Are there good freeware programs for creating QTVR images?

March 20, 2006 10:47 AM

I'm impressed by the QTVR images found on arounder.com and would like to do something similar. Does anyone know of good freeware to do this? I'm using Windows XP.
posted by chrisch to technology (11 comments total)

I think this is probably what you want.

But I also think you're not trying hard enough (first 2 results link to or mention "this").
posted by juv3nal at 11:22 AM on March 20, 2006

I've got no suggestions for Windows XP, but let me help you out with a quick primer on the 'steps' to creating one...

1. Take your pictures
2. Stitch them together into one large image.
3. Convert said image into a QTVR.

How you get from here to there on XP I have no idea...
posted by unixrat at 11:28 AM on March 20, 2006

Also, not free, but cheap and HIGHLY recommended by me:

Windows:
http://www.ptgui.com/

Mac OS X:
http://www.kekus.com/

Autopano:
">http://www.autopano.net/

I used a combination of these for my own 360s:

http://flickr.com/photos/pinkheadedbug/sets/944413/
posted by unSane at 11:32 AM on March 20, 2006

unSane, those are awesome. How do you shoot them fast enough to not get duplicate people?

chrisch, I use an app that's free for me because it came with my digital camera. If you're shooting with one you might want to check your original CD to make sure you didn't get one. The photoStitch software that came with my Canon S500 is quite good.
posted by phearlez at 12:06 PM on March 20, 2006

juv3nal: As far as I can tell, Hugin's native stitcher doesn't support QTVR. You can use Hugin with ptstitcher.exe but that doesn't support QTVR on Windows or Linux. I was able to create a gorgeous panoramic jpg.

unSane: I'll check out the trial version of ptgui.

phearlez: I have the Canon stitcher but that doesn't let you create 360 degree QTVR files. I want to be able to look up and down and in all directions.

Thanks for the replies! My search continues...
posted by chrisch at 12:51 PM on March 20, 2006

It's not free, nor is it XP, but if you've got access to a Mac, there is nothing better for the layman to create QTVRs (from multiple sources) with than Cubic Converter.
posted by unixrat at 1:33 PM on March 20, 2006

unixrat's link to Cubic Converter fixed here.
posted by rob511 at 2:59 PM on March 20, 2006

juv3nal: As far as I can tell, Hugin's native stitcher doesn't support QTVR. You can use Hugin with ptstitcher.exe but that doesn't support QTVR on Windows or Linux. I was able to create a gorgeous panoramic jpg.


my bad. hugin claimed to be a gui for panorama tools which comes with ptstitcher. ptsticher in turn claims

Output options:
===============
o QTVR movie ready to be viewed with Quicktime plug-in.
(Windows version requires free VRMakePano utility).
posted by juv3nal at 3:31 PM on March 20, 2006

it's possible this may be a more user friendly alternative to vrmakepano.
posted by juv3nal at 3:38 PM on March 20, 2006

unSane, those are awesome. How do you shoot them fast enough to not get duplicate people?

I shoot anywhere from 12-40 pictures in a particular spot, usually using a monopod. 3-20 minutes. I keep working the spot until I feel like I have all the points of the compass covered with people or groups of people that are not chopped off or overlapping with stuff out of frame. I import the digipix onto the computer and start jigsawing it together, usually ending up with a few candidate compositions. I stitch these in PTMac or PTGui and then import the layers into Photoshop and do a lot of work with masks and the airbrush to make all the discontinuities invisible. It used to take me 48 hours to stitch one of these but I have gotten it down to an hour or two.
posted by unSane at 4:46 PM on March 20, 2006

An update on this question. I purchased PTGui and the Panosaurus tripod head. Together with my Manfrotto tripod, Nikon D100, and Nikkor 12-24mm lens, I was able to produce my first QTVR panoramic images. I still have some tweaking to learn but I'm very happy with these initial results. Thanks for your help everybody!
posted by chrisch at 1:44 PM on March 31, 2006