How To: Adjust RICOH THETA Image Orientation with XMP Data

THETA Media
1

What is XMP Data?

360 images have hidden text embedded into the image data. This data is called metadata. It is not designed for humans. A computer reads in the metadata.

Photo Sphere XMP Metadata is a Google standard taken from the Adobe XMP standard. You can edit this data with an image editor or a text editor. Most 360 image viewers such as Facebook will support XMP data. As 360 images are still new, not all applications support XMP data. If the application does not support XMP data, you will need to edit the entire image with something link Hugin or Photoshop.

Why Use XMP Data?

Editing the XMP data uses less CPU and memory resources. Your application can change the text string for orientation with almost no delay for the user of your application. Editing the entire image orientation with image editing techniques is going to place a heavy load on the mobile or desktop application.

What Can You Edit?

You can edit both the XMP data embedded in the THETA image as well as add new XMP data tags that comply to the Photo Sphere XMP Metadata standard. For example, your application can add GPS data as well as initial view data to the image. The data can then be used by 360 viewing applications such as Facebook.

Overview of Functionality using Facebook as Viewer

This is the same image shown on Facebook with no mouse editing. The orientation was changed by only using XMP data strings.

Default View of Image Before Editing

The original image looks like this on Facebook with no editing. Although Facebook allows you to set the orientation with their Facebook app, let’s imagine that you’re building a better Facebook or building a new application to support XMP data. Imagine that the mouse is not there.

image.jpg476Ă—565 71.8 KB

This is the default XMP data that we’ll edit for our tests.

  <GPano:PosePitchDegrees>-0.9</GPano:PosePitchDegrees>
  <GPano:PoseRollDegrees>-0.4</GPano:PoseRollDegrees>

Pose Pitch Increased by 180 Degrees

Here, I’ll increase the PosePitchDegrees by 180 degrees to illustrate the orientation change. Image the camera is upside and you need to correct the image orientation.

image.jpg477Ă—566 76.6 KB 

  <GPano:PosePitchDegrees>179.1</GPano:PosePitchDegrees>
  <GPano:PoseRollDegrees>-0.4</GPano:PoseRollDegrees>

Pose Roll Increased by 180 Degrees

In the next example, I’ve increased the Roll by 180 and reset the Pitch to the default value.

image.jpg475Ă—567 71.2 KB 

  <GPano:PosePitchDegrees>-0.9</GPano:PosePitchDegrees>
  <GPano:PoseRollDegrees>179.6</GPano:PoseRollDegrees>

InitialViewHeadingDegrees Decreased by 180

In the next example, I’ve added a new metadata tag for InitialViewHeadingDegrees. I got the name of the tag from the XMP standard. I’ve rotated the orientation by 180 degrees to show the back of the image sphere.

facebook-initialview.png678Ă—876 416 KB 

  <GPano:PosePitchDegrees>-0.9</GPano:PosePitchDegrees>
  <GPano:PoseRollDegrees>-0.4</GPano:PoseRollDegrees>
  <GPano:InitialViewHeadingDegrees>135</GPano:InitialViewHeadingDegrees>

Editing XMP Data

You can either use a GUI tool or adjust the metadata from the command line. Most people will probably test the XMP editing with the GUI tool, then write a script to adjust the XMP data. Two common tools are:

  1. ExifTool by Phil Harvey
  2. ExifToolGUI

ExifToolGUI

Use the file browser on the left to open the THETA image.

image.jpg1513Ă—989 334 KB

The pane on the right shows the Xmp data.

Export XMP Data to Text File

Edit XMP File in Text Editor

image.png973Ă—588 73.6 KB

Import XMP Data Into Image

With image you want to edit selected, copy metadata from single file.

exif-import-xmp.png1126Ă—359 50 KB

Exiftool

You can read and edit the XMP data directly from the command line. In the examples below, I’m using a bash shell on Windows.

