RE: Unwrapping chrome ball pictures...

Date : Tue, 30 May 2006 14:56:13 -0500 (CDT)
To : XSI(at)Softimage.COM
From : Joe Laffey <joe(at)laffey.tv>
Subject : RE: Unwrapping chrome ball pictures...
On Tue, 30 May 2006, Martin Belleau wrote:

I see the difference when I polar coord it, in XSI I simply rotated 90
degrees in X (in environment node) Its far from perfect, but great for my
reflections. I'm also aware that I'll need to do this for all exposures
before combining into HDR.

Ultimately I want to try using a fish eye lens instead of a chrome ball...
putting the camera face up on the floor and taking a picture, then
re-slapping that on a hemisphere. Anyone have any experience using a fish
eye lens for this?


I have heard of some VFX guys using 2 shots from a 180deg fisheye lens. But we use a chrome ball and shoot it from two angles, 90 deg opposed (a la Dubevec). We get excellent results with this technique. Since you have to shoot two angles either way (and a full bracket of exposures to get HDR) I am not sure how the fisheye would save you time. I supposed you wouldn't also have to mount the ball on a stand, and perhaps you could get it into smaller areas, like larger miniatures.

Let us know what you are trying to achieve and maybe we can brainstorm some stuff together. I am always open to new ideas that will keep the ADs from screaming that the chrome ball takes too long ;-)

--
Joe Laffey                |       Visual Effects for Film and Video
LAFFEY Computer Imaging   |     -------------------------------------
St. Louis, MO             |       Show Reel http://LAFFEY.tv/?e01255
USA                       |     -------------------------------------
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