wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Some questions
Yahoo Account 2009-Jun-18 20:13:00
Hi everybody,
sorry for the lack of info. I had hoped to get a how-to ready by now, but ... well, other things got in the way.
I'll try and answer Uri's questions, and give an introduction to the new "beta" Flash option at the same time.
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From: Uri Cogan <#removed#>
To: #removed#
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 5:59:57 PM
Subject: Some questions
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I noticed that now it's possible to upload equirectangular images that
will be rendered by the organizers into both QT and Flash formats.
Questions:
1. Equirectangular panorama files can be very large, even in JPEG. What
is the size limit?
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The open-source flash panorama player we're using (PanoSalado) has a limit of 8192 (minus 1) pixels for the width.
You can upload a larger image, but if you try to look at the preview, it'll just load for a long time before the player simply does nothing.
8190 x 4095 is the recommended maximum pixel size for now.
The file size limit on the server is at (approximately) 7 megabytes for the JPEG file. Photoshop's JPEG quality of 10 (i.e. "maximum", which ranges from 10-12) usually works for this "master" file.
From this source file, all the other display options will be built on the server. Technically, not directly on the server - there will be a significant delay before you'll notice that your contribution is available as "small" flash, "large" flash, "small" and "large" Quicktime.
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2. If I submit an equirectangular file, how will the initial viewpoint
position and scale, and zoom limits be determined?
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After the source JPEG has been uploaded, you'll notice a link
labeled "Configure panorama display". This leads to a page
where you can set the initial viewpoint (point-and-click) and also set vertical pan limits for "spheres with black top or bottom", if necessary. You can also tell the computer whether the panorama is a cylinder or a sphere. If it's not 2:1 side ratio, the computer will recommend setting the type to "sphere".
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3. What about auto-rotate? rate, direction?
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We're not (yet) sure how to handle this for both playback types. It's easy to do for the flash panorama, but the workflow to do it for the qtvr files hasn't been established yet. Sorry.
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4. What about sound files? I may want to have sound with both QT and
Flash versions.
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Handling of the sound file hasn't changed yet. It's still a Quicktime .mov with the sound data in it. The size is still 700,000 = 684 kBytes.
It'll show as a separate player for both the quicktime and the flash panorama.
I plan to add support for MP3s (without the QT container) via flash soon, i.e. over the course of the coming weekend.
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5. For standard "legacy" QT upload, what is the maximum size allowed for
an audio file?
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See 4)
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6. Should I upload both the "legacy" QT panorama and an equirectangular
file, or could you derive the Flash version from the QT file (using
Pano2VR or similar)?
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The idea was to start with the equirectangular file from now on, and derive the playback data more-or-less automatically from that source.
The basic choice is whether you want to upload the two QTVR files, which you can tweak and configure to your heart's content, but may or may not be convertible and/or compatible with future versions of Quicktime; or one JPEG source that can be batch-converted, should the player technology change in the future.
On my computer, QTVR still plays smoother than Flash, especially for the fullscreen. On the other hand, Flash panorama engines are being actively developed, which is something I sadly can't confirm for Quicktime VR. Having a JPEG as a source file plus the necessary data (opening view, viewing angle) in a database makes it easier to move with the times and avoid "data rot" if the specialized file formats like QTVR no longer work.
Yes, it's our first WWP event with Flash, and there are still a few glitches, e.g. when it comes to making the zoom values compatible between PanoSalado and QTVR, and I still need to work on the Flash/Quicktime detection script for Internet Explorer (thanks, Mircosoft).
But the worst thing that can happen if you upload a JPEG is that we publish this event in QTVR like the ones before, instead of Flash and QTVR at the same time.
Well, that, or the server catching fire. And even then, we have a full backup off-site AND a backup of that backup :)
-Markus
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