Virtual Tour or 360 degree or panoramic view

Hi Guys

Need some input, some web sites have this 360 degree photo view.

e.g. http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full22.html

Usually a Java applet or something that allows to view some site, building etc using the mouse left, right, up, down, zoom etc.

A) What software is required to make such a presentation?
B) What is the raw input i.e. if a photo is required how do i take such 360 photo or is it a collage of many photos? or is it a video film?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I've taken a few such panoramas, it's a lot of fun. Check out my (paltry) offerings at http://skypanther.com/gallery.php Pano photography is a huge subject, so, here's a very brief overview.

For taking the photos, you need a digital camera (obviously, the better the grade of camera and lens the better your resulting panos will be) and some stitching software. You take a series of photos and then stitch them together. Photoshop Elements and a few other such packages offer simple stitching capabilities. If you're going to do anything more than simple things though, you'd be better served by a dedicated tool for the job. Check out http://www.ptgui.com/ for a Windows-based tool for this. There are Mac and Linux apps too.

There are many options for displaying the photos. The most popular is QuickTime (QTVR). You can take the output from PTGui and turn it into a QT movie with tools like http://www.pano2qtvr.com/

Java is another option, though most of the higher-end panos aren't displayed via Java. Also, there are growing issues with users having Java VMs. There are Shockwave and Flash players as well.

There's a lot more information at the PanoTools wiki at http://www.panotools.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page and on the PanoTools mailing list (Yahoo list).

Finally, let me say that the panos at panoramas.dk represent some of the best works out there. None of mine are close to that quality and probably won't be until I buy a pro-grade DSLR and lenses and spend a lot more time practicing. Your mileage may vary, but don't expect to shoot that level of quality right out of the gate.

Tim

Dear Tim

Thank you so much for a detailed reply.

I know I have lot to learn and your reply encouraged me to bother you again with lot more queries.

Your panoramas are pretty cool mate. To me it is superprofessional. You do not have to be so humble!!!

I have simple SONY Cybershot 5 megapixel DSP P 7 or 9 something camera. The output is decent enough.

I am very impressed with the http://skypanther.com/playground.php Can you please teach me how to make such a film? I mean many panoramas i saw are left to right but your is top to bottom as well and I would like to know how to get that.

Of course I will learn from the various links you have given.

Thnx a lot for your reply. I will get back to you if I need some more guidance (in other words of Great Arnold S - I'll be Baak)

Paddy

A quick reply here: I use a Nikon CoolPix 4500 with the FC-E8 fisheye lens. The lens gives me a bit more than 180 degrees coverage with a single photo. I typically take six photos (one each in the compass directions, one up, and one down) and stitch them together to create the full 360 by 180 degree panos like the playground one.

Why don't you PM me your email address and we'll continue this discussion outside of these forums.

Gotta run...
Tim

OMG, where did your feet go!?! 8o

I was wondering where the body went, typically when you see a shadow you see a body

JoCald said:

OMG, where did your feet go!?! 8o

Click to expand...

Oh, did I fail to mention you have to learn to levitate?

Just kidding, it's just the magic of photo retouching. I move around between each photo. Then, there's enough overlap between the various photos that I can select the layers that don't contain me....at least generally. I didn't do a great job of that on the playground pano and ended up having to paint out one of my shoes and paint in some missing details.

In the one here: http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp1205/html/TimPoulsen.html you can see my lens cap in the dark area to the left. Drat!

As for that shadow...that bugs me! There are techniques for painting them out but I haven't given them a try yet. I typically try to hide my shadow in that of a tree or whatever but couldn't in that playground shot.

Tim