If you're an experienced user of the GigaPan Stitch or Upload software, that allows users to create zoomable panoramic images with billions of pixels, and upload them to share with others through the web, then you might be interested to know:
Today we are releasing a technical manual for the GigaPan Stitch and Upload software.
This is a technical manual for the GigaPan software products Stitch, Stitch.Efx, and Upload. This document is intended to complement the introductory tutorial at http://gigapan.com/cms/manuals, to help those who are more advanced photographers, or experienced Photoshop users, pushing the limits of what is possible, or encountering trouble. In addition to a fairly complete discussion of the software’s features, some of the operations going on behind the scenes are described. The four chapters of the document are Overview, Stitch, Upload, and History. At the end of the latter chapters you will find troubleshooting sections.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview What do Stitch and Upload do? What do Stitch and Upload not do?
Stitch Quadtrees Stitch Work Flow Mega / Giga / Tera Photographic Issues Computer Issues License Keys, Trial Period, Versions Select Images – Basics Select Images – Image Rearrange (Efx only) Stitching Alignment Projections Vignette Correction Blending Viewer Stitch Notes Adjust Colors (Efx only) Upload in Stitch Export Save Projected Images (Efx only) Stitch’s Command Line Options Picture File Formats Huge GigaPans, Performance, and Disk Space Image Quality Troubleshooting Stitch
Upload Network Problems and Proxies Upload of PSB and PSD Files Upload of Huge PSB & PSD Files – Advanced Managing Huge Uploads Geolocation Upload’s Command Line Options Troubleshooting Upload
After months of collaboration with Google, and to coincide with yesterday's 40th anniversary of the Landsat program, the Time Machine team is proud to showcase interactive timelapses of the Earth's surface. With them you can travel through time, from 1999-2011, to see the transformation of our planet.
Imagery from two different satellites were used, one from MODIS and the other from Landsat. Seeing is believing, and with this software (+ accompanying video tours) you can witness with your own eyes the rapid urban growth of areas like the state of Nevada in the US or Duabai in the Middle East, the deforestation of the Amazon in South America, and the drying of the Aral Sea in the Middle East. GigaPan Time Machine enables simultaneous exploration of space and time across massive datasets that could not previously be interactively explored. Highlights from Landsat: The rapid growth of Las Vegas, Nevada between 1999 and 2011 is visible in this Landsat timelapse tour. Landsat timelapse tour of the Amazon rainforest shows the spread of deforestation between 1999 and 2011. The drying of the Aral Sea between 1999 and 2011 depicted in this Landsat timelapse tour. Main site: http://timemachine.gigapan.org/
On Wednesday, May 23, 2012, PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY (PAECT) SouthWestern Chapter held its first Regional Event. This “Taste of Technology” TECH and TELL was held at St. Louise de Marillac School in (Upper St. Clair) Pittsburgh, PA from 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M.
Zee Ann Poerio, Technology Teacher for K-8 at St. Louise de Marillac, was the host and event chair. Ken Klase, principal of St. Louise de Marillac School welcomed everyone and Dr. Shirley Campbell, Past President of PAECT, thanked everyone for attending.
Following a light technology themed dinner with APPetizers, BYTE sized sandwiches, computer potato CHIPS to munch, and COOKIES, the attendees were invited to a visit a student showcase which featured technology from Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab. http://www.cmucreatelab.org/ An exhibit featuring a Robotic Ancient Coin made by the STL Student Technology Team using the ARTS & BOTS (formerly Robot Diaries) - Hummingbird Kit was displayed for human robot interaction. Also, 8th grade student, Tom W., invited attendees to attempt challenges he programmed for the FINCH, another robotic device. A GigaPan was on display along with a large print for attendees to post comments. Jillian G. and Francesca G., eighth grade students, also volunteered at the event. They demonstrated how Turning Technologies http://www.turningtechnologies.com/ response devices or “clickers” can be used in the classroom, and they assisted in registering teachers with EDMODO http://www.edmodo.com/ accounts to prepare for the workshop.
