proj-imim:
RE: proj-imim-digest V1 #408
David W. Allison 2001-Oct-19 18:24:34
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is David Allison, and I have been working to build a VR photography
business in the D/FW area of Texas for the past two years. My approach has
been to provide custom tour designs and offer a higher level of customer
service than the national competition. Over the past year my client base
has grown steadily, and I see myself as “David” to the competition’s
“Goliath”
One of the biggest issues I have faced is the lack of an automated system to
quickly create custom content, and the inability to post tours automatically
to national portals. (Primarily Realtor.com)
In an effort to address these issues, working with a database designer, we
developed a web based tour production system. The system’s function is to
create highly customized virtual tour packages, utilizing images created by
a number of production techniques. (PTStitcher, IPIX, or PhotoVista) Once
tours are built, the system then notifies clients automatically, and will
soon have the ability to interface with the national portal’s servers.
I believe that other independent producers face the same issues that I do,
and would benefit from this new system. What I also believe is needed in
the VR community is a way to facilitate direct communication between
regional producers, and a mechanism to help companies, like myself, compete
on a national level.
With this thought in mind the concept of VRGuild was formed. As many of you
may be aware, Realtor.com, and other real estate portals are starting to
allow the posting of alternative technologies (beyond iPIX) to their
systems. The catch is there is a hefty fee for the privilege. The idea is
to utilize the system as the conduit to create and post tours, and to offer
member photographers equal access to national databases through their
affiliation with VRGuild.
I would enjoy the opportunity to show how the system works, and what it can
create. Please visit http://www.vrguild.net to see some samples. A
complete outline of the concept is available on the site.
If you would like to e-mail me the address is
#removed#
Thanks,
David W. Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: #removed#
[mailto:#removed#]
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 1:31 AM
To: #removed#
Subject: proj-imim-digest V1 #408
proj-imim-digest Friday, October 19 2001 Volume 01 : Number 408
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 00:05:48 -0400
From: David Gibson <#removed#>
Subject: RE: PTViewer panning speed
I've noticed a significant increase in panning speed and performance
on changing from version PTViewer 2.1 to 2.3. Removal of the
navigation frame on the panos also increased performance but version
2.3 with the navigation frame was still faster and smoother than
version 2.1 without the frame. Bottom line: version 2.3 is
significantly faster and smoother. I noticed this on both mac and
windows NS 4.7, the browsers that have given me the most performance
problems.
- --
Dave Gibson
http://www.ETPanorama.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 00:35:11 -0400
From: "Max Lyons" <#removed#>
Subject: New graphical interface for Panorama Tools
A few weeks ago I sent an e-mail to this list about Panorama Tools'
documentation. I argued that its incompleteness, inaccuracy and
incomprehensibility was an important reason why Panorama Tools (which I
bet most of us would agree is the best panoramic software available) is not
more widely used. Newbies without Ph.D.s or computer science
backgrounds are not likely to wade through the details of script files,
command line helper applications, Java Virtual machine headaches,
etc...And, most are definitely not going to do it without decent
documentation.
So, in the spirit of trying to make Panorama Tools more accessible I've
written a GUI program, PTAssember, that I hope is so easy to use that the
documentation issue becomes largely irrelevant. Windows only, sorry.
http://tawba.tripod.com/ptasmblr.htm
I've tried to simplify the process of creating a panorama with Panorama
Tools
as much as possible, boiling the process down to its essential elements,
and doing as much "automatically" as possible. For example, once you
know the yaw and pitch for all your source images and the lens FOV, the
program can figure out what a reasonable value for the final panorama FOV
and height and width parameters should be.
Another example: Why create one control point at a time, when you can
create multiple? My program allows you to draw "control lines" which are
then converted into sets of control points.
The biggest challenge was making sense of the whole optimizer/yaw, pitch,
roll mess. How to simplify this so that the average 13 year old would
understand? I realized that you really don't need to know yaw, pitch or
roll
for any of your images. All you really need to know is the yaw, pitch and
roll
for one of your images (the"reference" image) and provide a helping of
control
points that the optimizer can use to figure out the yaw, pitch and roll for
all
the other images.
In fact, you don't even need to know the yaw, pitch and roll parameters for
your reference image if you can select them graphically. So, I've added a
graphical "reference point picker" to my program. Click on the point in
your
"reference image" and my program will figure out the appropriate yaw, pitch
and roll for that image. Then run the optimizer to find all the other yaw,
pitch
and roll values will be estimated.
I also added an "auto optimize" feature. Most folks agree that the
optimizer
can give strange results if everything is optimized at once...a sequential
approach seems to work better. So, I added the ability to perform this
sequential optimization by clicking one button.
Lastly, I've included a "wizard" with the program. It aims to walk users
through the process of creating a panorama and gives context sensitive help
for each of the program's screens.
I've tried to walk a fine line...making it easy to use without taking away
access to Panorama Tools' power. I hope that I've found a good compromise.
Any feedback is welcome. Hope you enjoy the program.
Max Lyons
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 08:35:46 +0200
From: "Thomas Majchrzak" <#removed#>
Subject: unsubscribe
Hallo,
I have now faster internet access,
so I prefer to read it online,
Greetings,
Thomas
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 08:02:11 +0100
From: "Andy Woodfield" <#removed#>
Subject: RE: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
no-one else experienced this?
- -----Original Message-----
From: #removed#
[mailto:#removed#]On Behalf Of Andy Woodfield
Sent: 15 October 2001 15:46
To: #removed#
Subject: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
Hi everyone.
I've just been checking the error log (Apache Server) and i notice that a
number of file not found messages appear relating to the ptviewer.class file
used for my VR
the files not found are:
ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
does anyone know why an attempt is made to locate these files (that don't
exist) and will this be affecting the viewing experience for the user -
unfortunately i'm not able to supply the browser and version that causes
this error.
thanks in advance
Andy
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 10:27:09 +0100
From: "JC" <#removed#>
Subject: Re: New graphical interface for Panorama Tools
Max wrote:
> So, in the spirit of trying to make Panorama Tools more accessible I've
> written a GUI program, PTAssember, that I hope is so easy to use that the
> documentation issue becomes largely irrelevant. Windows only, sorry.
>
> http://tawba.tripod.com/ptasmblr.htm
>
Max
I've just had a quick play with your GUI and it works very well. I
particularly like the 'control line' feature, which speeds control point
selection tremendously. Probably not so usable with fish-eyes I guess
(because of distortion).
The reference point picker is also a great idea - how accurate do you need
to be with this? I usually shoot my reference shot at 0 degrees yaw and
pitch for easy optimization, but this would be nice for multi-row panos.
Auto-optimize is also a nice idea and worked very well first time - nice to
see the average contol point distance come down each pass.
One addition you may like to think of adding is a lens 'database' similar to
PTGui 1.3, which would allow the loading of all lens parameters from a list
(could you use the same file as PTGui?)
I shoot mainly 360 panos but am doing more partial panos now, which can
sometimes be even more difficult and time-consuming to optimize well. This
looks like it will same a lot of time.
PTAssembler is a another great compliment for Panorama Tools. Thank you very
much for sharing it with us.
Regards
JC
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 11:52:14 +0200
From: Antonio Garbasso <#removed#>
Subject: Re: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?p 3?x 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?p 3?x
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Il giorno 18-10-2001 9:02, Andy Woodfield, #removed# ha
scritto:
> no-one else experienced this?
> ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
> ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
>
yes, I have the same errors on my server for all the files related to
ptviewer, plus a favicon.ico, which I think, but i'm not sure, related to
ptviewer. Somebody on this list has a file to correct this error
(favicon.ico), but I don't remember the name.
What to do with this 'errors'? Are they really 'errors' or just missing
files that do not affect the functionality of ptviewer?
