Hi Craig,
Did you make any progress on the feature request for raw image capture in your meeting with the Theta product manager?
I’m working on a project for which the Theta would be ideal, if only I could access the raw captures. I’m using another 360 camera at the moment which does support raw output but which is not as capable in other ways. Its raw images are higher quality than the Theta’s JPEG outputs.
Cheers,
Daniel
Daniel, thank you for the update on your project and for checking in.
There is no update on RAW image support. At the current time, the RICOH THETA does not support RAW images and there is no information from RICOH to indicate that RAW images will be supported in the future. Sorry. I would like RAW images too in order to experiment with image noise reduction.
Thanks – I appreciate your efforts on the RAW feature request.
Beautiful work and beautiful scenery!
I was about to ask how to manually create spheres that are close together, but then I found these guidelines on the google site.
Hi, @codetricity
Guideline is just a guideline.
Aligning panos and shooting places may depend on your creativity & imagination. I always think, “What do people want to see?”
Example @Boze Is.;
Caption; No.3 - No.6 images/Dual Fisheye Plugin
I started recording Video Mode from the Naza port. And I walked on the red bridge of the Umi Shrine(弁天島 海神社). As you see in YouTube,I stopped recording in front of the gate(鳥居). Why?
We Japanese believe inside of the gate is the holy place. The holy place should be taken 360 photos with the special methods.
Yes!, That’s Dual Fisheye Image plugin.
The first image inside the gate was shot at the bottom of the stone stairs.And then, I read the commentary of the stone plate during the second shooting. I was so excited and very interested in the legend “じんこんさん(神権伝説)”
So, I decided to skip shooting on the middle of the stone stairs.
This is じんこんさん(Jin kon san). People around the islands trust and respect the legend. We must do so.
This is my story and imagination.
How do you think?
Toyo
I think these are wonderful. The StreetView interface is providing photographers like you with a great tool for visual storytelling that is interactive. You’re an artist mastering a new way of telling visual stories. It’s quite cool to observe this. I also enjoy experience your stories in this way. thank you for sharing it.
As I am a novice, I am still learning the basics of how to “hold the brush”. I am making progress slowly.
This is pretty neat. The weather and lighting is fantastic, which makes the photos quite nice. I agree that “What do people what to see?” should be the priority. 360 works really well in this case since I (the viewer) may want to spend time looking around, down in the water, over at the boats… in whatever direction I’m curious about.
If you watch the YouTube video he made and then look at the Street View images, you can really understand the story he’s crafting.
boat -> walk on street -> bridge -> stairs -> temple
The temple/shrine has some special meaning in the story. It’s a cool concept.
https://www.ptgui.com/versionhistory.html
PTGui pro ver.11.7 supports Dual Fisheye Image of Ricoh Theta V.
Thanks for this update. It will make things easier for a lot of people using the dual-fisheye plug-in.
NOTE: As of Nov 4, 2018, I am still having problems with the automatic template to stitch the images. Please download the trial version and test PTGui yourself prior to making a purchase. The developer is very responsive and wants to make sure the template works. If we can help him with feedback and test results, let’s do it. You can post results here, and I can send it to him.
I verified with the developer that the template should work with both PTGui Pro and PTGui Personal.
Actually you can use the standard version, it supports templates and can
handle 360 panoramic cameras.The differences between standard and pro are listed here:
Features of PTGui and PTGui Pro - PTGui Stitching SoftwareEven after purchasin the standard version it’s possible to upgrade to
PTGui Pro by paying the price difference here:
Upgrade pricing - PTGui Stitching SoftwareKind regards,
Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com
I was not able to get good stitching with the auto-generated control points
using the Control Point Tool, I was able to improve the stitching result.
I think I can improve it further by adjusting the control points.
I sent a note to Joost Nieuwenhuijse of PTGui to see if he has advice. I know that @Juantonto is getting a perfect stitch, so it’s definitely possible. I think novice people like me may need some additional advice.
update 2018 Nov 4
I received this note from Joost Nieuwenhuijse.
You should create a template once for each camera. It’s explained in 6.43:
Support / FAQ - PTGui Stitching SoftwareThanks for sharing!
Kind regards,
Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com
The image PTGui produces is bigger than a standard THETA image.
Hi, @codetricity. You are not novice people. You are an expert.
In PTGui 11.7, the errors are too difficult to be touched by GIMP(or Photoshop)+Pano2VR.