Dan Plesco of Direct Tech Solutions explained the benefits of using a Meraki Wireless Access Point. The access point was installed that day and attendees were able to see how quickly schools could benefit from the technology. SWPAECT members presented the attendees with a “taste of technology” that they could put to use in the upcoming school year. Attendees learned how to power their classes with EDMODO http://www.edmodo.com/ (Zee Ann Poerio, K-8 Technology Teacher), engage their students with the new SMART Notebook 11 http://smarttech.com/notebook11 (Brandie Boback, Certified SMART Trainer), and use Twitter http://twitter.com/ for the Classroom and PD (Silvina Orsatti, IT Specialist.) The session ended with a TECH & TELL where attendees shared their favorite web tools.
Thanks to the following organizations for donating these fantastic door prizes:
Smart SolutionTechnologies, L.P. Smart Board Interactive Whiteboard SB680 Smart Board or Smart Response Training http://smarterguys.com/
Special thanks to Dom Salvucci who joined us via SKYPE to share his experiences with Edmodo, Jana Baxter of SW PAECT, St. Louise de Marillac School administration and staff, and Theresa Enyeart, Toni Luvara, and Jean Rowles for their help on the day of the event. This event was FREE for PAECT Members and $5.00 for Non–Members. Attendees received PA ACT 48 credit and left with “cookies” (to eat) and great ideas to share with their colleagues and use immediately in their classrooms.
Photos from this event can be viewed here: (Created with ANIMOTO http://animoto.com/ another great web tool!)
Submitted by Zee Ann Poerio, SW PAECT Member (Event Planning Committee) Teacher, St. Louise de Marillac Catholic School
Kelluwen is a project aimed to develop didactic experiences involving social web tools in schools under poverty in southern Chile. We are making pilots, twice a year, involving several schools from different cities in southern Chile. Some of these classrooms are running special instructional designs using GigaPan Edu equipment and site.
Profesora Johanna Valenzuela y sus estudiantes de Séptimo Básico del Colegio Pumanque en el límite entre Puerto Montt y Alerce.
Profesor Claudio Villarroel y sus estudiantes de Octavo Básico de la Escuela Particular Horizonte (en las faldas del volcán Calbuco, entre Alerce y Colonia Río Sur).
Estudiantes de Octavo Básico que se preparan para una foto de muestra cuando comienzan su experiencia de Fotografiando la Revolución Industrial - Escuela Particular Horizonte.
The challenge: Gigapixel imaging can reveal a surprising range of animal and plant species in the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary settings in which we live, learn, and work. Your challenge is to capture panoramas of Nearby Nature and share them with your peers at gigapan.org for further exploration. We hope that shared panoramas and snapshotting will help the GigaPan community more deeply explore, document, and celebrate the diversity of life forms in their local habitats.
Gigablitz timing: The event will take place over a 7-day period – a gigablitz – that aligns with the June solstice. Please capture and upload your images to the gigapan.org website between 6am, June 20 and 11pm, June 26 (your local time).
Juried selections: Panoramas that meet the criteria below are eligible for inclusion in the science.gigapan.org Nearby Nature collection. The best panoramas will be selected by a jury for publication in an issue ofGigaPan Magazine dedicated to the Nearby Nature collection. Selection criteria are as follows:
Biodiversity: the image is species rich.
Uniqueness: the image contains particularly interesting or unique species, or the image captures a sense of the resilience of life-forms in human-dominated settings.
Nearby Nature context: image habitat is part of, or very near, the everyday places that people inhabit.
Image quality: the image is of high quality and is visually captivating.
Subjects and locations: The gigablitz subject may be any “nearby” location in which you have a personal interest: schoolyard garden, backyard habitat, balcony planter, village grove, nearby remnant woods, vacant lot meadow next door and others. Panoramas with high species richness (the range of different species in a given area) that are part of everyday places are especially encouraged. It is the process of making and sharing gigapans that will transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Here are 3 things to keep in mind when choosing a place:
The panorama should focus on organisms in a habitat near your home, school or place of work.
Any life-forms are acceptable, such as plants, insects, and other animals.
