Slightly off topic here, but I've been looking into doing real estate photography. Mostly for private homes and real estate listings, but possibly other things as well.
I've been seeing virtual tours of homes and have gotten a few inquiries about being able to do this.
What I would be looking for is to be able to stand in a room with a wide angle lens, shoot a half dozen or so (or more? - I'm learning) images and stich them together. The viewer could then click on an image and move his viewpoint around, left, right, up, or down to see the entire room.
Sooo... Does it make sense what I am trying to do and does anyone have any software recommedations to do this?
I suppose it could have some cool applications for landscapes, so there is a connection to nature photography.
If I understand correctly, I recall long ago I did something where I took a series of images and stitched them together into a 360 degree pano presented as a mpg type movie that was interactive. I used the basic Canon software that came with my camera to do this. I wish I recalled the exact program and settings but its been a while. I think quicktime pro can do this (see http://www.virtualparks.org/), although I've never personally done it with that software.
Adobe Bridge (which comes with Photoshop) has a very good stitching regimen. I use it for landscape panos as well as realty work with quite good results.
A level tripod, a bit of overlap between images and manual exposure settings, as well as composing vertically with a wide-angle lens, will get you where you need to be for most panos.
However, if you have significant distortion at wider angles, which happens with some lenses, the stitching process will be more difficult, and there are programs you can buy that iron out distortion. Realtors don't like straight lines rendered as curves.
I'm still using CS2, but if memory serves there are distortion removing options on CS4 that are good.
Jerry, thanks for the link. That is the general idea of what I am looking for, but I don't think that particular package is going to work for what I need.
From what I can tell, and I am still investigating the details, the files will need to be embedded in a third party website that designed for ease of use by very non-technical people (MLS realty listings, if that means anything). I think an .mpg or .mov file as a final product might be what is needed.
It also looks like my end purpose may need a commercial license and that is not something I want to get into right now.
I'll keep this in mind for future personl use, though.
Steve: what people have asked about is a bit more sophisticated than just stitching together several shots. The big thing seems to be being able to simulate turning yourself around in a room. Basically, move the mouse left or right, up or down, and the view moves left or right, up or down.
What I am not looking for is something that goes beyond this, where you take a step forward with the mouse and the viewpoint moves forward a step. It would be a nice touch if available but not necessary.
Dan: Take a look at www.panoguide.com I think it offers what you are looking for. One of their products is a pano-viewer that allows you to move the mouse to animate the rotation of the image. You will need to buy or make a panoramic head so that your images are aligned and easily stitchable. You might also want to take a look at http://panotools.sourceforge.net/ which has a lot of open source stitchers and viewers - and a small list of developers that use the technology developed by Prof. Helmut Dersch, a mathematics and physics professor and one of the respected early pioneers of this technology. He has some interesting solutions for lens distortion and other useful stuff.
Discussion
8 repliesI've been seeing virtual tours of homes and have gotten a few inquiries about being able to do this.
What I would be looking for is to be able to stand in a room with a wide angle lens, shoot a half dozen or so (or more? - I'm learning) images and stich them together. The viewer could then click on an image and move his viewpoint around, left, right, up, or down to see the entire room.
Sooo... Does it make sense what I am trying to do and does anyone have any software recommedations to do this?
I suppose it could have some cool applications for landscapes, so there is a connection to nature photography.
Check this out http://photosynth.net
A level tripod, a bit of overlap between images and manual exposure settings, as well as composing vertically with a wide-angle lens, will get you where you need to be for most panos.
However, if you have significant distortion at wider angles, which happens with some lenses, the stitching process will be more difficult, and there are programs you can buy that iron out distortion. Realtors don't like straight lines rendered as curves.
I'm still using CS2, but if memory serves there are distortion removing options on CS4 that are good.
From what I can tell, and I am still investigating the details, the files will need to be embedded in a third party website that designed for ease of use by very non-technical people (MLS realty listings, if that means anything). I think an .mpg or .mov file as a final product might be what is needed.
It also looks like my end purpose may need a commercial license and that is not something I want to get into right now.
I'll keep this in mind for future personl use, though.
What I am not looking for is something that goes beyond this, where you take a step forward with the mouse and the viewpoint moves forward a step. It would be a nice touch if available but not necessary.