Advanced Interactive Media/Other Topics/Interactive Photography

In the year 1826, the first photograph ever taken was developed by Nicéphore Niépce. The picture was not that clear and it took over 8 hours to expose.

Since then photography has expanded by leaps and bounds [1]. In the 1990's. Quicktime introduced the Quicktime VR, which allows you to create an almost interactive photograph that emulates a 3D space. This surprised everyone, and the technology was so new. Photography has now been taken to another level using VRs again. To create a VR, a photographer must set a tripod up with a specialized head. The photographer precedes to take shots of the surrounding environment at various angles. The photographer must then import the photos into a "VR stitcher", where they will "stitch" together the shots taken in the field to produce a single spherical scene that can then be navigated in Quicktime. A company named Z360 introduced time-lapse VRs. It is a VR environment with moving pictures or action moving in the pictures. "Z360 is a company that combines photographic imagery and digital delivery to create dynamic and informative displays for on-line communication. Unlike many multimedia developers, we provide a complete service, allowing us to control quality and create an efficient workflow specifically tailored to your requirements. This site shows a wide range of examples which mostly require Quicktime, but look out for Java or Flash examples. In the age of broadband, we believe our approach becomes increasingly valuable, providing a fast, immersive and truly user led experience"[2]. Their Motion Vr and Panorama VJ are ingenious.

Motion VR (http://z360.com/motion/prim.htm)

Panorama VJ (http://z360.com/vj/bad.htm)

The future of interactive photography will excite even the novice photographer. As more and more software becomes available, photography is dramatically moving toward becoming a completely digital media.