VR Drive II very quick and accurate :D

[Destiny]

VR Drive II very quick and accurate :D

by Destiny » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:48 am

Hi...

I have now used my VR Drive to capture a few tours, its very quick and very accurate. Here is my full VR tour of the local RSL and a single VR tour of the inside of a Winnebago Motorhome. This motorhome is just a trail to show them my work which I captured at the Caravan Show in Brisbane. It is hoped we can set their motorhomes up in an outdoor environment to capture the outdoor scenes through the windows.. I also managed to capture a Kratzmann caravan outside.

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/RSL/virtualtour.html

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/WinnebagoTour1/virtualtour.html

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/Kratzmann1/Kratzmann.html

Our next purchase will be a full frame fisheye lens so we can capture HDR images using our D800 mounted on the VR Drive.... The HDR option on the VR Drive is full of features which we are still learning.. We think its well worth buying this software especially for extreme light differences like real estate..

I have just captured a full home Virtual Tour using my VR Drive D() and 10.5 fisheye.. I have to say its all just amazing... I am getting more confident with my gear the more I use it.. It took just 3 minutes to capture a full VR with 36 bracketed images... The time changes according to the available light and the camera settings...

Destiny....

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:49 am

I have just processed a couple of my super sexy wide angle photos of the new home I captured yesterday... I used my D800 + 14-24 and my VR Drive II set to HDR to capture these bracketed shots although I could have done it by hand.. The benefit in using my VR Drive was to avoid any kind of hand movements during shots...

Destiny...

Last edited by Destiny on Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

[UK Pano]

by UK Pano » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:54 am

Hi Destiny,

impressive stuff and good to hear that the VR Drive is a success. Been looking at one myself since reading your posts on it and wondered how the nadir is taken as it looks like the footprint is quite large?

Regards,
Paul

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:52 pm

Hi Paul...

The nadir footprint is a little bit bigger than if using the NN4, so its easy to fix.. I have had no issues at all with that... I guess it will depend on your camera and lens. I have yet to try a full frame fisheye on my D800 but I do not think it will be much different than what I am currently getting with my D90 and 10.5... The VR Drive is so easy to use and it keeps all of your settings to use when ever you want and you can back it all up on the Thumb Drive provided.. Its a great tool for sure... If you do buy one, consider the HDR software option ... You can get by without the Speed mode but I really think the HDR option is the way to go... So my advice would be Quality and HDR and if you do 360 product photography then get the Turn Table options too...

Destiny...

[UK Pano]

by UK Pano » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:08 pm

Thanks Destiny, all interesting points to remember if I go with a purchase. So how do you take the nadir, I'm assuming hand held?

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:51 am

Hi Paul....

Nope, I would never attempt to capture a bracketed shot handheld... The footprint is not that big... I just export as cube faces and clone it from there... easy.. Urs did tell me that they are developing a nadir adaptor, but I do not know when this will be available.. I have my own ideas on this but they are smart people at Seitz so I would assume it will be worth the wait.. You must also consider the after sales support when buying a motorised pano head.... Our own experience with Seitz has been one of outstanding. But I have also chatted to Marc from Panomachine and he seems to be on the ball with support too. The way we see it, you really only have a two options at an affordable price rang... The VR Drive II and the MK Panomachine. But much cheaper you have the GigaPan and Panogear which i would buy for outdoor gigga panos.. but you can use them for indoors too... Then for a bit more money you can buy the RODEON VR Head which seems to be really nice tool.... Then for heaps more money you can go for the LizardQ, but thats a very specialist tool, including the camera and lens... Now that we have used our VR Drive many times, we think we made the right choice for us.. You only have to hear the motors and feel the parts to realise its strongly built and really well made... Also, think about the touch screen on the VR Drive II, we feel that this feature is just great...

If you buy the VR Drive I will provide you with a rundown on how to fix the nadir footprint quickly and easy...

Destiny...

