Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/50188
of a larger area, creating perhaps a hundred images that are later stitched together. Imagine a large, highly detailed image of a monstrous shopping plaza that enables you to zoom in on a tiny crack in a store window, a pothole in the parking lot or a rusty bolt in an entrance door, and see it as if you were standing inches away. ROBOTS ASSIST IN THE PROCESS A gigapan image can be created by using a handheld digital camera with a zoom lens or with the use of the GigaPan Robot. The GigaPan Robot unit is the creation of NASA and Carnegie Mellon University's robot lab. A version that works with most inexpensive zoom-capable digital cameras will cost about $325. When using a GigaPan Robot: • Mount it on a tripod • Stand the digital camera upon the robot • Instruct the robot to take hundreds of zoomed-in pictures of the area of interest Utilizing the robot is beneficial when more than 40 separate images need to be taken to capture the target area. IT'S ALL ABOUT TECHNIQUE The technique for creating a gigapan image, whether you generate the encompassing images by holding the camera or by using the GigaPan Robot, include: • Select the area you wish to gigapan, and visualize it in columns • Zoom in on the upper left corner of the area www.iltanet.org Tech Potpourri 25 • Take a photo • Holding the camera in the same position, tilt it slightly down, overlapping the previous image by one-third, and take another photo • Continue this method down the first column of the area you wish to gigapan, overlapping each of the previous images by one-third • Move up to the second column of the selected area and follow the same technique used for the first column • Continue collecting images down each column until the whole area you wish to gigapan is captured For a large area, you might end up with 100 to 200 or even 1,000 images, each a zoomed-in close-up of a portion of the area. A STICH AWAY The next step is to stitch these images together. The GigaPan Robot comes with GigaStich software. A good free stitching program is produced by Microsoft called I.C.E. You can download this program on a PC (it doesn't work on a Mac, but Photoshop has a very good stitching program), and simply drag and drop all of the images into the stitching program. A seamless whole image that allows for zooming in on a wonderful array of detail will be created. With this, you have a photograph (gigapan) that is worth a billion words! ILTA click here to view some example gigapans