panorama
Latest
One Shots: City of Trees panorama
Springtime blooms lush and green, as new growth replaces the barren trees and plains of winter. In the meantime, if you want to enjoy a land, rich with luscious foliage and beauty, you could do far worse than playing Lord of the Rings Online. Today's One Shots is a panoramic treat that has been sent in to us by Pontifax Stanis, and really needs to be seen full-size to be appreciated for all it's detail. Pontifax writes in: As promised some days ago, herewith goes a rather large picture made from a collection of shots, a good way to show the magnificent landscapes in Lord of the Rings Online. Caras Galadhon is the Fortress in the Trees (or City of Trees), the magic place for the Galadhrim Elves in LotRO. Somehow Turbine has managed to recreate the Tolkien atmosphere within the game, with light changes playing an important part into the mixture. I've been wandering the land, like an Ansel Adams from hobbit era, taking pictures wherever I go. This is one of the panoramas you get within the Galadhrim realm. Try to keep the music on while in the area and just let your senses take you into the magic. It's worth the time you spend there. Have you tried your hand at making panoramics of a particular area in your favorite game? If so, we'd love to see them. All you have to do is attach them to an email and write up a quick blurb on what we're seeing, then email it to us at oneshots AT massively.com. %Gallery-9798%
Now even wider -- Pano 3 for iPhone
Pano, a fun iPhone app for taking panoramic photos, has been around since last fall and the developers at Debacle Software have been hard at work improving the app ever since. While the first iteration stitched together a maximum of 4 photos, the 2.0 version of the app upped the limit to 6 photos.Now Pano 3 (click opens iTunes) rewrites the rules for taking panoramas with your iPhone. The new version can automatically meld up to 16 photos, providing 360 degree panoramas. The team at Debacle added a way to resume interrupted panoramas, so if Mom called right as you were taking the fifth shot in your series of sixteen, you can pop back into Pano 3 and start right back up. While the capabilities of Pano have increased, the price remains the same low $2.99US. I use this app a lot, and it's just about the most fun that you can buy for $3. If you have an iPhone and love to take photos, Pano's deserving of a place on your home screen.After you've shot a few panoramas with Pano 3, take part in Debacle's I Love Pano Pano Panorama Contest. A group of TUAW bloggers are judges, and there are some great prizes.
Sony's panorama-shooting DSC-HX1 camera handled on video
If you're looking to craft an epic, 1,500 megapixel panorama image, something like the Gigapan Imager is your best bet. But, for those of us who want to capture a little wide-angle action and then move on before the tour bus abandons us, Sony's upcoming DSC-HX1 could be the solution. The nine megapixel shooter, releasing in April, comes with a unique (for the moment) panorama mode that allows it to capture 224-degree horizontal or 154-degree vertical shots automatically. Just push the shutter release and then slowly sweep the 20x lens across that wondrous vista before you. The camera internally fuses everything together to create a single 7152 x 1080 image; no post-processing required. It's demonstrated in a video below (on a quaint little diorama), and while $500 is on the pricey side for a non-SLR digi cam, if you've ever tried to stitch photos manually you might think it money well spent -- assuming it still works that well without a tripod.
One iPhone in a very large crowd
In traditional photography, the time elapsed between the shutter snap and the careful, loupe & light table examination of the captured images for some unexpected surprise or Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" might be days or weeks. With photographer David Bergman's massive panorama of Tuesday's presidential inauguration, the challenge wasn't in waiting for the darkroom process to complete (although the Gigapan software did crank away on his MacBook Pro for over six hours to generate the 1,474 megapixel, 2 gigabyte master file); it was combing through the enormous image to discover those moments Bergman didn't even know he had photographed. Several commenters on Bergman's blog have already found themselves or family members in the crowd. One moment that Bergman did discover quickly: a prominent attendee of the inauguration, 'bow-syncing' cellist Yo-Yo Ma, was caught in the panorama making an image of his own, using a familiar-looking smartphone. See the video zoom below for the context of Ma's snapshot in the larger image. As digital imaging has replaced film photography for newsgathering and journalism, there have been counterexamples of newsworthy images that would have long been deleted except for the fact that they were shot on film instead of on memory cards. In this case, the image of Yo-Yo Ma and his phone wouldn't have been preserved, except that it was captured by chance and 'mined' out of the massive, frozen decisive moment. Image & zoom video used with permission of the photographer; all rights reserved.
