Creating Panoramas

Selecting Utilities > Image > Save Panorama opens the Save Panorama dialog box, which lets you create a panorama. Options for standard panoramas are:

• Cube — creates images that let you view forward, backward, left, right, up, and down.

• Cylinder — creates images that let you view all around horizontally.

When QuickTime is installed, the following additional panorama options are enabled:

• Object - Sphere — creates images that let you view the target object from any direction.

• Object - Top Hemisphere — creates images that let you view the target object from any position from horizontal to directly above.

• Object - Circle — creates images that let you view the target object from a fixed altitude.

• Object - Custom — lets you specify the minimum and maximum altitudes for viewing the target object.

For all QuickTime panorama types, the camera spins 360° about the target, with the panorama centered at the target location of the view you choose. The camera location defines the initial view direction. The distance from the target to the camera sets the radius of the object panorama. The number of frames created at each altitude is set by the Frames field in the Save Panorama dialog box.

QuickTime requirements

In order to enable the QuickTime VR functionality, a complete QuickTime installation must be loaded. That is, you must select Custom installation and install ALL components. A free version of QuickTime can be obtained from Apple Computer at: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/. Specifically, the libraries QTJavaNative.dll and QuickTime.qts must be present in the windows system32 folder in order for Save Panorama to be able to use the QuickTime VR formats.

If the QuickTime setup program does not let you install QuickTime for Java, it may be because the Java 2 Runtime Environment cannot be found on your computer. In this situation, you should exit from the QuickTime setup and install the Java 2 Runtime Environment. You can obtain this from http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/download-windows.html. Follow the instructions to download and install the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition. Once this has been installed, the QuickTime setup program should let you install QuickTime for Java.

Using Alternate QuickTime Video Codecs

QuickTime uses data codec components to compress image data that is written to the QuickTime VR movie files. The codec determines the data format used to store each image. The codec that is selected is the one that matches the format that you select for the output image. The following output formats have matching codec:

• JPEG

• TGA

• PNG

• BMP

• TIFF

If you select a file format that is not in this list, the TIFF codec is used by default. You may override the codec selection by setting the configuration variable MS_QTVR_CODEC_TYPE. When set, the codec defined by this variable is used, regardless of the selected output format. The configuration variable should be set to one of the following strings: jpeg, tga, png, bmp, or tiff.. Changes that you make to the configuration variable, MS_QTVR_CODEC_TYPE, take effect immediately. You do not have to restart MicroStation.

1. Turn on the view camera in the required view, with the eyepoint set at the point for the first view.
   For a panorama to be created, the view camera must be turned on.


2. Select Utilities > Image > Save Panorama to open the Save Panorama dialog box.


3. Adjust settings in the dialog box as required.


4. Click Save.