The QuickTime VR book : creating immersive imaging on your desktop / Susan A. Kitchens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kitchens, Susan A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

QuickTime.

Motion pictures--Editing--Data processing.

Motion pictures.

Image processing--Digital techniques.

Image processing.

Physical Description:

xxii, 260 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm + 1 computer laser optical disc (4 3/4 in.)

Other Title:

Quick time VR book

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : Peachpit Press, [1998]

Summary:

QuickTime Virtual Reality, more commonly known as QuickTime VR, is a cross-platform technology developed by Apple Computer as an additional layer to QuickTime. The concise information in this title shows readers how to add QuickTime VR content to their Web site or CD-ROM. Basics of virtual-reality technology are explored, such as planning a movie, viewing and creating panoramas and object movies, and setting up hot spots.

Contents:

Actual Reality and Virtual Reality 4

Linear and Nonlinear 6

Many Uses of QuickTime VR 7

Virtual Tours 7

Prototyping 8

Entertainment 8

Sales 9

Art 9

Creating QuickTime VR

A Bird's Eye View 10

Capture or Create Your Content 10

Transform Content into QuickTime VR Movie 10

Prepare for Delivery 11

QuickTime VR Delivery

Stand-alone Movie, Web, Multimedia 11

The Technology Behind QuickTime VR 11

QuickTime and QuickTime VR: System-Level Software 12

History of QuickTime VR 13

Playing QTVR Movies 14

2 So What Is QuickTime VR? 17

What Makes a QuickTime VR Movie? 18

Panorama Movies 18

Object Movies 21

Hot Spots and Navigation 26

More Advanced Features 26

What Makes the QuickTime VR Process? 28

Planning 28

Collaboration 30

Part II Creating QTVR Input 31

3 Panorama Overview 33

Source Imagery 35

Stitching and Warping 35

Dicing 38

4 Panorama Content Creation 39

Photographic Input 40

Before the Shoot 41

During the Shoot 47

After the Shoot

From Camera to Digital Files 52

3D CGI Panoramic Input 56

Applications That Do Panoramas 56

If Your Application Doesn't Do Panoramas 58

5 Stitching and Constructing Panorama Movies 59

Retouching Your Images 60

Shadow and Detail 60

Lens Flare 61

Removing Lens Distortion 61

Stitching Software 61

Stitching Steps 62

Spin Panorama (PictureWorks) 63

PhotoVista (Live Picture) 64

Nodester (Roundabout Logic) 66

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio (Apple, Macintosh only) 69

Retouching, Again 73

Retouching After Stitching 73

Sharpening the Image 73

3D Rendered Images into Panorama Movies 74

From Panorama Image to QTVR Panorama Movie 74

From Panorama Image to QTVR Panorama (Windows) 76

6 Object Movie Overview 79

The Variety of Object Movies 81

Object Movie Types 82

Rotating Movies 83

Absolute Movies 84

View States 85

Animation 86

Designing Other Types of Object Movies 88

7 Capturing Images for Object Movies 91

Photographic Input 92

Equipment 92

Camera 96

Lighting 97

Shooting Oversized Objects 98

Alternate Shooting Strategies 98

3D Rendering Input 99

3D Capture of Object Movies 99

QuickTime Render Output 101

8 Creating Object Movies 103

QTVR Output 104

Image Sources 106

Image Tweaking 106

Output Settings

Up, Down, Left, Right Reversal 110

Object Movie-Creating Software 111

Spin Object Maker 111

Widgetizer 112

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio 114

Part III Preparing for Delivery 117

9 Hot Spots 119

What Are Hot Spots? 120

Beyond Portals 120

Hot Spot Scenarios 120

Behind the Scenes

How the Technology Works 121

The Process of Creating Hot Spots 123

Mark "Here" 123

Tell Where "There" Is 123

Tell What "There" Is 123

Software for Creating Hot Spots 124

Nodester and Widgetizer 124

VRL (QTVR Version 1.0) 126

PanoMAGIC 127

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio 128

Multinode Scenes 129

Hot Spots

The Big Picture 129

10 Compression for Playback 131

The Joys of Playing Movies on Computers 132

Playback 101 132

Hardware 101 132

Data Structure and Tradeoffs 135

Compression 136

Panoramas and Tiling 139

Tiling 140

Tiles and Codecs 142

Basic Tile Dimension in Four-Part Harmony 143

Double Size 143

Object Movies 144

Cleanup and Efficiency 145

11 Managing QTVR Projects 147

It All Comes Back to Planning 148

In the Shop of the Pros from eVox 148

The Blueprint 149

External Reference 149

Inventory of Resources 150

Planning Issues and Decisions to Make for QTVR 152

Software Tools 154

Documenting Your Position Aerially 154

Documenting the Resources in a List 155

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio's Project Management 156

Part IV Delivering QTVR Output 159

12 Delivery to the Web 161

Needed Software 162

What Plug-ins Do 162

What the QuickTime 2 Plug-in Does 163

URL Chasing 164

Reference Movies 166

Streaming 169

HTML Embedding Commands 172

Essential Tags 172

Optional Tags 174

Non-QTVR Tags 180

Sound 180

Standard HTML Tags 181

JavaScript 181

Movie Conversion and Preparation 181

Movie Size 181

The Web Equivalent of a Multinode Movie 183

Converting Movies from QTVR 1 to 2 (or Back) 184

Software 184

PanoMAGIC 185

VRL (for 1.0-Based Movies) 186

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio 186

Nodester and Widgetizer 187

Try It Yourself! 188

13 Delivery to Multimedia 189

The Nature of the Dialog 191

Navigation Links 192

What Can QTVR Do in a Multimedia Presentation? 192

Status Reading 192

Interaction 193

Navigation Processes 194

Playback Parameters 195

Embedding QuickTime Media 196

Supporting Authoring Applications 197

mFactory's mTropolis 198

Macromedia QT3 Asset Xtra 198

XCMD (External Command) 199

Other Applications 199

More Custom Than an Application 200

14 The QuickTime VR API 201

System-Level Software 202

What Can Be Done Using the API 202

Create Authoring Tools 202

Create Custom Media and Games 204

What Is in the API 204

Basic Playback and Status 204

Hooks 205

Movie Controller 205

Displaying Custom Cursors 205

QTVR File Format and QuickTime Movie Format 206

Embedding Media

Buffer Matters 206

Sound, Movies, and Images 207

Toward the Future QTVR 208

VR Script 208

The Future Is in the API 208

Other Possibilities 209

15 A Gallery of Samples 211

Panoramas 212

Shooting Panoramas: Breaking out of the Box 212

Panorama Shooting: Exposure Adjustments 212

Panorama Retouching Magic 213

Panoramas as Flat Images 214

Panorama Surprise 214

Painted VR 214

Panorama Collage 215

High Resolution 216

Undersea Panoramas 217

Panorama Animation 217

Compositing and VR Clip Art 218

Object Movies 219

The Cube 219

Fully Two-Axis

eVox's Guitar and Hands 219

Walk and Chew Gum 220

Virtual Science Experiment 221

An Array of Choices

Tim Petros and the Swimsuit 221

Gesundheit! 221

Web: Games and Exploration 222

3D Web-based Game: The Forgotten 222

Journey to Tikal 223

Multiple Panorama Fun 223

VR View 224

Documentary 225

Italian Earthquake 225

Witness 226

... One Large Panorama for Humankind 227

Navigation Tools 228

Greg O'Loughlin's Object Movie as Navigation 228

Plain Graphic Panorama 228

3D QTVR 229

Visualizing Architecture 229

Fantastic Worlds 229.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0201696843

OCLC:

39644986