Stadium Panoramic

[MLaBoyteaux]

I've been practicing the techniques for aerial panoramics. I didn't feel my first efforts were worth posting.

I think this one is worthy.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/Liberty_Christian/default.htm

I'm trying to decide if I want to leave the initial view a -90 degree vertical.

What do you think?

[AZ ChopperCam]

dude..... all I can say is hellz yeah!

major kick a$$ bro! Love it!


gotta say though... maybe not have the starting point at vertical. kinda confused me at first. How about pick an end zone and start there??

Care to share some details? camera? lens? how many pics? mount used? stitching software? I'm dying to know it all!!!!!!!

really good stuff.

[Efliernz]

Awesome :lolol

We need ALL the details. Gotta have this setup :glasses2:

[Menno]

Mark,

Congratulations, you seem to have mastered the pano technique quit well!!

I am amazed at what people can do with these 360 degrees pano. Can you share with us which lens you used? Is it a fisheye?

The vertical shot would make a great tumbnail, but I agree with DJ that it might be confusing as a starting point.

Great job!

Menno

ps. Did you ever get the Picolario?

[SeaHawk]

Impressive. Very nice job.

[MLaBoyteaux]

I think you're right. I've had this idea for a while about doing a stadium shot, Scott D and I have talked about it. I always thought it'd be cool to have it open from vertical, but now that I've got one put together, my gut says the same thing, it needs to start out on the horizon somewhere.

Yes Menno, I finally managed to get a Picolario, it's my poor man's altitude hold. I shot it using my Rebel XT with a Sigma 8mm fisheye. I went ahead and left myself in the image. I launched from the 50 yard line and hovered just about straight up. The Picolario gives me altitude every 10 seconds with continuous beeps or tones to give me vertical speed. This image was shot at about 90'. I shot them at several altitudes, but the perspective in this one seemed to be the best.

I'm using a TUCIT controller to automate the gimbal movements. The gimbal has a reciver on the same channel as the heli, so the gimbal is free for unlimited 360's. The TUCIT controls the pan and tilt servos, when it's energized it pans the mount and uses an IR trigger to fire the shutter. It's fully programmable, so I've got it programmed to shoot 7 images in a full 360 and then tilt down for a vertical shot. It does this in about 12 seconds. Then it does it all over again until you turn off the power.

I'm using a small servo operating a micro switch to turn the TUCIT on and off. I tried using an RC Flysoft switch, but it doesn't supply enough current. Sometimes simple is better. I had to modify my gimbal to use an un-modified servo on the tilt axis with a 1:1 gear ratio. The controller is designed to work with modified pan servos for unlimited panning, but the tilt axis is set up so it can drive the camera to a specific position, this allows you to program the tilt exactly where you want it. You can even program it to do a row of images tilted up, then a row of images tilted down, and then a vertical shot.

So it's a one man show. I try to hover in EXACTLY one spot using the altitude information from the picolario and switch on the gimbal and let it start shooting photos. I'm still using the 660 semi-sym blades, but they really skate around. I ordered a set of full symetrical blades yesterday to try and make it easier to hold a solid hover. My gassers are rock solid, but the little raptor wants to skate all over the freakin' place.

If Angelos could get us a altitude hold.......that would go a looooong way to helping out. If I could afford a Carvec, I'd have one, but for now it's all thumbs.

[Menno]

The controller is designed to work with modified pan servos for unlimited panning

Does the mount stop for a second when a picture is taken or do you shoot during the panning with a hig shutter speed? Also is the shutter release based on a time interval as the pan servo does not give a absolute position.

Thanks for sharing by the way.

Menno

[MLaBoyteaux]

It pans, then stops, fires the shutter, pauses, then pans at full speed to the next stop. The intervals are programmable, as well as the pan speed.

It took some trial and error to get the programming set up for my mount. My pan servo has a 5:1 gear reduction. You can program the pulse width to control the speed, and then the duration to control how far it pans per step. You can also program in how many stops it makes before it does a vertical shot, or not even have a vertical shot. It also has a programmable pause to wait once it fires the shutter to make sure the camera is done before it takes off again.

With the Rebel in manual mode and manual focus, it only needs about .5 ~ .75 seconds to snap the photo.

On the Sigma 8mm (oh yeah Menno, I took your advice and also have the 10~22 and I love it!) I've found it works best if it's stopped down a bit, so I always shoot with it at F 8.0

[Menno]

I took your advice and also have the 10~22

Mark,
I guess I'am getting old, but did I recommend the 10-22 :? . I do think it's a good lens though I have the Sigma 10-20 myself. It's my poor man's replacement for the Canon 10~22 :mrgreen: .

So Mark, when are you going sell these Tucit. :mrgreen:

Menno

[dreslism]

:noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy :noteworthy

[ssozonoff]

Very very nice Mark!!!

Regarding the Tucit.

http://www.tucit.com/tucit/tucitEx.html

Thanks,
Serge

[miami6]

mark great work man i wish i could make something half as good as yours


man your set up is great to make photo sceneries for RF G3.5 sim also

great flying there what was the total flight time for this image ? \


since you have a very technical setup i am guessing that eliminates a lot of photoshop retouching work

[MLaBoyteaux]

The flight was 9 minutes in the air. I shot several rows of images at 90', 140', 180', and 250'. Looking at the source images, this altitude seemed to have the best perspective and was also the closest to being centered on the field. Right now, I'm not using a downlink since the gimbal is automated, but I'm going to put my board camera pointing straight down to use for vertical positioning and alignment with my CV-1's.

I could've picked an easier subject for a pano, the field lines were a problem. Any imperfection in alignment was very obvious. I spent several hours making minor tweaks and corrections. It still has a couple of flaws, but I decided it was close enough.

Surprisingly, PTGui stitched it together pretty good to start with. I added some extra control points and kept optimizing until it seemed to stop getting any better.

Then finished tweaking it in PS, added the logo, etc.

[AZ ChopperCam]

If Angelos could get us a altitude hold.

no doubt..... the day that is released is the day I will feel like I died and went to heaven.

Once again Mark, awesome job.

[Tabbytabb]

Very cool!

I like it opening straight down but I use the QTVR progam quite a bit so maybe I am just used to that perspective.

Really nice work Mark and great colors!

Tabb

[Hitch]

Very nicely done!!!!!! I actually like the opening down on the school logo - especially if they commissioned it.

[Rogan]

That's incredible. Well done. :noteworthy

[bladebreaker]

Awesome pano! I notice everyone uses QTVR to play these panos. Is there a way to create them on a PC after they are stitched?

Tip

[Ruud Westerhout]

So nice, so perfect.

And Thanks a lot for those details.

Only bad thing :lol: I am not flying too well yet, have only a TRex 450 wityh Askman mount, so no pan available, so this is sooo far out of my league, but sooo much a "want to do that too" :lol:

Ruud

[MLaBoyteaux]

Awesome pano! I notice everyone uses QTVR to play these panos. Is there a way to create them on a PC after they are stitched?

Tip

I do all my work on a PC. There are several programs for PC's which will create QuickTime movies. The one I use is Pano2QTVR.

[WillJames]

NICE Mark!!

I like the school logo straight down shot to start. Very nice.

[bladebreaker]

Mark,
Thanks for sharing. I hope to put some spherical panos together some day.

Tip