Backstreet VR
Hello all!
How are you? I attach an earlier e-mail (below) requesting Backstreet (i.e., GuangLin Yi Lu) pics for my "Backstreet VR" project. It's been a few years, and publically available software tech continues to advance so I'd like to report on my progress.
If you head over to my blog (i.e., www.OnHongKongIsle.com), you'll see I've uploaded almost half a gig and 458 photos into the newly available Microsoft Photosynth service. You can also access directly. Apologies as you'll need a plug-in, and there have been constant server outages since Photosynth has been made available to home users so your experience may vary. This needs good net speed.
Actually with this much data, I'm way above the recommended content for rendering (>300 photos). As all computations are being done client-side, my graphics card and present notebook are woefully short of the minimums. Nevertheless some of the photos have been "stiched" together, and I look forward to trying with a stronger rig (and using later software updates) to see if I can get a better "synthy" score. It'd be nice to try this with a serious graphics card that also does "physics" calculations.
Of course, this isn't the real "VR" I have in mind. Every tree and building appears in at least five photos, so the next step is for this model to be more object oriented and aware. Yet I think that for 2008 (and for free) this isn't so bad.
The entire "Backstreet" is a rather complicated environment to render. In fact, I think we'll need several years yet until I can do this on the amateur level. Happy to see that the data set is especially rich however, as most "orphan" photos (i.e., those not "stitched") demonstrate the ability to be linked into the larger model yet! :)
I'll keep you posted!
As always, I'm still eager for Backstreet pics. Everything is useable, and I extend this to the SHUFE basketball courts and Hose shots as well. If any also want to send along any Christmas Party pics (i.e., 2004) or any other pics in my former room - while I was there - I'd appreciate it. I hope everyone is doing well.
Cheers,
Steve
On Wed, Jun 8, 2005 at 2:18 PM:
Hello all,
Many of us have a quaint and special love for the street that runs behind our campus. As the year closes, I'm looking for any and all photos of the "Back Street" that you might be willing to share. My idea is to create a directory of photos that - in fifteen to twenty years - I can have "Adobe VR" (using some sort of shared object analysis) stitch and render them together in a 3-D environment.
As you know, the Back Street is in a continual state of flux so this might be a near impossible task. But if you have any photos (even bad ones!), I'd be keen to take a copy off your hands. NB: Textures, sidewalk shots, close-ups of plants and trees, sounds or short snippets of video are all encouraged. Scanned photos are also admissible.
As always, my picture collection is open for sharing. I'm also interested in any shots of both campuses and International House II. "Have USB hard-drive, will travel."
Thanks for your help!
Take care,
Steve