VR Panoramas > Object VR

QuickTime VR has several advantages over three-dimensional modeling systems for making interactive objects. Its movie files are much smaller than complex 3D models in situations where complete interactivity with the scene isn't necessary, or where the scene contains complex objects or large numbers of textures.

It is comparatively easy to create an Object VR from a rendered 3D model (created in 3D Studio Max for example). You generate a series of images from a 3D model, add the images to a linear QuickTime movie, and then use the QuickTime VR to convert the linear movie to an interactive object movie. As we've seen, photographing a real object involves using a spherical camera rig to rotate a camera around the object. For 3D models, it's just as easy to rotate the model in front of a stationary camera. Furthermore, since the camera doesn't move in this case, the lighting is easier to manage because it doesn't need to be rotated with the camera (unless you want the object to appear to be lighted from a certain angle).

Here are some tips:

• Remember that 3D images can be rendered with a TRANSARENT background already in it. DON'T render with a blue background - this is only giving you extra work than is necessary. Also, remember to save as a file format that supports a transparent background!
  
  
• You have two options of "rotating" the object. One is to animate the object - to make it turn 360 degrees in 32 frames, rendering each frame to disk. The second is to animate the CAMERA - make it rotate around the centre of the image in a perfect circle. The choice is yours