Pony Fulldome 2.0

Overview

Pony Fulldome is a conversion software used to create fulldome images and videos from your own images, letting you define various settings such as width, height, frame rate, duration, quality and format of the output video. The program is directed to professionals who want to create fulldome high quality images or videos.

Installation

Installation is very quick and simple. Just follow the instructions and in under a few minutes the program will be ready for use. It is 100% clean from spyware/malware and does not contain any additional software like toolbars or 3^rd party programs.

The supported operating systems are Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 7.

Interface

You can get familiar with the interface very easily. There are two modes available, Cube2Dome and Pano2Dome. In the first mode, you can select the 5 or 6 images (Left, Front, Top, Right and Back, the Bottom is optional) that will be used to make the fullDome image and see a preview of the output Image in the main window. In Pano2Dome mode you can select only one picture that will be converted to FullDome. In both modes you can adjust many settings, like the View angle and the output format.

Using the settings menu you can select the images that will be used in Cube2Dome and change the video output settings.

Pros

It's not hard to create fulldome images and videos at all. All you have to do is select the images you want to use, change any settings if you wish (like width, height, duration, frame rate), select output format and then click “Begin”. You can save the output file as an image, frame or video. For images and frames, the available output file formats are JPG, BMP, PNG or TGA and for videos are AVI and MOV.

In the Cube2Dome settings window you can see almost the same configurations as in the Pano2Dome screen, with the main difference that here you pick 5 (or 6) faces for your image instead of one.

Cons

For a professional program like this, the English used in it should be excellent. However, there are many grammar and syntax mistakes both on the author's website and the program, making you wonder if it’s actually a reliable software. In addition, it has many bugs that need fixing. For instance, if you click on the Pano2Dome option in the settings submenu, nothing happens. A complete revamp in the interface should be done in order to make it more attractive and functional.

Alternatives

FullDome (paid) is a plugin for Adobe After Effects that allows you to do this kind of conversions. Basically it converts a rectangular workspace into a spherical or a cylindrical one. Another plugin for After Effects is DomeFX (paid), which in essence does the same thing. Needless to say, both of these products are very expensive, with FullDome reaching 600$ per workspace, whilst DomeFX costs about 400$ for 1 license.

Conclusion

Not many software like Pony FullDome exist, and you must be careful with what you go for, since all of the choices are quite expensive. You should thoroughly test this program and your other options before you go ahead and make a purchase.