jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 2:15 GMT
|
|
Hello gang,
I have owned a small virtual company for 4-5 years. I have used it as a way to make some side cash focusing on smaller projects such as a real estate listing here and there, country club, B & B, etc. I kept my expenditures down by using adequate but lower end equipment and software. This served me fine at the time (Photovista paired with powershot), but now I want to upgrade everything...Lenses, software for stitching, tour making and customized viewers. I would appreciate your advice in the questions below.
1) I will be shooting with a Canon 10D focusing on both indoor and outdoor real estate/country club(golf course) virtual tours. If I was to buy one main lens, what should it be?
2)The PhotoVista I use is functional but out of date. I would like switch from java based to flash panoramas. It is very important for me to be able to customize the player I choose so that I can create industry appropriate templates for the tours to run. That said, which software (or combination of software) would you recommend?
3) I need a good software to import floor plans that could be added to the page as part of the viewer. Additionally, software that could incorporate landscape (i.e. golf course links) would be very helpful. Any suggestions?
4) Could you recommend a good resource for someone who creates customized skins that would be truly unique?
In short, I am looking to invest into my business and create a more professional image to my work. Therefore, I want to upgrade my entire profile and offer a more complete product to my new and old clients. Any advice on achieving this goal would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards,
James
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
tallmanirl
Posts: 76
Location: Ireland
Registered: 5 Jun 2008
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 16:36 GMT
|
|
Hello James,
I can't answer the questions you asked. You might like to know though that you can get a huge range of equipment at very reasonable costs on google product search.
Hope this helps,
Fergal.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
mediavets
Posts: 419
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 19:11 GMT
|
|
For stitching I suggest you consider and either PTGui, Autopano Pro or Easypano's Panoweaver. All available as free trials AFAIK.
For virtual tour stuff Easypano's Tourweaver seems to be preferred by those who make virtual tours.
If you are willing to do more of the work yourself then you might wish to look at these two Flash panorama viewers - Flash Panorama Player and KRpano.
I use Autropano Pro and Pano2VR to create Flash panos but I don't get involved with virtual tour stuff or extensive customisation of the player.
Andrew
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 20:39 GMT
|
|
Thanks Andrew,
So far I have settled on the 8mm 3.5 Sigma with the NN3.
I was leaning toward the PTGUI because everyone here raves about it.
I guess that last question sits with what Flash player I use. I would like to customize something maybe with the help of a web developer fluent in this type of stuff.
The GUI interface that Tourweaver uses is nice and may work for me on Real Estate end. However, I don't believe the tourweaver software can be additionally optimized can it?
I think I may be forced with going with FPP or KPpano and then have a design group customize something to the additional ideas (bells and whistles) I have that it does not apprear Tourweaver provides.
Additional feedback from others would be appreciated.
Thank you kindly,
James
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
spyboy
Posts: 239
Location: New Hampton, NH, United States
Registered: 7 Oct 2006
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 21:41 GMT
|
|
I started with
Canon Rebel XT
Sigma 8mm fisheye
Nodal Ninja 3
PT Gui
Autopano Pro
Pano2VR
I recently upgraded to the Canon 40D and Nodal Ninja 5 (needed the 5 because the 40D plus wifi grip is very heavy)
PTGui, Autopano Pro and Pano2VR have made tremedous improvements over the past few years, they are all definitely worthwhile software packages)
I find myself using APP more than PTGui lately because of the ease of stitching. But anything that chockes in APP I'll drop back in PTGui to really force the stitches (I know APP can do this but I still have to learn the advanced function)
Kirk
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 24 Jun 2008 at 21:56 GMT
|
|
Thanks Kirk,
What I am trying to do is not purchase redundant software or programs that do the same thing, so I appreciate your input. I guess PTGUI is a good bet, paired with APP just to have another option.
I am leaning toward using FPP for the flash player and then possibly contracting a group using that stripped down applet to create the options I need with a more custom look that can distinguish me from the other 1000 commercial VT groups in the market place. Unless someone knows of a more cost efficient option.
Regards
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Jenny
Posts: 23
Location: Shanghai, China
Registered: 7 Mar 2007
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 25 Jun 2008 at 6:40 GMT
|
|
Hi James,
You can customize your own virtual tour skin within Tourweaver, and there are also many free virtual tour skins for download in Easypano website: www.easypano.com/virtual-tour-skin.html. In Tourweaver 3.00, many features are offered: floorpans, hotspots, pop-up images (pop-up video will be supported in the coming new version 4.00), external links, execute script and more. For each component in the virtual tour, you can modify its properties.
Best regards,
Jenny Zhao
www.easypano.com
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
tallmanirl
Posts: 76
Location: Ireland
Registered: 5 Jun 2008
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 26 Jun 2008 at 16:45 GMT
|
|
What's the verdict on Photoshop CS3 for stitching? I've not read any mentions.
Fergal.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 30 Jun 2008 at 19:25 GMT
updated: 30 Jun 2008 at 19:41 GMT
|
|
1st off, I would like to say thanks to all that helped me with my original questions regarding equipment and software.
I just received my Sigma 3.5 8mm today and can't wait to use it. (Still waiting on my NN3, shipped ground )
I also purchased the license to PTgui and am considerably leaning toward TourWeaver as an option for some of my tours.
I only have a few questions left.
1) Outside of what easypano has on their website, are there any advanced tutorials out there is regards to Tourweaver Pro 3.O? I was also like any resources involving importing custom skins to Tourweaver for publishing.
