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Take Hands-Free 360 Degree Panoramic Photos With an iPhone (Video)
In a way, this app is nothing but a cute gimmick. There are many apps that allow you to make panoramic photos on an iPhone, not to mention the panorama feature built into iOS6 -- and plenty for Android, too. But Cycloramic makes your iPhone spin around while standing on edge (on a smooth surface), which is a fine stunt and a great party trick. And it's endorsed by Steve Wozniak, which is a boast few iPhone apps can make. He calls it "Unexpected, fanciful, and useful all at the same time!" Even if it had no practical value whatsoever, you might want to blow 99 cents on Cyclorama just to watch your phone make you dizzy. Most Android phones won't stand on edge. (Tim's won't and neither will mine.) So an Android version would require a stand. Or at least a pattern so we could make our own stands out of cardboard or sheet plastic. But that's a "maybe," and apparently not likely to come along soon. For the moment we'll just have to envy iPhone owners as their phones magically spin around, taking photos now and then as they turn.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure iPhone is dying for users as is this app...
OR (now stick with me here) this is technically interesting and geeky.
(Not every article about a product or service is a Slashvertisment)
The reason this works is because the app knows exactly where the vibration unit is and where it behaves.
If you had a stand for an Android phone the app would have to be calibrated for the stand, and for the exact model of phone you have.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Everyone's upset about this story being a slashvertisement. Toss in a 3D printer and suddenly it's the future of humanity.
A 3D printer that can create rotating paper guns would be even better! Could make a sequel for that Jackal movie with Bruce Willis.
lucm, indeed.
It's a cool toy not an advertisement. Try doing something cool youself instead of just being an ass.
Here's the video you were probably expecting to see where the "spins the phone" feature is actually demonstrated rather than just talked about.
I suppose that's kind of neat, but probably not worth a six minute video in which the feature being talked about is never actually shown off.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
This brings to mind people who used to code with the physical parameters of the machine in question in mind. Seek times, rotating cylinders, the works.
For starters, this would be great for 3d miniature scenes or build a quick mockup using image-based-lighting by creating a latlong or vertical cross map. My "real" procedure involves shooting RAW via DSLR camera with a tele lens, a cumbersome chrome ball, and tripods.
I for one, see this as a welcoming "tool" than just a toy.
If you give Roblimo money, sure!
meatspin!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
A 3D printer that can create rotating paper guns would be even better! Could make a sequel for that Jackal movie with Bruce Willis.
You're just trying anything you can to get 3D printers banned, aren't you?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
You mean you don't want to take a panorama of your office or bedroom? Or maybe you can just hike to the top of a mountain with a folding table on your back. Better exercise that way.
Definitely more gimicky than practical.
This is a video of a guy talking about a video of a device.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Yeah, panorama is pretty much a fake (the built into ios6). Nobody can hold their arm/hand steady to even take a moving shot.
Both the article and the app, shows there's more possibilities in ordinary/unexpected things. Excellent hack.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
Actually, it (also?) works by using the vibration characteristics of the iPhone 5:
http://cycloramic.com/tutorial.html
It is still stupid and more of a party trick than anything else, but it doesn't require extra hardware.
I would normally agree with you about Slashvertisements, but this is a fun and interesting app. Sometimes, an app does something totally different. Talking about it doesn't necessarily mean they are trying to sell it to you. I wouldn't have ever thought to use the vibrations as a feature!
Tim makes most of the in-persona videos. I just edit and upload them. And neither of us take money (except from Slashdot) to make them.
Make an app or device that's amusing, cute, or both... and sure - we might make a video of it and you.
Not everything needs to be important. You don't like fun stuff?
Also: just because we like something doesn't make the story or video an ad.
I see that http://slashdot.org/~i+kan+reed posts mostly negative or sneering comments.
Some of us enjoy being positive more than being negative.
Thanks for your input,
- Robin
This isn't "talking about it" and I hate cell phones, so it's not really my thing either way.
If you are paying attention you'll notice all the Roblimo Slashvertisement spam and you'll see that lots of folks are not happy with it.
A suggestion: Why don't you just skip the videos entirely?
You obviously either don't read or comprehend the intros, and only look at the videos (if you do) to sneer at them.
Looking at https://slashdot.org/~RocketRabbit, just about anyone can see that you comment on Slashdot almost entirely to sneer at things; you are nearly 100% negative.
Note that a few noisy/obnoxious people dislike Slashdot videos, but 1000s & often 10s of 1000s of people seem to view and enjoy them.
If you want to go on being negative, that's up to you. But I strongly urge you to get a happier hobby for your own good.
Take care,
- Robin
PS - The videos aren't paid ads. You know that, right?
I thought iPhones were supposed to have rounded corners. How can they stand on edge? /snark
You have some fundamental problem with vibration?
Jealous or what?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Panorama of your next circle jerk perhaps?
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
I just find it fun to narrate the action as Slashdot swirls down the toilet bowl.
You have to understand, Rob, that Slashdot is only worth anything as long as it has readers, submitters, and commenters, and the current trend of whoring Slashdot out for a couple bucks on the street is not popular.
Anyway I expect that you know as well as I that this is mostly a sign of desperation on the part of Dice to get some sort of revenue flowing. Obviously SlashBI and whatever the hell you're calling the pathetic Slashdot Cloud "informational" site are not turning enough tricks to keep the pimps at Dice happy.
