While taking this class (IT 644), I usually spend a lot of time thinking about what I should do for each assignment. So far, every assignment has been fun to produce and has provided me with great learning experiences. However, I admit that there are always challenges in each assignment which can cause varying degrees of frustration. For example, even though I do not consider myself a perfectionist, I became very frustrated while trying to use CleVR.com to create a 360°panoramic picture. I really wanted my 360° panoramic picture to come out spectacularly, since there was a chance that the picture might be used by the University Writing Center as promotional material for their website.
Unlink Picnik.com, CleVR requires the user to download and install a program (a “stitch” program), after creating an account (which is free). The stitch program takes the overlapping photos the user has taken, and “stitches” them together to create a panoramic picture. The pictures can be 180°, 270°, or 360°. Although the program is easy to use, the user doesn’t have a lot of control and can’t manipulate how the pictures are stitched together. This can be frustrating, since, after several less-than-perfect end-results, I really wanted to “help” the program do better.
To make a 360° panoramic picture requires approximately 6-8 overlapping photos. Dr. Yuen explained that the final quality of the 360° panoramic photo greatly depends on how the original overlapping pictures were taken. The quality of the 360° panoramic pictures also depends on how one positions their (digital) camera and the extent to which each picture overlaps. A tripod is a very helpful (essential) tool for keeping pictures consistent in terms of height and camera position. As an additional point, Dr. Yuen recommended that we not edit any of the component images on Picnik or any other image-editor before trying to stitch them together. However, finished panoramas can then be edited if desired.
Below are step-by-step instructions for creating 360° panoramic images using CleVR.
1. Take 6-8 photo images.
2. Sign up online at <http://www.clevr.com>.
3. Download and install the CleVR Stitcher program in your computer
4. Log in to your CleVR account
5. Load your photo images into the working pan
6. Rearrange the images into the correct order.
7. Stitch them together.
8. Export a 360° panoramic image as JPEG onto your computer.
9. Upload your 360° panoramic image back to CleVR to create a scroll-able panoramic image which can be linked into web-pages.
Actually, I found this project to be very frustrating (…did I mention that?).In my efforts to complete this assignment, I took approximately 70 photo images of the university Writing Center (using a tripod). I have attempted to create a “near-perfect” 360° panoramic image of the Writing Center more than 15 times. Unfortunately, I never really succeeded to my own satisfaction. However, I did achieve three images that I consider to be “barely acceptable”. I’ll include them below.
Also, I learned a number of things during my extensive experimentation. For example, the number of images you include in the stitching process is very important. If there are too many images, the program will eliminate them (randomly) during the stitching process (causing you to end up with a “smaller” final image than if you had used fewer pictures. Additionally, if there are too few images, the stitching program may not be able to find the overlapping areas of each image in order to stitch them together. As a random note, large, sharply delineated objects are good to have near the edges of each image (if possible) to “help” CleVR stitch them together.
Growing frustrated with my numerous attempts to create a “perfect” 360° panoramic image, I attempted to create two 180° panoramic images, and then combine them (as Dr. Yuen suggested when he heard of my difficulties). I found out that the dimensions of the image files are important. Even though all the “small” pictures I started with were the same width & height, when CleVR stitches images together it always has to trim them to make the edges clean. Thus, my 180° panoramic images were not the same height. This prevented me from successfully joining them.
After all my work, I ended up with three different versions of a Writing Center 360° panoramic image. Each one has shadows which, despite my efforts, I was unable to eliminate. Dr. Yuen’s remarks, upon viewing the panoramas were: a) “Few shadows (ghosts) in your 360 degree movies (These are the stitching problems by CleVR. Unfortunately, CleVR provides No manual adjustment.)”, b) “The second movie is the best without a stitching error”, and c) “Pretty good work overall”. Although I was frustrated with this project, I still take pride in all three of my Writing Center 360° panoramic pictures.
Also, though they are not perfect, the panoramas I created are still (in my humble opinion) very impressive. That may have to do with the strong color scheme of the Writing Center, but I think CleVR does a good job of making images that “pop”. Therefore, I intend to integrate CleVR panoramas into my Spring 2010 classes. I intend to have my students in FM 438 (Entrepreneurship in Apparel and Interior Design) create panoramic displays of products they have created. Similarly, I intend to have my FM 337 (Promotion and Analysis) students create panoramas of the Passion for Fashion Consignment Store they create and run as one of their class projects.
LOL I was just down the hall from there when I did my project.
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