Odd Quicktime Quality Problem

Q&A about the latest release Version
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Sharpeshots
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Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:16 am

Having a time with Pano2QTVR.
When I originally downloaded it and installed it I got a nice smooth full-screen
.MOV that played equally as well in Quicktime as it does in Deval.
Yesterday I did a Circular VR Tour and I got a lot of noise and it's hard to describe, like little knife edge cuts that flash and they are horizontal when I play it in Quicktime and yet it's completely non-evident in DEVAL...
Same Quicktime file same viewer size.
Any ideas?
I THOUGHT it was a file size issue, either I was inputting too big or too small but I've tried BIG files and Jpegs sized down to 1.3 meg.
I get the same result. GREAT in Deval, 'static-y' in Quicktime.
Thoughts??
Many thanks....
John Sharpe/Sharpeshots
http://www.Sharpeshots.com
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360Texas
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hmm "Circular" you mean using an 8mm fisheye lens? Or a cylinder images.

Flash output have different settings

For QTVR.

We take fisheye images... output file is 2:1 4000 x 2000px 8bit TIFF and around 30mb. Should also note that we take 4 images at 90 degrees RAW .cr2 (Canon 5d - Sigma 8 f3.5) converted to TIF using ACR in PSCS2.

On the Settings Tab
Cube face size = 0 or default
Subdivisions 5x5
Quality: individual tile settings
front, right,back,left all 50 Top and bottom are 30 [less detail]
Window size is your prefrence but ours is 700 x 433
Preview track enabled Res 1:8
Grayscal enabled
Protection enabled - compression headers disabled not checked
Optimize enabled
Quality for motion NORMAL
Static = Max
Gamma 1.0
Interpolator Spline36

QTVR MOV was 671kb. I like to make them around 900 - 1.4mb so probably will increase the 50% to 70% values for the individual tile sizes. I like to work with the Individual Tile Size % because I can change the TOP to say around 40 45 to remove the blue sky banding issue.

Hope that helps
Dave
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Sharpeshots
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:16 am

Thank You Dave.
No that isn't the problem.
Let me explain a little further....
I shoot 10 shots on a 5D and stitch them together in PTGUI.
They are not Sphericals they just go around in a circle....I haven't bought a fisheye, yet.
By the time I reduce those 10 shots from 16 bit Tiffs to a manageable JPEG I end up with a file to drop into Pano2QTVR of about 13 meg.
So I don't have Cube Faces or subdivisions to enter in, or do I.
I'll email you the offending VR TOUR, if I may.
All you need to do is play double click it to see it in Quicktime and them play the same file in DEVAL.
You'll see the problem right away.
Its one that you can SEE, instantly but can take you a week to describe.

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Cheers,

John Sharpe/Sharpeshots
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360Texas
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Ok.. I got it on the second try as an email attachment. I saved it off to my harddrive. Opened to the 3:4 ratio monitor size.... rotated it very slow... and it was not noticable. Rotated it a bit faster.. then I started seeing what you were talking about. Small horizontal slicing or chops along the dark/white bordered door ways. In fact the the slicing did not appear to occur in the same pixel location.. they railed up and down somewhat.

I also looked at this image on my primary monitor - 22" Wide LCD screen. The .mov would not open full width. It only opened at a normal 3:4 ratio.. "larger" but not full screen.

First guess: the .mov image is created from a set of tiles say 350 x 350. When the image is rotating.. the screen is displayed from 1 angle, then it rotates 1/10th degree and is redrawn again. Each tile is refreshing at the new angle. What you are seeing is the tile refreshing [read blinking]. Maybe you or the software reset it self to another tile size. You can see the blinking better if you manually rotate FAST. Its not so obvious if you rotate slowly. Fast rotation will give your viewing visitors whip lash and no time to observe the room interior details.

You might consider adding '5secautorotation.mov'. I think its over on the Sprites tab.

Suggestion: try a different tile size and autorotation.

By the way..this one is sharp, clean, great exposure and color. I like the soft greens and whites.

I will post this reply in the forum for others to comment on.

UPDATE: I took the liberty to borrow Johns cylinder .mov and posted it on our website for others to see and make comments. I will keep this page live until the issue is satisfactorily resloved.. or no activity. I use FULL SCREEN html code so it will open to any FULL SIZE including my 22" LCD.

http://360texas.com/tips/rd/sharpe/sharpe.htm

ONE OBSERVATION: Try zooming full in... until the image gets somewhat pixelated.. then rotate around looking close at the tops of door frames. Notice there is a single break line that stays in place [does not rotate with the panorama]. Not sure what is causing that issue.
Dave
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thomas
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This is clearly an issue of QuickTime and I bet its caused by the speed up algorithm to bring the panorama faster to the screen. (If you really want to know what I am talking about ... http://www.worldserver.com/turk/compute ... wdDiff.pdf) The error is "just" one pixel but unfortunately it's visible. To solve this you can limit the FoV to block too much zoom and blur the image to make it less visible.
MfG, Thomas
Sharpeshots
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Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:16 am

Thanks Thomas.
I took a quick look at the 'paper' you referred to.
I have difficulty when they count my CHANGE back, backwards...LOL
Total Greek to me. :roll:
How would you suggest I limit the FOV?
I guess it's easier to simply ask what the optimum file size to input into Pano2QTVR is for a CIRCULAR VR and which are the best settings to input.

Cheers,

John Sharpe/Sharpeshots
http://www.Sharpeshots.com
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thomas
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There is no real rule for something like this. Try to experiment and set it to a value that you find acceptable.
MfG, Thomas
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