Equipment
- iPhone 6
- DJI Gimbal
- Canon 7D
- Tripod
Software
360-Sweep of the Room
The initial process is a simple image capture that is possible to do by hand as the user follows the prompts around the space. To increase stability and maximise quality, this was enhanced by using a DJI Gimbal designed for mobile devices. This motion sensor mount stabilised the camera during image capture to reduce blur and increase sharpness of the image. To maintain consistency, each room was captured from right to left in the order from the ground up in tiers of the room, most commonly: floor, eye level, ceiling.
The final product of this is a flattened 360-degree image that will then be rendered into a 360-degree application that is compatible with the scope of this project.
HD Images
The initial 360-degree capture produced an image of a high quality for use in a website or mobile application, which is desirable for this project. However, to maintain the usability and practicality of this approach, further high definition images were taken. While the 360-degree view provides context and a sense of materiality, the high definition images were intended to allow the user to read the writing.
With a Canon 7D, the rooms were captured right to left, with some unavoidable inconsistency due to the shape of the rooms or awkward location of writing. As the protection of the heritage site is of the utmost importance, the technique applied could not use as much invasive technology as it may be potentially damaging. No flash or external lights were used to capture these images, only natural daylight. This proved to be an issue in producing consistently sharp images.
The camera settings for the images used in this resource were captured on the TV setting and with a shutter speed of 1/30 with the camera mounted on a tripod. This set up was put in place to achieve maximum clarity of the writing to provide the most useful image for reading and potential research. The images were captured in a CR2 file-format, which is large raw file that required clean-up to be small enough to upload to a website, but clear enough to be useful.
Creating the Virtual Experience
Roundme, a web software by Viemo, bridged the gap between the two forms of image capture. This software allows the creator to upload 360-degree images, which is then rendered into an interactive virtual experience. This breaks down the barrier placed by other software that require a 360-degree camera, opposed to a 360-degree stitched image, which is the case for this project.