pattern matching maybe? I would assume he can recognize his handlers by sight and checks out all of those he passes just in case they moved from where he took off from?
that or he saw lots of tasty little critters about
The one video I really remember was a drone with a GoPro I think in Bangkok and it was going straight down the sides of skyscrapers and going over the top of the city.
It was an amazing video and I can't seem to find it anymore.
I agree, it would also have been nice if it was possible to mount the camera a little further back to see some of the wing action particularly when changing direction or avoiding obstacles like the tree.
Excellent nonetheless, very reminiscent of base jumper Jeb Corliss' - Grinding the Crack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k (1:35-1:45 of the video gets me everytime)
Sounds kind of corny, but Winged Migration is a cool movie. Not flying on the back of the bird, but it's shot in a way that is pretty awesome. Worth watching on a high def TV.
Reminds me of the time I was watching my cat and had a sudden revelation: The fur and flesh over his skeleton and organs is just like "skinning" a basic web page with CSS styles.
I'd quite like to see what it looks like with the visual acuity of an eagle as well. Or at least some representation. EG where we see blobs of colour as cars in a car park, the eagle sees the mouse under the front bumper of the red one.
I'd like to see some facsimile of this as well. