Great info on different projection techniques for VR video on Paul Bourkes site: paulbourke.net/dome/panodome/
A implementation of a render cam based on this in Blender: blender.org/manual/game_engine/camera/dome.html
ffmpeg commands to create a video slideshow from a set of images.
Point Grey has several spherical cameras available both with USB and Firewire interfaces.
| Sensor: Six 2/3″ 5MP Sony CCDs, Color |
| Resolution: 30 megapixels using six 2048×2448 CCDs |
| Frame Rate: 10FPS at full resolution |
| Interface: USB 3.0 |
| Compression: Embedded JPEG image compression |
| Calibration: Provides high quality spherical image stitching |
| Mechanics: Single unit construction, water resistant |
| Colors: Anodized Red |
| Sensor:Six 1/1.8″ 2MP Sony CCDs, Color |
| Resolution: 12 megapixels using six 1600×1200 CCDs |
| Frame Rate: 15FPS at full resolution |
| Interface: 800Mb/sec 1394b interface with locking connector |
| Compression: Embedded JPEG image compression |
| Calibration: Provides high quality spherical image stitching |
| Mechanics: Single unit construction, water resistant |
| Colors: Anodized Red or Anodized Black |
| Sensor:Six Sony 1/3″ progressive scan CCD, Color |
| Resolution: 1024×768 |
| Frame Rate: 1024×768 at 30FPS |
| Interface: 800Mb/sec 1394b interface with locking connector |
| Compression: JPEG image compression via Compressor |
| Calibration: Provides high quality spherical image stitching |
| Lenses: ix (6) 2.5mm focal length high quality micro lenses |
| Colors: Anodized Red |
The Geonaute 360 camera is able to record 360 degree video. Using three lenses it records 2048×1024 px in standard mode at 25fps. Still images can be shot in 4K resolution. Micro SD cards are used for storage. Here is a video sample and a high-res photo sample.
Livestreamer is a great comamndline tool to record or play streams from many online streaming services like:
Livestreamer is written in Python and available on github.
The British all-terrain vehicle maker Land Rover has found a practical application for Augmented Reality. They are developing a driver assist system that creates a virtual transparent bonnet/hood.
Several cameras in the grill capture the ground below the forward part of the car. The combined images of these cameras are projected onto a head-up display in the lower half of the windshield allowing to “look through” the bonnet/hood and motor block onto the ground.
The application is supposed to assist the driver in difficult situations for example steep climbs or when maneuvering in confined spaces. Additionally the application displays information about important vehicle data, including speed, incline, roll angle, steering position, and drive mode.
The concept study dubbed “Discovery Vision Concept” will be shown at the New York International Auto Show.
The next step in the race towards “live” maps seems to be public satellite, or ISS, based near realtime HD video. The footage below is from Skybox Imaging, a company that has just started offering customers 90-second video of any point on Earth from its SkySat-1 satellite. In this clip, the SkyBox video sits on top of a static layer of satellite imagery and is overlaid by a map layer from Mapbox, based on OpenStreetMap.
Another company, Planet Labs, has just launched its own fleet of 28 imaging microsatellites from the International Space Station and hopes to offer scientists and the public the chance to track changes on the Earth’s surface with much higher frequency than ever before. These satellites will only provide still images though.
Yet another company, Urthecast, recently successfully deployed their cameras to the International Space Station with a planned beta launch of their partly free service later this year. First images of the medium resolution camera are already available.
Also NASA seems to be willing to ride the wave by putting up four off the shelf HD cameras outside the ISS for the HDEV (High Definition Earth Viewing) project. The cameras will be insulated but not shielded against radiation. One of the projects goals is to find out what camera copes best with the radiation.
[Update] Recently found this more comprehensive list of players in this race on ieee.spectrum.
With the SpaceX Dragon 3 capsule that was recently berthed to the ISS, NASA deployed the HDEV (High Definition Earth Viewing) experiment to space. It consists of four of the shelf HD video cameras in a common housing with a video encoder and router.
Today ISSs robotic arm extracted the box from the Dragons unpressurized cargo hold and mounted it outside of the Columbus module.
Direct link to the Ustream page.
The four cameras are mounted so that one camera is pointing forward into the stations velocity vector, two cameras to the back and one down towards the earth.
The housing insulates the cameras from the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space but will provide no significant shielding against radiation. That’s on purpose as the main reason for the experiment is to find out how none radiation hardened cameras, especially their sensors, will fare in this environment.
The video signal is encoded to a H264 stream for the downlink and broadcasted live on a ustream channel. The stream will show all four installed cameras in a preprogrammed sequence.
This is an interesting contribution in the race towards live satellite maps, several companies are now taking part in, as the possibility to use off the shelf camera would definitely limit the costs for such ventures.