Bowers & Wilkins officially unveils $2,200 Panorama soundbar
Itching for brutal honesty? It's pretty difficult for us to get all riled up over a $2,200 soundbar, Bowers & Wilkins logo or not. Yeah, B&W swears that this thing is so good you won't even need a subwoofer for the best faux surround sound experience of your life, but for over two large, we can certainly think of a few alternatives. Nevertheless, the "groundbreaking" audio bar, which we caught in the wild at CES, has now been officially unwrapped, and there's a needlessly long-winded press releases telling us so just after the break. For those adamant that this will change their life, it should start shipping around March.
Hands-on with the Bowers and Wilkins Panorama soundbar and XT8 speaker
Remember the "groundbreaking new product" that Bowers & Wilkins promised us for CES? We wouldn't have expected it from the Abbey Road Studios-approved speaker brand, but it turned out to be the Panorama soundbar. It certainly will break some ground in pricing (and wallets) when it ships for $2,200 in March, though. The all-in-one speaker packs three amplifiers, plenty of inputs for your Dolby Digital and DTS sources (2 analog, 2 Toslink and a SPDIF coax), and selectable settings for tuning the virtual surround effect based on the wall surfaces and whether you mount the Panorama on a wall or shelf. Also on show was the new design of the XT-series speakers, with the top-to-bottom grille -- quite handsome, but unfortunately silent.%Gallery-41522%
Pano version 2.0: even more widescreen goodness
Pano, a panorama photo app for iPhone we reviewed back in October, has been updated to version 2.0. What's in the update of the $2.99 app (click opens iTunes) from Debacle Software? The ability to make panoramas of up to 6 individual pictures (version 1.0 maxed out at 4 pics) New stitching algorithms and color correction that resolve the dark bars that sometimes appeared at the "seams" between photos A new portrait mode Better memory management for more stability Reduced processing time when merging photos Pano 2.0 was supposed to ship with a new icon, but the icon police at Apple apparently had issues with the updated design. If you already own Pano, be sure to download the update to take advantage of the nifty new features. Debacle Software is hosting a panorama contest in the near future with lots of fabulous prizes, and featuring several TUAW bloggers as impartial and unbiased judges. Start taking those panorama shots soon!
Panorama Enterprise Server
When I saw the words Provue Development and Panorama in a press release this morning, I felt like I was suddenly transported back to the 80s. When the Mac first came out in 1984, Provue was there with the first real database manager for the Mac (OverVue). It's great to see that they're still developing innovative products like Panorama Enterprise Server. The $399 Panorama Enterprise Server is a RAM-based database server for Mac OS X 10.4 and above. Panorama Enterprise Server works with Provue's desktop database application Panorama 5.5 to create network-based databases. It distributes RAM-based copies of shared data across a network in a mesh architecture. By distributing the load of common database actions over a number of machines, speed is improved dramatically.Another unique feature is that users can disconnect from the network, work offline, and their database changes sync back up to the rest of the meshed computers when they are reconnected. Panorama Enterprise Server has remote configuration, management, and debug tools to keep DBAs happy, as well as automatic backup of live databases. Designers will like the visual design tools for building HTML and CSS-based forms, and support for Google Analytics.Provue offers a 45-day free trial of both Panorama 5.5 and Enterprise Server.