Rich, sharp detail will encourage snapshotters to help identify organisms in your panorama. Thus, your gigapan unit should be positioned close to the subject habitat – within 100 feet (30 meters) away, and preferably much closer. Up close mini-habitats in the near-macro range are welcome.
Submission information: You may submit as many panoramas as you wish. Each panorama should be accompanied by the following:
A title that includes the location where the image was captured.
3 required tags:
“nearbynature” = tag #1 (a single word)
“June” = tag #2
“2012” = tag #3
A brief statement (less than 100 words) on your thoughts about the image. Please include your name. Your affiliation is optional. For example:
Why did you choose this subject?
What is its context?
Did you discover anything interesting while you made the image or examined it in detail?
Google Earth geolocation is encouraged but not required.
Snapshot titles and description: Once you upload your submission, we encourage you to snapshot all the organisms that you can. Clear snapshot titles will help the jury to consider your submission. For example, if you find a frog in your panorama, the following words should be shown in the snapshop title: “nearbynature” (a single word) and “frog”. If you wish to include more information, please do so in the snapshot description box. Don’t worry about getting too specific – visiting snapshotters will help you identify the diversity of life in your panorama. Your ability to correctly identify organisms is not a criteria for jury selection.
I'm Marielle Saums, a student at Carnegie Mellon University and a Project Leader for SIFE: Nicaragua. Our group spent ten days in the community of Rosa Grande, Nicaragua conducting education and art initiatives this past May. Our initiatives are developed with the help of Bridges to Community staff as well as recommendations from community members and leaders in Rosa Grande. Our specific accomplishments this year were conducting art classes with young students and computer workshops with teachers. We also helped build latrines, pro-respiratory stoves, and the beginnings of the new community library.
SIFE: Nicaragua seeks to foster community dialogue between Rosa Grande and Pittsburgh, and the opportunity to use Gigapan allowed us to map out the community in a way that is accessible to the public on a global scale. Understanding the layout of Rosa Grande is not only helpful for our own group members to plan future projects, but it also served to capture the community at a critical time of growth and transition.
Community members were quite interested and inquisitive about the Gigapan equipment. When I used the Gigapan to photograph the education buildings, the students were eager to appear in multiple shots! Parents and community leaders were also excited about being able to view the Gigapans online, as Rosa Grande recently acquired laptops and (limited) internet access through the European Union.
While the Gigapan equipment is quite easy to use, there were still unanticipated setbacks that hindered my ability to take more images. The lack of access to a steady electrical supply made it difficult to recharge the Gigapan scanner and digital camera. I also had to account for poor lighting conditions, as few homes can afford lighting, and prevent the stray farm animal from knocking over the tripod as I shot images. However, these inconveniences were an important reminder of the many resource limitations that rural communities face as they establish development projects.
People in Rosa Grande have experience with using visual methods to identify areas of social need. In addition to the SIFE: Nicaragua art workshops, local citizens have also collaborated with a group from the University of Virginia using PhotoVoice photography methods. If the Rosa Grande's internet accessibility improves, then the Gigapan website can be another method for crowd-sourcing solutions and providing informed perspectives about life in Rosa Grande. I also hope that the Gigapans will convey the commitment and passion evident in the many community-driven projects, from stoves to art classes. The images also try to provide an idea of what SIFE:Nicaragua experiences in Rosa Grande and how we are able to contribute to the community. We are always seeking potential partnerships in both Rosa Grande and Pittsburgh and you can learn more about our work at sifenicaragua.tumblr.com
Best,
The SIFE:Nicaragua Team
[Image 1: Group shot of SIFE: Nicaragua, our host Don Agusto, and other community members] [Image 2: This shows me taking a Gigapan of the school and talking with students about the project.]
The June Harless Center for Rural Educational Research and Development, College of Education at Marshall University, held a year-end celebration showcasing Harless CREATE Satellite projects on May 17, 2012 from 6-8 in the Memorial Student Center’s Don Morris Room.
