ANyone doing 360 degree panoramics? software/hardware?

A

antonioconte

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I'm currently looking into investing some money into hardware and software to create good quality panoramic 360 degrees, just wondering if anyone out there is producing any and what you use?

I am looking into the following:

www.kaidan.com
Initially I looked at the 360-One shot solution but noticed that you can't het full verticle angle rotation, it only roytate 50degrees up or down. So unsure about it now.

http://www.ipixstore.com/cart/index.cfm?cat=2
Now ipix kind of puts me off a little cause they licence the software to you per year, so it's an ongoing fee. Don't really like that fact but, I've seen some samples and they are pretty good, you only take two shots cause you use a fish eye lense.

anyone else got any advise, I don't want a solution that's just full of stitching, stictching, stiching, the above two options allow the software to do that bit for you.

thanks
 
Other option is buy a 180deg fisheye lens, then use software like PanoWeaver to stitch the 3 images to a full 360 tour.

Nikon 5400 + Fisheye Lens (FC-E9) + Convertor Adapter (UR-E10) + PanoWeaver

With the tight spaces you were talking about in the [thread=50791]other thread[/thread], chances are the vertical angles won't be too pretty. You won't need as much MP in you camera with the 3-shot method, but the 5400 is cheaper than the older, 4mp 4500 model is...so you might as well get the better one.
 
Hi there, yep, I am still worrried about which way to go. They only reason I'm still considering the ipix solution is cause it's a two shot solution and speaking to ipix, they reckon that the software thata comes with it, is automatic in terms of stiching, this is due to the head it comes with it, a two click system. Still undecided though and I am really getting more and more confused about what to go for.
 
I'd do the 3-shot solution any day over the iPix 2-shot system. Actually, I'd do as many shots as it takes over the iPix solution. The $$$ iPix wants just isn't worth it, nor is the lack of customization for the tours. The quality isn't that great either IMO.

I used iPix for about a week, before canceling it. At that time I was working for an agent who was with a RE/MAX office (large nation-wide broker in the states). That office had an account with them, so we got a nice discount on everything. The office already had the required equipment too.

About a week later we switched brokers, the new one utilized Visual Tour's system. Cheaper, easier, and a bit more ability in the viewer. Still not a perfect solution. If I had the time, I'd create one and host everything ourselves...but there's some reasons behind why that hasn't happened...mainly logistical.

The Visual Tour system isn't what you want...and it'd be almost useless given the sizes of the rooms you want to do.


they reckon that the software thata comes with it, is automatic in terms of stiching
Click to expand...

Doesn't sound very convincing to me at all. They should know for sure. Panoweaver is automatic if you want it to be, at least in the stitching. The nice thing is you can still adjust things, if need be.

My biggest worry would be exposure...you're taking pictures with a room that's mainly glass. Having to take multiple shots can be problematic here...one might under expose or over expose...which makes the pano look like junk. The 360 lens doesn't suffer from this as bad, as it's one shot. You still have a change of it happening, but it's over the whole shot and not just one. You could easily take 5 shots of the room with the 360 lens, on different settings, to 'make sure' as much as possible that it's not a problem. Doing that with an iPix setup (2-shots) or a fisheye setup (3-shots) would require taking the series on each setting (5 shots of 2 [10] or 5 shots of 3 [15]). In other words, shoot the first shot, rotate the camera, shoot the second shot....change settings, rotate & shoot the first shot again, rotate & shoot the second shot...and so on.

As far as the angle...most people don't look directly up in a VR tour. You should get enough of the roof to be viable with the 360 lens. Kadian has a sample here that was shot with a 360 lens and demonstrates that...granted it's a bigger space, but it should be similar. Navigate to the left till you're perpendicular to the wall the bench is on, then look up.
 
THanks again for your info.

First I was sold of the 360 one, then I realised that the maximum quality I could achieve with say a coolpix 8700 wasn't excellent so I looking into the ipix two shot solution, the quality apppears to be good, and I can rotate all the way up and down (I do need this in fact cause conservatories are designed with different vaulted ceilings etc, so this area is important to view)
My head is aching now, I think I just need to dive in but am worried cause its the first time I've done this kind of thing and I don't want to make a huge mistake.
 
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