How about 360 video? The problem with 360 surround video like BeHere (with a RealVideo player window) is bandwidth. A 240 pixel high image also requires an image that is (in effect) close to 1600 pixels long. That’s where USB-2 megapixel still cameras might come in. They could make remote 360 degree cameras feasible. Microsoft’s Corona might squeeze the 1600 pixel long video down to 4.5 Mbps. Close enough for wireless LANs. Possibly good enough for broadband entertainment channels.
Multicasting panoramic video may be feasible with Egg Solution’s lens or Panoramic cameras like Remote Reality’s bowl-shaped mirror. It can turn an ordinary camera into a 360 visual experience. Their Netvision 360 does the same thing with video. The FlyCam provides real-time panoramic video by stitching together images from multiple video cameras pointed in different directions. Portland’s Immersive Media puts 11 cameras in a soccor ball-size device.
Panorama web sites include Panoramic.net (news) and Panoguide.com (software). They review all the available Panorama software and offer helpful tips.
MGI’s Reality Studio ($200) can “zoom in” on still photos with crystal-clear detail using Flashpix on a Zoom Server. Intel’s Art Museum Net has some examples. Deerfield’s city tour lets you zoom from a satellite photo wide-shot into 360 degree panoramas on the street. Thousands can zoom simultaneously.
- Panoguide has independent reviews of all panoramic software.
- Apple’s QTVR, MGI’s Photovista 2 ($50), Ulead’s Cool 360, Spin Panorama, and Enroute’s QuickStich are popular for still panoramas. Kaidan makes QTVR’s automatically using software on the Kodak 290 to drive a motor-driven tripod head. Telemersion offers panoramic video.
- Additional VR resources include Easypano.net, Panoramics, Photoshop Plug-ins and galleries like Virtualparks.org and a VR Tour of the Olympic Mountains.
- Enroute’s Immersive Video System creates live 360 degree immersive video by stitching together multiple video cameras. Beam the Mt St Helens Cam to HDTV theatres.
- Full View points multiple cameras up into mirrors creating a 480 X 3500 pixel image. Telepresence was never so much fun. Or more affordable.
USC’s Integrated Media Systems Center has developed 3D face modeling and animation, Immersivision panoramic video and Immersive Audio. Their Remote Video Immersion produces an interactive 3D I-MAX experience. IBM’s Deep Vision Display Wall uses a cluster of 52 dual-processor IBM X330 Linux servers. Virtual Oregon is not real until it’s on Playstation 2 and the XBOX!
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