depth map creation tools. (online and local). The quality varies quite a lot depending on the input image and the used model. Sometimes it looks good at first glance, but is simply wrong. However, the AI models are improving very quickly. But if it is not perfect you can fix it, have a look at the last point. Here for example the not very good output result from 3...

Alexandre Prokoudine does a great job with his Libre Arts blog and he made a big overview of the year 2022 with a preview of 2023 : As he looks at the big picture I collected some news from small more hidden open source graphics projects: Mobile As I'm only interested in the non mainstream mobile stacks I'm ignoring Android an OS here completely. Megapixels Megapixels got two new releases (1.5 and 1.6) with nice improvements.Meanwhile is Purism working on an fork called millipixels that is using libcamera. libcamera The first version of libcamera released and a lot of big companies like RedHat, Purism and the Raspberry Pi Foundation are working together to improve the camera stack. Image Viewer Image viewers are the kind of programmes that every one thinks are easy to write. But then you realise not only there are thousands of different file formats with metadata (with informations like "rotate this image", "this is an panorama", "geo locations...

Moon with displacement map I played again a little bit with A-FRAME to create the moon. Thanks go to CG BOOST for giving me the link to the NASA image and displacement map from the moon and to the Museum of Science in Boston hat created the nice 360° star background . https://github.com/supertobi/aframe-moon-with-displacement-map Earth with moon But the Moon was not enough. I created a earth and now the moon is rotating around the earth: If you have a VR headset please use it! The earth and cloud textures are again from the NASA and then improved with GIMP.   https://github.com/supertobi/aframe-earth-with-moon Matterhorn Then even closer to the ground I made a 3D piece from the Alps with the Matterhorn. I was inspirited by @Taky_ed Matterhorn, I used GIMP for editing the textures, A-FRAME for displaying and the stars background from Museum of Science in Boston .   https://github.com/supertobi/A-FrameMatterhorn

Panorama „View of Berlin from the roof of the dome“ from a crater shape vase. Bild: Klassik Stiftung Weimar After I created the first 360° view from a vase , the Klassik Stiftung Weimar provided an second panorama from an old vase (1835 - 1841) created by Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin (KPM) . This time it's a view of Berlin from the roof of the dome . Panorama „View of Berlin from the roof of the dome“ from a crater shape vase. Bild: Klassik Stiftung Weimar This time I did not remove the handles at the bottom and the result looks really nice in the VR glasses. I've done nearly the same then with the last vase panorama. Most of the work wass done with GIMP, I created the missing sky with gmics inpainting method and then added some meta data with exiftool. Panorama „View of Berlin from the roof of the dome“ from a crater shape vase. Bild: Klassik Stiftung Weimar edited by me Thanks to A-Frame I can now embed it as VR view here: The lin...

1823 Adolph Kaiser Panoramic View from the Grosser Inselsberg, Germany in VR Adolph Kaiser: Panorama Inselsberg. Bild: Klassik Stiftung Weimar This is an Adolph Kaiser panorama view from the top of the Grosser Inselsberg , the highest mountain in German's Thuringian Forest. The over 200 different locations are numerically identified within the view and correspond to an index organized in wedges surrounding the view's center. The view illustrates the mountains and trees surrounding the Großer Inslelsberg. I'd like to thank the "Klassik Stiftung Weimar" for providing me a hi-resolution scan of the image . This is the result after changing the projection with Hugin and some tweaking in GIMP : Thanks to A-Frame I can now embed it as VR view here: The result in google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qNdzLtRdgzNUkaqa9 The location in open street map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=Inselsberg#map=19/50.85117/10.46638

I found an nice blog post "Alte Vase im neuen Gewand " from the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Classical Foundation Weimar) : Crater shape vase with panorama of "Potsdam from the sight of Babelsberge", Bild: Klassik Stiftung Weimar In this blog post they describe how they use VR glasses to view an old vase. I think the use of virtual reality glasses for knowledge transfer in general and in museums in particular is a very good idea. However, the implementation in this case cannot use the advantages of virtual reality glasses to the full extent. Not the viewing of objects in 3D is the big advantage of VR glasses, but the immersion into other worlds. To illustrate this, I have taken the photographic roll of the panorama, which they have kindly provided, and edited it so that it has become a 360° panorama into which you can immerse yourself with VR glasses. Crater shape vase with panorama of "Potsdam from the sight of Babelsberge", Bild: Klassik Stiftun...