Reading Data

$ ./exiftool.exe edited_image.jpg > data.txt
$ less data.txt

ExifTool Version Number         : 10.47
File Name                       : edited_image.jpg
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 3.7 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2017:05:31 12:44:39-07:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2017:05:31 12:44:39-07:00
File Creation Date/Time         : 2017:05:31 11:31:21-07:00
File Permissions                : rw-rw-rw-
File Type                       : JPEG
File Type Extension             : jpg
MIME Type                       : image/jpeg
Exif Byte Order                 : Big-endian (Motorola, MM)
Image Description               : 
Make                            : RICOH
Camera Model Name               : RICOH THETA S
Orientation                     : Horizontal (normal)
X Resolution                    : 72
Y Resolution                    : 72
Resolution Unit                 : inches
Software                        : RICOH THETA S Ver 1.62
Modify Date                     : 2016:10:23 12:25:33
Y Cb Cr Positioning             : Co-sited
Copyright                       : 
Exposure Time                   : 1/125
F Number                        : 2.0
ISO                             : 100
Sensitivity Type                : Standard Output Sensitivity
Exif Version                    : 0230
Date/Time Original              : 2016:10:23 12:25:33
Create Date                     : 2016:10:23 12:25:33
Components Configuration        : Y, Cb, Cr, -
Compressed Bits Per Pixel       : 3.2
Aperture Value                  : 2.0
Brightness Value                : 3.5
Exposure Compensation           : -0.7
Max Aperture Value              : 2.0
Metering Mode                   : Multi-segment
Light Source                    : Unknown
Flash                           : No Flash
Focal Length                    : 1.3 mm
Maker Note Type                 : Rdc
Firmware Version                : 1.62
Serial Number                   : (00000000)00010093
Recording Format                : JPEG
Accelerometer                   : 359.6 -0.9
Compass                         : 315
Time Zone                       : -07:00
Exposure Program                : Auto
White Balance                   : Auto
User Comment                    : 
Flashpix Version                : 0100
Color Space                     : sRGB
Exif Image Width                : 5376
Exif Image Height               : 2688
Interoperability Index          : R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)
Interoperability Version        : 0100
Exposure Mode                   : Auto
Scene Capture Type              : Standard
Sharpness                       : Normal
GPS Version ID                  : 2.3.0.0
GPS Latitude Ref                : North
GPS Longitude Ref               : West
GPS Altitude Ref                : Above Sea Level
GPS Time Stamp                  : 19:25:31
GPS Img Direction Ref           : True North
GPS Img Direction               : 315
GPS Map Datum                   : WGS84
GPS Date Stamp                  : 2016:10:23
Compression                     : JPEG (old-style)
Thumbnail Offset                : 58496
Thumbnail Length                : 3118
XMP Toolkit                     : Image::ExifTool 10.47
Cropped Area Image Height Pixels: 2688
Cropped Area Image Width Pixels : 5376
Cropped Area Left Pixels        : 0
Cropped Area Top Pixels         : 0
Full Pano Height Pixels         : 2688
Full Pano Width Pixels          : 5376
Initial View Heading Degrees    : 135
Pose Heading Degrees            : 315.0
Pose Pitch Degrees              : -0.9
Pose Roll Degrees               : -0.4
Projection Type                 : equirectangular
Use Panorama Viewer             : True
Image Width                     : 5376
Image Height                    : 2688
Encoding Process                : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample                 : 8
Color Components                : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling            : YCbCr4:2:2 (2 1)
Aperture                        : 2.0
GPS Altitude                    : 36 m Above Sea Level
GPS Date/Time                   : 2016:10:23 19:25:31Z
GPS Latitude                    : 37 deg 25' 58.58" N
GPS Longitude                   : 122 deg 10' 14.32" W
GPS Position                    : 37 deg 25' 58.58" N, 122 deg 10' 14.32" W
Image Size                      : 5376x2688
Megapixels                      : 14.5
Ricoh Pitch                     : -0.9
Ricoh Roll                      : -0.399999999999977
Shutter Speed                   : 1/125
Thumbnail Image                 : (Binary data 3118 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Focal Length                    : 1.3 mm
Light Value                     : 9.0

Writing Data

$ ./exiftool.exe -InitialViewHeadingDegrees=45 edited_image.jpg
    1 image files updated

Related Articles

Metadata Technique

Editing Technique

1 Like
2

Just capturing this in case it’s useful to others. I recently needed to change the pitch of a bunch of Ricoh 360’s and this is what I found.

To change the recorded Ricoh pitch and roll before re-saving the image thru the Ricoh Theta desktop app you can use the command-line “exiftool”. The XMP:GPano:Pose* headers are used by some apps, like facebook, but are not used by the Theta app. If you want a straightened 360 for all apps, you’ll need to recreate the equirectangular projection with the Theta App or Hugin & friends.

Check if the pitch and heading are stashed in the JPEG file metadata.

Ricoh Roll                      : 3.1
Ricoh Pitch                     : 1.2```

These are actually stored as a string in the "Accelerometer" header...

```$ exiftool -Accelerometer R0123456.jpg 
Accelerometer                   : 3.1 1.2```

To change these, set the Accelerometer string to new values. Here I'm just using 31 degrees pitch & 12 degrees roll (as an example!)...

```$ exiftool -Accelerometer="31 12" R0123456.jpg 
     1 image files updated```

Let's check...

```$ exiftool -ricohroll -ricohpitch R0123456.jpg
Ricoh Roll                       : 31
Ricoh Pitch                     : 12```

I was using MacOS with the exiftool installed from Mac Ports, called p5-exiftool-5.24

Cheers, Andrew
2 Likes
3

Thanks for the contribution. :slight_smile:

People may also want to check out @khufkens bash script.

The guide below also has some information.

http://theta360.guide/thetamedia/