February 2023 Challenge: The Planetarium

[Rwhyte]

This was filed away in my brain for perhaps just such a challenge, Behold, the Planetarium!

Well first, some background.The real star here is Etienne-Louis Boullee, who in 1784 imagined, but never built, a grand memorial to Newton.
A_Newton___[élévation_perspective]_[...]Boullée_Etienne-Louis_btv1b531645749_1.jpg


The vast spherical interior of the monument would serve a dual purpose. At night, it would be illuminated by a great spherical lamp.
Coupe_du_Cénotaphe_de_Newton_[...]Boullée_Etienne-Louis_btv1b53164599c_1.jpg

And by day, an impression of the night sky would be created by sunlight streaming through perforations in the dome.
Vue_intérieure_du_Cénotaphe_de_[...]Boullée_Etienne-Louis_btv1b531799418_1.jpeg

And now I, rank amateur, will seek to use this inspiring work in another foray into learning Blender. Below, I used both the plan and cross-section drawings as a guide to place and scale the basic shapes.
blender01a.jpg

Ah yes and the star system part. The sun lamp is set, and next will be adding planets, moons? to round out the planetarium. We'll see where this goes... learning a lot so far.

### Latest WIP ###
render13_CS.jpg

A few links:
Digital images from the National Library of France: https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engi...#resultat-id-6

A Cenotaph for Newton: The Poetry of Public Spaces, the Architecture of Shadow, and How Trees Inspired the World’s First Planetarium Design – The Marginalian

[jshoer]

Very cool idea.

[Rwhyte]

Thanks! it's like the stars were aligned.

[Rwhyte]

Adding planets, and some faint lines of orbit.

render20_CS.jpg

### Latest WIP ###
render21_CS.jpg

Though it's getting busy in there, and less of that stately, somber air from the illustrations... it's a puzzle

Convenient planet textures: https://www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/
Convenient map of the visible night sky: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4851

Interestingly NASA also created a version of the star map with randomized stars, for creating maps with un-recognizable constellations...
An Elsewhere Starfield: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4856

[Naima]

The idea is very nice, though I think youneed to find the right angle to be able to show both the structure and the Solar System inside it .

[Rwhyte]

For sure, will be trying out some different views. Another challenge just achieving the right sense of scale, especially for objects intended to be large. So investigating things like mist\haze\ atmospheric perspective etc.

In the meantime, a slight tangent. If a 3D model, what about letting the viewer explore. Here's a simplified scene, but getting familiar with Blender --> Sketchfab
Explore the model! https://sketchfab.com/models/bdd3201...&ui_theme=dark
sketchfab.jpg



Setting up the orbit and animation settings in Blender, with some tips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF9juYtbyoI, and then upload via the sketchfab plug-in.
blender_anim.jpg

Like a 2D map, you could say it's illustrative of the kinds of info being conveyed. The different kinds of rotations, orbits, and inclination angles give a sense of what's going on, if not all to scale...

May try to pull this all together, so visitors can explore the Planetarium!

[Naima]

Probably a top angled view like 45% degrees covering most of Solar system and then as contourn side may be under some schematics and renders of the planetarium like building plans , data stuff etc ?

[Greason Wolfe]

Definitely a unique approach. Gonna be interesting to see the final product, but liking what I see so far.

[Ciel]

This definitely sounds and looks like a fun approach to the prompt, I too look forward to see how this project turns out!

[Ilanthar]

Great idea!