Christian Stüben wrote:

Hi all,
for my brand new panogear and papywizard i have made a generator for optimized, predefined shooting pattern for spherical panos...

http://www.wackel3d.de/shootpatterngenerator.aspx

It is written this morning, it is new, it is untested. Feel free to test it, to make your own shooting pattern. If you find any faults, please let me know.

Please keep in mind that

-- it is testing phase, so false pattern maybe generated
-- it is not for free. It is donationware. If you like it, if the generated pattern help you, make a donation to a charity organisation of your choice.

Comments are welcome.

greetings from germany
Chris

Hi Chris!

I didn´t calculate it - but i´m somewhat irritated by intuition: Three shots using a 85mm lens seems rather few for 120° even in landscape mode (there´s no selector for portrait/landscape). Usually a 85mm has around 28° diagonally (!) - regarding 20% overlap per shot i mean it must be more than 3 shots for 120°@20% overlap . . .
The numbers for the first and the last group also seems funny for a mosaic of 120°x70° which i typed in.

best, Klaus

mediavets wrote:

I don't understand what the two parameters marked relate to?:

Hi Andrew!

horizontal and vertical angle!

best to you, Klaus

mediavets wrote:

I don't understand what the two parameters marked relate to?:

next version will be fully translated german - english.

greetings
chris

klausesser wrote:

mediavets wrote:

I don't understand what the two parameters marked relate to?:

Hi Andrew!

horizontal and vertical angle!

best to you, Klaus

Errr....yes, I managed to get that far with Google translate but I still don't understand what those parameters relate to when one is calculating shooting positions for a complete sphere which would persumably have a fixed pano FOV of 360Hx180V.

Christian Stüben wrote:

klausesser wrote:

Klaus

by the way, one of your friends is developing a pano robot. somewhere here in the forums must be some post.

does this machine utilize xml shooting patterns too? if yes, where can i get the xml scheme? maybe i can support this thing too.

greetings, chris

Yes - find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KijVNMo0 … re=mh_lolz

the Panoneed-head is controlled by the TC hand controller.

This device writes xml files for being used in APG. Works very fine. It doesn´t need any pre-defined pattern for shooting - it calculates the pattern in realtime while shooting. That´s based on the inforations about sensor-size, focal-length and the amount of overlap you want to use.

Before you use the head the first time you ust store your camera/lens values into the controller using a PC. You can store different camera-models and also different lenses to be used.  That´s all it must know.

"In the field" you just choose the camera and lens from the display and then tell the controller what you want to do:

1) sphere-mode - no need to define a pattern first: the TC generates a pattern which matches perfectly, basing on the stored sensor/lens/overlap-informations. You can select values like mirror-lock, wait-time/"dead-time", how many shots bracketing or not and some. You´ll find the handbook here: http://www.typeandcolour.de/index.php?t … mp;up=soft (not well made at all - needs to be illustrated)

2) angle-mode - you set a vertical and a horizontal angle you want to cover. The head starts shooting from the center. It calculates all steps in realtime.
Start shooting in the center allows view-finding as with a usual camera.

3) mosaic-mode - you move the camera to a start- and an end-point and start shooting. The controller moves the head and fires the camera by calculating all steps in reatime. That´s all.

After the shooting you connect the controller to your PC and import the XML-files for loading them into APG.

Some features:

1 and 4Nm torque selectable - that´s good for 600-800mm lenses or operating the head @90°.
Selectable vibrate/shake-prevention: the head waits until no shaking/moving occurs before it fires the camera. Good for windy situations or unstable grounds.
selectable start top or bottom.
3-step Speed mode.
ultra-stable construction.
4 LiIo accus deliver about 3000-5000 shots/moves with one charge.
Electronic "bubble" on the display (good for high poles) and usual bubble-level.
collapsable construction, extremely rigid
precision is 0,036°.
weighs about 4,5Kg.

I bet i forgot some features . . i wrote about the head several times here - have a look.

