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19
23
rd
SEPTEMBER 2010 Day Three
world of imaging
2010
the marketing skills to reach consumers through a B2C business model,
having grown their business in a B2B market. However, some of
these “newcomers” have chosen to become production facilities only,
partnering with marketing companies. The UK based Minotaur Group
only began photobook production at the end of 2009 but already expects
2010 sales to be in the multi-million British Pound level. The company
has developed a unique free downloadable smartphone application that
lets users create an A6 (145 x 105mm) photobook with 15 photos. The
photobook is completed within one working day after being received by
the company.
Are “hardcopy” photobooks enough? They certainly have
limitations: they can only contain photos and text., and they cannot
be viewed remotely. Are we ignoring “digital” photobooks that could
also include video clips, music, animation, audio/voice and even
hyperlinks? The concept of creating a digital photobook that could
be accessed from any digital television merely by using the remote is
not new. It was suggested by CeWe Color three years ago, although it
has not been commercialized because of the slow rate of adaption for
digital TVs in Europe. We have been optimistically projecting that this
market segment would grow rapidly, but have been disappointed by the
lukewarm interest of the photo-imaging industry. Our current estimates
and forecast for the market, including those CD/DVs that are made in
conjunction with hardcopy photobooks, is shown in the Figure.
Hopefully, we are now being too pessimistic. However, it would
be sad to see this developing market segment migrate to the consumer
electronics/entertainment companies after all the investment that our
industry has made in teaching consumers worldwide how much fun it is
to record their life events as a story rather than as individual pictures.
Don Franz
Immersive Imaging at Photokina in IVRPA Booth
I
n the 19
th
century, artists painted large-scale,
realistic scenes on the inside of a cylinder.
Standing in the middle of the cylinder, a
viewer would feel as if he was seeing a distant
place because the image wrapped around him
lling his vision. They were called cycloramas
from the Greek words cycl to circle and orama
to view. Dozens of cyclorama buildings, either
circular or hexagon-shaped, were constructed in
cities throughout North America and Europe by
the late 1800’s.
Apple brought such an immersive visual
experience to the computer monitor when they
introduced QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality)
in 1994. QTVR also introduced something
new - virtual objects that could be rotated and
viewed from all sides on a computer monitor.
During the late 1990’s a number of companies,
including IPIX, offered immersive imaging
solutions. More recently, most of the companies
that had been instrumental in promoting
virtual reality immersive imaging have either
disappeared of lost interest in the technology.
My friend Scott Highton is based in the San
Francisco bay area and was the rst outside
photographer brought in by Apple Computer to
use, evaluate and test QuickTime VR. He was
also one of the earliest photographers to work
with Internet Picture’s PhotoBubble technology
(IPIX). In his new book Virtual Reality
Photography - Creating Panoramic and Object
Images, Scott shares his extensive knowledge
about every aspect of successful panoramic and
object VR photography in 24 detailed chapters.
His web site, Virtual Reality Photography
(www.vrphotography.com), is an online
international resource for information about
interactive photography, immersive imaging and
photographic virtual reality (VR).
I recently asked Scott for his views on the
future of virtual reality immersive imaging.
He said, “Immersive imaging and interactive
VR photography have, for some time, been on
the verge of explosive growth. I think that time
may now be upon us. Most of the obstacles of
the past - restricted bandwidth, lack of format
standards, difculty of production - have been
mitigated, if not eliminated in recent years.”
“Today, we are seeing the use of VR
photography across a broad spectrum of
commercial industries, from real estate, travel,
and hospitality, to manufacturing (automotive,
aircraft, boating etc.), entertainment, scientic
study, and education. Software applications
such as PTGUI (www.ptgui.com) and others
have made the assembly of seamless VR
panoramas easy enough for almost anyone to
do. Panoramic image sequences for stitched
assembly can be shot with almost any camera
and lens combination using with VR pan heads
such as those from Manfrotto (www.manfrotto.
com), Nodal Ninja (www.nodalninja.com),
Peace River Studios (www.peaceriverstudios.
com), and Kaidan (www.kaidan.com).”
He continued, “It’s an exciting time to be a
VR photographer. The opportunities for use of
interactive photography abound. It will be the
creative visual storytellers who succeed in these
markets (much like with traditional still and
motion photography). There are tremendous
choices available for good equipment (cameras,
grip, and lighting gear), as well as software
options. All the tools are out there today... it’s
simply up to the photographer to choose them
and use them well.”
You can experience virtual reality
photography yourself at Photokina in the
IVRPA booth in Hall 4.1 Stand A010. The
International Virtual Reality Photography
Association (IVRPA) represents more than
400 panoramic photographers world-wide
and their booth will feature an exhibition of
panoramic prints and gigapixel prints; a display
of interactive VR panoramas on monitors and
video projectors; as well as public workshops
on VR photography given by IVRPA staff and
sponsors.
Fred Shippey