Panoptic

The Images

The following ZIP archives provide three sets of Panoptic scenes: stereoscopic panoromas, Mars planetary visualizations, and lunar visualizations. Each ZIP contains an XML scene definition file along with all of the SCM TIFF images and annotations that those scenes use. These files may all be individually downloaded below.

* Be advised, some common ZIP utilities are not capable of handling archives larger than 2GB. If you have trouble, check the SHA-1 sum before declaring the ZIP corrupt. If the checksum matches but the problem persists, try another ZIP utility.

The stellar background image is included in both the Moon and Mars archives. The two copies are identical.

The Scenes

	Panorama Example 0 is an omnistereoscopic panorama of the cypress-tupelo forest in the Bluebonnet swamp. The zooming shader enables magnification, allowing two gigapixels of data per eye to be explored as if using binoculars.
	Panorama Example 1 is another high-resolution omnistereoscopic panorama captured at the Bluebonnet swamp.
	Panorama Example 2 is an omnistereoscopic panorama captured on the campus of Louisiana State University. This image may be challenging to view, as the sun shines upon one eye but not the other. Also, small discrepancies in the panoramic stitching result in a number of false 3D artifacts.
	Panorama Example 3 is an omnistereoscopic panorama captured in Tiger Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University. Note the men changing lightbulbs.
	Moon Example 0 is the best scene for exploring the Moon and appreciating its beauty up close. Total resolution is around 100 meters per pixel globally. The scene uses a vertex displacement shader to render a seamless merger of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) terrain map, which is good at the poles but bad at the equator, with the 100-meter Global Lunar DTM (GLD100), which is good at the equator but bad at the poles. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) global mosaic is mapped onto this.
	Moon Example 1 emphasizes terrain, using the LOLA / GLD100 merger in three ways. First it is used as a displacement map as in the first example, second as a color-mapped scalar field, and third as a normal map that gives shaded relief. The complete IAU lunar nomenclature is drawn atop in opaque black.
	Moon Example 2 demonstrates the overlay of high-resolution data atop low-resolution, permitting the exploration of detail in context. In this case, the low-resolution data is the terrain map with WAC at a resolution around 100 meters per pixel, as above. The high-resolution data is an LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) view of the site of the landing of Apollo 11, with a resolution of around one half meter per pixel. Relevant features of the scene are labeled.
	Moon Example 3 is the most complex example in the set. It shows a NAC overlay of the site of Apollo 16 in the context of the lunar terrain and WAC, displayed with shaded relief. The Apollo 16 image is rich with human and rover tracks and gives stunning detail close-up. Viewed from afar, the shaded context provides the highest-fidelity and most information-dense presentation of the full globe of the moon currently available.
	Moon Example 4 shows shaded relief of a displaced surface as in the DTM example, but this time with a separate color-mapped scalar data set applied. This is the Lunar Digital Slope Map (LDSM) a secondary product of the LOLA. A 10-degree graticule is drawn atop in opaque black.
	Moon Example 5 shows Mini Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) synthetic aperture radar data. Mini-RF is notable for its presentation of information deep in the craters near the poles, where the light of the sun can never reach. Mini-RF is only available near the poles, and gray shaded relief appears elsewhere.
	Mars Example 0 is the best scene for exploring Mars. Total resolution is around 230 meters per pixel globally. The scene uses a vertex displacement shader to render the MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Elevation Model as a height map. The Viking MDIM2.1 Colorized Global Mosaic is mapped onto this terrain. A rough approximation to the martian atmosphere is included.
	Mars Example 1 emphasizes terrain, using the MOLA as a displacement map, as a color-mapped scalar field, and as a normal map giving shaded relief. The complete IAU martian nomenclature is drawn atop in opaque black.
	The background of the planetary examples is a rendering of the Synthetic All-Sky Panorama.

Individual Downloads

The panoramic images were captured in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, using the CAVECam omnistereoscopic panoramic camera. They are compressed using lossy JPEG and come in left-right pairs.

The lunar imagery is derived from data captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Sources include the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), the Mini Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) synthetic aperture radar, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), and the 100-meter Global Lunar DTM (GLD100) which was derived from stereo WAC imagery. All use lossless FLATE compression.

The Mars imagery is derived from data captured by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), the Viking Orbiter, and Mariner 9. Sources include the MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Elevation Model, and the Viking MDIM2.1 Colorized Global Mosaic. All use lossless FLATE compression.

© 2011–2015 Robert Kooima <robert.kooima@gmail.com>