.. _sec:360:
Making 360 videos for YouTube
------------------------------
Thanks to input from Chris Russell, splash has the ability to output images and videos
that can be played as '360' videos in YouTube, where the user can move around in 3D.
Try moving around in the video below (made with splash!). Here the viewer is at the
Galactic Centre while the simulation models the surrounding stars and their winds.
.. raw:: html
Quickstart on 360 videos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can create a 360 video in splash as follows::
splash disc_0* -360 --movie
Or with more control by first making an interactive plot and editing settings::
splash disc_0* -360
For example, you can delete the colour bar by hovering over it and pressing backspace.
Once happy, press 's' from the window followed by 's' from the text menu to save settings.
Then save as an mpeg video by answering "movie.mp4" at the device prompt.
You might also get pleasing results by moving the viewer using the --origin flag, e.g.::
splash disc_0* -360 --movie --origin=100,100,100
Finally upload your mp4 to YouTube and tick the box indicating that it is a 360 video.
Longer explanation on 360 videos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The basic functionality of the -360 flag is to change the coordinate system to spherical
coordinates centred on the origin, and then render column density in a theta-phi view, i.e.
showing the column density along radial lines of sight projected to the origin. SPLASH
also sets the aspect ratio correctly as required for the YouTube 360 format.
Yes we know 360 degrees is not the right term for an all sky view
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pedantically, it should be "4 pi steradians", especially if you ask the astronomers.
Hence, to keep the astronomers happy, "-fourpi" or "-4pi" is also accepted
as a flag instead of "-360"