Before conducting any further research I have decided to first look at what QTVR and Panoramic photography are. Having a greater understanding of what QTVR and Panoramic photography are should enable me to produce better work for this project. From this I will conduct further research, more specifically looking at QTVR.
Panoramic photography involves using a wide-angle lens to capture photographs that show a large area, or taking several regular photographs which are later edited or merged to form one long image to give the appearance of one view. Wikipedia defines a panorama as:
“In its most general sense, a panorama is any wide view of a physical space. It has also come to refer to a wide-angle representation of such a view — whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model. Further, the motion-picture term, pan or panning, is derived from "panorama".” [1]
In the context of this project I will be using a camera and a tripod to take several regular photos which I will then ‘stitch’ together in Photoshop to form one complete image representing a 360 degree view of the area.
QTVR stands for ‘QuickTime Virtual Reality’, with ‘QuickTime’ referring to the popular video player created by Apple and ‘Virtual Reality’ referring to the effect gained from producing a 360 degree image that is mapped cylindrically to give the appearance of being able to look around a point. As the creators of QuickTime, Apple is very involved in QTVR and this is how they define it on their website:
“QuickTime VR moves the photographic image from the flat 2D world into the definitive immersive experience — complete with 3D imagery and interactive components.
QuickTime VR enables viewers to explore virtual worlds using nothing more than a computer and mouse — no cumbersome goggles, headsets or gloves required.” [2]
While this might be an exaggeration of what we conventionally think of when we hear the word virtual reality, it uses existing technology (photography) and applies new technology (QTVR) to create something closer to virtual reality then what was possible before.
Sources:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panorama
[2] http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/qtvr/
