Also not photos

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Saturday October 29 2016

More work on that increasingly world-spanning Destinations - a couple more non-photos for you to explore. The full-3D versions are included with recent Destinations updates, while those of you lacking the necessary virtual reality goggles can feast your unfortunate virtuality-deprived eyes on these 2D screenshots of 3D scenes:

Tower Bridge - the Thames was remarkably non-smelly. Now I can be at the office while at home. THE HORROR.

If you still haven't already discovered the magical secret 3D capture device hidden inside your existing digital SLR, more documentation is available - this time on Advanced Indoors Photogrammetry. Exciting.

And if you don't have a dSLR? YOU'RE WEIRD. Although decent mirrorless efforts are also acceptable. Just.

Edit 2016-10-30: now with another bonus random YouTube video recording!

Tower Bridge via Valve's Destinations

Hello, you either have plugins turned off or an old version of Macromedia's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

This is not a photo

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Friday June 17 2016

I think you're all witnessing the future of my holiday photography - here's a VR-enabled, photogrammetric scan of Thingvellir National Park, Iceland as photographed in August 2015 and processed just recently with Reality Capture.

Click here for bigger. Click the other link for actual life-size.

Yes, I'm testing out workflows and tools for that Destinations thing wot I'm working on. Enjoy!

Edit 2016-06-18: I tried finding a source photo which matches the screenshot shown above, for comparison purposes - it turns out there isn't one. That view is completely synthetic. Oooer.

Edit 2016-07-01: Now with an advanced outdoors photogrammetry tutorial!

Get your arse to Mars - and now everywhere else too

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Friday June 10 2016

Anyone for a Workshop-enabled, virtual reality scene-sharing system? In an initial step towards some sort of dystopian metaverse (that, or glorious virtual tourism across our planet and beyond), please welcome the latest thing wot I've been working on - the Source 2-powered Destinations.

Destinations

Includes an improved, updated version of the photogrammetric Mars scene shown at the Museum of Flight's Spacefest event late last year, and relayed in degraded form here via the medium of random YouTube video:

SPAAAAACE

Hello, you either have plugins turned off or an old version of Macromedia's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

There's also a tranquil, digitised scene of a wintry, sunlit Derbyshire churchyard (Seattle failed to provide much in the way of ancient architecture) and, most importantly of all - whatever everyone else across the internet uploads. So if you've got a hankering to capture the world and share it virtually with others, here's your chance.

Edit 2016-06-14: now with bonus Scott Manley!

That 'reality' thing was overrated anyway

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Tuesday April 5 2016

Something I've been busy with for a while is finally released:

A glimpse of the future.

Hello, you either have plugins turned off or an old version of Macromedia's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

I've been using the HTC Vive (from dodgy 3D-printed prototypes onwards) for over a year now, and it still feels like magic. Science fiction looks staid by comparison. Being able to effortlessly walk around - and interact with - another world, be it imagined or captured, using consumer hardware? Wow. Don't just look at it as a gaming platform - this is something new entirely. It's hacking the human senses into believing the impossible.

May contain glimpses of previously seen imagery!

Edit 2016-04-06: snippets also appear in the closing credits of BBC 2's Newsnight for the 6th April. Shitting crikey. I suspect Auntie likes stuff wot I do.

2016-03-22

posted in General by Cargo Cult on Tuesday March 22 2016

Solidarity