R: 3D Rayshader/Rayrender Dataviz 360° VR Video (Earth Halo)

earth_halo.R

#You can find the surface textures at the link below:
#http://www.shadedrelief.com/natural3/pages/extra.html
#The background is just starfield image—any will do.
#Note: this uses the latest version of rayrender (0.21.4) on github

library(rayrender)
for(i in 1:360) {
  group_objects(cylinder(angle=c(90,90,0), material=diffuse(image_texture = "8081_earthmap10k.jpg",
                                              bump_texture = "8081_earthbump10k.jpg", bump_intensity = 100),
           radius=12, capped = FALSE, length = 6) %>% 
    add_object(cylinder(angle=c(90,90,0), material=diffuse(alpha_texture  = "earthcloudmap_adj.png"),
             radius=11.8,capped = FALSE, length = 6)), group_angle = c(i,0,0)) %>% 
    add_object(sphere(materia=light(intensity = 150),x=6*sinpi(i/180))) %>% 
    render_scene(lookfrom=c(0,-10.0,1), lookat=c(0,-10,-1),filename=sprintf("haloearth%i.png",i),
                 fov=360,width=1600,height=800, environment_light = "space.png", intensity_env = 10)
}