3d scan of imperfect globe to a 2d Equirectangular Projection

[selden]

http://fracterra.com/ReprojectImage64.zip has a 64-bit installer with no imposed upper limit on size (it will crash when it hits some OS limit or other rather than just refuse to export above a certain size).

Thanks!

It doesn't crash wheh it loads a 16Kx8K image, but its proportions are wrong. Rather than usurp this thread for bug reports, I'll send you a PM.

[Vigilus]

http://fracterra.com/ReprojectImage64.zip has a 64-bit installer with no imposed upper limit on size (it will crash when it hits some OS limit or other rather than just refuse to export above a certain size).

Awesome I'll check it out!

@ Selden

Yep that's it's achilles heel, i'm not going to learn another operating system to use it.
I'm eagerly awaiting the day for direct skill downloads via my cybernetic implant to instantly learn all of this technical drudgery. Until then I'll focus on making an amazing player experience.

Thanks for your help Selden, sadly I don't this is the solution for my problem. Jonvanvliet seems to have the solution I'm looking for, if he could go into depth on it even a little bit.

@jonvanvliet
I'll PM you

[johnvanvliet]

i am about to leave for work in a few min. so later tonight / tomorrow i will get back to you about blender and meshlab

[Vigilus]

i am about to leave for work in a few min. so later tonight / tomorrow i will get back to you about blender and meshlab

Thanks John!

[johnvanvliet]

there normally will be two ways to do this

the first is to "bake" a texture using "blender render"
the second is using the camera and nodes in "cycles render"

as in the old way VS the new way


i am assuming you can switch from blender render to Cycles Render and back


i am also guessing you are by default in blender render

so for that you need to make a UV sphere just slightly bigger than the mesh you have
uv map it to spherical projection
in the outliner window ( top right corner ) click on your world
hold down < control> and click on the new uv sphere

then under bake select "texture" then click the bake button



for cycles and nodes ( better results )

move blender into cycles render
check " use nodes" box in miterales to creat a new node set up
add a new image texture node and in the drop down menu should be the textues name you are using for the oddly mapped textuer

add a emission shader ( this will cause the texture to glow)

add a camera at the center and set it to equal area projection
( you might need to rotate X + 90 degrees )
--- sounds very complex but really it is not
and render


it might be easiest if you can pack the texture into the "*.blend" file and post it

-- with blender running and everything looking good select from "file" ( top left ) "external data / pack all into blend "
then post the blend file ( might have to zip it for some services to except it )
i know that my FREE google storage ( from using gmail) will handle a blender blend file just fine

this way i can set things up for you and you can then study what i post back

[Vigilus]

there normally will be two ways to do this

for cycles and nodes ( better results )

move blender into cycles render
check " use nodes" box in miterales to creat a new node set up
After this text is where I'm having the issue------add a new image texture node and in the drop down menu should be the textues name you are using for the oddly mapped textuer

add a emission shader ( this will cause the texture to glow)

add a camera at the center and set it to equal area projection
( you might need to rotate X + 90 degrees )
--- sounds very complex but really it is not
and render

Normally, just to see my texture at all I have to be in texture paint mode on the object while the object is selected in the scene.
When I go to materials I don't have any drop down menu showing a selectable .jpg texture file.
The texture on the added material is all white, even when I rename it to the existing texture and select the new one.

Thanks for taking the time to give an more detailed answer!

add a camera at the center and set it to equal area projection

---Do you mean Orthographic Projection?

[Daniel Gimenez]

Wow, I am trully fascinated how many messages went into a simple projecting issue.

You know as a 3D artist I have to deal with this all the time, scanned objects have bad topology and their UVs are all over the place.
I know this might be a bit late but to me the problem is simple:

-You have one object where the texture looks nice when wrapped but the UVs are a mess.
-You can make an object that is exactly the same but with a better UV layout. For example in Blender you can create an UVSphere and select automatic UVs, you will get an equirectangular projection.
-Should you also want to transfer to the new sphere also geometrical deformations I would go over to zbrush to project the geometry to the new perfect sphere, but I believe there is a way of doing it in blender using one of the modifiers that changes the shape of one object to a target, thus you would en up with two identical spheres but one having correct UVS.
-If the objects match up, with a program like xNormal you can project the texture of the first object to the new sphere, and voila.

I hope this helps a little bit at least, maybe I am not getting the real problem,

Daniel.

[Vigilus]

@ Daniel

Thanks for the response!

Your approach seems to be right on target as far as I can tell on initial observation.
I'm going to look into this path. I've had this issue before the eyes of the blender artists community, polycount and this forum. So far the problem remains unsolved and I have my handy new christmas gifts in hand, Blender for Dummies and Mr. Blain's Blender Graphics book. I keep getting that it's really simple yet nobody seems to know how it's done. I'm going to play with your idea, thanks for the new software mentions!

[Vigilus]

I haven't looked at this post in a long time. After rereading this haphazard search, I never updated the solution I eventually found. Sorry about that! I found this guy who had a program that would take many, many pictures of a virtual object. Then the pictures are easily mapped onto an equirectangular projection. After a week of emails and sending one file, he had it perfectly mapped out with almost no detail loss whatsoever. This process has had a few years to grow since then, so check out it.

[kennystone]

I agree, xNormal is a very convenient program for baking ready-made cards!