SPi-V
SPi-V (pronounced "spiffy") is a panoramic viewing engine that requires a video card with plenty of RAM and the Macromedia Shockwave plugin. Its purpose is to provide the smoothest and best VR viewing experience, but it does more than that. The SPi-V viewer is configured through XML files so that it can display special effects in addition to the normal panning and zooming of a panoramic image.
One of the most impressive examples of its special effects is Adaptive Dynamic Range (ADR), a technology that adapts the tonal levels according to the part of the image currently displayed. (Pan to an open window and the displayed image stops itself down automatically.)
In another technique, Focal Blur, panning the image makes the edges go out of focus but sharpens the central field of view, giving a strangely realistic simulation of how we actually see the world around us. These, and other effects, make SPi-V one of the most capable of all VR viewers currently available.
SPi-V can also show animated time lapse photography combined with panoramic viewing: most of the image remains static, but a figure in it can move.
Comment
Dutch developer Aldo Hoeben's fieldOfView website has not been updated for years, but the software remains what it always was: a revolutionary means of viewing photographs on a computer. Maybe it arrived a few years ahead of its time.
SPi-V still appears to be available for licensing to panoramic photographers and website developers, although it was made originally for the vendor's own customers. The images it displays are among the most innovative of all those on the web.
Tech info
- OS: Windows 98 upwards; Mac OS 9.X and OS X
- Price level: on request
fieldOfView
Established by Aldo Hoeben in The Netherlands, fieldOfView has pioneered new methods of displaying panoramic images. The fieldOfView products range from virtual tours to tailormade immersive technologies and experiences.
From the same vendor:
- SPi-V for Flickr
- Bridge Geotagger
©trl