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Monday, October 15, 2012

An experiental 3D-animation from my image of NGC 6752



I have tested a new method to publish my 3D-images as a form of Lenticular prints.
For this technique to work, I need series of images from different angles, in this case 24 images are needed.
Lenticular printing is actually an old technique but in past few years it has become much more sophisticated.
The results can be stunning visually, image plane disappears and object floats in and outside of the frame.

Since astronomical objects are too far away, no real parallax can be imaged. Doe to that, I have developed a method to turn my images to a various 3D-formats. My work flow is based on scientific data from the object, distance and the source of ionization are usually known. The different types of the nebulae has typical structures. Pillar like formations must point to the source of ionization. The radiation pressure forms kind of hollow area, inside of the nebula, around newly born stars. Dark nebulae must be at front of the emission ones to show, etc... Rest of the missing information is then replaced with an artistic vision.
The whole process is pretty much like sculpting!

NOTE! This is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.

A globular cluster, NGC 6752, as an animated 3D-study
Please, let the image load, the size is ~6.5MB

24-frames, images are meant for a lenticular 3D-print. Hence only limited horizontal animation. If needed, I'm able to do whole "fly around" animation out of the same 3D-model, used for the image above.
NOTE. Only image elements from the original 2D-image are used for this 3D-model.


Original 2D image of the object

Image of the NGC 6752 from the year 2010
Original blog post, with technical info, can be seen here:

What are globular clusters?

First of all, they are very beautiful, visually and imaged! A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is derived from the Latin globulus—a small sphere. A globular cluster is sometimes known more simply as a globular.
Globular clusters, which are found in the halo of a galaxy, contain considerably more stars and are much older than the less dense galactic, or open clusters, which are found in the disk. Globular clusters are fairly common; there are about 150 to 158 currently known globular clusters in the Milky Way.
A screenshot from the 3D-modeling software

A screen shot from the TrueSpace modeling software. This kind of model gives much more freedoms to animate, than is used in this example. A series of 24 images, with about one degree increments, are needed for the lenticular 3D print.


A collection of my experimental 3D-studies, of astronomical objects, can be found from my portfolio:
3D-material is under a folder "Volumetric 3D images"





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