Ortery PhotoCapture 360
Jun 13th, 2010 | By SimonI’ll be the first to admit that it does not take very long to setup the PhotoCapture 360 and being your photo session converting still life images to 3D animations.
I should note that the Ortery PhotoCapture 360 software will only install if the device is connected to your PC via USB and has been turned on.
I first started to install the program using the Autorun but after getting to the actual step where it says to install the PhotoCapture 360 Image Creator I wasn’t able to click on the Install or Click Here button. It was a tad strange but the work around is to “Explore the CD” and execute the “PhotoCapture 360 Setup” link. The Autorun program does seem to have a few extra steps including how to install the turntable and adjust your camera settings but all of that is actually covered in PhotoCapture 360 software as well.
The PhotoCapture 360 setup only covers the program installation but you can go through the camera setup through the software or read the photography tips through the PDF file embedded on the disc.
During the installation program it will have prompted you for the type of camera you are using – in my case I have an Canon EOS camera. This means from the very time you run the program you can start taking photos and building 3D animations. It really is that simple.
Using the preview button I’ve pointed my camera to my 50mm macro lens sitting on the rotating platform and the camera settings are displayed for me to preview and even change.
The software does not know that I’ve got an external flash mounted to the camera but it is triggered each time a photo is taken. Once a single snapshot has been taken you can edit the photo or save it.
You can also modify a number of other options: image quality, watermarks, auto power off, send options, program link (to Photoshop, MS Paint, etc.), image export, preview or FTP upload settings.
Now it’s time I got to the heart of this review. You didn’t spend money taking still pictures on a rotating platform, you bought the PhotoCapture 360 to create 360° animations and to do that all you need do is grab your object of interest and hit press the 3D Mode located at the top right of the screen.
As I mentioned earlier, this process is incredibly simple. Once you’ve started the 3D Mode, press the “Create 360 Animation”. You will be asked to select rotation speed and direction. The default settings work perfectly fine but feel free to change and try the different modes depending on the item you are shooting.
The first important step when using the 3D Animation Creator is lining up the turntable and item with your camera. If you’re not centered the animation will rotate around an axis and drift or wobble across the screen. In the picture below I’ve moved my camera off axis to exaggerate the effect. If you press the Position button the program will help you align the turntable and the product properly. You can also press the Rotate 360 button to have the turntable rotate to check for alignment. Once you are happy with the positioning click on Next. The advanced features provide some additional tips to help align everything.
The next step is to select your animation file name, size and resolution. You can choose up to 600 pixels wide with a resolution up to 300 dpi: the larger your image and the higher the resolution the larger your file. Not everyone has high-speed internet so depending on your application you may not need a large image size or a higher resolution.
To create a seamless animation you’ll want to take more pictures during the rotation. The minimum is four pictures which means each shot will capture a quarter of the product. Sometimes this may be enough but other times you may want to increase that number. The maximum number of shots is 200 which is one picture per 1.8 degrees of rotation. This high number would be necessary for pictures of intricate details.
Unless you specify otherwise, the photos will be taken as soon as the turntable is done rotating. This may not work where items sway. You can impose a timelapse on this next settings page and you can also change the rotation direction. Once you’ve finished this last step the pictures taking process will begin. Depending on how many pictures you’ve opted to shoot over the rotation, it takes a few minutes to complete.
Once all the photos have been taken you can preview or edit them before moving onto the stitching of the pictures into a 360° animation.
The files can be saved in one of six ways. You can create a GIF animation, Flash (SWF) animation, Annotate (JPG), Export Images (JPG), Send or Print (JPG) or Edit (JPG) the files. The files will not be saved until you click on the Finish button but once that is completed you can preview your work.
Using my off-center 50mm macro lens this was my first 3D animation saved in GIF format.
This 600×400 animation was created using 12 images taken with 150 dpi resolution. You can see that the image is wobbling because the turntable and product were not properly aligned. After the Image Creator software was installed it only took me 15 minutes to navigate through the settings and create that first animation. With another 5 minutes of lining up the turntable and product properly with my camera, my second animation showed fewer instances of wobbling.
In order to achieve the above animation, I centered my camera with the turntable and lowered the lens to be at the same level of the product.
