Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D interaction/Surround Projection Tools

Surround Projection Tools
Setup cameras and create rendering scenes for n-screen surround projection.

UI location	View3D > Tool Shelf > Surround Projection panel
Usage	Set the number of screens in the panel and click "Add Cameras." To change the number of screens, click "Remove Cameras," change the number of screens, and click "Add Cameras" again. To generate scenes for each camera, click "Make Scenes" and to remove them click "Remove Scenes."
Version	0.1.2	Author(s)	Cole Ingraham
Blender	2.6	License	GPL
Category	View3D	Distribution	Contrib
Note(s)	Note(s)

Executable information

File name	space_view3d_add_surround_cameras.py
Current version download	https://svn.blender.org/svnroot/bf-extensions/contrib/py/scripts/addons/space_view3d_add_surround_cameras.py
Python modules	math, re

Warning	Currently in alpha
Links	http://coleingraham.com/2011/11/14/using-the-surround-projection-tools-addon-for-blender-2-6/

Setup

Simply place the script in your blender scripts path or use the Install Addons button in User Preferences. No dependencies or special requirements.

Manual

Enable the script (found in 3D View > Surround Projection Tools). The tools will then be available from the View3D > Tool Shelf > Surround Projection panel. As this will be creating cameras for you, it is best (although not required) to delete any other cameras you already have. Change the value of Number of Screens to the amount you need and press Add Cameras. This will create that number of cameras (named Camera0 - CameraN-1) with the correct field of view in an circular orientation which will all be parented to an empty called CameraOrigin for easy positioning. This can be done at any stage in the creation of your scene.

Once you are ready to render, click the Make Scenes button and a new linked scene will be generated for each camera and rendering will go to your your output directory with subfolders for each scene. It is important to note that your render settings should be set to the desired settings prior to this step as all settings will be copied to the new scenes. The new scenes will use the original as a background scene, allowing any changes to be automatically reflected in the camera scenes.

If you need to change the number of screens you will be rendering to, as long as the camera scenes are not present you can click the Remove Cameras button, change the number of screens, and set everything back up. Note that although you can change the Number of Screens while the cameras and render scenes exist, that will not affect anything until Add Cameras is run again.

To render out your multi screen animation, either a) render each scene one at a time, b) use one or more instances of blender from the command line to render each scene, or c) use the compositor with each scene as a different Render Layer input going to File Output nodes.

IMPORTANT: do NOT manually delete anything created by the script as this will currently not be reflected by the internal properties used for allowing/disallowing the use of the various operators at different times. Use the Remove buttons to delete the generated scenes/cameras ONLY. This will also hopefully be fixed in a future release.