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:19 am

I should also point out that I capture 36 images using a fisheye with 3 bracketed shots... This only takes 3 minutes.. If the light was better it would be a bit quicker... So going by that, it would take just about 1 minute to capture a single shot 360 sphere using the VR Drive II on quality mode... I also have speed mode but I have never tried it with my D800 camera but I did accidentally press the button with my D90 on it when I first got it... Oh wow... super quick..!!

Destiny...

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:32 am

The way we see it, you really only have a two options at an affordable price rang... The VR Drive II and the MK Panomachine. But much cheaper you have the GigaPan and Panogear which i would buy for outdoor gigga panos.. but you can use them for indoors too...
Destiny...

I think you have forgotten the soon-to-be-marketed Panoneed robotic head from T&C.

http://www.kolor.com/forum/t14256-now-finally

Last edited by mediavets on Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:15 am

Hey..

I have yet to process the VR Tours but at least I have now processed the normal images captured using my D800 with 14-24.. To be honest I do not like HDR as much as LDR.. But in this case I had no choice... The light was fading very quickly.. When I began capturing the VR Tour it was 4pm and the light was fading fast so by the end of the shoot it was dark. Therefore I had issues in trying to process the 14-24 as LDR photos.. So since I captured 5 bracketed shots I decided HDR was the only real option to get the best out of the images.... The home builders likes them so its all good.. I still need to put an image over the TV screen and for some reason the laundry has missed its mark so I will have to do that again...

This is just my test VR Grid with a hotspot.. When I process the VRs, I will put this hotspot in the first pano.. I was hoping to capture an outside photos but way too dark.. I do not like using such a high ISO levels either but again I had no real choice but the D800 makes a much better job of high ISO levels than my D90...

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/AusbuildVRSlideshowTest/index.html

Destiny...

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:32 pm

The way we see it, you really only have a two options at an affordable price rang... The VR Drive II and the MK Panomachine. But much cheaper you have the GigaPan and Panogear which i would buy for outdoor gigga panos.. but you can use them for indoors too...
Destiny...

I think you have forgotten the soon-to-be-marketed Panoneed robotic head from T&C.

http://www.kolor.com/forum/t14256-now-finally

Hi Andrew!

Josef actually is preparing a workflow to building the head in numbers.

The point is: every device - head and controller - is built by hand and tested individually. So given all the guys having asked for one will order at the same time
he will be working day and night . . .

Speed-mode is finished The switch from 1 to 4 Nm now is for horizontal also - to operate the device with very precisely posioning also at 90°.

Josef individually implements features on demand. For example the strategy xml is used: when you shoot bracketing you can choose whether you want
every shot written as seperate exposure - like 5 times per position - for stacking in APG or all bracketed shots in one number for using HDR-processing in Photomatix first and importing ONE processed image per position.

Some people - like me - always process HDR first and import to APG only ONE image per position. So Josef modified the xml for me this way - because i can use extzremely extended bracketing or focus-stacking using the promote-control (i used 21-step bracketing for testing - using the modified xml makes it as easy to stitch as single exposures).
His support really is oustanding - one phone-call or mail and it´s done. I guess the many users of the TC handheld can second that.

Because of every device is individualy assembled by hand it´s possible to individually modify the device to the client´s needs. Josef´s very flexible here.

The Panoneed website will be launched by the upcoming week - the last longtime-run testing is going on . . so i hope that Josef´s extremely sophisticated notions will be matched then and he finally signals "green light".

best, Klaus

3 developing-stages of the head in one pano:

http://360impressions.de/ArchivTausendf/ (zoom in - about 700MPx each)

Last edited by klausesser on Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[UK Pano]

by UK Pano » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:10 pm

Thanks for the detailed update Klaus. Interested equally in Josef's head as I've been following his progress in developing the head via your posts here.

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Sun Jun 17, 2012 5:43 am

Hi, well the RSL were really happy with my VR Tour so they called me in on Sunday to capture their function room which was made up in a different theme.. So I added a new hotspot next to the first Theme...

