projectproposalpage

Development of a One Shot Panoramic System and its use in Producing Virtual Reality Stereo Images.

Aim:

To create stereo panoramic pairs for viewing in Virtual Reality from a system that creates digital panorama files from a single 360 degree image capturing device.

To design a prototype that costs relatively little to build, and considerably cheaper than simular designs currently on the market.

Description:

The project has three distinctive parts. Firstly, to design and build an imaging system that can take a 360 degree panoramic in just one shot. Secondly, to design and develop software that can interpret this image and turn it into a form that can be used by Virtual Reality programs (see diagram 2), such as Apple's Quick Time Virtual Reality (QTVR 2) or Microsoft's Surround Video, creating 360 degree panoramas on screen.

The final part of the project is to use this developed imaging system and software to create 360^o panoramic stereo-pairs to be viewed simultaneously on a computer screen/s in a Virtual Reality program.

Procedure:

Step 1. Creating the single capture camera system

The design of the camera system is not new, but an extension on the old "All Sky Cameras" used by amateur astronomers to capture the night sky in one image. It consists of a curved bowl like structure containing a hole in the centre through which the camera looks at a mirror mounted on a pole above looking down at the surface of the bowl (see diagram 1).

Provisions - 1. The bowl should be shaped to allow maximum coverage above and below the horizon without great distortions. Also the bowl’s surface should be highly reflective and should not have too many imperfections.

2. The mirror used must be front surface. This will decrease double imaging occurring which degrades the image quality.

Step 2. Development of manipulation software

For this part of my project I am enlisting the help of my Dad, as I know very little about computer programming. The idea of the program is to take the round distorted image and unwrap it into a long panorama while also correcting the distortions created by the shape of the bowl (See Diagram 2). Later this image will be put into a Virtual Reality program.

Step 3. Designing a system of taking and viewing stereo-pairs in Virtual Reality

This part of the project still requires some design, but the idea is to have both a left and right QTVR panorama on the screen simultaneously and using a viewing system yet to be designed, create a three-dimensional 360 degree VR panoramic image.

Prior Work in this Area:

The "Portal S1" and "IPIX" camera systems create QTVR images from 360 degree panoramas using various methods. Both systems are very expensive and use 35mm film to capture the images. As an improvement I am planning on using 5"x4" film as opposed to 35mm so that the image resolution will be far better.

I have studied both the above mentioned systems and earlier models of one shot panoramic cameras, such as the "all sky cameras" used by amateur astronomers to capture the whole night sky at once, and have come up with a design.

Through my research so far I can find no one who has created 3D panoramas in Virtual Reality, except when using the method where the red channel in the right image is replaced by the red channel from the left image (Anaglyph Image). This image is then viewed wearing red and green/blue glasses.

Anticipated Outcomes:

To have created a prototype one shot, 360 degree panoramic camera, combined with a developed software package that can turn the wrapped distorted image into a Virtual Reality file. This file is then capable of being viewed in common VR programs such as Apple's QTVR, or Microsoft's Surround Video. Time and resources permitting, create a full high quality version of the camera.

To have developed a method of taking stereo-pairs with this camera system and then viewing the left and right images in stereo on the computer screen simultaneously.

Professional Contacts:

Jan van Harmelen - great knowledge of computer programming and mathematics.

Main Equipment:

- 4"x5" view camera

- Computer, reasonably fast, with scanner

- Software ~ VR program, Photoshop 4.0.1

Budget:

One of the aims of this project is to build a prototype, which keeps costs at a minimum.

ESTIMATED COSTS OF Materials

Camera System: Bowl - $30

Glass and Mirror- $10

Adhesives - $5

Metal Rod - $5

Film: 5"x4" sheet film - $10 per image processed

End of year Presentation - $300

Maximum Budget - for the Camera System $300

- for the Stereo Viewer $150

- for miscellaneous $100

Literature and Bibliography:

Since a lot of my project deals with current technology most of my information has been found on the Internet and in journal articles, as there is very little information in textbooks.

References -