Toni Garbasso
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 12:26:08 +0200
From: Phil Suessenguth <#removed#>
Subject: favicon.ico (was Re: ptviewerBeanInfo.class)
Hi,
the favicon error has nothing to do with PTViewer.
If a Windows InternetExplorer user bookmarks your site, IE looks for
the favicon.ico on your server and if it finds one it displays this
in the browsers address-bar and bookmarks.
To find out more about favicon and how to create them take a look at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/Author/dhtml/howto/ShortcutIcon.asp
http://www.favicon.com/
HTH,
Phil Suessenguth
>Il giorno 18-10-2001 9:02, Andy Woodfield, #removed# ha
>scritto:
>
>> no-one else experienced this?
>
>> ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
>> ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
>>
>
>yes, I have the same errors on my server for all the files related to
>ptviewer, plus a favicon.ico, which I think, but i'm not sure, related to
>ptviewer. Somebody on this list has a file to correct this error
>(favicon.ico), but I don't remember the name.
>What to do with this 'errors'? Are they really 'errors' or just missing
>files that do not affect the functionality of ptviewer?
>
>
>Toni Garbasso
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 11:49:47 +0100
From: "Andy Woodfield" <#removed#>
Subject: RE: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
the favicon.ico (favourites icon) does not relate to ptviewer but is
actually explorer v5+ searching for an icon to place in the favourites
folder of a user that bookmarks your page.
If a favicon.ico cannot be found you get the could not found message but
this does not cause browser error for the user.
But the ptvieweBeanInfo.class i know nothing about, hence the question.
- -----Original Message-----
From: #removed#
[mailto:#removed#]On Behalf Of Antonio Garbasso
Sent: 18 October 2001 10:52
To: #removed#
Subject: Re: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?p 3?x 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?? 3?p 3?x
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Il giorno 18-10-2001 9:02, Andy Woodfield, #removed# ha
scritto:
> no-one else experienced this?
> ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
> ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
>
yes, I have the same errors on my server for all the files related to
ptviewer, plus a favicon.ico, which I think, but i'm not sure, related to
ptviewer. Somebody on this list has a file to correct this error
(favicon.ico), but I don't remember the name.
What to do with this 'errors'? Are they really 'errors' or just missing
files that do not affect the functionality of ptviewer?
Toni Garbasso
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 12:59:16 +0200
From: Andrei Bodrov <#removed#>
Subject: Re[2]: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
i have the same errors with ptviewer classes, but i think that answer
on this question can give only Helmut :)
about favicon.ico - it's not reaaly error - just somebody with IE put
your site info favorites. more info you can find on www.favicon.com
or download archive from http://www.all-in-one.ee/downloads that
includes favicon.ico and instructions for use it.
if you also found in log errors like "robots.txt not found" - it's not
very big problem too. just read Apache manual for prepare your server
for searching robots.
<b.r.>
Andrei
- ------------------------------------
Andrei Bodrov
Web Developer, CEO
GSM: +372.5.077.301
http://www.all-in-one.ee
>> no-one else experienced this?
>> ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
>> ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
>>
> yes, I have the same errors on my server for all the files related to
> ptviewer, plus a favicon.ico, which I think, but i'm not sure, related to
> ptviewer. Somebody on this list has a file to correct this error
> (favicon.ico), but I don't remember the name.
> What to do with this 'errors'? Are they really 'errors' or just missing
> files that do not affect the functionality of ptviewer?
> Toni Garbasso
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:21:48 +0200
From: Helmut Dersch <#removed#>
Subject: Re: ptviewerBeanInfo.class
Antonio Garbasso wrote:
>
>
> > no-one else experienced this?
>
> > ptviewerBeanInfo.class and
> > ptviewer$COMClassObject.class
> >
>
These classes are requested by some
browsers, but are not provided by PTViewer.
If they existed, the browsers would use them,
otherwise default code is executed.
This is not an error.
