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links, news // 2011.10.14 08:59:31 [hh]

Wirf und Knips: Kameraball knipst Rundum-Panorama am höchsten Punkt

"Camera Tossing" mal anders: das "Throwable Camera Array for Capturing Spherical Panoramas" - eine Diplomarbeit von von Jonas Pfeil, Kristian Hildebrand, Carsten Gremzow, Bernd Bickel und Marc Alex (TU Berlin) - macht (wie der Name schon andeutet) dank 36 2-Megapixel-Smartphone-Kameras mit fixem Fokus im grünen Schaumstoff-Mantel Panorama-Bilder "im Wurf". Ausgelöst wird, wenn der Beschleunigungsmesser den Scheitelpunkt der Wurf-Kurve erkennt und der Ball sich für einen kleinen Moment am ruhigsten verhält. Die 36 Einzelbilder werden später am, PC zu einem großen Ganzen zusammengefügt.

Jonas Pfeil über seine Diplomarbeit: "Panoramic photography creates fascinating images. Very wide angle images are closer to the human field of view than conventional pictures. If seen through a panoramic viewer they let us experience a location as if we were there. Panoramic image stitching can create panoramas from pictures taken one after another. Unfortunately, acquiring the images takes a lot of time and moving objects may cause ghosting. It is also difficult to obtain a full spherical panorama, because the downward picture cannot be captured while the camera is mounted on the tripod.

In this work, we present a throwable panoramic camera that solves these problems. The camera is thrown into the air and captures an image at the highest point of flight - when it is hardly moving. The camera takes full spherical panoramas, requires no preparation and images are taken instantaneously. It can capture scenes with many moving objects without producing ghosting artifacts and creates unique images.

Our camera uses 36 fixed-focus 2 megapixel mobile phone camera modules. The camera modules are mounted in a robust, 3D-printed, ball-shaped enclosure that is padded with foam and handles just like a ball. Our camera contains an accelerometer which we use to measure launch acceleration. Integration lets us predict rise time to the highest point, where we trigger the exposure. After catching the ball camera, pictures are downloaded in seconds using USB and automatically shown in our spherical panoramic viewer. This lets users interactively explore a full representation of the captured environment.

We used the camera to capture full spherical panoramas at scenic spots, in a crowded city square and in the middle of a group of people taking turns in throwing the camera. Above all we found that it is a very enjoyable, playful way to take pictures."

Auch wenn es derzeit keine Pläne gibt, könnte der Ball für unter 100 Euro in den Handel kommen.

Direkter Link: jonaspfeil.de/ ballcamera

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