One Shots: On Beacon's Perch
Ah, to escape to cold, frosty mountains! For many of us it's the dead heat of summer, so snow looks especially inviting. Today's One Shots comes to us from Reggie A, who stumbled across this area in Guild Wars while out exploring and made an incredible mini-panorama from three screenshots of the area. We'll let him fill you in on the specifics: I was running my new Elementalist in Guild Wars to Lion's Arch when I noticed a path I had never taken before. At the top of the peak one can look down and see almost all of Beacon's Perch, so with the help of 3 screenshots and some minor Photoshop work, I put together this minor panorama of the view. Beacon's Perch marks the starting point for the famous -- or infamous -- Droks Run; a task suited only to the incredibly skilled or the insane. Considering the area was flooded with people I don't know how I managed to get the shot without a single person in it!Have you tried your hand at making panoramics of a particular area in your favorite game? If so, we'd love to see them. All you have to do is attach them to an email and write up a quick blurb on what we're seeing, then email it to us at oneshots AT massively.com. Easy, no?%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Not a warm summer screen
As many of us enjoy very warm weather for the upcoming holiday weekend, we thought we'd flash back to a cold holiday of yesteryear. Today's Guild Wars One Shots screen comes to us from Eugaet, who created this during the 2005 Guild Wars holiday event. Eugaet writes: I had planned on creating panoramas for every location in the game, including 'holiday' versions...but I ended up not having much time to devote to the project. Even so, they're still lovely panoramas to look at -- especially the full-size version!If you're heading out in your favorite virtual lands to enjoy the celebrations, snap some screenshots of what you and your friends are doing. We'd love to show off some of the things going on this weekend, but we need your help! So snag those screenshots and send them to us at oneshots AT massively.com along with a quick blurb as to what we're seeing. %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: The sky is on fire
Today we bring you the follow-up panorama to the last one that we got from eugaet. Today's Guild Wars One Shots is from a few years ago according to eugaet, who said that the above shows off a view of post-sear Ascalon City in Guild Wars. While we can't show it full-size in the column, we can offer it for anyone who wants to see this image in all its glory -- be sure to check out the full-sized panorama!Do you have any interesting screenshots from quite some time ago that show what your favorite game used to look like? Have there been lots of graphical changes since then? If so, we'd love to see what they look like. Just send those to us here at oneshots AT massively.com. We're looking for lots of screenshots from any MMOG out there, so don't be shy!%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: By the cliffs
Today's One Shots is the final of three gorgeous panoramic screenshots that were compiled and sent in to us by Adrian (Asarja) from Romania. This image is also from Guild Wars: Nightfall, and as before we know very little other than that. If you check out the full-size screenshot, you'll see lots of little scaffolds near what appears to be a cliff, ruined ships, a dockyard, and a bridge in the background. It is a really lovely area.Do you have any panoramas you've created in your favorite game? Perhaps you just know a lovely spot to hang out in? Whatever the case, we'd love to see your screenshots! Mail them, along with a short description of the image, to us here at oneshots AT massively.com and relax. We'll do the rest.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Motu Teya panorama
Today's One Shots comes to us courtesy of a person that many Second Life folks know and love -- Torley! Originally he contacted us to tell us he really enjoyed looking at the One Shots gallery, but he also linked in his own awesome gallery of panoramic Second Life shots in the mail. We couldn't resist featuring some of his gorgeous panoramic screenshots here! Of this one (which you really should see full-size to appreciate) Torley said, "Bruce Patton is so nice, he came up with this project and... it made a dream of Philip's come true in Second Life -- golf!"Do you have some great panoramic screenshots that you made from your favorite game or virtual world? Perhaps you caught a fantastic sunset that just made everything look fantastic. Whatever your story or screen, we want to see them! Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively.com, along with whatever information you'd like to give us about them.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Tribal lands
As mentioned the other day, we recieved several fantastic One Shots panoramas from Adrian (aka Asarja) from Guild Wars. Today's screenshot is from Nightfall, although we know very little else of this particular area. If you like looking at lovely scenic shots, you should definitely check out the full-size image. And if you can tell us anything about this area, please be sure to leave a comment!Do you like to combine lots of different screens into panoramas? Maybe you're a game or content designer who is particularly proud of a specific area that you designed and you'd like to give us back-story on it. (Hey, it could happen!) Whatever your story, we want your screens -- just email them to us at oneshots AT massively.com! %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Desert temple panorama