Josef - the designer of the TC controller as well as of the Panoneed head - is a perfectionist and he works alone (i´m just testing the stuff).
He also builds the TC-handheld for Kolor.

Because he´s so extremely critical about his products and constantly finds cute new features to build in he didn´t roll out the head still.

I honestly can say: this is one of only two heads i ever would choose to work with. The other one is the Rodeon ST from Dr. Clauss - http://www.dr-clauss.de/de/foto-studiot … e/item/106 - extremely fine device, very detailed informations about it´s features from the manufacturer. Hard facts instead of many nicely colored leaflets.

I tested/used both heads (and some more) - and no doubt: the Rodeon is - at more than twice the price - more perfectly elaborated, definitely more elegant and a bit faster - but regarding the usability when shooting spherical or hires panos they´re equal.

The Panoneed is kind of a garage-product - a brilliant one from a brilliant and most experienced engineer. And it´s under constant developement - most of it software-wise and to be updatd via email. Hardware-updates can be done also of course - but Josef is highly interested in delivering a product that doesn´t need hardware updates at all in upcoming decades i guess - that´s why it´s not rolled out yet. He has some ideas . .

I´m using the number "0" for about a year and a half now. It worked fine from the start - and got better and better by several updates which added features and also precision (motors/gear/sensors) - it´s the first head Josef ever build . . and had to "grow" towards it´s today-status of being very, very effective in functionality.

best, Klaus

mediavets wrote:

How would I detemine the horizontal and vertical angle of a camera/lens combination.
Could you perhaps request and utilise parameters more readily available to normal mortals?
.............
Are you aware of the Papyspheric Python script that was designed to create optimised custom presets for Papywizard to shoot spherical panos?
See:
http://www.kolor.com/forum/t8100-papysp … es?id=8100

You shouldn´t determine horizontal and vertical angle of your camera/lens combination, you should read it from the camera/lens reference manual. Nowadays a 100mm lens doesnt have always the same viewing angles. You see it especially on wide angle lenses, or fisheyes. You can´t determine the angles from the focal length, there only can be a coarse approximation.

No, i didnt know of the papyspericscript, it is hidden much too good. And as far as i have understood what the script does ... it doesnt generate a ready-to-use pattern you can easily copy-paste into your papywizards presets.xml. It only gives you the coordinates. But my website does it! Ahm, yes, will do it after debugging .

greetings from germany
Chris

Last edited by Christian Stüben (2012-10-09 21:26:57)

mediavets wrote:

Hmmm...is there no way to calculate the angles from better known parameters?

I am working on this. A table focal length - horizontal and vertical angle is already added for some full frame lenses. More will come. And a (estimated) automatical calculation from focal length to angles will come. Not today, not tomorrow, but with one of the next versions it will come.

mediavets wrote:

But I look forward to your online pattern generator.

You are welcome. Now with version 0.4 i have corrected some errors in pattern generation (i found some uncovered regions).

greetings from germany
Chris

Last edited by Christian Stüben (2012-10-10 18:53:33)

mediavets wrote:

Are you aware of the Papyspheric Python script that was designed to create optimised custom presets for Papywizard to shoot spherical panos?

That´s what i don´t like at all with PapyWizard (sorry, Frédéric ): for shooting spherical you definitely need a pre-defined pattern.
In the times i used Papy on my Nokia n800 i sometimes on the spot decided to use a different lens - maybe one i haven´t used before for shooting a sphere.
No way - i had to go back home and generate a pattern first. Needless to say i never went back and did this shot using the lens i would have liked to use . .

That was one reson - there were severals others - to ask Josef to develop a more comfortable - and more fluent to use in the field - device for me. The result came out as the TC handheld

I liked PapyWizard a lot in the beginning - but i had bad luck several times using it and pitifully spoiled a job when i took it for "real" work. So i was very close to buy a Rodeon - but i didn´t have enough panorama-/hires jobs at this time to justify the costs of more than 3500.-€ for a head i needed only casually . . .

So i combined the TC with the Merlin and for nearly 2 years this combination suited me very well and - most important: reliable.

best, Klaus