2) For viewing on the web, I assume I should be saving my panos in jpeg? I will be using flash, with full screen option so where should be file size be on average for internet viewing?
EDIT: Oh yeah, I will be using a Canon 10d (6.3MP). So should I be shooting at top res and then compressing for web viewing?
Thanks again all....
J
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
John Houghton
Posts: 2265
Location: Hitchin, United Kingdom
Registered: 17 Jan 2005
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 30 Jun 2008 at 20:41 GMT
|
|
Q2: Generally, it's best to stitch your panorama as an equirectangular image in tiff format. Do any necessary post-processing and then convert from tiff to jpeg, mov or swf, according to the viewer requirements. You should be able to generate a panorama slightly larger than 6000x3000 from the 10D images. For fullscreen display, you need around 5000x2500 to 6000x3000 pixels. Quality (compression) settings need to be chosen carefully to give as much compression as possible whilst avoiding artifacts such as banding and blockiness. 2MB final file size is a good figure to aim for, though larger files are becoming more acceptable with increasing broadband speeds.
John
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 30 Jun 2008 at 21:14 GMT
|
|
Thanks John...
Equirectangular and not Spherical? I thought with the Sigma 8mm I would be dealing with full 360x180 with 5-6 shots plus the zenith? Or maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying?
I have been using PhotoShop Elements 2 to compress smaller panos. Is this still copesetic, or should i use/purchase other software to get the best results?
Thanks
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
John Houghton
Posts: 2265
Location: Hitchin, United Kingdom
Registered: 17 Jan 2005
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 1 Jul 2008 at 5:51 GMT
updated: 1 Jul 2008 at 5:52 GMT
|
|
The equirectangular format can accommodate a full spherical 360x180 view. For this, the pixel dimensions of the image need to be in the exact ratio 2:1, e.g. 5000x2500. 6000x3000 etc. A panorama in this format can be displayed directly with viewers such as DevalVR, FSPViewer and SPi-V and can be readily converted to other common formats, including QTVR and flash, by various utilities.
John
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
mediavets
Posts: 419
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 1 Jul 2008 at 8:18 GMT
updated: 1 Jul 2008 at 8:24 GMT
|
|
jimmyd said: Thanks John...
Equirectangular and not Spherical? I thought with the Sigma 8mm I would be dealing with full 360x180 with 5-6 shots plus the zenith? Or maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying?
The typical output of panorama stitching programs when choosing a spherical projection with 360x180 coverage is an equirectangular image with a 2:1 aspect ratio as John has described - when viewed with an appropriate viewer this provides a relatively undistorted allround 360x180 view as you have seen on-line.
Alternatively as John has described this sort of image can be converted to QTVR and Flash formats with additional software - for example Pano2VR - this is the conversion that potentially involves compression to reduce file size with a trade-off in terms of image quality.
Why reduce filesize? To decrease download times when displaying panos on-line, although filesize and download times have become less of an issue now that many more people have reasonably high bandwitdh broadband Internet connections so that files download much faster than in years gone by.
There are also special techniques for displaying high resolution images on-line which reduce the demand on the viewing PC to enable display of very large high resolution images shot with longer lenses. But that's another story and not relevant for your 10D/Sigma 8mm setup.
Andrew
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 714
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 1 Jul 2008 at 15:13 GMT
|
|
An Equirectangular Projection the method used to make the World Map you looked at in school.
A Sphere is flattened into a rectangle and the 2:1 ratio is necessary because the distance from the North Pole to the South (height) is half the Distance around the Equator (width).
Effectively, the single points that are the "Poles" get stretched out to a line equal to the Equator. That's why there's so much more warping in the upper and lower parts of and Equirectangular Projection
Hope that helps
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
jimmyd
Posts: 72
Location: United States
Registered: 6 Nov 2004
|
Re: Upgrading everything, would appreciate your advice.
Posted: 1 Jul 2008 at 16:11 GMT
|
|
Hello all,
John, once again thank you!! The amount of information and time you spend helping individuals like myself get better at this fine art is invaluable. We are all fortunate to have your help.
I am considering buying TourWeaver 3.0 (private branding) at the tune of around $650. With my limited coding skills I need software that can help me create tours for my business that have all the neat "bells and whistles" so to speak. Do you have another suggestion? Let me know. Basically, I need to create customized tours for real estate, country clubs, golf courses and B&B 's. That will be my focus. So I need something that can be modified through a GUI format to make the necessary industry specific changes.
Andrew,
Yes, with the 10d and Sigma I'll be able to shoot a 360X180 and with 25% --35% compression on the 6.3 MP mode, I should be able to get down around 1.5mbs for Full screen...I hope! Is there compression software you recommend? I am probably just gonna use the Photoshop compressor unless I hear of something uniquely better.
So my technique should be as follows...
Shoot in RAW, 5 shots around, one Zenith. Or Both Zenith and Nadir?
Upload the RAW directly into PTgui. Is that compatible? Go through all the stitching, blending processes, and save as a .tiff in PTgui?
Then in Photoshop resize and compress the file. Then save in JPEG?
If I purchase Tourweaver, then I would upload the panorama and create the flash pano. Is that correct?
Once again, thanks guys...Once I get this right he 1st time I will remember how to do it moving forward so thank you a ton.
Regards,
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
back to threads list |
this thread is closed
Prev