I want to keep the content on my server so I can update as required and add a hotspot for a slideshow later. They want to put the tour on their web site next week, but the file size is huge and I really do not want to send it via web download which will make updating harder too. I have tried creating a new html file, and editing the src to the folder where the main content is hosted, but the tour will not load.. So, does anyone know what I need to do to display my content on a new html file hosted in a different location to the tour content...

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/RSL/virtualtour.html

I made my source code for a different location as below...

Destiny...

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<title>DPS Virtual Tours - RSL Ipswich Queensland</title>
<meta name="viewport" content="target-densitydpi=device-dpi, width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no"/>
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes"/>
<style type="text/css">
@media only screen and (min-device-width: 800px) { html { overflow:hidden; } }
* { padding: 0; margin: 0; }
html { height: 100%; }
body { height: 100%; overflow:hidden; }
#container { height: 100%; min-height: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<script src="http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/RSL/swfobject/swfkrpano.js"></script>
<div id="container">
<div id="panoDIV" style="height:100%;">
<script>
embedpano({target:"panoDIV",swf:"virtualtour.swf"});
</script>
<noscript>
<div id="tour">
<object width="100%" height="100%">
<embed src="http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/RSL/virtualtour.swf" width="100%" height="100%" allowFullScreen="true"></embed>
</object>
</div>
</noscript>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

[leifs]

by leifs » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:44 am

If you want to have the html on one server and bulk of it on antother server there is some obstacles.
First you have built the tour in PTP to only show on the domains you listed.
Thereafter its about the swf : you have to put a cross-domain file on the bulk-of-it-server. Like this crossdomain.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy SYSTEM "http://www.macromedia.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd">
<cross-domain-policy>
<allow-access-from domain="www.rundskuer.no"/>
</cross-domain-policy>

in this case the html file is on rundskuer.no and this crossdomain.xml is on the bulk-of-it-server.

leifs

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:54 am

Thank you leifs.. I will play with that...

At the moment I am using my VR Drive HDR function + D800 + 14-24 to create my still images ... Its great since the camera remans still.. I really want to try a full frame fisheye to make a HDR sphere pano, but that will have to wait.... 9 bracketed shots seems to be the way to go with HDR...

http://www.destinyvirtualtours.com/RSL/virtualtour.html

Destiny...

PS.. I moved the sideshow to the Function Area 2 Theme 2 pano.....

Last edited by Destiny on Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:23 am

When you view the slideshow above, it goes to show just how much detail can be brought out using HDR photography... The LDR Virtual Tours lacks so much in comparison.. I cannot wait to buy a full frame fisheye to use the VR Drive Ii HDR option to create a HDR pano... I think perhaps the SIgma fisheye will be the way to go..

Destiny...

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:49 am

I think perhaps the SIgma fisheye will be the way to go..

Destiny...

Which one?

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:00 am

Well Andrew, I was thinking about this one.. 8mm F3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye
But you would know more about it than me... I want the sharpest fisheye I can get.. I am guessing that since this is a full frame circular, I would need to capture less images which is what I want due to the D800 being 36.3mp... I need to keep the file size down a bit... I also want to do 9 bracketed shots with it., to create true HDR...

Destiny...

I think perhaps the SIgma fisheye will be the way to go..

Destiny...

Which one?

Last edited by Destiny on Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:20 am

emm... silly me... I did not realise I could put my Nikon 10.5 fisheye on the D800 and it automatically cropped to DX... I just shot a 9 bracketed shot using my VR Drive... I love my 10.5, its a great little lens.... I knew I could put my DX lenses onto my FX camera, but I did not know they automatically cropped to DX..

