Garden Gnome Software

Hi There,

I am new to this software so this might be a bit of an oafish question but I could not find any enlightenment in the help files or elsewhere.

We have a bunch of Quicktime (.mov) panoramas that were created using VRWorx 2.6.2 which we would like to convert using Pano2VR to flash (.swf) format.

The input dialog box shows Quicktime VR as one of the options but when I use one of the .mov files as an input source the result is a pure black screen. No error messages are generated and I can set hotspots and generate a (pure black) output file but this is obviously not the desired result.

I am using Pano2VR Version 2.1 beta3 on an iMac running OS X version 10.5.4. and the Quicktime version on the machine is 7.5.0 (861)

Is this a limitation of the Pano2VR quicktime handling abilities, a beta issue or am I missing the point entirely.

Thanks

Yoram

I guess the problem is the codec. Are the panoramas stored with the "Photo JPEG" codec? Can you post a link to one of those panos?

I have posted two of the panos to:

http://iat.ubalt.edu/chisik/qtvr/

Thanks

Ok, I found the bug. Pano2VR 2.1beta4 will be able to read the panoramas.

Great, I shall wait for the next release. Work fast

Thanks

Oh.... I didn't realized at first that those are multi node panoramas. Pano2VR will (for the moment) only read the first panorama.

Hello,

I've got the same issue with Pano2VR with a single nodal point.

I imported a Quicktime panorama in .mov format (done originally in QTVR, if I remember correctly), and I am getting nothing but a black screen like this:



Here is the original source pano of Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. The island is in Alaska, part of the United States, and the view is across the International Dateline to Russia. The island in the view across the 2 miles of water is 23 hours ahead, and therefore it is "tomorrow" there

http://www.bssd.org/dio_standing_place.mov

And her is a lower quality one that converted successfully...on a foggy day in the same spot:

http://www.bssd.org/dio_standing_place_fog.swf

Any help appreciated, but won't be getting back to that island any time soon to shoot another clear day pano! I live in the region, but access is by helicopter only, and very expensive.

System Info: Macbook Pro / Intel / OS X / 10.5.3 / QT Pro 7.5
Pano2VR Info: Version 2.2.1 (Revision 1048) - January, 2009

Warm Regards from a Cold Place!

Johncn

Hi John,
Your panorama has Cinepak compression, Pano2VR probably can't read that format.
For Pano2VR to create a Flash version you'll need another tool to extract the image from the QTVR first.

Regards,

Erik

edit: It looks like QuickTime Pro can extract the images, but the panorama appears to be composed of a large number (56) of vertical bands of 2528x252 pixels each, rotated anti-clockwise. So you could extract all those bands one by one, and then use an image editor like Photoshop to rotate them clockwise and merge them back into a single (very large 14.112x2.528 px) image. Then you can open that new image in Pano2VR. However, since this looks to be a very large cylindrical panorama, you'll find that Pano2VR can only make a relatively low resolution Flash version from it because of a (real?) limitation of Flash. Older versions of Pano2VR could make high-res Flash versions, but Thomas sadly decided to change that.

Hi John, just looked at the Flash version.
It has some odd vertical banding, never seen a pattern like that before I think.
How did you make these panoramas, and what was the difference between the one you could convert and the one you can't?

As a minor comment, I would like to advise you to limit the amount of 'zoom-in' of the Flash version.

Regards,

Erik

Erik,

Oh...dang. Thanks. That was created about two years ago, and I can't find the original tile movies and source files. I didn't think Cinepak did that, but I see what you mean. I will keep searching backup drives.

Too bad about the reduced Flash output. What was the reason he dropped the res?

I really like this software, though, compared to several I've tried since QTVR.

The one that did work was taken several years ago by a student with less capable camera...it was -35 F or so, and the camera kept freezing. The student had to stitch together manually a bunch of shots from three sessions, I believe. We took the camera inside the school several times to warm it up, and the pano was from several sessions.

The compression on that one was Photo JPEG. And, there is a polar bear hide freeze drying in the wind in the one that worked

Regards,

JTC

Just wanted to add my two cents.

As posted previously and elsewhere (e.g., see Postby Johncn on Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:50 am) I too imported a Quicktime panorama in .mov format get nothing but a black screen.

Here's the .mov was experimenting with: http://www.auricle.com/FoxStage.mov

I am a trial user and just downloaded Pano2VR 2.3 beta 1 to give it a flight test.

My OS is Vista Ultimate.

Thanks for listening.

R.

auricle wrote: As posted previously and elsewhere (e.g., see Postby Johncn on Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:50 am) I too imported a Quicktime panorama in .mov format get nothing but a black screen.

Here's the .mov was experimenting with: http://www.auricle.com/FoxStage.mov

This panorama uses the "CinePack" video codec as image format. Pano2VR only supports TIFF, JPEG and PNG within the QTVR file. You can manually export the image with for example QuickTime Pro into a supported format and work from there.

i have the same problem.
but opening those files with Quicktime Pro doesn't work (at least not with windows vista x64). Does anyone have another soluton for this problem?

I have some really old Quicktime VR files, that i would really like to view and/or edit again, but i didn't find any program to even open those files successfully...

the best i get are black screens.

I'm running into the same issues with the all-black preview when I import some MOV files. I was able to convert a number of the files I'm working with to SWF without issue, but some of the others are causing issues. The Codec values for the troublesome files, per the file info, is as follows:
Quick Time VR, VR Panorama, H.261

Any suggestions?

dmccue wrote:I'm running into the same issues with the all-black preview when I import some MOV files. I was able to convert a number of the files I'm working with to SWF without issue, but some of the others are causing issues. The Codec values for the troublesome files, per the file info, is as follows:
Quick Time VR, VR Panorama, H.261

Any suggestions?

Pano2VR can only decode cube faces that are JPEG, TIFF, BMP or PNG. For other codecs you need to convert the images directly with QuickTime Pro to a format that Pano2VR can handle.