360 degree images

[IPT]

Someone once posted some images that you could scroll around and look at in a 360 degree fashion. I have even seen them where you could look up too and go over the "roof" of the image so to speak and end up viewing the sky and both sides.

Does anyone have links to information about this stuff? Is it a free program? Difficulty in use? Anyone with experience using it? I am curious about it. I would love if any of you would share your knowledge or expereince with this stuff.

 

[Octoshark]

Is it just like stitching?

 

[thepenalty]

You will need a good wide (fisheye) lens, otherwise it is pain in the a$$ (because of the number of images you have to take), second - panorama head (on tripod of course) will improve a lot the stitching process, although both (fisheye and panohead) are not mandatory. Also manual settings while taking the images is highly advised. In general it is like making normal horizontal or vertical pano, but you have to cover 360* in rows, then you go to the most important part - the software.
Personally i'm using Kolor's Autopano, but there are other good programs out there (PTGui, Panorama Factory...).
Good video tutorials (with sweet German accent :love1 about Autopano, can be found here. It can give you the idea how it is done.

 

[IPT]

thanks for the info. Fisheye, really? Seems like there would be massive distortion as soon as you tilted the lens up or down. I'll have to take a look at that link when I get some more time.

 

[thepenalty]

Think of the world around you in 360*, it is not flat for sure.
This i shot with 8mm fisheye on cropped body.

 

[IPT]

that's the one I remember! Amazing.

 

[thepenalty]

Oh, thanks.

 

[keith20]

they may be a lot of work but they're neat to get the screen swirling around. cam make you dizzy