How to make a virtual panorama.

Welcome!

How to make a virtual panorama.

Shooting the pictures
If you have a camera, even a disposable one, you can still create panoramas. All you have to do, is to hold the camera level and turn on the spot, taking a series of pictures. Each picture should overlap with the previous one, by up to 50%. It doesn't matter if the overlap isn't the same each time. Take as many pictures or as few as you like - you don't have to shoot full 360 degrees. Don't forget to make sure the last picture overlaps with the first one.

Getting the pictures into your computer
If you are using a digital camera all you have to do now is to transfer your pictures into your computer. Otherwise, if you have a film camera you will need to get digital pictures. You could do this by scanning the photos yourself using a flat bed scanner. Howsoever you choose to digitise your pictures, you should ensure that the exact pixel dimensions of your images are the same because almost all image sticthing software requires the source
images to be identical in size.

Using computer software to stitch the images together
Now that you have captured the images, you are ready to make your first panorama. If you are a beginner I guess you won't have any software. I recommend for your first panorama you download off the Internet something like Panorama Factory from Smoky City Design. or MGI's PhotoVista Panorama There are panoramic stitching programs for Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP. You can use them to create high-quality panoramas from a set of overlapping digital images from a single vantage point. Both cost money, but there is a free trial version (which is what I suggest you get) and they are both very easy to use and produce good results.
The easiest way to make your first panorama is to use the Wizard. It runs automatically when you start programs. You can make your first panorama just by walking through the Wizard panels. You will have to change only a few of the values on the Wizard panels—most of the default settings will work for you without changes.

The main steps that the Wizard follows to create your panorama are:

Import your images
The first step of the Wizard prompts you to import the images that you will use to construct your panorama.
Describe your camera
The second step of the Wizard helps you describe the camera you used to make the images. The Panorama Factory requires a description of your camera to correctly merge the images.
Select panorama type
In this step, you describe the type of panorama you want to create.
Prepare final image
Here you make final choices about the form of the panoramic output file

You should have one of these Panoramic Viewers to look at your final work

Apple's QuickTime Viewer plugin
iMove (iMove Browser Plug-in)
MGI Software Corp (MGI plugin)
IBM HotMedia (HotMedia players)
Janorama java applet at Sven Meier's page

The Tropical Garden in Tel Aviv

Click on the panorama to navigate with your mouse, or let the image scroll by itself.

Some examples of virtual panoramms created by me for designed objects, as well as existing architectural monuments, you may see in Gallery

Good luck!

20.05.2002@ Grigory Anastasiev

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