Here you go - reduced down to 2000x1000 for the forum. Post processing, was downsizing, adjustment of levels and some sharpening.

If you had used the technique of shooting the main row at about -10 degrees of pitch the nadir 'hole' would be much smaller.

Last edited by mediavets (2008-12-27 12:06:58)

jeffk wrote:

Very nicely done.  I was wondering what the zenith should be linked to, and your suggestions make sense. I'm curious Mediavets...did you change the focal length of one image like you did the other indoor facility? Or did you just run as is? In terms of your question of access....we do web work for the NFL team so I get access to the facility for this work.

I did shoot one +65 zenith and one +90...but I shot the main row at 0.  Mediavets...should I get a better result using the +65 zenith image and the 6 across at 0? Do you have a magic formula for this or is it the same as what you've described above? You said "I shoot the main row of 6-around at about -10 degrees of opitch and the 'zenith' at about +65 degrees of pitch."

1. No, in this instance I didn't change the focal length of one image - I just forgot but it's fine anyway. It's probably unnecessary with FE shots anyway, because as I understand it APP uses a different approach when stitching FE images and always calculates the focal length, using the EXIF data merely as a guide.

2. The 'magic formula' - if there is one - that I use is to shoot the 6-around at -10 (rather than zero) because that makes the nadir hole much smaller, and the 'zenith' at +65 because that means I'm most likely to get a good link between the main row and the zenith, esp. if the zenith area is relatively featureless (eg. plain blue sky or a relatively featureless ceiling) but it would do no harm to shoot both one or two separate +65 'zenith' shots and a +90 zenith. Then you can choose which to use when you stitch.

Last edited by mediavets (2008-12-27 17:47:25)

jeffk wrote:

That makes sense. I'd love to see links to some of your work where you've used this technique!

Here's a simple sample image set shot with Nikon D40 and Nikkor 10.5mm fullframe FE on a Nodal Ninja 5L head, this setup produces images with the same FOV as you get with the Canon 5D and Canon 15mm fullframe FE lens.
http://www.three60views.org.uk/image_se … ageset.ZIP (21MB)

There are 8 images in the set. A main row of 6 images shot at -10 degrees pitch and two 'zenith' shots shot at about +60 degrees of pitch with different yaw values.

You will see how this technique provides good coverage of the zenith, good links between the 'zenith' shots and the main row, and leaves only a small 'hole' at the nadir.

You can choose to include one or both of the 'zenith' shots in the stitch.

I like to use the standalone DevalVR player to check my rendered spherical panos before using Pano2VR to create Flash VR versions for display on the Web:
http://www.devalvr.com/paginas/productos/index.html

http://gardengnomesoftware.com/pano2vr.php

Last edited by mediavets (2008-12-29 11:01:59)

jeffk wrote:

Very interesting. I will check this out.  The lens I am using is actually the 15mm Sigma, but I guess it's similar to the Canon. I've been very happy with the image quality so far.

Yes, should be giving you 180 degree FOV diagonally on your fullframe sensor Canon 5D just as my Nikkor 10.5mm FE does on my cropped sensor body.

Consider this a new year gift, at least I do.
I found Microsoft ICE x64 (its beta) & tried some hard & hardest to stitch images & it does superb & fastest job (it fails on fish eye images specially nadir shots) & stitching them within second with a real time fluid image editor & zooming panning editing the large pano swiftly, no more control point generation, no more waiting now its gong to be real interesting panoramic world.
it can do linear panoramas too but I haven't tried that yet.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ … s/ivm/ICE/

here is the results

Last edited by digipano (2009-01-01 18:47:54)

Digi....thanks for the New Years gift...the MS version is interesting...but I'm on Mac systems!

Oh then you would feel left out, its worth trying
Isn't there a software on mac which emulates windows software like Wine does on Linux.

I agree that the ICE software is a good package.  It did a difficult panorama that I could not get AutopanoPro to do, perhaps because of lack of experience with it.  I have a Panasonic Toughbook for fieldwork as well as my macs, so I have a foot in both Bootcamps, if you will.

Wine, Parallels and VM Fusion all offer different ways of running Windows on Macs.  There is also the free Bootcamp that comes with Leopard that gives you a duel (or triple boot with Linux) option.

I came very close to doing this on at least one of my Macs, but the last round of software updates from Microsoft have just about killed my old PC that my son now uses.  First they killed internet access and then they stopped it from booting properly.  So I have decided not to infect my Macs with Windows.  I , at least, have the option of a dedicated Windows machine, which runs well.

Wine also runs different programs with different levels of success.

Cheers

Tim