I do not want perfect stitching. but auto generating Control Points do not work well.
I could get “Good” result after “aligning images” process. Indeed,there were some stitching errors to be touched easily. It’s enough.
Time is Money.
Toyo
Thank you for this information. Just to confirm your test. The PTGui THETA V template that is included with PTGui 11.7 is not automatically providing a reasonable stitch, right?
To use the stitching template, we need to set the control points manually, right?
Did you delete the automatically generated Control Points? Or, do you add new Control Points manually and leave the automatically-generated points in the project?
Hi, @codetricity
I successfully got very good result of stitching a pair of Dual Fisheye images(6 images/HDR) with PTGui pro ver.11.7(11.8).
Dual Fisheye plugin was updated to ver.1.01.0000t at 18th.Sep.
How can I switch 5/7/9 shots mode? I want to know the method before updating.
Thanks,
Toyo
PS.
OK. I found the tutorial panel on the Plug-in page. Updated now.
I’ll try it again.
that’s a perfect shot . You completed eliminated the tripod and stitch line.
Did you manually set the control points just once for your camera? Then, all the subsequent pictures have a perfect stitch?
Hello, I’m new here! I just discovered the dual-fisheye plugin, and I’m planning to use it for a time lapse (no bracketing needed).
I downloaded and installed the pugin on my Theta V, but once I start it I can’t find a way to start a time lapse - actually, the only way to capture a shot I found so far is to push the shutter button!
I must be missing something: once I start the plugin, how do I start a time lapse?
This is what I do so far:
Thanks in advance to everyone, and thank you for your awesome work!
-gerlos
@gerlos, the current dual-fisheye plug-in from the store can’t take time lapse. It can only take multiple shots for bracketing (create your own HDRI file or for layers). Once the camera boots into plug-in mode. Press the Wi-Fi button to put it into bracketing mode. The Wi-Fi button is the middle button on the side.
The Wi-Fi LED will change color.
The normal LED is an aqua
It’s fairly easy to modify the plug-in to take timelapse. Maybe we can convince a developer to volunteer and build a special plug-in for you so the developer can learn and gain experience.
Can you answer these questions:
Also, I’m assuming you know that the standard mobile app from Ricoh can take timelapse images without the plug-in. The main advantage of the plug-in is that you can reduce the time between images down to 1 second.
You’ll need to use something like PTGui to stitch the images together after the shoot.
Thanks for the quick answer - my project is both video and photo.
I plan to go to an astronomical observatory next summer and create a day-to-night time lapse video, a star trail time lapse (like this https://flic.kr/p/eabmnG - each frame is just a composition of the last few frames, so trails are visible) and then compose a set of night shots to create a star trail image like I did with this:
My main problem with that picture is that the camera seems to “move” features on the stitch line from one shot to the other, and when I compose several equirectangular images I got distortions on the stitch line.
My workaround so far has been to shot so that the seam line is along the horizon (i.e. I put the camera horizontal), but this way the tripod is too visible, like in this pic:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215654214529532
Another problem I got with my previous experiments is that I need a shorter interval between the shots, so that the trails are more regular.
I think I could perhaps mitigate these problems taking a set of dual-fisheye shots, composing them in a star trail stitch them at the end of the process (in the past I’ve used Hugin to stitch images taken with a DSLR and a fisheye lens).
About the details:
Many thanks!
Thanks for this good information.
Just to confirm that you’re okay with having to stitch the images from the plug-in yourself, using either PTGui, Hugin or another third-party software. I have not tried using hugin for the stitching. This video on YouTube makes it seem feasible.
I am thinking of running a fun challenge for this developer community to complete the plugin. You can see the challenge concept in the mock-up below.
The idea is for developers to learn more about plug-in development by completing an easy challenge. If the developer extends the functionality to make it more user friendly, they get a chance to win another prize.
The banner would link to more information that contains:
If we go forward, @jcasman and I will take care of everything. You do not need to do anything other than provide feedback on the completed plug-in or plug-ins.
Other components that Jesse and I would handle:
Let me know your initial feelings on the challenge. The reason I am proposing to show your picture and your art is to make the challenge feel more “real world”. There’s a real purpose for the plug-in, not just a theoretical use case. We can apply a watermark to your art if you prefer.
After I get your feedback, I will need to discuss with @jcasman
