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- ################################################################
- #
- # File: MakeCubicPPC_ReadMe
- #
- # Contains: Simple Instructions to use MakeCubicPPC
- #
- # Written by: Ken Turkowski, Eric Blanpied
- #
- # Copyright: © 2000-2001 Apple Computer, Inc.
- #
- # To Do:
- # Pictures? HTML? Movies?
- #
- ################################################################
-
-
- MakeCubicPPC is a simple app for creating cubic QTVR movies from six faces
- or from equirectangular spherical images.
-
- It's especially handy after retouching faces exported from a stitcher,
- or for making cubic panos from 3D generated imagery. It also can convert
- equirectangular images to cubic panos.
-
- You can also drop an already made 6-frame cubic vr movie. The app will
- then use the existing compressed data in the file and let you set
- new angles, etc.
-
-
- Source Files
- ____________
- You can give MakeCubicPPC either:
- - single equirectangular spherical images
- - six cubic face images
- - single movie with six frames
- You can also supply a fast start preview or hot spots in the same type of
- files (i.e. equirectangular, face picts, face movie) as the main panorama.
-
- An equirectangular spherical image is a map of the surrounding environment
- sampled equally in latitude and longitude. The north pole is stretched
- into a line on the top, and the south pole is stretched into a line on
- the bottom, with the equator undistorted in the middle.
-
- A cube has six faces. If you choose to supply cubic faces to MakeCubicPPC,
- either in the form of a set of six image files or a single movie file with
- six frames, they should be ordered (numbered) in the following order:
- front, right, back, left, top, bottom, with the top and bottom rotated
- 90° from the front view.
-
-
- Using MakeCubicPPC
- __________________
- Launch the application, then select Convert (cmd-O) from the file menu.
- Set the appropriate parameters, then click OK. Then select an output
- file name, and the QuickTime VR file will be produced.
-
- Alternatively, drag a set of files onto the MakeCubicPPC application.
- This is the faceless applet mode, where a cubic QuickTime VR movie
- is produced automatically using default parameters. The only dialog
- that occurs is one where the automatically-generated output file name
- clashes with an already existing file. It looks for a common root for
- the file names, and looks for "FS" or "HS" after that to distinguish
- a regular panborama file from a fast start or hot spot file respectively.
- The default output filename is the root file name with a ".mov" or "..mov"
- suffix.
-
-
- Parameters
- __________
- Main source file - It is required to select a main source file(s) for
- each panorama to be created. You can optionally select the compression
- codec and quality (defaults to Photo JPEG at 50% quality).
-
- Fast Start Preview - If a fast start preview is desired (this is recommended),
- make sure the box is checked. You can either select a preview file(s)
- or have MakeCubicPPC make a preview for you. Unfortunately, you cannot
- choose the compression fast start codec and quality at this time, despite
- the button in the dialog - Photo - JPEG at 25% quality is always used.
- If you choose to have MakeCubicPPC generate a preview for you, you can
- choose its resolution, whether it is to be blurred, and whether it is
- to be gray or color. The resolution is specified in terms of pixels per
- degree (0.5-1.0 are good starting values, with or without blurring).
-
- Hotspot - You can select a hot spot file(s) if desired.
-
- Min/Max/Default Pan/Tilt/FOV - You can set the limits of pan, tilt, and
- FOV, as well as the default values that are used when the panorama is opened.
- If you check the "Optimal FOV for Window Size" checkbox, MakeCubicPPC
- will set the default FOV to give you 1:1 pixel zooming (i.e. if you zoom
- in from this point, you will see pixelization, and if you zoom out, you
- will get aliasing), and the minimum FOV to give you 2:1 pixel zooming.
- The maximum FOV is not affected by this checkbox. If you subsequently change
- the minimum or default FOV, the optimal checkbox will be unchecked.
-
- Window Width and Height - The dimensions of the playback window can be set.
-
- Tiling Width and Height - This allows you to specify the number of tiles
- to produce per face in width and height (these may be different). The default
- is 1 tile per face. However, it may be advantageous to subtile each face
- when the panorama resolution is high. If you check the "Auto-Tile" checkbox,
- MakeCubicPPC will try to produce tiles about 400x400 pixels. WARNING: There
- is a bug in the 5.0.1 QuickTime VR for Windows extension where evenly
- tiled faces (i.e. 2x2, 4x4, etc.) sometimes will produce a memory fault,
- so it is suggested to use odd tiling (1x1, 3x3, etc.) for the time being.
-
- Motion and Static Quality - You can set the quality of rendering while
- panning (motion quality) and when the mouse is released (static quality).
- The only values enabled are Normal (50%) and High (75%). The Better (62%)
- quality is only available for cylindrical panoramas, and the Low (25%)
- quality was only available in the original cylindrical QuickTime VR.
- The defaults are to use normal quality during panning (motion), and high
- quality when stopped (static).