Featured projects included: the GigaPan Outreach Project, Arts and Bots, Hear Me, and Message From Me. In addition, a new WaterBot project was introduced. GigaPan enables students to take GigaPan panoramic images of their communities and activities and share them with peers across the world. Arts and Bots is a customized robot designed to integrate technology, literature, and history through the use of art supplies, circuit boards, lights, motors and sensors. Hear Me seeks to amplify kids voices using media and technology to create a world where kids are heard, acknowledged and understood, thereby giving them the power to inspire change in their lives, communities and the world. WaterBot is a citizen scientist project that prototypes a low-cost, easy and mobile method to monitor water quality, empowering communities, educators and children to monitor their watershed systems.
The Harless CREATE Satellite grant, which was funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, provides rural Appalachian schools continuous and seamless access to technologies, educational resources and ideas generated at the CREATE Lab in Pittsburgh. In addition it enabled teachers to integrate cutting edge technology into existing curriculum.
Schools showcasing projects are from the Marshall University Professional Development Partnership Schools and include the Early Education STEM Center, Huntington High, Kellogg, Guyandotte and Ceredo Elementary schools, Beverly Hills, Milton, Barboursville Middle schools, as well as Cherry River Elementary in Nicholas county, Beverly Elementary in Randolph county and South Point High School in Ohio.
Kyempapu is a grassroots non-profit organization that is committed to community development, environmental management, and poverty alleviation in Kirinda, Uganda and its surrounding communities. Kyempapu was founded in 2009 and works out of Kirinda, Kitanda sub-county, about 140 kilometers from Kampala.
Kyempapu would like to welcome volunteers from all over the world.
Accommodation is free and you can apply herewww.kyempapu.wordpress.com We work with schools, communities ,youth groups and women in the fields of education, sports, health and social work so whoever is interested should contact us. Below are some of the pictures of our students. Kindly contact me in case this information is not enough to bring it out clearly.
Sylvia was introduced to CREATE lab through one of our gigapan Dialogues teacherAlejandra Lorenzo-Chang, International Program Coordinator at the Waldorf School of Baltimore. Sylvia and her team is working to implement gigapan in the Uganda area and asked us to post this information to our blog. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me Clara Phillips clara@cmu.edu or Sylvia Namukasa:sylviabofry@gmail.com
Mathias demonstrating the Gigapan to some KYEMPAPU volunteers.
HUNTINGTON -- Most daycares have snack time, nap time and all sorts of games, but the Marshall University Early Education STEM Center has all of that, along with robots and voice activated technology that its Pre-K students are not only playing with but are helping build almost on their own.
That technology and those students were on full display during a family night event Thursday at the STEM Center in Corbly Hall on Marshall University's Campus.
Specifically, students were eager to engage in activities that made their way to Marshall's campus thanks to a partnership with the Create Lab at Carnegie Mellon, which includes three main projects called GigaPan, Hear ME and Message from Me, said Tarabeth Brumfield, the director of the Early Education STEM Center.
"All of these activities have so many ways to engage these kids in using technology," Brumfield said. "These are kids who have had technology be a part of their lives from the start, and they aren't scared or intimidated by any of it."
Brumfield was especially excited for the Message from Me Center, which allows the students to wirelessly upload photos by themselves, create a message to go with it and send the photo and message via text or email to someone from a list of people including their STEM teachers, their classmates and their parents.
The Message for Me machine is one of thirty in existence, Brumfield said.
"It's a neat way for them to engage their school life into their home life," she said. "It's a fun way to share what they're doing with their parents while they're learning."
Parker Adkins, a 4-year-old STEM student, operated the Message for Me machine like a pro, and his parents, Nisa and Shawn Adkins, said they've seen so many changes since their son began attending daycare at the STEM center.
"We wanted to send him to a place where we knew he wouldn't fall through the cracks, where he could get one-on-one attention, and he's gotten that here," Nisa Adkins said. "He's opened up so much, and there's so much difference in the way he deals with problems and works through things. The whole thing is just great."
This gigapan by Clare M. shows Caroline with three legs! We were shooting street scenes in East Liberty and the East Liberty Presbyterian Church; we are slowly but surely gathering images of places of worship along with other various landscapes and urbanscapes.