I have a couple of friends working at a company called "EyeSee360". They make pano mirrors ranging from a small optic that snaps onto your iPhone, to serious pro rigs that you can attach to 4K video cameras like Red's new offerings. Google them.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
being able to have your iphone do a perfectly level 360* panorama without any extra equipment is pretty cool. Especially since it is doing a bunch of image processing to decide where to stop (it's not just running the motor until the compass has told it that it has turned around)
Bottles.
It's not a toy for spinning a phone. It's software that spins a phone without any additional hardware needed. And does something useful with it too, that couldn't be done without the software. You can't take a panorama of people sitting around a table, by the hand holding method. Nor feature the person that would be holding the phone.
For the moment we'll just have to envy iPhone owners
Nope. No, we won't.
By the way, I saw someone use this app months ago and thought it was sort of neat but also a great way to damage your iphone when it takes a tumble.
Every time I go to a bar with friends.
Not only is a handheld panorama incapable of taking a shot of people around a table, ANY kind of handheld panorama misses out the person who's taking the shot. Which is usually the phone owner.
So it offers a little more than novelty. It offers a couple of things that were not possible with mobile phone panoramas before.
let them fondle their balls while they spasm with fanboi joy at this gimmick :P
RocketRabbit, you lost that little exchange badly. Roblimo came across as reasonable, you came across as a jerk.
Step 1: Obtain an iPhone.
Step 2: Get on a skydiving jump plane.
Step 3: At 10,000 feet hold camera out the door and yell at the pilot to do a 360! Continue to hold the camera being sure not to... whoops!
Step 4: Obtain a new iPhone. Go to step 2.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
There are always going to be those ''unhappy with themselves / their lives'' types, both here and in everyday life. Miserable s.o.b.'s that try to bring others down to the sad level that they keep themselves in, misery loves company types. I say, 'eff' 'em. Don't let the jerks of life get to you. Keep on doing the good work that you do here for your audience, since the majority of slashdot readers dig these stories, they just won't be the type to say it. All of you /. editors are appreciated by us, The unhappy types feel they need to try to put down others, probably because they're hurting inside themselves. But only if there's some audience, if they're alone, not so 'brave'. (Or they are just dumb kids screwing around, the modern day equivilant of the phony phone call.)
Thanks again guys, I love this site. S.F. :-)
It's definitely interesting. These guys wrote some code to do something with the phone that is not what the phone was designed to do and is unexpected. And it is cool that they do it with just what was in the phone. But I did watch a 7 minute video hoping to see the thing do its trick and ended up having to watch it on the website of the company.
Actually, it does require extra hardware. Except on really incredibly smooth surfaces perhaps, most iPhone 5s will just vibrate without rotating. A tutorial explains that in order to get better results, you should stick a small bit of tape onto the bottom between the microphone and the lightning connector. So yes, it does require hardware: a bit of tape.
Except for that fact that at such short distances there will be a fair amount of distortion with the images not lining up, warping straight lines a bit like the bridges on Apple Maps. And people will move during the time in between shots, no matter how hard they try to remain still, resulting in extra, missing or at the very least warped body parts. But that happens with any other stitching panorama method too.
So is posting on Slashdot about people wasting their time.
The iPhone 6 will have multiple vibrators precisely for that purpose. It will be able to stand up from a horizontal position and jump onto your bed to wake you up. Except after switching from/to DST of course. Also, new apps will pit iPhones against each other, trying to push each other off the table. Expect extra addons with hammers and circular saws, too.
You have some fundamental problem with vibration?
Is this one of those "chipped teeth" jokes?
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Except for that fact that at such short distances there will be a fair amount of distortion with the images not lining up
The images don't have to line up. They only have to cover a reasonable overlap. It's the job of panorama software to work out how to stitch them together, and they do a good job. And a handheld panorama swipe will be much further out of true than this, which is guided by a flat surface.
And people will move during the time in between shots, no matter how hard they try to remain still, resulting in extra, missing or at the very least warped body parts.
That's true. But these days people enjoy photographic artefacts - it's the reason Instagram is so successful. e.g. Some people will deliberately move around the table so they feature in the panorama twice.
The images don't have to line up. They only have to cover a reasonable overlap. It's the job of panorama software to work out how to stitch them together, and they do a good job.
I tried it, and straight lines relatively close to the camera (a few meters) were warped badly. Edges and objects were often duplicated, torn and/or warped. It only becomes acceptable a bit further out. So if you let the phone rotate on a table, you are guaranteed to get artifacts around the edges of the table and any objects on it. But for an actual "panorama" (far away), it works really well.
So, in the face of that, do you specifically deny that you(or your employers) are payed for what you specifically post on slashdot?
I mean, the post you were addressing had one premise, and it's odd that you attacked me for my tone rather than addressing the point. I'm well past the point that an attempt at publish shaming is going to shut me up. I'd much rather have answers.
This obviously requires the most perfect conditions to do what this advertisement says it does. I tried it on every table in my home and all I did was shake loose some embedded dust and annoy the cat. The phone never moved.
That looks great, but it is a toy, rather than a tool. I can see it being used in vidoes though, just take a panoramic of everything form now on and than turn it into a vid....