With my D90, if i have Live View on, and then change the ISO or shutter speed etc... nothing changes on my Live View... Its a matter of capturing the image to see the result.. But, with my D800 set to Live View mode, if I change the ISO or shutter speed, the live view changes to available light so you can adjust accordingly.. Just a mazing.. Love it.. So if the Live View is dark or light, I can change the setting of the ISO or shutter speed and I see a preview of the images before capturing it.... It also has this kind of digital levelling view graphic.. so you can make sure the image is level... The more I use my D800 the more amazed I am with it.. It's the best camera I have ever used... Its very smart.. If I set the ISO to auto, you can see the ISO range change according to the shutter speed... If you set all the settings to Auto, you can still change either the f-stop or shutter or ISO and they all change accordingly... You can learn a lot from this to then go to manual and have a starting point and then Just fine turn in manual mode... Anyone looking at buying an FX camera.. go D800 for sure...

Destiny...

[mkintner]

by mkintner » Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:19 pm

If you buy the VR Drive I will provide you with a rundown on how to fix the nadir footprint quickly and easy...
Destiny...

Hello Destiny,

I just purchased the VR Drive II and what an amazing piece of equipment. I'm using the Canon 650D (T4i) with an 8mm Sigma Lens. You mentioned above on how it fix the nadir footprint quickly. Could you be so kind as to how you did this?

Thanks,
Mike

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:20 pm

Hi Mike... Well done with your purchase.... I love my VR Drive so much... and never regretted buying it.... I think you have just about the best motorised head in the world for the money. i would have liked to have road tested the MK PanoMachine, slightly cheaper but still very nice and the Dr. Clause lots more $$ and very very nice... But I am happy made the right choice and I am sure you will.

The nadir footprint is not as big as I thought it would be but I have found that apg does not support the stitching that well, so consequently the nadir footprint is rather big and strange looking for me even when using my D800 so perhaps its the lens, 10.5 fisheye.. Not sure if it will be the same results with your camera and lens... I sent my images to kolor weeks and weeks ago but so far I have yet to hear from Alex J.. Real shame since there is a new tool in the new version of apg for fixing up the nadir patch but as yet I have not been able to use it since it will not work with my nadir footprint image..

Therefore I am using PTGui to stitch, since the nadir footprint is nice and even.. What I suggest you do is stitch your images, and as long as your NNP is correct you will be fine.. Load the pano into ptp and export as a cube face set... The last image will be your Nadir..

If you have a really complicated nadir, you will need to capture a nadir image.. I have since used my ball head for this as long as I hold on to my head or it will be top heavy since you have to point the entire VR Drive down.. You can do it freehand but.. you will have to recreate the EVs to match your images, you can do that from RAW easy.. It doesn't have to be perfect.. If you try to capture bracketed images by hand it will blur.. so best recreate the EVs for that one image... since it only take a few seconds..

But if on the other hand the nadir is cloneable, then do that, tiles or concrete, or repetitive patterns etc.. Or just copy part of the nadir image and match it up.. Then use your blend tool to blend it in Photoshop.. Its very quick and looks fine.. There are a few tips and tricks to that though.. You can do it this way with the nadir patch image too.. Just line it up under the hole, crop as much off as you can and then blend it using Photoshop....

When you export as cube faces you will see just how small footprint is.. well... that might depend on what software you used to stitch it..

Hey.. did you receive an email regarding the new info on the HDR.. I had an email from Urs ages ago telling me that there were issues with the HDR with apg.. But it looks like its going to be fine now.. Not really sure.. I am still trying to work out the HDR with my VR Drive..

Also a tip.. make sure you slow the head to about 70% between degrees of shots or it might undo .. unless you make it go CW... and.. don't do as I did.. if you use the table feature.. unscrew the head and turn it up the other way.... the boys as RoundShot are sill laughing at me for not doing that.. ...

Love to see some of your results.. Shame on me.. No time at the moment to do anything.. too busy teaching.. sad I know....;(

Destiny...

Last edited by Destiny on Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:08 pm

Hey.. did you receive an email regarding the new info on the HDR.. I had an email from Urs ages ago telling me that there were issues with the HDR with apg.. But it looks like its going to be fine now.. Not really sure.. I am still trying to work out the HDR with my VR Drive...