When we saw this mail come in, we were blown away. You see, Adrian (or Asarja) creates lovely panoramic screenshots from compiled screens in Guild Wars. We already knew Guild Wars was a beautiful game, but seeing the panoramic shots is really quite impressive, giving you an idea of just how lovely that world can be! (And lucky for all of us, Adrian sent along a couple more that we'll be featuring in upcoming days, too!) If you really want to see this in all its impressive glory, be sure to check out the full-size version.Do you like to combine screenshots into panoramas? If so, we'd dearly love to see them. We've featured them before, and welcome anyone else who'd like to try their hand at it! Just send your screens to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. We'll be looking forward to seeing more!%Gallery-9798%
Around Azeroth: The edge of Terokkar
Reader Michaud of Army of Mulgore on Kul'Tiras sends in this larger than life vertical panorama taken out on the very edge of Terokkar Forest, out on the floating islands off of the bone wastes. And other than a description of its location, I think this oversized shot really speaks for itself. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
E3 panoramas are 360 degrees of rotating fun
If you haven't stopped by Xbox.com for a while we sincerely recommend that you check out the E3 panoramas they've created and posted for you to enjoy. These 360 degree rotations allow you to view all kinds of fun E3 locations like Microsoft's E3 conference stage, behind the scenes action, the always interesting E3 crowd and the oh-so-large Santa Monica ferris wheel. Everyone knows that playing with virtual panoramas is amusing, so quit depriving yourself and rotate the day away!
Hugin panorama photo maker
In a previous Ask TUAW we covered a few of the panoramic photo stitching options available for the Mac. Now another tool for doing this has come to my attention and is probably worth a look for anyone interested in making panoramic pictures from multiple photos. Hugin is a cross-platform GUI for the Panorama Tools open source project created by Professor Helmut Dersch. It has many detailed options for stitching photos together exactly the way you want it done. As such it's probably not the easiest panorama tool to use, but by the same token it looks quite powerful. You may want to check out some of the tutorials available to get a sense of what it can do.Hugin is a free download from sourceforge.[via Cool OSX Apps]
Don't look now, but that Nokia in your pocket means you're over the hill
A survey of cellphone users in Australia, conducted by Panorama and released by Nielsen Media Research, has proved what pretty much everyone already knew: people are likely to base broad, stereotypical assumptions about you on your cellphone, just like they do with everything else you use and wear. We're guessing this breaks down a bit differently in Aussieland, but here's how mobile users tend to associate down under:Nokia: Family-minded, middle aged managers, balance seekers, health consciousMotorola: Fashion conscious, under 24, fun seekers, individualisticSony Ericsson: Ambitious young men, professionals, success driven, individualisticLG: Favorite of mums, stay-at-home parents, success driven, harmony seekersSamsung: Young women, career focused, success driven, fun seekersThe upshot of this research is that since most phone service providers rate the same, people are for the most part picking a carrier based on phone selection -- again, we're not exactly floored by the analysis here. Now all that's left is how to pigeon hole HTC and Palm users. We're thinking "good looking, fun loving, Engadget reader" would be a nice start.[Via textually.org]
Gigapan robot snaps panoramic views, assembles results
We're absolutely certain there's a vast array of naturally gifted photographers out there that don't need a robot to do a man's job, but for those of us who can't hold our elbows perfectly still and snap a dozen or so photographs in a panoramic pattern without ruining the entire shot, Gigapan's got you covered. The robotic shooting platform was developed by Carnegie Mellon University and the NASA Ames Intelligent Robot Group, and can manhandle almost any digital camera in order to capture a wide-angle view of any particular scene without the breaks we humans often inject. The robot will click away depending on a timer and the number of snapshots that users program in, resulting in a very high resolution, widescreen image of a crime scene, vacation overlook, or your entire basement wall of Transformers posters. Moreover, the team has developed accompanying software to "piece together" the resulting images, leaving a nearly flawless reproduction of a panoramic view with an immensely increased level of detail. Expected to cost "around $200 or less," the Gigapan could be in civilian hands as early as next month, after which we'll have to start an entirely new photo contest devoted to cramming as many miles as possible into a single, uber-wide shot, but for now, be sure to click on through for a small taste of what this monkey can do.[Via Primidi]