Regards
Helmut Dersch
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:14:50 +0200
From: "Jacek Gancarson" <#removed#>
Subject: Re: PTViewer panning speed
Hi Ben,
Sorry for the long term of reply. (I hoped to come med new results of file
size optimalisation optimalization and testing PTzoom but now I mainly plain
text feedback ready with only little of configuration tests.
>
> The size of the pano may have something to do with it.
> <PARAM name=pwidth value="13025">
> <PARAM name=pheight value="556">
I have changed these dimensions as the result of image size reduction to
274x1960 pixels
http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/east-a-roi-274.htm
(or 400x2864 pixels )
http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/east-a-roi-400.htm
Can anybody except Win and IE 5.5 users see this panos?
> You may get better performance using zoom images instead of an ROI image
> and/or try using a small gif (say 4x2 pixels) as the pano file rather than
> using the internally generated image. My first attempt at my interactive
> map used an ROI image and a large pano (with no file specified) and
> resulted in a lot of disk crunching while the internal image was
> generated. Realising what I'd done I changed to using zoom images instead
> before trying a small GIF as the pano file.
>
Above panos as well as pano
http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/east-tower-new.htm is ca 110 degree HFOV.
In documentation: http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/PTVJ/partial.html is
stated that the ptzoom is best for panos of HFOV <100 degree.
I will try to test the ptzoom. I placed test pano
http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/ptzoom.htm but I can see nothing there
except white canvas. The code is:
<APPLET name="ptviewer" code=ptviewer.class height=250 width=333
archive="ptviewer.jar" mayscript=true>
<PARAM NAME="wait" VALUE="">
<PARAM NAME="file" VALUE="plain.gif">
<PARAM NAME="fovmax" VALUE="110">
<param name=applet0 value="{code= ptzoom.class}
{file=east-a-400-c4.jpg}
{tilt=0.0}
{fov=110.0}
{rot=0}
">
<param name=inits value="ptviewer:startApplet(0);startAutoPan(0.1,0,1)' ">
</APPLET>
Ptviewer version 2.3, 50 kbyte plian.gif is 2x4 pixels large.
Any comments are highly appreciated..
> >Is there any other reason? That might be the limmits to how much an Java
> >applet can process per second. As I remember it is about 8 times less
than a
> >C++ plugin.
>
> Plugins can make the most of specific harder on the system it is written
> for whereas java applets have to be much more general in order to work on
> "all" systems... it then gets down to universal access or speed.
>
Yes. It was said so. So will the Java applets be also acceptable now in
Internet B2B?
But what about high resolution options. It is seems to be a standard to use
plugins then.
Best regards
Jacek
> Cheers
>
> Ben Kreunen
> ==========================================
> Imaging and IT Coordinator
> Department of Pathology
> http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/
> ph: 61 3 8344 5863
> fax: 61 3 8344 4004
> ==========================================
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:31:40 -0400
From: Yehuda <#removed#>
Subject: Unsubscribe
Thank you.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 09:29:40 +1000
From: Ben Kreunen <#removed#>
Subject: Re: PTViewer panning speed
>Above panos as well as pano
>http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/east-tower-new.htm is ca 110 degree HFOV.
>In documentation: http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/PTVJ/partial.html is
>stated that the ptzoom is best for panos of HFOV <100 degree.
>I will try to test the ptzoom. I placed test pano
>http://www.eurofresh.se/stockholm/ptzoom.htm but I can see nothing there
>except white canvas.
This has worked on mine but you need to limit your panmin/max and
tiltmin/max angles. What may have happened is that your zoom image
displayed after your autorotation took the panorama out of
view. Autorotation begins immediately, but the zoom image has to load and
decompress before it can be displayed.
You will need to change your projection for this to work as
expected. Extract a rectilinear image for a psphere panorama e.g.
<http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/demo/east-a-400-c4.jpg>
Cheers
Ben Kreunen
==========================================
Imaging and IT Coordinator
Department of Pathology
http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/
ph: 61 3 8344 5863
fax: 61 3 8344 4004
==========================================
------------------------------
End of proj-imim-digest V1 #408
*******************************