Creating QTVR Objects Using ObjectWorx or VR Worx

In this tutorial, I will be explaining how you would shoot a QTVR object movie using a video camera connected to a video card in your computer. ObjectWorx is especially handy for this kind of QTVR object photography, because it has the capability with interfacing directly with your video card for grabbing the video stills required for your object movie. Of course, you can use other sources for your QTVR Objects, including pictures taken with a digital still camera.

Note: This tutorial has been around quite awhile, and the current VR Toolbox software, VR Worx, combines all three types of QTVR movies (Panoramas, Objects, Scenes) into one application. The following steps, though, are nearly the same as you would find in the Object making component of VR Worx. Also, the steps are very similar for the new DV video cameras that connect via a Firewire cable to many newer Macintoshes.

In some cases there will not be direct support for your video card within ObjectWorx, but most video cards will support "frame grabbing," or taking still pictures directly to the computer, with the software bundled with the video card.

1. Start ObjectWorx (or the Object section of VR Worx). The program will open on the Input page.

2. On the Setup page you will add the information about how you will shoot (or shot) your QTVR object so that ObjectWorx will assemble it correctly. In this example we are shooting our object in portrait orientation, with the video camera rotated 90 degrees.
   • In the Source Image Format area you can set the Image Size: by selecting the size of your QTVR movie in pixels. In this example we created a 240 X 320 object movie. Portrait orientations are listed above the landscape orientations in the list of dimensions. If the dimensions you wish are not listed, you can create a "Custom" size.
   • Source: is where you select where the source pictures for your object movie will come from. If you are creating the movie from existing image files, select Image File. Here we are grabbing video stills of the object directly into ObjectWorx using the built-in Video Digitizer. (This is the selection you would make for DV cameras connected via Firewire cables as well.) If ObjectWorx's build-in Video Digitizer does not work with your video card, you may have to install a plug-in to use it within ObjectWorx, or use your video card's bundled software to grab the stills for your object movie and import them into ObjectWorx as image files.
   • Under Object Geometry you tell ObjectWorx how you shot (or will shoot) the object.
     • Vertical Settings (Rows): is how many rows of shots represent the vertical pan of your object. In this tutorial we show how to shoot a "simple" QTVR object, with no vertical pan. This means there will be only 1 Band (or row). Since there is no vertical pan, the Sweep: is 0 degrees.
     • For Horizontal Settings (Columns): we set Views: to 36, since we will be shooting 36 shots for the single row. We will be turning the object in a full 360 degree Sweep:. This means that between each shot we will be rotating the 10 degrees, as shown by Spacing:.
3. To prepare the Video Digitizer for capturing the stills for your movies, click on the "Setup..." button.

4. The "Video Digitzer Input" window will appear. Here you can specify a Source Rotation:. Since we are shooting this object in portrait orientation that, we tell ObjectWorx to rotate the source -90 degrees to rotate the grabbed images in a counterclockwise direction. Click on "Digitizer..."

5. The "Video" window appears. If your camera is connected to your video card, turned on, and has the lens cap off, you will see the camera input in the window on the right, if the video source is set correctly. If your camera input is not showing (as the case here), click on Image to select the Source page of the "Video" window.

6. On the source page of the "Video" window you may need to select a different Input: In this example we are using S-Video input, instead of Composite input.
   S-Video requires the special S-Video cable and is available only on Hi-8 camcorders, Super VHS recorders, and DV camcorders. Composite Video uses the standard RCA jacks for video and sound. You will not be using sound input for capturing video stills.
   Click on Source and select Image to go back to the Image page of the "Video" window.

7. With the video input image showing on the right you can now use the various image sliders (Hue, Saturation, Brightness, etc.) to give your video image its best appearance. (Note: you should have a good camera exposure to begin with, as discussed in What You Need to Create QTVR Object Movies.) Click on "OK". Then, click on the Acquire tab to go to the Acquire page of ObjectWorx.

