360x180 Polar Panoramas

[PhotoExtremist]

The technique behind taking pictures like this is kind-of in depth, so I'm only going to go over the down-and-dirty-basics of it here! For more information, check out my blog post, and for even more information check out my e-book.

A regular panorama is where you take several pictures and then stitch them together using software. Panoramas allow you to capture a wide angle view (and can also increase the amount of megapixels your image has!)

A 360x180 panorama, however, is the same thing, except you take many pictures in a complete circle all around you (see the video in my blog post to see what i mean) and then you stitch it in the software. Then, after that, instead of leaving it stitched in rectangle form, you wrap it around in a circle so it looks like a planet (or tunnel). The reason why it wraps around perfectly is because we took an entire 360 degree angle view -- there won't be any silly line that suddenly cuts off the photo.

So how do you take the pics? Go in a somewhat wide open environment and spin around in a circle taking pics (again, see my blog post if this sounds confusing). Then you download a free stitching program called Hugin and stitch the photos in that. You select Stereographic as the output and then click inside the preview window where you took your picture and it wraps it around in a circle for you, so it looks like a planet.

The last shot up there was hand-held, the rest were taken with a panoramic tripod head that I built

Read the blog post or get the ebook if you wanna know everything about it, and if anyone has any shots like this, share them down below!

[inkista]

Yeah yeah. Been there. Done that.

Just kidding. Those are really nice little planets/skies and your article's terrific and goes into far more detail than my old post. I love the IR one.

My only quibble would be that those aren't Polar little planets. They're stereographic ones. There's also another technique for making little planets which involves resizing a pano (doesn't have to be a 360x180 equirectangular) to a square, flipping it upside down, so the ground is on the top, and then using the Cartesian->Polar mapping function in Photoshop to get a polar little planet, so vocabulary-wise, you want to be careful using "polar" to describe this stuff.

One last trick to try: have you learned how to droste your equirectangulars, yet? It's kind of fun.

[PhotoExtremist]

oh dang, I thought there wasn't any one here yet lol

I tired using the Peirce Quincuncial expression in mathmap, but the picture came out really blurry. just looked like an abstract computer graphic. do you know why that is?

your pics are awesome, especially the drostified one

I've done multiplicity+360x180 and plan on doing a light painting+360x180



thanks for the tip on not calling it 'polar' panorama

[Crossfire905]

Infrared?

And that's 9 characters. Bleepin' 10-character limit.

[inkista]

oh dang, I thought there wasn't any one here yet lol

I'm just falling on your neck and hollering "comrade!" in gratitude. Nobody else but another equirectangular shooter gets the fascination with this weird thing.

I tired using the Peirce Quincuncial expression in mathmap, but the picture came out really blurry. just looked like an abstract computer graphic. do you know why that is?

I'd heard there was a bug in the most recent version of Mathmap, if you're actually using the Gimp plugin, so that might be it. Otherwise, make sure you've fed in the height of the full image correctly. I just use the code. I don't much understand it. The Flickr group for Mathmap may be able to help.

Another thing to try is to just take a regular little planet, and then do a regular droste, without going through the quincuncial remapping rigmarole (I haven't tried this yet--too busy playing with enfuse right now): Two-Sided Grassy Planet Droste | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The Equirectangular group on Flickr is another great resource.

your pics are awesome, especially the drostified one

Thanks! Actually, the one thing I can't seem to get is the crispness I'm seeing in your shots. I can never quite get my Sigma 8mm to be as sharp as I'd like, but that's the price for four-shot & handheld convenience. And I need to remember to correct for CA before stitching. There's always something to pick over.

I've done multiplicity+360x180 and plan on doing a light painting+360x180

Cool! Yeah, easiest way to do multiplicity evah: shoot a pano and get yourself into every member shot. Light painting will be cool, too. I've heard of some guys going nuts and doing 3-d panos, but the thought makes my head hurt.

