3d Tools

[WIdiver_Paul]

Just wanted to rant about a new piece of software I came across and had the opportunity to play with that I think is REALLY awesome, and reasonably priced too!

I downloaded the demo for it's abilitiy to stitch panorama photo sequences to see how it would compare to my photoshop skills. I plugged in a sequence of 5 photos taken in Windigo Harbor at dusk in Isle Royale, 180 degrees covering the shore. I had put them together in PS last year and suffered the shock of how difficult it is to match edges, feather shading and get the colors right. The sun was descending rapidly as I took the sequence so from right to left the photo got darker and the blues got deeper over that 2 minutes. And it was shot with long exposures with no tripod to boot.

I'm intrigued with the other capabilities of their software and how I can apply it to my photography. Will keep you posted on this one.

Here's my photoshop attempt:



and now the copy that 3d Photo Builder came up with through it's stitching option (resized for posting here obviously). Mind you, PS took 2 hours and lots of swearing, this took a grand total of 2 minutes!  :

[WIdiver_Paul]

Now, with a little tweaking of the Red Channel and setting the levels in PS, here's the final copy that reflects the feel of the original scenery: (click on the link to view the full effect in your own viewer at full size and notice the lack of any seams!) - I think this tool turns what was an amateur novelty into something that might be a contender in the next photo contest -

I love how it sharpens up the detail and reveals thing that were hidden in the original. Notice the person standing on the far right in front of the small boat.

[WIdiver_Paul]

Here's some of the goodness I was talking about:

2 = 3D Panoramas, one of Long Island, in Bayfield,

and another Apostle photo,

and something i'm perfecting yet, a 3D image of an object, preferably a wreck.
But in this case, today I had to settle for a

another one like it is this creepy in the cemetery I thought might look neat.

Ya?

If you don't like these, I see Anything3D has

[jasondbaker]

Cool software. Thanks for sharing!

[WIdiver_Paul]

I'm getting ready to start applying this to some shipwreck work and wanted to see if I could 'fix' something that's already been done, but is flawed, to determine whether it's possible to re-split images to be applied to a 3d wraparound.

What better image to use than a panorama taken from the top of Mt. Everest !

Below is the original, with the messed up 'tails' that needed to be cropped and the image needed to be re-split into 4 overlapping sections again to feed it back into A3d for stitching. Notice the image is actually about 390 degrees. When , there ends up being a noticeable seam in the image, the equivalent of a crooked label on a wine bottle.

[WIdiver_Paul]

I plugged 4 pieces back into A3D stitch after some editing with photoshop to get the same size piece by dragging into a 1100x494 canvas (original was 4300x494). This allowed me to crop the top and bottom of the frame after the software 'warped' the ends to match up in a cylindrical or spherical projection. No artifacts or distortion, surprisingly.

is the result, in a Quick Time viewer, and below in a .jpg again, reduced to 320p height to be a little more dialup friendly. I'm starting to really like this proggy- it can take a flat pretty image and put the viewer inside of it! Notice the enhanced contrast and sharpness.

[Carvendive]

Very nice!  and quite interesting (I wonder if you can piece together several 360's taken at different azmith's (I'm thinking of something like a reale state virtural tour.)  Have you tested it's limits with images taken with less accurate alignment?

I'll be interested to see your results when you do it of a wreck site.  Are you planning to use one location for the camera or multiple's?  It would be interesting to try multiple locations based on an estimate of the field of view for each shot.  Short of using multiple cameras, I suppose you'd have to set up a tight string on the site to get both a consistant axis and the consistant interval spacing.

Sounds like a FUN project!

[WIdiver_Paul]

Yes; yes; yes; yes; and yes!

It does a pretty good job of extrapolating and aligning lines from one image to the next but it does have it's limits. I tried piecing together a collage of photos taken standing right in front of the fresnel from the lighthouse perch rail, but it ended up being kind of funky. I'm thinking plus or minus 10 degrees seems about right, at least in panorama mode. In 3d mode, spacing, interval and framing are really critical or you end up with jumpiness and speed issues. I can see what claymation animators go through to get realistic movement from their figures. So the jury is still out on the 3d aspect of something large like a wreck, but I'm thinking this technology still might be in it's infancy. Chances are if we had raw images taken to get 'in the ballpark' now, we'll only be able to improve on them later with whatever image morphing software they'll come up with later. I think you're on to something with multiple 360s at different axis', there's no reason why eventually someone could come up with a spherical panorama program (maybe we should design it?) or even better yet a program that can take some images similar to the 3d function on this prog, wireframe or nurb model what it sees, and reskin the image to let you move around 3 dimensionally in the image- all automatically of course, as opposed to the labor-intensive and cumbersome methods we're stuck with now, of course. That's what intrigues me, is being able to put non-divers into the image and let them see what we see, or better yet, let us see what we see, but more thoroughly, at the leisure of our home, and without the narcosis and cold

As far as locations, i'm thinking this might be a good one to test on something like the Rouse, the Vernon, the Car Ferry or maybe even the Willy. 

Maybe a panorama inside the chain locker or flicker of the car ferry or better yet a 3d/surround image of the wheelhouse might be neat. Or a panorama from the deck of the Rouse? How about a panorama from inside the Willy?

What a neat way to re-experience and visualize things that few people get to see (like that panorma atop Everest, case in point)...


These below are some attempts that came out ^funky^ so you can see where the limits are. Notice the doubling of some images that were a little too far off axis. I think if you jump at too much of an interval with panoramas also, it doesn't know how to fit all your images into 360 degrees, and some distortion results. A nice head on your tripod with marked degrees (they sell them on their website) is a good thing to have. I think it still does a pretty good job with the information that it has. Notice the warping of the frames on the lighthouse and the double vision- flag, stairway, and boat in the bottom frame. But it still looks like a singular photo, if you didn't know what you were looking at...

[ethanb]

I've been using a shareware program called to do this for a few years.  I've put a few examples of my images online here:
 
My favorites right now are the panoramas at Lac la Belle and Timber Cove.

This site has an incredible archive of full-screen 3D panoramas:

It's definitely worth blowing a few hours at work looking at all these places you might never get to go...

Ethan

[Carvendive]

I'm digital now but I use to use an F1.  One of my 'fun' lens was the tilt and shift.  I could T&S individual images to compose pretty respectable 120-180 degree shots. (I was into archetecture so never needed to go much beyond 180).  The result was not fisheyed or rap-around but more like steping back 300 yards and taking a telephoto shot.  Thing was I was 20' away.  That gets me to wondering.  What length lens are you using?

If you have a problem stitching some of the shots you might want to try different focal length settings.  I think that if you use 80mm (on land) that gives you the least edge to edge tilt and shift.  Only problem is that you'd need to take shots at closer intervals.

Wish I was back there now, I'd love to help with your U/W tests (setting up shooting lanes, and test patterns) just to see the results and see how far you can push the optics and software.

Imagine a shot of a wreck (or a large section of reef) with purfectly clear water and no backscatter - represented in a single shot!  I've not dove the Oriskiny or touched her guns but could you imagine being able to present that to others?  I do see your excitement!