QTVR

QTVR

eeblack said:
Will it be able to generate Quicktime VR panoramas? I find these useful and generally much smaller to send to clients than movies.

Martin said:
Sorry but 2.2 can't do Quicktime VR yet. But that is a desireable feature of course.
Martin

I started a new topic as I thought this had nothing to do with the 2.2 screenshots topic.

Regarding QTVR, let me propose a possible solution that can be used now and that I have tested. It's basically the same technique that has been published on several sites including the Sketchup forum.
- Create 6 cameras located on the same x,y,z but facing front, right, back, left, top, bottom. FOV = 90deg. Names can be the face name or to make it simple 1,2,3,4,5,6
- other camera parameters are up to the user, including adding HDRI or radiosity tags
- Render the 6 cameras and save the resulting images with their corresponding names (face name or 1,2,3 ...) on the desktop or any other location including in a new folder
- Use Panotools or PTMac or CubicConverter to convert these 6 images to a QTVR. I personaly use CubicConverter as you can drop the entire folder on the icon and with 2 clicks generate the corresponding QTVR within seconds once you have your rendered images
- As of to-day the entire process is very simple but can't be automatic yet
- Once the java script parameters for the camera are set and available from Martin (let's give him some time for this ... :cool: ) , a single script could be written in order to place a "6 cameras object" in the scene and automatically generate/save the 6 images with the proper names.
- And maybe the script could also launch CubicConverter ... :cool:

If required, I can send the file that I used and that includes the 6 cameras. Just let me know.
 
Francois,

I do alot of QTVR work, but through actual photography. We have also done quite a few with 3dStudio.

http://www.designorg.com/ivyweb/ivytech.html

But unbelievable I have not done it in SketchUp or Cheetah. I don't know why.

So questions:

1. What FOV or lens length are you use for your setup.

2. Real QTVR depends on geting the nodal point of the lens correct so that the images will stitch correctly. Have you found this to be a problem with the six camera setup? It seems just spinning them at center would give you the parallex problems that mess up stitching.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Jake
 
Thanks David,

We export as QTVR out of 3D Studio I then break them down in cubic converter to the six sides and add people etc, then back into converter which stitches them back together.

Francois,

I tried setting up the six cameras for Cheetah, and putting them into a folder which could be saved as a camera and dropped into any scene. Problem is the position of each camera has to be reset. I can hightlight the folder and move the cameras as a group, but the individual postion parameters of each camera seem to overide the folder's actual physical position.

For example:
If my folder of cameras is at 0,0,0 but my cameras are all set to 2,2,2 then they seem to overule the folders location. Does this make any sense. How can we overide this issue so the assume the coordinates of the folder?

In addition, my down camera show the objects in the view, but the render is always black. I'm baffled. Any thoughts?
 
Jake,

Just a quick note to say that I have seen your post and will answer back later to-day or to-morrow. I had a 5 hrs drive to-day, so ... :cool:

François
 
Francois said:
Jake,

Just a quick note to say that I have seen your post and will answer back later to-day or to-morrow. I had a 5 hrs drive to-day, so ... :cool:

François

You're suppose to take Bullet Trains.
 
Jake said:
Francois,

I do alot of QTVR work, but through actual photography. We have also done quite a few with 3dStudio.

http://www.designorg.com/ivyweb/ivytech.html

I don't remember exactly when but I have seen these and found them really nice. Congratulations for this work !

Jake said:
But unbelievable I have not done it in SketchUp or Cheetah. I don't know why.
I have a feeling that this is not going to be for long ... :cool:


Jake said:
1. What FOV or lens length are you use for your setup.
as indicated in the 1st message : 90 deg. Obviously the output resolution has to be square (eg 1024*1024, 320*320, ... )

Jake said:
2. Real QTVR depends on geting the nodal point of the lens correct so that the images will stitch correctly. Have you found this to be a problem with the six camera setup? It seems just spinning them at center would give you the parallex problems that mess up stitching.
I see what you mean but I have not seen this to be a problem unless I missed something. Since I can't post a file here, I did send you by email a quick test so you can have my settings and see by yourself
 
Jake said:
Francois,

I tried setting up the six cameras for Cheetah, and putting them into a folder which could be saved as a camera and dropped into any scene. Problem is the position of each camera has to be reset. I can hightlight the folder and move the cameras as a group, but the individual postion parameters of each camera seem to overide the folder's actual physical position.

For example:
If my folder of cameras is at 0,0,0 but my cameras are all set to 2,2,2 then they seem to overule the folders location. Does this make any sense. How can we overide this issue so the assume the coordinates of the folder?
OK. Yes, this make sense as I found the same problem with the folder ... I did discuss it with Martin and it's because at this point the camera object is the only object left which ignors transformation hirarchies. Martin indicated that he will try to fix this in 2.2 final. So, at this point, here is what I do :
- move the folder to the position I want to read the folder's x,y,z
- set each camera to above x,y,z
- reset folder position to 0,0,0 so preview window and renderer display the same thing
In short, the folder coordinates are not taken into account by the renderer but only in the preview window. If you set an outside camera to watch the folder, you will understand what I mean.

