Earthquake Reconnaissance and Experiment Documentation through Spherical Panoramic Photography Earthquake Reconnaissance and Experiment Documentation through Spherical Panoramic Photography Fernando Garcia – University of California, Los Angeles – Project PI/Mentor: Dr. Robert Nigbor, Ph.D., P.E. Introduction Spherical panoramic photography is the assembly of images to create a 360°x180° inside view of a scene. It gives viewers the ability to: see a scene from miles away as if present, see details in all directions, make virtual tours of sites and experiments, and obtain visual data/metadata quickly. This last ability is a critical challenge in earthquake reconnaissance because industries often become reluctant to allow visitors into their sites soon after an earthquake (Global Risk Miyamoto, 2007). Spherical panoramic photography is an efficient tool to meet this challenge. Spherical panoramas also provide effective metadata for earthquake engineering experiments. Materials Take 360° of overlapping horizontal images using the panorama head. Capture zenith (top image) and nadir (bottom image). Stitch images together, remove unwanted objects, and export a flat equirectangular panorama. Turn flat panoramas into spherical panoramas and link them to create a virtual tour. The flat panoramas below are exports from PTGui. The photographs were taken from underneath the shake table to document the table’s infrastructure. Acknowledgements The project was partially funded by EEC and CMMI The author would like to thank Team Pano at UCLA: Dr. Robert Nigbor, Carlos Mora, and Sophia Poulos, as well as Mr. Carel Struycken for his help in using these programs. Methodology Literature Cited: Global Risk Miyamoto (2007) 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-Oki Japan Earthquake Reconnaissance Report, New York. Conclusion Spherical panoramas can be used for fast, efficient earthquake reconnaissance as well as documentation of labs and test procedures. Multiple panoramas linked into a virtual tour, as was done at can give complete views of anything from entire buildings to city blocks as if actually present. Spherical panoramic photography as a new tool can assist in both earthquake reconnaissance and documentation of NEES and other earthquake engineering experiments. Figure 3: PTGui loading screen Figure 5: Stitching together images Figure 4: Remove unwanted objects Figure 6: The Accumulator Bank Figure 7: A Hallway Figure 8: Underneath the Shake Table Resulting Product A prototypical virtual tour of the LHPOST Shake Table was created with the following features: Full 360°x180° view. Ability to look straight up and down without visual obstruction from the tripod. Ability to transition smoothly from the actuator bank to the adjacent hallway and to the bottom of the shake table in either direction. Zooming capability. Figure 1: The accumulator bank (top left) is connected to the shake table (top right) through a hallway (bottom) in a virtual tour of the shake table infrastructure. DSLR camera with fish- eye lens (Sony A65 w/15mm Sigma lens) Panoramic Tripod Head Figure 2: Nodal Ninja 3 MKII Tripod Head Photoshop – to edit images and fix final product. PTGui – to stitch images into equirectangular panorama. Pano2VR – to output panorama into Flash or Quicktime format. Further Information For further information, contact Dr. Robert Nigbor at Figure 9: View of nadir without tripod Figure 10: View of zenith Step 1: Capturing the Images Step 2: PTGui Step 3: Pano2VR HardwareSoftware