-
-
- Preferences
- _________
- Under the File menu, you can choose the Preferences menu to tailor MakeCubicPPC's
- defaults to be those that you like.
-
- When you change the prefererences, you have the option to have it remain valid
- only for the current session, or it can be saved to a file, so the preferences will
- be reatined between sessions. The preferences file is called "MakeCubic Preferences",
- and can be found in the Preferences folder of the System Folder, or in the same folder
- where MakeCubicPPC resides. The default location is the Preferences folder, but
- if there is also one in the MakeCubicPPC folder, that is the one that takes
- precedence. The file is human-readable XML, though the type is 'pref' rather
- than 'TEXT'.
-
- • Equirectangular rotation - If an equirectangular image is taller than it is wide,
- it will be rotated 90° clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on how this
- option is set.
- • Panorama compression - The default settings for the compression of the
- high resolution panorama are set here. The default is 24 bit JPEG at 50% quality.
- • Preview compression - The default settings for the compression of the
- low resolution preview are set here. The default is 24 bit JPEG at 25% quality.
- • Preview options - Here you have the choice as to whether the preview is made
- automatically, and whether it should be grayscale or blurred.
- • Preview resolution - This is specified in units of pixels per degree, i.e. 1 pixel
- per degree implies 360 pixels around the circumference. A useful range is
- 0.5 - 2.0 (note that the resolution can be fractional).
- • Minimum/Default/Maximum FOV - These are the values that are used when the
- "Optimal FOV" checkbox is not checked. The maximum FOV is used in either
- case.
- • Optimal FOV - When this is checked, the FOV is computed to yield the specified
- zoom factor of the pixels. The default is to have 2:1 pixel zooming at the minimum
- FOV, and 1:1 pixel zooming at the default FOV.
- • Initialize Parameters from QuickTime VR Movie - You can choose an existing
- QuickTime VR movie as the input to MakeCubicPPC. If you have this checkbox
- checked, then the values in the dialog are initialized from the QuickTime VR movie.
- The pan, tilt, FOV and window dimension are affected by this option.
- This is especially useful when you are just adding or changing the preview. Since
- the QTVR movie is not degraded by repeated compression, you can tweak your
- movie as much as you want.
- • Window Width and Height - Just set your favorite window size in the Preferences
- dialog, and you'll never have to set it again.
- • Tiling Width and Height - You can set the preferred tiling of each face. The default is 1x1.
- • Auto-tile - When this checkbox is checked, MakeCubicPPC attempts to make each tile
- close to the target dimension. The default is to *not* auto-tile. The default target
- dimension is 400. This means that an 800x800 face will be tiled 2x2, a 599x599
- face will be tiled 1x1, and a 602x602 face will be tiled 2x2.
- • Quality - the rendering quality during panning ("motion") and when stopped ("static")
- can be chosen from the pop-up menus. Only "Normal" and "High" are choosable; the
- others are of historical interest only.
-
- If you Cancel out of the Preferences dialog, none of your changes will be saved.
-
- If you choose the "This Session Only" button, then your preferences will remain in
- effect as long as MakeCubicPPC is running.
-
- If you choose "Save Preferences", then your preferences will be saved in a file, so
- that every subsequent use of MakeCubicPPC will use these preferences.
-
-
- What's Going On Under the Hood (Technical - may be glossed over)
- ________________________________________________________________
- If you choose movies as the source files, with 1x1 tiling, then the tracks
- are copied verbatim from the sources to the output file, thereby resulting
- in no image degradation. In this case the compression parameters are
- ignored. However, the movie frames may be recompressed under certain
- conditions:
- (a) if you choose to subtile the faces, or
- No longer is there double compression if you choose to create a fast start preview.
- There will likely be more degradation due to subtiling and recompression
- of movie faces, because they may need to be scaled in order to fit the
- tiling scheme, and the compression block boundaries will shift.
-
- If your sources are picture files, then the images will degrade based
- upon your selection of compression parameters. It is better to start
- out with source images that are only slightly compressed, in order to
- avoid double-compression artifacts.
-
- The edges of each of the tiles are duplicated in adjacent tiles, in order
- to facilitate interpolation. This means that subtiling without resizing
- implies that (D-1) is divisible by N, where D is the linear dimension of
- a face, and N is the number if tiles, instead of the more intuitive
- D divisible by N.
-
- If your source image is an equirectangular spherical image, then the
- cube faces are generated with the same focal length
- (see http://www.worldserver.com/turk/quicktimevr/panores.html).
-
- The graphics codec is always used at maximum quality for compressing the
- hot spots.
-
- Any files can be chosen in the dialog. However, if a file has a decimal
- number contained within it, MakeCubicPPC will look for other files
- that are similar except for the number, assuming that you want to
- choose a sequence of images. If this causes problems, either move
- the files to a diffeent directory, or rename them to avoid unwanted
- sequences.
