Fraunhofer’s HHI Panoramic 3D Configuration

Working with giant screens like IMAX typically requires special cameras configured for panoramic shooting, with a lengthy post stitching step.  However, once you move to 3D the typical setups break down because you have to get much more information in the frame:

Generating 3D video panoramas, however, is much more complicated. Whereas the stitching of each panorama for the left and the right eye requires a parallax-free recording of sub-images, the stereo representation itself needs a sufficient amount of parallax for proper 3D reproduction.

This problem is a tough one to solve, but Fraunhofer has come with a (Rather extreme) solution.  Combining cameras and mirrors into a omni-directional camera module, they can put multiples of them together in 24-degree increments to get all the way up to a 360-degree circle for a massive 15,000×2,000 pixel image.

Currently in a rough prototype, it looks like a truly mammoth camera to try to work with tho.

via Panoramic 3D a step closer – Newsletter3DMasters-content | TVBEurope Magazine Online & In Print.

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a computer graphics programmer and news junky that's been working in the field for the last 15 years. He's responsible for visualizations generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, ytnef, mullion support in ParaView, and VizWorld.com.