Having my favorite field in Phoenix

[kamtsa]

Anybody tried to contribute field background scenery to Phoenix?

I would like to do so but did not find any off the shelf panoramic camera mount at a reasonable price (e.g. sub $50).

Thanks,

Kam

[raptor3dpilot]

Could be a dumb idea... but could you take one of those "Lazy Susans" (dinner table center spinning thing) haha... and use that?? My wife just received one for Xmas that's why I ask.

[kamtsa]

Could be a dumb idea... but could you take one of those "Lazy Susans" (dinner table center spinning thing) haha... and use that?? My wife just received one for Xmas that's why I ask.

Yes, this should work for the camera yaw but not for the pitch.

Thanks,

Kam

[raylepper]

I sent Phoenix some pix last summer. They got them but no word back, I emailed asking about it a couple weeks ago. Maybe they weren't adequate; maybe the field wasn't right.

The lazy susan won't work. A pano head lets the camera rotate in both yaw and pitch (pan and tilt) around the optical center of the lens. (I was nuts/cheap enough to build one. pix attached). That's critical because of a problem called parallax. If all the pix aren't taken from exactly the same spot, they'll never line up when you try to stitch them together. Exactly the same spot means the optical center of the lens. After I built the pano head I tweaked it to be able to stay within a couple pixels of spot on.

I sent Phoenix 18 pix (2304 x 3456 — 30mb). Straight up, straight down, and two rows of 8, one 30° up, one 30° down. It's a lot of data.

Here's (http://homemedia.com/downloads/Park110608.mov) a link to a low-res Quicktime VR I made from those shots. I used it in the AlphaMac simulator (runs on Mac, you can make you own sceneries and models). It was cool because I could fly in my own park but the physics aren't close to Phoenix so I don't fly it anymore. Still, using the hi-res images for the panorama in the sim, it was as sharp and seamless as Phoenix (the above linked low-res QTVR is soft).

[kamtsa]

I sent Phoenix some pix last summer. They got them but no word back, I emailed asking about it a couple weeks ago. Maybe they weren't adequate; maybe the field wasn't right.


Thanks raylepper. I sent them email asking for the chances them processing my images to be Phoenix compatible. I don't see a reason to start if they are non responsive or not having the will or resources to do that.

Kam

[kamtsa]

I sent Phoenix some pix last summer. They got them but no word back, I emailed asking about it a couple weeks ago. Maybe they weren't adequate; maybe the field wasn't right.

Raylepper, I checked with Phoenix and they are open for user's submission. My experience in general is that they are very responsive. Is it possible that your spam filter filtered out their response?

Kam

[raylepper]

I don't think it's a spam filter. Check it out:
<<>><<>><<>>
On Jul 17, 2007, at 6:00 PM, Scott Griffiths wrote:

Hi Ray

Thank you very much for uploading the files - we will pass them onto our scenery dept. and let you know if we need any additional information. When we release the scenery for download you will be fully credited.

Best Regards

Scott
PhoenixRC
<<>><<>><<>>

So I wrote to Scott on the 12th of December and haven't heard back yet. Dunno.
Some responses from Phoenix have been like 24 hours. Others like 24 days. Workload I guess. Still, I love the sim.

BTW, I'm hoping the 'painting' feature will preserve the excellent photo-realistic quality of the models. I've been watching the other threads on the subject and some of the models are looking flat, sort of video game-like instead of video-like.

You gonna build a pano head?

[kamtsa]

BTW, I'm hoping the 'painting' feature will preserve the excellent photo-realistic quality of the models. I've been watching the other threads on the subject and some of the models are looking flat, sort of video game-like instead of video-like.

You gonna build a pano head?

What is the 'painting' feature?

As for pano head, I don't think I will build one, too busy/lazy. May get an off the shelf one such as this http://www.kingpano.com/pricing/pricing.htm . Kind of expensive when you consider that this one is sub $300 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/commercial_gigapan.html.

Kam

[adwb]

if you use any decent tripod it will allow you do take panorama pics, read the user guide on Phoenix web site for a "how to do"
I sent images in and they went to lot of trouble to down load them from a ftp site I set up for them, a good set of images is vary large and needs to be burnt to dvd or ftp to them.
They still have not used them but it is not a 5 minuite process to set up all the collision zones ect.
regards
Alistair

[raylepper]

if you use any decent tripod it will allow you do take panorama pics, read the user guide on Phoenix web site for a "how to do"
Alistair

Actually, the information on the Phoenix site describes the need and purpose of the pano head (after setting out the need for a high res digital camera and an sturdy tripod). Here's the text:

Panoramic Mount
This device sits on top of your tripod, and provides a special pivot for your camera which enables you to turn the camera along the line of the lens, reducing parallax in the final image. Parallax occurs when the camera is turned between shots on a different axis than the lens, meaning that movement has occurred as well as rotation - this has a negative effect when stitching images together into a composite panorama. Panoramic mounts also allow you to rotate the camera in both axis - side-to-side and up-and-down, which allows you to create the full spherical panorama needed to build a PhoenixRC flying site.

On the Phoenix Technical page, they point out there's a lot of information on the 'Net about making panoramas. FWIW here are a few links to some sites I found really helpful:

http://www.panomundo.com/panos/howto/workflow_ptmac.html
http://www.kekus.com/forum/archive/index.php/index.php?t-31.html
http://www.panoramas.dk/quicktime/qtvr/software.html

Whether you go the full distance and make the final pano yourself or just prepare the images, you have to take a lot of care or your images won't yield the desired result.

[adwb]

oh well what do I know, only been making panoramas for digital displays for years.
I would sugest , with of course the greatest of respect, that you look at a decent tripod , the graduations, the bubble level etc etc etc.all of which you will find on
http://www.velbon-tripod.com/video.htm
http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/view_item_cat.php?catalogue_number=libec_ls55

how to build one at
http://uk.gizmodo.com/2006/08/11/diy_5_panoramic_tripod_head.html

if you must spend lots of money
http://www.360tacticalvr.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/Nodal+Ninja+3+Panoramic+Tripod+Head.html

or a lot less
http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=panorama

happy new year
subject closed
Alistair

[raylepper]

Alistair,
I think we may be in agreement based on the links you provided. (I love the plywood pano-head.) My point was that a tripod alone (assuming the camera is mounted to it in the usual manner) will not deal with parallax. Since you suggested three links that lead to panoramic heads for attachment to tripods, I'm assuming you agree with their importance.

The reason I pursued the conversation was that I didn't want folks to think they could successfully prepare images for a spherical pano with a tripod alone.

[raylepper]

What is the 'painting' feature?
Kam

Guys are using Photoshop on one of the bmp files decrypted from Phoenix.
The thread starts here: http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=54043

What is the 'painting' feature?

As for pano head, I don't think I will build one, too busy/lazy. May get an off the shelf one such as this http://www.kingpano.com/pricing/pricing.htm . Kind of expensive when you consider that this one is sub $300 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/commercial_gigapan.html.

Kam
If you're into it, I think the kingpano looks like a pretty good deal. I probably spent 50 bucks in materials plus the time drawing and machining mine. And theirs doesn't have all the machining mistakes built in.:wink: