Panoramic view

mcflurry

I'd like to have some kind of a panoramic view of the interior of the model I'm doing in Sketchup. Is that possible? One way I thought of is to combine like 3 scenes and then edit it in Photoshop. I tried it but it's actually hard to position the camera. Does changing the field of view can help me here? Is there a ruby for that? I really have no idea how to do it. Hope someone can help. Thanks!

Gaieus

Hi, it's me again...

Install "cubicpanoout.rb" that you can download here. It will export 6 images (top, bottom, left, right, front, back) from your model "as you are" in it.
Install GoCubic to stitch these 6 photos into a QuickTime VR Panorama like this one (handy because you can embed a QT movie into a webpage and also, most of the computers have it installed).
Note that these 6 camera views can also be rendered in external, photorealistic renderers which can export SU cameras (like Kerkythea for instance).
Also, there are other apps (like some Flash based ones I've seen) that can also use these 6 images to stitch a panorama together.

One important note however: in the shadows dialog (Window menu) turn off "Display shadows" and only turn on "Use sun for shading" (in an interior, you won't see much difference in SU anyway) because there is a glitch that the top and bottom images render diifferently (darker as far as I remember) than the rest if shadows are on.

remus

If you want a more traditional panoramic picture, you could probably do it quite easily using look around (camera->look around.) Using this makes sure the camera stays in the same place so your exported pictures should match up a lot better when you go to stitch the together.

As you mentioned, increasing the field of view may help as well. Something like 55 degrees is a good starting point, although you'll probably want to play around a bit until you get something you like.

johnsenior1973

@mcflurry said:

Does changing the field of view can help me here? Is there a ruby for that? I really have no idea how to do it.

You don't need a ruby to change the field of view. Just click on Camera, then Field of View. An input box will appear at the bottom right of the window. Just type in the new field of view.

Gaieus

Or use the Zoom tool

combined with the Shift key.

sepo

You can make QT panorama with Podium as well. Here is an example. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/supodiumforum/vpost?id=3255585

Gaieus

Ah yeah, Podium (and as a matter of fact, IDX Renditioner, too) supports SU viewports (since both work from inside of SU).

I'll need to play around both (or all three in fact) to get some decent results, too.

wmanning

Another way in Renditioner is to simply set the image size how you would like it. Open image controls and make the render 4000 x 800 pixels, for example, and it uses those dimensions calculating from the center of the viewport.