That's perhaps because the Seitz VR drive 2 does not (or did not) create a properly Papywizard-compatible XML format data file for bracketed images.

[Destiny]

by Destiny » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:18 pm

arr... Thank you Andrew.. I am going to have to chat to you at some time regarding the Papywizard software for use in plain featureless ares.... Sometimes I feel such a blond with my VR Drive... Is there a How To step by step anywhere in using Papywizard I mean... Once I get my head round it I will be fine...

Destiny...

Last edited by Destiny on Wed Aug 08, 2012 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

[leifs]

by leifs » Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:16 pm

That's perhaps because the Seitz VR drive 2 does not (or did not) create a properly Papywizard-compatible XML format data file for bracketed images.

In any case it seems like Seitz plan to drop Papywizard import and replace it with the Seitz XML-format and a APG plugin.
http://www.kolor.com/forum/p102856-2012-08-06-13-35-42#p102856

leifs

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:02 pm

That's perhaps because the Seitz VR drive 2 does not (or did not) create a properly Papywizard-compatible XML format data file for bracketed images.

In any case it seems like Seitz plan to drop Papywizard import and replace it with the Seitz XML-format and a APG plugin.
http://www.kolor.com/forum/p102856-2012-08-06-13-35-42#p102856

leifs

I have some doubts by reading the info on Seitz homepage. I rather get the impression they adopt their papywizard compatible xml format being capable holding the HDR bracketing information. (so finally its getting that functions the papywizzard can do since long times...). And for marketing purposes it smarter to have an own plugin than using an "opensource" software plugin...

Georg

Last edited by gkaefer on Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[leifs]

by leifs » Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:02 pm

To export a XML from the VR Drive 2 to the memorystick you have to specify which format you want, the Papywizard or the Seitz format.
The Seitz format has more info than the Papywizard, and by making a duo Seitz XML/APG plugin it opens for a next gen shoot/import to APG solution.
And yes, it will be propriotary solution. Therefore they will have the oportunity to change the XML/plugin without asking anyone.

Here is a header from a Seitz XML format file, non-HDR, per today:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Program Version="4">
<GeneralData>
<ProgramNumber>6</ProgramNumber>
<Mode>0</Mode>
<AngleMode>3</AngleMode>
<FocalLength>400</FocalLength>
<AZentrum>1</AZentrum>
<BNodalpunkt>1</BNodalpunkt>
<StartAngleX>0</StartAngleX>
<StartAngleY>0</StartAngleY>
<AngleX>351</AngleX>
<AngleY>85</AngleY>
<OverlapX>30</OverlapX>
<OverlapY>30</OverlapY>
<Smoothening>0</Smoothening>
<Sequence>2</Sequence>
<SpeedX>20</SpeedX>
<SpeedY>10</SpeedY>
<ReleaseTime>1</ReleaseTime>
<PauseBefore>10</PauseBefore>
<PauseAfter>0</PauseAfter>
<Repetition>0</Repetition>
<RepetitionDelay>0</RepetitionDelay>
<Ramp>25</Ramp>
<Bracketing>0</Bracketing>
<HDRContTimer>10</HDRContTimer>
<Manual>0</Manual>
<MirrorPrerelTimer>0</MirrorPrerelTimer>
<MirrorPrerelMode>0</MirrorPrerelMode>
<OrientClockwise>0</OrientClockwise>
<CameraOrientation>0</CameraOrientation>
<YOffset>-40</YOffset>
<LensType>1</LensType>
<ForceNadir>0</ForceNadir>
<AvIsoAsa>0</AvIsoAsa>
<ApertureStep>1</ApertureStep>
<SequenceSpeed>0</SequenceSpeed>
<ApertureCompensation>0</ApertureCompensation>
<AvShutterSpeed>0</AvShutterSpeed>
<AvAperture>0</AvAperture>
<VideoMode>0</VideoMode>
<ImageReleaseMode>0</ImageReleaseMode>
</GeneralData>

leifs