Rendering to a Dome

Let's see how we can render our scene out for a dome projection.

For this example, we'll create a separate camera that will act as our dome viewpoint. Also, we'll assume we're rendering our dome view to a second monitor but we could also stream it via NDI through the network or via Spout to another application.

• Let's start fresh by clicking on File menu/New.
• Now, let's create a camera to serve as the dome view point. From the toolbox panel, click Cameras from the top list
• Next, select Camera from the bottom list
• Click in the space to create a camera
• Right-click to exit draw mode

A new ViewPort was added when we created the camera. We're now going to create an output display for the ViewPort.

• Undock the viewport panel at the bottom right of the screen
• Next, right click the Camera ViewPort representing the new camera we added
• Select Create New Display For ViewPort from the menu

A new Display is added to the Universe. A Display represents an output from Simmetri to an outside device or display. Now, let's setup the Display to output as Dome to a second screen.

• From the edit menu, click on Preferences
• Next, on the preferences panel, select the 'outputs' tab

The left list shows all the outputs of our universe. The Master Display represents the editing view while the Camera Display represents the Display for the camera we just created.

• From the left list, select Camera Display
• Underneath the left list, set Render As to Dome

The last thing we need to do is to define the output of this display. For this, we will assume you have a second physical display setup that will represent your dome projection output.

• From the right list, click the + button
• Select 'New Screen Display Output' from the menu
• If it's not already selected, select the newly added Screen Display Output
• Now, set Default Display to wherever your additional monitor lies.

Simmetri should now be rendering the camera to the second display as a square Dome.