PW2 panorama images..

Wow! I've been looking for some of those.
Coolness, can't wait to try them out.
Mike Wilson

Do one, Do one!
I am jealous now. Let me see!

Paul, thanks for pointing us to this, these are wonderful, and many of them right in my own backyard.
Now, I can't wait still PW get HDRI....

Thanks Paul - I was getting tired of making my own, and they were nowhere near this good.
However (isn't there always a however?)... Here's what happened after I split the image into an upper hemisphere picture and a lower hemisphere picture and tried to use them on a spherical environment in SP2.1. I hope things have been fixed in sp3 (I can't use it because of current jobs). I reported this stuff so verylongago...
Tip1- get your scene alignment first in another part/asm, then save it before bringing into the model you want to finally render. Make the top and bottom visible so you can see the alignment, because the images are tough to align
Bug1: You cannot use immediate rendering in the preview window to align the top material to the bottom material. It is still, after almost two years, rotated 90deg, but now it rotates the POLE 90deg! instead of just the rotating the image incorrectly around the equator. You can use the render button in the preview window to get a decent preview, but it is just a best practice to render to the screen because it takes about as long and that way you will be absolutely sure. CORRECTION - I just tried it while in the scene dialog and, though it has worked well up to this point, now the environment preview on the screen turned into my default material! The preview window was still OK. When I closed out of the scene dialog, though, the screen rendering worked OK again. So much for best practices
Bug2: About 50% of the time, when applying or tweaking a material to the bottom, the bottom turns irrevocably black. This also happens when opening a saved scene after doing a couple of test renders/environment checks. I can't pin down the sequence, so this one is not likely to get fixed anytime soon. Just delete the scene, close out of the SWx session, reopen the file, and replace the scene, and you will get the bottom image back.
I give my environments a length and width of 200 to get past the scratchy-indirect-illumination shadow bug. Note: The height and floor offset, though active, do not (seem to) do anything with a spherical environment.
Bug3: The mapping of the top and bottom images are all f***ed up - I at least can't find the pattern. Here are the numbers I had to use, but I started with an existing spherical environment I made last year. When I start with one of the stock spherical scenes, I had to use 1meter as the Map height and I ran into the "bottom-going-black-bug".
Top image (all dims in inches): Offset - latitude 0, longitude 1. BTW - the latitude and longitude are the exact opposite of what they are on the earth. In PWx scenes, Longitude moves the image up towards the pole, latitude rotates around the equator! Mapping to a spherical nmodel uses earth-type latitude and longitude Map width-173.228, no mirror Map height-87.5, no mirror. Note - this seems to be independent of the room length/width Axis direction1-180° Axis direction2-0 °
Bottom image Offset - latitude 86.6, longitude 0. Map width-173.228, click Mirror Map height-87.5, click Mirror. Note - this seems to be independent of the room length/width Axis direction1-180° Axis direction2-0 °
Anyone else care to share their numbers? I am hoping we can find a pattern that we can document

FYI- We tried to render the scene in SP3. Disaster. The bottom material is automatically lost and renders black (instead of only 50% of the time), and we can't get the upper material to map correctly (the North pole is always at the equator no matter what we do) Interesting change in behavior in the preview window - it works more consistently (the automatic preview matches the manual render preview in that window) but neither preview matches the rendering to screen at all. The preview still has that 90° rotation of the scene's pole relative to the screen rendering. Also, we can't seem to 'defer' rendering in the preview box in SP3 any more.
So, I will be very curious to see if anyone can get any consistent success at all with using these on a spherical environment. Maybe by pooling our results we can figure out a consistent way to navigate through this. Otherwise, I will have to go back to my old PWx technique of mapping a decal to a sphere and using the show/hide trick to create spherical environments.

if pw2 gets hdri it will be dammned to a life of never finishing a render

You nailed it!! Thanks!!
It's been a major fubar using PW2 and I honestly do not know the pattern... sometimes I think I know it and then all consistency bets are off. But I agree, it is independent of the scene or room or objects used. And, I do not understand the logic with most of the PW2 gui layout, which I think should be totally redone because, imho, it has always been a fubar.
The other day, on a part which was chrome, I keep getting a black reflection (it always rendered fine) with a smidgen of the sphere/scene... somehow, my image on the sphere got all scrambled?? =
I've seen this happen before but like the past, there was no rule for how/why/where/... No matter what I did, I could not unscramble it... so, I removed the scene and the p2m and reapplied a new scene and p2m and it seems to be ok now? =
Currently, I've been having so many problems and crashes with SW2004 sp3 that, I'm hoping, if I uninstall and reinstall, most of them will go away?
=2E.
Edward T Eat> =

