Creating a large dome...sideways

[MaddtraxxRC]

This will sound like a really odd design choice, but it serves an odd purpose.

I am looking for a way to create a dome shape, roughly 30ft diameter....but vertically, so that if you were to look out the window of a room, you'd be looking into the inside center of the dome. Think planetarium...but standing up. I know it's goofy, but I have an application that could allow for an environment to be projected onto that inside surface to mimic a fully interchangable backdrop from the view of the window. One idea I had is to create this giant dome separately in Fusion, and then import it as an object, but I figure I'll have better control of the materials if all done in CA.

 

[Alaskan_Son]

A bunch of ways, but the first that comes to mind is to:

1. Use the Sphere tool to create a large sphere
2. Select that Sphere and click the Convert to 3D Solid tool 
3. Create a large rectangular Solid that intersects and covers half of the sphere in plan view and make sure it’s tall enough to completely cover the sphere from top to bottom.
4. Select the Sphere, click the Polyline Subtraction tool, and then click on the rectangular solid.
5. Activate the Delete Surface tool in a 3D view and then click on the unwanted flat circular face to remove it. 
6. Select the remaining half dome and click the Convert Selected to Symbol tool.

[Joe_Carrick]

Not quite.

1. Create a Sphere
2. Create a Solid (Box and make it tall enough to encompass the Spheres.
3. In 3D select the Sphere and subtract the Box
4. This will leave a half sphere
5. Copy in Place
6. Set the copy as 1" smaller diameter
7. Subtract the smaller from the larger
8. Edit the Material to Glass (maybe bronze or gray)
9. you now have a 1/2" thick glass half dome shape.

 

 

[Renerabbitt]

37 minutes ago, MaddtraxxRC said:

This will sound like a really odd design choice, but it serves an odd purpose.

I am looking for a way to create a dome shape, roughly 30ft diameter....but vertically, so that if you were to look out the window of a room, you'd be looking into the inside center of the dome. Think planetarium...but standing up. I know it's goofy, but I have an application that could allow for an environment to be projected onto that inside surface to mimic a fully interchangable backdrop from the view of the window. One idea I had is to create this giant dome separately in Fusion, and then import it as an object, but I figure I'll have better control of the materials if all done in CA.

 

why are you not simply using a backdrop instead, with all of the added benefits it brings forward?

[MaddtraxxRC]

Joe, Thats it! The half glass dome is perfect!

Rener...because I can then export this whole room into another bit of software and retain all the lighting data but the inside of that dome can then be skinned with video or static images.

[Alaskan_Son]

22 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

 

Not quite

 

 

11 minutes ago, MaddtraxxRC said:

Joe, Thats it! The half glass dome is perfect!

Either of you care to expand on why my initial  solution with half as many faces doesn’t work?

[Joe_Carrick]

13 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Either of you care to expand on why my initial  solution with half as many faces doesn’t work?

Your half dome is essentially a solid with a base.  It also has no surface thickness.  My solution consists of a spherical glass dome  1/2" thick.

[Alaskan_Son]

23 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

Your half dome is essentially a solid with a base.  It also has no surface thickness.  My solution consists of a spherical glass dome  1/2" thick.

I must really suck at writing and following instructions then because I thought I explained exactly how to create a half dome standing on its side…and I must have just skimmed past the part in the question that said it was supposed to be 1/2” thick glass.  I’ll either try harder next time or just skip it altogether.  

[Joe_Carrick]

Hi Michael,

 

I had just assumed he wanted a glass dome that could have been actually created as a real object.  I readily admit that it would actually need to be plastic rather than glass - but that's just a small detail.

 

I've seen similar acrylic domes in some chain restaurants here in SoCal.  They are roughly 48" in diameter and are installed as fixed windows.

[Renerabbitt]

1 hour ago, MaddtraxxRC said:

Joe, Thats it! The half glass dome is perfect!

Rener...because I can then export this whole room into another bit of software and retain all the lighting data but the inside of that dome can then be skinned with video or static images.

Can I ask what other software you are speaking of? most of the major third party rendering software's have dedicated skydomes or HDRI effects including Twinmotion, D5, Enscape, Thea, VRay, Maya, Unreal, and more

[Renerabbitt]

47 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I must really suck at writing and following instructions then because I thought I explained exactly how to create a half dome standing on its side…and I must have just skimmed past the part in the question that said it was supposed to be 1/2” thick glass.  I’ll either try harder next time or just skip it altogether.

 

34 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

I had just assumed he wanted a

I mean, should I throw some shade and tell you both you missed the mark, haha. These methods wont work, not even with Global Symbol Mapping Turned on.
Curious Mike what the step 2 added?(something I don't know maybe? using X15.)
The OP is asking for a skydome, and it wont map correctly using solids, should use a molding along a line with global symbol mapping and stretch to fit instead I believe, though I haven't tried it
 

[MaddtraxxRC]

The end use is a VR environment. I can create the rooms in CA, then using a rendering as a guide, I can then use a secondary software to change out lights, change backdrops, etc. This is just a low sample count example of the scene before I have been able to get all the shadows and lighting sorted if we go with a night theme. I can then adjust the outer floor distance to make the room seem higher, move the dome further away for deeper perspective...

 

The key to this is that the backdrops are videos, not static images

[Alaskan_Son]

15 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

I mean, should I throw some shade and tell you both you missed the mark, haha. These methods wont work, not even with Global Symbol Mapping Turned on….
the OP is asking for a skydome, and it wont map correctly using solids, 

Again, you guys must be much better readers than I because I didn’t read any of that, and you must also know how to use all the tools better than me because I can’t seem to get my method to not work.  I’ll have to try again when I have more time to waste.    

[Renerabbitt]

1 hour ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Again, you guys must be much better readers than I because I didn’t read any of that, and you must also know how to use all the tools better than me because I can’t seem to get my method to not work.  I’ll have to try again when I have more time to waste.    

The OP could've worded it better but I understood the end goal. "allow for an environment to be projected onto that inside surface to mimic a fully interchangable backdrop from the view of the window"
You described a solution for creating a half dome, yes.

 

[Alaskan_Son]

2 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

The OP could've worded it better but I understood the end goal. "allow for an environment to be projected onto that inside surface to mimic a fully interchangable backdrop from the view of the window"
You described a solution for creating a half dome, yes.

 

Well $#!+.  You are correct, I deleted that extra face using the Delete Surface tool and failed to mention that part. I created it really quick, and then just typed out instructions from memory.  That explains some of the confusion.  Regarding the conversion to a solid, I just did that out of habit. Historically, Chief has commonly had issues when 2 different types of solids are used with Boolean operations (polyline solids vs solids vs parametric 3D Shapes, etc.  It was just a preemptive safety measure.  It may not be necessary.  
 

Also, in case you were wondering, the reason for the convert to symbol step has to do with the fact I used the Delete Surface tool which as you know is only temporary.  Exploding the object and just deleting the extra face might work as well. I think the symbol is a little easier to store and work with than a twisted/distorted face is though.