Turn flat panoramas and sweeping landscapes into self-contained miniature worlds. This tool uses a stereographic polar coordinate projection to fundamentally alter the geometry of your image, wrapping the horizontal axis into a perfect 360-degree circle and compressing the vertical axis toward the center.
The math behind the magic
Instead of plotting pixels on a standard X/Y grid, polar coordinates plot them by angle and radius. The algorithm maps the exact bottom edge of your photo to a single infinitely dense point in the dead center of the screen (the “ground”). It maps the exact top edge of your photo to the outer perimeter of a circle (the “sky”). Finally, it takes the left and right edges and stretches them around the circle until they touch.
The result is a square image containing a perfect, gravity-defying sphere.
Perfecting the illusion
If you are using a standard landscape photo instead of a true 360° panorama, the left and right edges of your photo won’t match, creating a visible seam line running from the center of the planet to the sky. You can use the Rotation slider to spin the planet and position this seam somewhere less distracting—like hiding it at the bottom.
If you find that the planet feels too small inside the square, increase the Planet Size slider to zoom in. If you want a surreal inside-out perspective, check the Invert box to pull the sky into a tight singularity while spreading the ground out to the edges of the universe.