Mark,
Yeah, many are right down the street from you. He also did some of the eastern sierra.
I've also downloaded and tried some HDR images.. So, yeah, when/if HDRI becomes available they should be pretty fun!?
..
Mark Biasotti wrote:

You can't make me do it, I won't, I'll resist!? ;^)
I thought you had SW2003 and PW2,.. you should be able in add the images or map the 6 sided HDR images to a room and get the same/similar results? Nothing really changed in SW2004.
..
Dev>

Ed and Paul, Here are my notes for getting it to work the first time on my system. Let me know if this works for everyone else or if what I am seeing is incorrect (it looks good to me, but I'm not an expert on Earth geography, I just know I don't want to experience any "Pole Shifts" doh!).
*) Using SW2004 SP3.
*) Start a new part.
*) Make sure "Preview Window" is enabled.
*) If the Preview Window render option is set to "OpenGL" the preview is totally messed up. Major bug.
*) You MUST use "Ray Trace" Rendering period. NOTE: If you zoom or rotate in the Preview Window, it temporarily switches to "OpenGL" mode and you see an incorrect image until you are done rotating or zooming.
*) The environment bitmap image I'm using has a width ratio that is exactly double the height. In this case it is 1280 pixels wide by 640 pixels high.
*) I create a material using this image.
*) I start off using "Sphere Sky Environment". I tried "Checker" and "Neon" but had HUGE problems. Maybe it's different for other users?
*) Hit the "Room" tab
*) I disable "Resize Automatically"
*) I change "Length" and "Width" to say "500" for now.
*) "Height" and "Floor" is set to "0" (no reason, just anal).
*) I HAVE TO switch the "Align With" option to "Model X-Y Plane". Any other setting is screwed up!
*) Make sure "Link all Walls" is disabled.
*) Enable the "Visible" settings for "Top" and "Bottom" walls so you can see it in the Preview Window.
*) I apply my bitmap to my room Top wall and Bottom wall. Note: I don't even mess with the Texture settings! And I especially don't mess with Texas ;^)
*) You are DONE! The preview look great at this time.
Some other notes:
When you actually look at "Map Width" in the Texture area, it's always set 1/2 your room size.
BUT!!
If you change your room size, the Map Width doesn't update until you select another "Align with" option (e.g. "Model X-Z Plane") then switch it back to "Model X-Y Plane" again. You DON'T have to hit "Apply" top see changes.
It will automatically adjust the Map Width for you.
What do y'all think?
Mike Wilson

BTW, here is a half-fast environment test with the reflections exaggerated using one of the maps in Paul's link... Mike Wilson

Snip all the good stuff I think PhotoWorks has a seriously crippled user interface! What you, Paul, Ed, and others are willing to put up with to get your beautiful pictures is unbelievable to me.
Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"

Any chance that you would share your SP and the mapping numbers?

I'm not sure I understand. Did my instructions not show up on your server? That happens sometimes with my NG provider. The first note shows my SP.
I didn't input any mapping numbers. The rendering I posted was made almost entirely from my post. The only thing I left out was where to download the model and what settings I used for lighting.
If you mean Offset Latitude/Longitude and Axis Direction1 and 2, they are all set to "0" (the defaults). I'm sure if I try to adjust them I will run into yet more bugs.
Mike Wilson

Nope, I am way behind. I have 99, 2000, 2001, and 2002. That's all folks.! Damn it!

BTW Paul, I'm going to be up in Yosemite again in a couple weeks. Do you think they will open up the Tioga Pass soon?

So... did my post help anyone?
Don't make me have to post more conspiracy theories!..

Hey Mike,
Yeah, I tried it on a few parts and it works, thanks! but... as you have seen it's very temperamental and preview is not much help in most cases as is the interactive render mode, they give false feedback. but.. your example seems to work in the preview, and yeah, when you rotate in the preview, that's were it goes wacko.
Anyhow, thanks!
SW Corp has to overhaul this, it's ridiculous!!
..
"Mike J. Wils>

Kewl. and, nice model!
..
"Mike J. Wils>