8. On the right side of the Acquire page is an area with a graphic representation of an object on a VR turntable and a camera moved to a certain vertical position. This illustration actually updates as you add or view pictures in ObjectWorx which make up your object movie, rotating the hand on the turntable as you take new shots of the horizontal rotation and moving the camera when a new vertical angle is begun. Below the VR camera rig representation are spaces where thumbnails of your pictures will go as they are added to the VR object movie. You can scroll horizontally through the shots to examine them after they are loaded. If you were shooting more than one row, you could also scroll down to see the object shots taken at different vertical angles. On the left are buttons for taking various actions. The top two buttons are from clearing or editing individual frames of the VR movie. Below that are buttons for setting up an adding stills for the VR object movie and taking them with the Video Digitizer.

• The Framing button will bring up a window that helps you frame your video shots for the VR object movie.
• Clicking the "Snapshot" button will immediately grab a picture from the video camera and place it in the current position of the sequence of shots. After clicking on it you will see a thumbnail of the shot appear in the list of shots at the bottom of the Views page. On some computers you may hear a camera shutter sound.

• The "Interactive" button duplicates the function of "Snapshot", but it gives you a new window where you can see a larger view of the shots before they are taken. Also, you can access the setup functions from this window (as explained in steps 3-7 above.) Clicking on the "Capture" button takes the current frame of the VR object movie.
• The "Rapid Shot" button lets you set up the shots so they occur automatically. It duplicates the picture-taking action of the "Snapshot" and "Interactive" buttons. This tutorial explains how to take a series of video stills for a VR object movie using the "Rapid Shot" function.

9. The "Framing" window comes up. Here you can see how your pictures will be framed. Use the cross-hairs to help you center your object precisely. You might want to rotate your VR object turntable to see if the object wobbles back and forth. If it does, it may not be centered precisely on the turntable. It might also be the case that your object is unsymmetrical. Make whatever adjustments you think is needed, then click "OK". Lets assume you want to use the Rapid Shot method of taking the object stills. Click on the "Rapid Shot" button.

10. The "Rapid Shot" window comes up. The window comes up with 36 as the number of shots, or whatever number your setup requires. You could change this number if necessary, for instance, if you were taking only the last 5 shots to correct some error you had made in that part of the sequence, or wanted to do only one row at a time. You can also enter the number of seconds delay between shots. This should be enough time for you to turn the object to its next position. (4 seconds is a good choice.) Click on "Go".
11. The "Rapid Shot" window will go away. On some computers you will hear a camera click sound, which means you have just captured the current position. Without the sound to cue you, you will need to watch the counter go down to time your shots. Rotate the object on the turntable to its next position in the clockwise direction. After the specified time the camera click sound and/or the shot counter will indicate the current picture has been taken. Rotate the object to the next position. As shots are taken you will see thumbnails of the stills fill in the row of shots on the bottom right of the Acquire page. If you should make any errors in shooting the stills, you can go back and reshoot them by clicking on the thumbnail of first picture you wish to correct, and begin taking your shots again. The new shots will replace whatever shots are in those positions. When you have finished taking all of the shots, click on the "Compress" tab to go to the Compress page of ObjectWorx.

12. The "Compress" button will turn your shots into a QTVR Object movie, but before doing that you may wish to specify a codec for your movie. Codec stands for "Compression-decompression" and there are many methods for doing this. Generally, in choosing a codec, you are trying a find an acceptable compromise between the graphic quality of your movie and the file size. The default codec shown here is "Cinepak" set for "High" quality. For more information on selecting a codec for your movie, see Selecting a Codec for Your QTVR Object Movie. Click on the "Set" button to see how codec settings are made.

13. Click on the "Compressor" drop-box to select the Codec you wish to use, then slide the "Quality" slider over to the quality you want. A portion of your Object movie in the pane on the upper right will show how your movie will look when using this Codec setting. When you have the settings you want, click on "OK".
14. Click on the "Compress" button to create your QTVR Object movie. When it is completed, click on the "Preview" tab to see the results.

