360 Photo Camera Matching

[danchomiak]

Hi there,

 

My company is experimenting with trying to deliver a VR experience to our clients.

 

Basically we are thinking along the lines of taking a 360 camera (something like this: https://theta360.com/en/about/theta/s.html) and snapping the 360 photo. The site is already under construction and we want to photograph the site and drop in our finished 3D model into the 360 photo. We are using 3ds 2015 and VRAY 3.3.

 

I know camera matching a traditional photo has its challenges, anyone have any insight into camera matching a 360 photo? I imagine the curvature of the Earth and atmospheric distortion would come into play.

 

Any feedback would be a great help!!

[ryannelson]

Hi there,

 

My company is experimenting with trying to deliver a VR experience to our clients.

 

Basically we are thinking along the lines of taking a 360 camera (something like this: https://theta360.com/en/about/theta/s.html) and snapping the 360 photo. The site is already under construction and we want to photograph the site and drop in our finished 3D model into the 360 photo. We are using 3ds 2015 and VRAY 3.3.

 

I know camera matching a traditional photo has its challenges, anyone have any insight into camera matching a 360 photo? I imagine the curvature of the Earth and atmospheric distortion would come into play.

 

Any feedback would be a great help!!

 

in a correct 360 photo, the horizon line should be flat and centre - your camera needs to be dead level. atmospheric distortion, aka atmospheric perspective, refers to the haze you get when things get far away - so sure... but not really.

 

Just match your camera position - as perfectly as possible - and add the 360 photo as the background. Render as 360 then run through w/e VR software you want.

[Stephen Thomas]

I don't think camera matching really comes into it, other than using the same focal length for your camera as was used to shoot the 360 and taking the photos from eye level. I assume you'll just be mapping the image to a hemisphere anyway. Be wary of having any objects too close to the camera position as this may look weird when you start to walk around in VR. For a reasonably open site it should work fine though I would think.

[danchomiak]

Thanks for your feedback! I'll let you know how it goes.

[ryannelson]

I don't think camera matching really comes into it, other than using the same focal length for your camera as was used to shoot the 360 and taking the photos from eye level. I assume you'll just be mapping the image to a hemisphere anyway. Be wary of having any objects too close to the camera position as this may look weird when you start to walk around in VR. For a reasonably open site it should work fine though I would think.

 

Matching the camera position is important, otherwise your 3d building will not be in the right spot. You won't be matching the *lens length either because your viewport will not be matching a single photo, rather a spherical stitch. Unless you go the route of camera matching a single photo from the spherical shot-set to match and render out an image you comp into that one photo, and then use that in the spherical stitch. In which case, you'll have some weird looking fisheye render - and your building will likely span across more than one image. Don't stitch a small panorama in order to have a background for your building either, that'll confuse your stitching software when you go to do the spherical stitch. Keep your set as individual images.

 

When i shoot spherical images for VR I use an 8-15mm lens at 15mm on a full-frame body. 8mm crops the corners into a round photo, which doesn't stitch. 15mm is SUPER wide still...

Edited March 9, 2016 by ryannelson

[Stephen Thomas]

If it's for a still, sure. I assumed when he said VR experience he was talking about some kind of real-time walkaround. You are right of course, 360 coverage is 360 coverage and the lens length used to capture it won't have any affect on things.

[danchomiak]

Sorry should have clarified a bit better. I was hoping to take a 360 photograph with a camera like this:

 

https://theta360.com/en/about/theta/s.html

 

Therefore saving me the trouble of stitching a pano together (the client is kinda cheap, ugh...), my hangup comes with how to get my camera's location within 3ds max. I've never tried to camera match a 360 photo before in 3ds max (have done with traditional photos) so I'm trying to get my head around it.

The VR component comes is the 360 photo will be outputted to a Samsung Gear VR unit.

 

Hopefully that clears things up a bit.

[ryannelson]

Sorry should have clarified a bit better. I was hoping to take a 360 photograph with a camera like this:

 

https://theta360.com/en/about/theta/s.html

 

Therefore saving me the trouble of stitching a pano together (the client is kinda cheap, ugh...), my hangup comes with how to get my camera's location within 3ds max. I've never tried to camera match a 360 photo before in 3ds max (have done with traditional photos) so I'm trying to get my head around it.

The VR component comes is the 360 photo will be outputted to a Samsung Gear VR unit.

 

Hopefully that clears things up a bit.

 

Seems pretty low-resolution,but if you're looking for RT stuff it's probably sufficient. This won't be TRUE RT because you're still limited to a single view point - where you took the spherical photo. You're still looking at a static photo. This kind of VR is still technically a still photo with an html5 twist.

 

To do a spherical photo, you need a special tripod head and a half decent camera (full-frame preferably). This is the one I have:

 

http://www.manfrotto.ca/product/24329.31708.1017111.0.0/303SPH/_/WTVR_Spherical_Panoramic_Pro_Head

 

Take some measurements from where you're shooting the photo and use that as reference when you render. Bring a long tape measure...

[danchomiak]

Thanks a ton for sending that along Ryan! As far as the camera is concerned, we have access to Canon EOS 5D which should be more than enough.

 

Thanks again for all the help!

[yp]

Hi all,

 

I need to bring this thread back up again to get further on my road to 3D+Photo=VR.

 

Those things a simple:

 

- matching 3D objects into single photos

- 360 degrees renderings to use in VR (browser or eg. Sansung Gear VR)

- using 360 degrees panoramic photos as backdrop and / or illumination / reflection (LDR / HDR) for larger, exterior scenes or for product visualization (cars, objects, whatever)

 

What about interior panoramic photos with mapped 3D objects?

 

I came across those guys from Switzerland doing Archviz, mapping 3D objects into 360 degrees photos for VR, see this example:

http://www.designraum.ch/interaktiv-reader/tag/Panorama+360%C2%B0.html (look for project "Seewürfel")

 

So basically this seems obvious to me: they use the precise floorplan data to position the interior objects as well as the exact position of the camera, where the panoramic photo has been taken (XYZ). If you then render a 360 degrees full spherical image from this position (with backdrop or alpha for later compositing) you wouldn't have to worry about FOV at all (I'm a little unsure about this point, just intuitive guessing )

 

BUT

 

this works for this specific purpose only.

What I'd like to achieve is to take a full spherical image (I am doing that already, the manual way, stitching bracketed images into 2:1 equirectangular panoramas with about 12 EV, 32 Bit HDR) of a room, develop some design (eg. built-in furniture) and use this rendered composition in VR as previz and final presentation, showing how it would look like if it was built in place.

 

Any tips on how to achieve this?

I might be just a little not seeing the forest for the trees.

 

I have some perfect reference cube of 1x1x1 meter btw. But I guess this is of no use with stiched photos as this has been mentioned before.

 

Thanks in advance, best regards,

Niko