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I don't know what you're talking about. With a proper pano head and some decent stitching effort you can create 'perfect' panoramas without distortion. It helps to have the right equipment and knowledge though. Most panoramas out on the web are unfortunately shot on a regular tripod (which does not pivot around the right point) or worse, handheld, and stiched using some low quality automatic stitching software (Ulead 360, etc)...

Using something that actually *works* like panotools and good wide angle lenses, you can whip up good looking shots with minimal effort.

Here's one of my first 360's made with two shots and a lens with a 183 degree FOV. There are some problems with the horizon due to it being in the extremeties of the picture, but aside from the lack of resolution, it is pretty much seamless except for one small area by the sailboat where I simply could not get panotools to bend things right. If I'd have had more altitude with the kite, it would have been perfect. Next time I shoot one, it will be :) My shot was inspired by Scott Haefner's work on the same subject; however he has far more experience at it than I do (I have only made one shot).. If you really want to see some awesome stuff, check out his site.

I will take this opportunity to pimp my own cabinet, however I should also note that asking slashdot is a poor substitute for visiting and exploring the resources at Arcade Controls. The maintainer of the site also has compiled much of the knowledge and experience collected there into a nice book. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. If there's something that's not covered, ask in the forums there. It's a far more appropriate place.

You did realize that I built an entire microcontroller-based computer from scratch to allow the machine to meter and vend kegged beer, right?

You did realize that I built an entire microcontroller-based computer from scratch to allow the machine to meter and vend kegged beer, right?

I have a vending machine to try this on. It is a GIII Royal Vendors unit similar to all machines used by Coca Cola for about the past 10 years (though the faces have changed). First, The tumbler takes a 270 degree turn of the key to unlock. Every time you turn it past a set of pins, you'd have to re-pick the lock. To open this lock, you'd have to pick it proably upwards of 15 times -- Due to the design of the machine, it would be easier to physically pop or drill the cylinder itself. If you just want to steal the money out of it, you can just go through the lexan and use a crowbar to get at the coin changer and overflow box. Accessing the bill changer storage will require the lock to be removed.

Royal Vendors sells high security versions of these machines, though that put a large steel bar over the normal cylinder that can be locked with a padlock. They can also replace the lexan front with sheet steel and add plating around the front door to make it impossible to wedge a pry bar in there easily. My machine has the padlock bar and the side plating, but not the steel front.

Coke machines aren't really worth breaking into for the ~$100 or less that you could get out of them..

You use a fisheye lens with a 180 or greater FOV hanging from the kite pointing straight down, then you mesh it with a shot of the sky with the same lens pointed straight up. To make the pano, you need some software. I used a copy of Panotools (compiled without the FOV restriction; come sue me ipix) to do the stitching. PTPicker is a free java frontend for panotools or you can also use the excellent PTGui for windows or PTMac for mac which work a bit quicker than the java stuff.

I made one of these panoramas one time over a harbor in Maui, HI. The result is available on this page.

Because you can't make an image like this with one.

Besides, I actually have an X10 camera on there as a spotting camera. The video is total shit but it gets me pointed in the right direction. Even for video cameras those things are horribly sub par.. They have ~200 lines of resolution and fixed focus.

I have repeatedly stated that everyone involved in this hobby has to accept the risk associated with lifting a camera with a kite. You can do two things to help with this conundrum. 1) Buy cheaper hardware (this is the avenue you suggest) or 2) Plan more carefully and plan for more contingencies (This is the method I choose).

My rig has long fiberglass legs extending from the bottom and is designed to fall in such a way that it will orient itself to land on these legs. If it hits something hard the legs will hopefully bend and snap, transferring the energy into the upper aluminum frame of the rig. The camera will smack into the ground sure enough, but hopefully most of the energy from the fall will be dispersed into the less expensive parts making any damage the camera suffers minor in comparison to an unprotected fall. You know what? It worked, too. Probably careful planning saved me $650, even though poor pre-flight checks cost me $150 (I should have caught the bridle knot problem.)

I crashed my kite rig once too. I think it's kind of a rite of passage in the hobby. Lots of things can go wrong. This crash cost about $1 per foot fallen for the camera repair luckily. The camera was a Canon Powershot G2.

This has been a really fun hobby. I got into it after seeing a very old /. article about it. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to get out and do it for about a year, but I'm not done by far :)

BTW to the person who submitted about the 360deg aerials, I have made one as well. They are pretty difficult to get right, but they are singlehandedly the most awesome photos I have ever been able to take on a fairly shoestring photography budget.

More of my KAP stuff here for those curious.

I crashed my kite rig once too. I think it's kind of a rite of passage in the hobby. Lots of things can go wrong. This crash cost about $1 per foot fallen for the camera repair luckily. The camera was a Canon Powershot G2.

This has been a really fun hobby. I got into it after seeing a very old /. article about it. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to get out and do it for about a year, but I'm not done by far :)

BTW to the person who submitted about the 360deg aerials, I have made one as well. They are pretty difficult to get right, but they are singlehandedly the most awesome photos I have ever been able to take on a fairly shoestring photography budget.

More of my KAP stuff here for those curious.

I crashed my kite rig once too. I think it's kind of a rite of passage in the hobby. Lots of things can go wrong. This crash cost about $1 per foot fallen for the camera repair luckily. The camera was a Canon Powershot G2.

This has been a really fun hobby. I got into it after seeing a very old /. article about it. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to get out and do it for about a year, but I'm not done by far :)

BTW to the person who submitted about the 360deg aerials, I have made one as well. They are pretty difficult to get right, but they are singlehandedly the most awesome photos I have ever been able to take on a fairly shoestring photography budget.

More of my KAP stuff here for those curious.

Maybe you should also disclose that you run a small hosting company yourself that uses Linux and resell linux based services that would be in trouble if you had to license Linux from SCO for every install...

~GoAT~

For the extremely lazy, the X-Arcade folks are taking preorders on their trackball unit, which I believe includes a 3" trackball. They have not traditionally used happ buttons and joysticks in the past, so it's doubtful this ball will have the same feel as the happ balls on most golden tee machines.

If you do want the "real deal" you can get a 3" trackball from Happ Controls and to interface it you can buy an OptiPAC from Ultimarc, a usb interface from happ (a bit more expensive, though it supports 3 buttons unlike the OptiPAC) or you can even hack apart an old ball mouse and interface through that. Personally, I am using the Ultimarc OptiPAC with a Happ 3" ball on my own cabinet.

Incredible Technologies (makers of Golden Tee Golf arcade machines) used to publish a version of Golden Tee for the PC, though they themselves do not sell it anymore. You can get a copy from ebay for about 3-5 bucks, and there are some addon courses for sale also. The courses are from the arcade games Golden Tee 3D Golf and (the addons) Golden Tee Golf '97. The game supports network, modem, and internet play.

Though it's dated and the graphics are not as good as some of the newer titles, the price is right, and the experience is as close as you can get to the arcade if you want to practice your Golden Tee at home. I bought golden tee pc from ebay last week and have been having a lot of fun with it on the cabinet.

If you ever met this person, then you would realize that he very well could be a shrill homo little ball licking bitch....

~GoAT~