Watch a time lapse in 360-degree Video ….that’s right…a 360-degree video panorama! Click on the image to the left.
Watch a time lapse of the Murder of Crows sound exhibit being set up at the Art Gallery of Alberta. 98 speakers are set up over a two week period. Time progresses all around you as you click and move your mouse to look all around.Video by Ryan Jackson /Edmonton Journal.
To build make this 360-video I had to build a special rig with three cameras. I used this before for my Indy Panoramas back in the summer. The rig consists of three old Canon 1D d-SLRs with three Peleng 8mm fisheye lenses in a 120-degree offset pattern. The three cameras are wired together to be triggered by an intervalometer. The rig is super heavy and annoying because triple cameras means triple the things to go wrong. If the shutter speed or focus or anything is wrong on one off the cameras then the whole panorama is ruined.
The 1D cameras can only handle 2GB Compact Flash cards which is around 2000 images. I set the intervalometer to trigger the cameras every two minutes which meant I had to change the cards every two days. In total nearly 30,000 images were taken (10,000 per camera).
For post-processing the images, I used Photo Mechanic to organize the images by time taken. I had set the clocks on the cameras to be 1-second apart so when Photo Mechanic sorted the images by time taken, they would go 1st camera, 2nd camera, 3rd, camera, etc.
I then renamed all the images so the files went 0001, 0002, 0003, etc.
I use PTgui to stitch all my panoramas together. It has a great batch process where you can setup a template for your first panorama and then it will auto stitch the rest of the panoramas in file order. This meant that (0001, 0002, 0003)–>Panorama1.jpg , (0004, 0005, 0006)–>Panorama2.jpg
Needless to say this took HOURS and HOURS to process but I just let my laptop chug away overnight for three nights until I had a folder filled with thousands of stitched panoramas.
I then looked through that folder of panos with Photo Mechanic and removed all the boring images where nothing is moving or being installed (ie. at night time, during lunch break, days off, etc).
I then took the folder of usable panorama images and put them into a video using Quicktime Pro’s “open image sequence.”
I set the frame rate to 12fps so that 1606 images would become a 2-min:13-second video.
I then told Quicktime Pro to export the video and I used the Adobe Flash Video Encoder Plug-in to export the video as an .flv Flash video file using On2 compression, 2000×1000 resolution, 12fps, 1200kB/s bitrate. This made about a 20MB video file.
I purchased the panorama player krpano which supports video. I only had to alter a little bit of the .xml code to add a full-screen button and a play/pause/stop button. I plunked the krpano files on a server and embedded it in an iframe in a story page.
The whole project was pretty cool. I hope to use this camera more in the future but as you can see, it is A LOT of work. There are other, far easier methods of doing 360-video but you have to buy expensive cameras and lenses. For this setup I only had to buy a couple more 8mm lenses and use The Journal’s old 1D’s. My rig only shoots stills and you have to make them into a video… for real video check out CNN’s 360-degree video from Haiti. Pretty crazy!
Here are the images of my DIY 360-degree video panorama camera.
I’m teaching part of a documentary class at MacEwan College with Greg Southam. He’s teaching the still portion and I’m teaching the multimedia portion. Here is my two-hour talk on video, basic and advanced technique and examples from shooting regular video at a major daily newspaper.
Posted by ryanjackson on Oct 4, 2008 in photos, video
Smoky Lake Pumpkin Carriers, left to right, Alex Anderderenowsky, 16, Chris Wolanski, 16, Zack Sparling, 17, and Adam Shupenia, 17, take a rest after moving dozens of giant pumpkins and squashes during the 20th annual Great White North Pumpkin Fair in Smoky Lake, AB. October 4, 2008. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on Sep 27, 2008 in photos, video
Ryan Lanteigne, left, burns rubber and drifts sideways as Rob Parsons races beside him during the first day of Drift Mania Canadian Championships at Castrol Raceway on Saturday September 27, 2008. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal Read Story.
Marco Santis burns rubber as he drifts through the course during the first day of Drift Mania Canadian Championships at Castrol Raceway on Saturday September 27, 2008. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on Sep 25, 2008 in Uncategorized
Green Peace members Byron Walker and Amanda Congram hold up a tarsands protest sign as Prime Minister Stephen Harper talks to the party faithful at the Ramada Inn in Edmonton on Thursday, September 25, 2008 as they were able to to get on stage during his speech. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on Aug 3, 2008 in photos, video
Krysta Turner, 14, encourages “Oliver” the dutch rabbit over a hurdle during an agility display put on by the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club on Sunday August 3, 2008 at Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre in Edmonton. Turner along with her friend Amanda Greening started the club in their home town of Calgary and are looking for more people to join. Their first competition will be in September in Chestermere, AB, near Calgary. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Kirby Buffalo from Samson Cree Nation takes a refreshing drink after dancing at the National Aboriginal Day festivities at the Legislature grounds in Edmonton, June 21, 2008. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on May 28, 2008 in photos, video
North Battleford, SK: May 27, 2008: The helium balloon of Michel Fournier, raises into the sky unattached to his capsule during a failed attempt to break the world record for distance, time and velocity for a skydive and altitude in a balloon on May 27, 2008 in North Battleford, Sask. The balloon was fully inflated when it was released but was accidentally detached from the capsule, leaving Fournier behind. Photo by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
I was in North Battleford from Sunday night until Wednesday morning covering “Le Grand Saut” (The Big Jump) where French adventurist Michel Fournier was going to attempt to break four world records. Fournier planned to take a giant helium balloon up to 130,000 feet (40,000 m) and jump!
If he were successful, he would beat Joe Kittinger’s 1960 record of 102,800 feet.
Fournier would have broken the record for distance, time in free fall, speed, and height in a balloon.
Monday’s launch was postponed due to weather unfortunately. Then Tuesday morning – All systems go! – They filled the balloon, released it…..and….. um….. “Hey, isn’t the capsule with Fournier inside suppose to be attached???
Due to a malfunction, the balloon separated from the capsule just as it was taking off. We watched as hundreds of thousands of dollars in materials and helium floated away and then fell to the ground.
It was sad and disappointing, especially since this is his third failed attempt, but Michel Fournier has a great spirit and says he will be back in August to try again.
I did three videos while I was there for edmontonjournal.com. One from the first launch which was canceled due to weather, one “raw video” of the balloon floating away, and finally a full three minute feature recapping the whole event.
Enjoy!
World skydiving record attempt
Sights, sounds, and reaction to the postponed world record attempt to
skydive from 130,000 feet. May 26, 2008. Video by Ryan Jackson
Raw video from the failed attempt by French adventurer Michel Fournier
to set world altitude and skydiving records. May 27, 2008. Video by
Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on May 7, 2008 in Ryan's Life
After not updating for over six months I am finally back.
I apologize to all of my regular followers for ignoring the site for so long.
In a nutshell…. On November 1st I became a staff videographer/photographer at the Edmonton Journal. I have been so focused on my job in the last six months that punkoryan.com became an afterthought. It was good to take a break from the site for a while, but now I realize that I need to take a break from work and actually focus on my own life.
Take a look through the achives to see what I’ve been up to for the last six months. You will find it is mostly video because… that is mostly what I shoot now. Video, photos, slideshows, multimedia… it’s all the same… just telling a story visually.
Watch a time lapse in 360-degree Video ….that’s right…a 360-degree video panorama! Click on the image to the left.
