If you have Photoshop, here is a link to something called spherical mapping
corrector:
http://www.richardrosenman.com/software/downloads/
No 64 bit support, I believe.
here is the install and use docs:
Spherical Mapping Corrector - v1.4, © 2008 Richard Rosenman Advertising &
Design. Release date: 03/15/03, Updated 09/28/08.
INSTALLATION:
Simply unzip "spheremap.zip" and copy "spheremap.8bf" to your
"\Photoshop\Plug-Ins\" folder, or whichever plugin folder your host program
uses. Load your program, open an image, go to the plugins menu and select
the plugin.
DESCRIPTION:
This filter produces texture map correction for spherical mapping.
When projecting a rectangular texture onto a sphere using traditional
spherical mapping coordinates, distortion ('pinching') occurs at the poles
where the texture must come to a point. Given the different topology of a
plane and a sphere, it is impossible to avoid this, or any kind of
distortion. However, by properly distorting the texture map, it is possible
to minimize and even compensate for the polar distortion.
Special thanks to Paul Bourke for allowing his algorithm to be ported to
this plugin. For more information, please visit Mr. Bourke's site at
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/.
Sub-Sampling: Specifies what type of pixel sub-sampling to use. (Nearest
Neighbor being fastest, Bicubic being best.
On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 6:46 PM, Nancy Jacobs <[email protected]> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I'm using the old-style environment spheres with an HDR image wrapped to
> light the scene, but invisible to rendering, and a beauty image visible to
> the render. The problem is the very visible distortion near the poles of
> the sphere. I need 360 degree visual acceptability. I am using a background
> which I've made seamless in both directions, a 2:1 rectangle. It seems this
> worked in renders at one point years ago in another software. Perhaps even
> XSI....I don't recall.
>
> I'm also trying to substitute this arrangement by using both an
> environment (using the HDRI), and 'Spherical Mapping' (using the beauty
> image), in the Pass Shaders. But I'm getting very strange results, so not
> sure if this is the way to go. Also, it's difficult to line them up
> properly so that the light in the HDRI is coming from the same place as the
> equivalent visible areas in the beauty image -- which of course one can do
> easily in the wrapped spheres. But in the pass shaders, they don't seem to
> use the same rotation systems...
>
> Any advice on getting an undistorted, seamless image going here? With
> proper orientations?
>
> Thanks,
> Nancy
>
--
Best Regards,
* Stephen P. Davidson**
**(954) 552-7956
* [email protected]
*Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic*
- Arthur C. Clarke
<http://www.3danimationmagic.com>