[PhotoExtremist]

I'd heard there was a bug in the most recent version of Mathmap, if you're actually using the Gimp plugin, so that might be it. Otherwise, make sure you've fed in the height of the full image correctly. I just use the code. I don't much understand it. The Flickr group for Mathmap may be able to help.

I'm using the latest version of GIMP (I think) and Mathmap... hmm, here is a screenshot of what it looks like: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3893347/ih.jpg
When I move the first slider it just makes the photo really really small with the transparency checkerboard pattern filling up the rest of the frame.

Another thing to try is to just take a regular little planet, and then do a regular droste, without going through the quincuncial remapping rigmarole (I haven't tried this yet--too busy playing with enfuse right now): Two-Sided Grassy Planet Droste | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I saw that image, it's the only one on Flickr that is a high quality realistic droste+360

Thanks! Actually, the one thing I can't seem to get is the crispness I'm seeing in your shots. I can never quite get my Sigma 8mm to be as sharp as I'd like, but that's the price for four-shot & handheld convenience. And I need to remember to correct for CA before stitching. There's always something to pick over. [/url]

My shots are pixilated and fuzzy on the edges. I've been shooting small jpegs. i JUST took one in my family room though and am getting ready to stitch it... all of them are LARGE 6megapixel images. Hopefully it wont mess up Hugin

Cool! Yeah, easiest way to do multiplicity evah: shoot a pano and get yourself into every member shot. Light painting will be cool, too. I've heard of some guys going nuts and doing 3-d panos, but the thought makes my head hurt.

Do you have any more information about the 3d panos? I had that same idea haha! I havn't tried doing it yet though. The most extreme thing I can think about doing in photography is to have a 360x180 + 3D + HDR + IR + Light Painting + Droste image. I donno what else could possibly be more extreme, except maybe having some high-speed parts of glass or something shattering in different frames hehe..... or taking the shots in 10 day intervals so you see the seasons change in different areas of the frame

[inkista]

I'm using the latest version of GIMP (I think) and Mathmap... hmm, here is a screenshot of what it looks like: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3893347/ih.jpg
When I move the first slider it just makes the photo really really small with the transparency checkerboard pattern filling up the rest of the frame.

Your ImageH is set to 1 (as in 1 pixel high). Set it to 1000, since your equirectangular is 2000x1000.

Do you have any more information about the 3d panos?

Nope, sorry. The panoguide forum is probably where I read about it.

The most extreme thing I can think about doing in photography is to have a 360x180 + 3D + HDR + IR + Light Painting + Droste image.

What, no focus stacking? But yeah, that'd do it.

I donno what else could possibly be more extreme, except maybe having some high-speed parts of glass or something shattering in different frames hehe..... or taking the shots in 10 day intervals so you see the seasons change in different areas of the frame

Try these three on for size. Not a lot of processing craziness involved. But you will be scratching your head on how they were done.

Panorama / Quicktime VR : Eiffel tower : Flying IN the tower
No. A balloon or tether was not used.

Panorama / Quicktime VR : in motion on a motorcycle

And then there are the claustropanos....

Panorama / Quicktime VR : Mirror and reflexions
Notice anything missing?

Eric Rougier's got the mad skillz when it comes to panos.

[PhotoExtremist]

tried setting it to 1000 and it didn't work, it will either turn completely black or will turn into the transparency checkerboard. poop oh well


wow those panos are awesome, i really don't know how they were made, do you??

[photocist]

awesome shots. going to have to give it a go sometime!

[inkista]

tried setting it to 1000 and it didn't work, it will either turn completely black or will turn into the transparency checkerboard. poop oh well

Crap. I'm out of ideas. Best I can come up with is downgrading your Mathmap version.

wow those panos are awesome, i really don't know how they were made, do you??

I'll let him explain:

flying: Discussion Forum: true 360x360, soooo nice...

motorbike: panoguide: Quicktime VR in motion (ex: On a motorbike in motion :-) (Tips & Tricks Forum)

The third one, though, I've got no clue. I'm guessing it's using nadir-patching tricks on more than one area of the pano.