-
- The following file name sets can be parsed correctly, when files are
- dragged onto MakeCubicPPC (where %d stands for a decimal number):
- name%d.ext, nameHS%d.ext, nameFS%d.ext
- name%d.ext, name%dHS.ext, name%dFS.ext
- %d.ext, HS%d.ext, FS%d.ext
- %d.ext, %dHS.ext, %dFS.ext
- name.ext, nameHS.ext, nameFS.ext
- name%d, nameHS%d, nameFS%d
- name%d, name%dHS, name%dFS
- name, nameHS, nameFS
- %d, HS%d, FS%d
- %d, %dHS, %dFS
- The extensions may be different for the different file types
- (e.g. pano.jpg, panoHS.png, panoFS.pct), but should be the same
- for a sequence of the same type (i.e. NOT face1.jpg, face2.gif).
-
- Hot spots are given the name "Hot Spot #ddd", where ddd is the hot spot
- number. You have no choice. This is displayed in the status box when
- you mouseover a hot spot.
-
- Only undefined type hot spots are ever created, never URL type hot spots.
-
- You must have all six hot spot files or frames, even if some are just all
- white files (ie no hot spots on that face). This doesn't apply (obviously)
- to equirectangular spherical pictures.
-
-
- Examples
- ________
-
-
- To Do
- _____
- • When reading a cubic panorama, transfer the hot spot track. This allows you to
- tweak an existing panorama.
- • Possibly allow choice of hot spot compression, as long as it is lossless.
- • Provide some mechanism to assign hot spot names.
- • Provide some mechanism to assign URL's to hot spots.
- • Store preferences in a file, so that the droplet uses the preferred
- parameters.
-
-
- ________________________________________________________________
-
- MakeCubicPPC Revision History:
-
- 1.1.1a2
- -------
- • Use Appearance manager to get "nice" progress bars, especially on OS X.
-
- 1.1.1a1
- -------
- • OS X.
-
- 1.1.1d1
- -------
- • Implement batch addition of a preview track, when dragging several QuickTime VR panorama
- movie files onto MakeCubicPPC. Hot spot tracks are not preserved, but view parameters are.
-
- 1.1.1d0
- -------
- • Preferences!
-
- 1.1.0d6
- -------
- • Fix bug with corner averaging when making previews.
- • Fix "Terry bug", where source is a QTVR cubic movie where the tracks have been scaled.
-
- 1.1.0d5
- -------
- • Fix bug introduced in 1.1.0d4 where a standard QuickTime movie would have a null window size.
-
- 1.1.0d4
- -------
- • Use Navigation Services instead of the standard file dialog. This should allow it to work on OS X.
- Explicitly select the files to be used (with shift-select) in the navigation dialog. This should work
- as long as the files have the correct type; it probably won't work if file.jpg is set to type TEXT.
- • Display more explicit file names in the dialog, parsing for common structure, e.g.
- MyPanoFace{1,2,3,4,5,6}.jpg as a shorthand for
- {MyPanoFace1.jpg,MyPanoFace2.jpg,MyPanoFace3.jpg,MyPanoFace4.jpg,MyPanoFace5.jpg,MyPanoFace6.jpg}.
- • Remember display settings when inputting a QTVR cubic movie. Specifically, it will remember
- {min,max,def}{pan,tilt,fov} and window{width,height}.
- • Allow choice of fast start compression.
-
- 1.1.0d3
- -------
- • Don't recompress movies if not changing the tiling nature. This then makes
- it useful for adding previews to already existing movies, or for changing the
- view parameters.
-
- 1.1.0d2
- -------
- • Make preview when using a movie as a source.
-
- 1.1.0d1
- -------
- • New UI.
- • Gray preview option.
- • Present real codec names.
- • Use VRMakePano.c to generate the output.
- • Add dialogs for unusual situations.
- • Option to tile faces.
- • Create the preview internally, rather than relying on the flattener
- in the QtuckTime VR Authoring extension.
-
- 1.0.3d1
- -------
- • Force hot spot GWorld to be eight bits even if the hot spot images provided have a
- greater depth - allows the FindHotSpots routine to find the proper hot spot IDs.
-
- 1.0.2d1
- ---------
- • Properly create 8-bit hot spot faces from equirectangular; this bug was
- a side-effect of the "8 bit GWorld" feature from 1.0.1d1.
-
- 1.0.1d1
- ---------
- • Add QTAtoms for hot spots; this allows assignment in HTML,
- wired sprites, etc.
- • Create 8 bit GWorld when images are 8 bits.
- • Robustly take care of unexplained failures with FlattenMovie, to
- guarantee that a file is written.
- • Pop up an info window during compression, to notify which stage it is in.
- • Use the name of applet to determine which way the equirectangular
- source is rotated if it is taller than wide, e.g
- MakeCubicPPC.CW takes a clockwise rotated equirectangular
- MakeCubicPPC.CCW takes a counter-clockwise rotated equirectangular
-
-
-