14. From ObjectWorx's Preview page you can try out your Object movie, and make some settings that affect how it plays. One of the first things you should do is to find the frame of your Object movie that you want to be showing when the movie opens. Use the hand cursor on the Object movie to find the opening frame you want and click on "Set" under "Initial View".

Under "Attributes" there are many settings you can add to your Object movie. I'll explain a few of these here.

• The "Annotate" button will allow you to add a name, copyright, and other information about the movie that will become a part of the movie and can be accessed with MoviePlayer.

• The "Interaction" button lets you make several settings regarding the playback of the Object movie. For instance, you can select a different set of cursors that show up when interacting with the movie. You can also set the scale of motion, so that a small movement of the cursor results in a large movement on the object. Note: any of the "Tilt" settings will have no effect on a single-row Object movie, as there is no tilt in such movies. Other settings include:
  • "Wrap when panning" will wrap the last still in a row to the first, so that panning (horizontal movement) is continuous. If unchecked the panning stops when you get to the last or first picture in a row. Normally, Object movies with 360 degree pans have this checked. Object movies with less than 360 degrees have it unchecked.
  • "Wrap when tilting" works like "Wrap when panning", but it is for vertical movement of an Object. Normally this is unchecked, because most Object movies do not do a full 360 degree tilt.
  • "Allow zooming" lets the user zoom in on an object using the controller or by holding down the Shift key.
  • "Allow translation" lets the user shift a zoomed object around in the movie window using the controller or holding down on the Option key while moving the object with the cursor.
  • "Reverse pan direction" makes the Object move in the opposite direction when moving the cursor. If rotated your object counterclockwise instead of clockwise when shooting your movie, this will fix it.
  • "Reverse tilt direction" is similar to "Reverse pan direction" but is for the vertical tilt of the object.
  • "Swap pan & tilt control" makes it so that a horizontal movement of the cursor regulates the vertical tilt of your movie, and visa versa.
  
  • The "Animation" button will bring up some settings for animating your movie. The most common setting here is "View Animation" that will cause your object to rotate at a speed you set as soon as it is opened. When you interact with the animated movie, the animation stops and you can manipulate the object as usual.
  
  15. You may wish to save your work as an ObjectWorx document. You can do this at any point in creation process. Saving an ObjectWorx document will preserve all still shots and settings you have put into making an Object movie up to the time of the save. Select "Save..." from the "File" menu. Give your ObjectWorx document and appropriate name and click on "Save".
      Since QTVR Object movies can contain a great number of still pictures, these ObjectWorx files can be quite large. This 36-shot, 320 X 240 pixel, single row QTVR Object movie resulted in a 5.9 MB Widgetizer file. The exported Object movie we created, using the Photo-JPEG codec on the Low (25%) quality setting was 270 K.
  
  16. When you have made all the settings you want to make, you are ready to export a QTVR object movie. Click on the "Export Movie..." button or select "Export..." from the "File" menu. You should make sure that "Optimise for web playback" is checked. This makes your QTVR Object movie playable on Windows computers, and it is required if your movie is going to be on a Web page. The drop-box next to "Format" lets you choose between QTVR 2.0 and 1.0 formats. More computers will be able to handle the 1.0 format, but there are some features (such as hot spots on Object movies) are only available in version 2.0. Give your movie an appropriate name. It is important to give QuickTime and QTVR movies a .mov extension, because Windows computers and Web browsers use file name extensions to identify the kind of file it is. Click on "Save" to save your stand alone QTVR Object movie.
  

  If you are going to do some more object movies in this same manner (portrait orientation, 240 X 320 Pixels, 1 row X 36 columns, rotated -90 degrees), you can save a template. When you shoot a new movie like this one, you can open this template file and start with the settings preconfigured. To save a template file, select "Save As..." from the "File" menu. Give the setup template a meaningful name, click on the radio button on the right in the bottom right-hand corner of the window. Click on the "Save" button. Make sure that the file gets saved to the "Stationary Templates" folder.

  

  Here is the resulting movie from this example. (270 K, Photo-JPEG at Low)

  

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