Jake said:
In addition, my down camera show the objects in the view, but the render is always black. I'm baffled. Any thoughts?
????
Maybe a stupid question but are you sure the vertical position (Y) is not equal to zero ? I am asking because I had the same problem and I finally realized that I thought I had changed the vertical position but in fact it was still zero .. Maybe compare your settings with the file I sent you ?
 
Francois said:
Jake said:
You're suppose to take Bullet Trains.

Bullet Trains are in Japan ... so I can't ... :cool:
But we do have the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse = high speed train), holder of a world record : 515,3 Km/h ( about 310 mph)
Here is a picture
http://www.web-trains.com/atlantique/atlantique_5.jpg

Oops wrong train, I've only been on the everyday run-of-the-mill train in France-and it certainly wasn't the anything close to high speed.

Your QTVR file was spam blocked at the office, so I'll have my admin dig it out of the spam pile when I get to work.

Thanks Francois,

Jake
 
Hi,
today I've written a small Javascript which automates the rendering of the images for a QTVR.
With the script you just have to move the camera to the QTVR center position and call the script. The rest is done by Cheetah3D. Finally you only have to save the renderer images and stich them together with CubicConverter.
The script worked quite well for me and I was able to create my first QTVR with the CubicConverter trial version. :D

I will bundle the script with the next beta.

By,
Martin
 
Martin said:
Hi,
today I've written a small Javascript which automates the rendering of the images for a QTVR.
With the script you just have to move the camera to the QTVR center position and call the script. The rest is done by Cheetah3D. Finally you only have to save the renderer images and stich them together with CubicConverter.
The script worked quite well for me and I was able to create my first QTVR with the CubicConverter trial version. :D

I will bundle the script with the next beta.

By,
Martin

Thanks a lot, Martin.
I think this is going to please a lot of people. And I am one of them.
A QTVR in one click, that's pretty neat !
 
Your a genius Martin.

And thanks Francois the camera settup you sent worked perfectly! Head on over to the nearest monoprix and grab a carry out lunch. It's on me.
 
Jake said:
And thanks Francois the camera settup you sent worked perfectly!
You're welcome. I knew it was going to as it was working here ... :cool:
Glad I could help on this. But now, with Martin's script, QTVR's are going to be a piece of cake ... :cool:
So, when do you have your best Cheetah3D QTVR on line ?

Jake said:
Head on over to the nearest monoprix and grab a carry out lunch. It's on me.
Monoprix ? only ? I was expecting La Tour d'argent ... !
Joking, of course !
 
Don't send me the tab from La Tour d'argent. Maybe Martin will pick that up.

I've got other fish to fry this afternoon. Maybe tonight after the family is out for the night I'll do a QTVR and post it here.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Martin said:
.....
The script worked quite well for me and I was able to create my first QTVR with the CubicConverter trial version. :D
.....

One thing I forgot to mention in my first email:
It's also possible to use the OS X program QTVR Make Cubic from Apple that you can find here http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/quicktimeintro/tools/.
Big advantage : it's free ... :cool:
It doesn't have all the features of CubicConverter but it's perfect to generate a QTVR from Cheetah3D images or from the coming script
 
Francois said:
One thing I forgot to mention in my first email:
It's also possible to use the OS X program QTVR Make Cubic from Apple that you can find here http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/quicktimeintro/tools/.
Big advantage : it's free ... :cool:
It doesn't have all the features of CubicConverter but it's perfect to generate a QTVR from Cheetah3D images or from the coming script

That is a very good tip Francois. I think is is even easier than CubicConverter. I rewrote the script so that the images are created in the same order as "Make Cubic" from Apple expects them. So creating the QTVR is just a drag and drop of the six images on the "Make Cubic" application icon. Very easy. Almost fool proof.:D

By,
Martin
 
Martin said:
That is a very good tip Francois. I think is is even easier than CubicConverter. I rewrote the script so that the images are created in the same order as "Make Cubic" from Apple expects them. So creating the QTVR is just a drag and drop of the six images on the "Make Cubic" application icon. Very easy. Almost fool proof.:D

Martin,
:cool: :cool: you're too good !
Let's make this even a little better / faster maybe.
I did a quick experiment this morning that's really making this a snap or at least offers a different route to get to the same result. I will send you a direct email to-night to explain this (I don't have much time now). Then you can choose what you like better.
If you want a tip now, read back the email I sent you recently regarding this. "Make Cubic" can take a movie too !!!

François
 
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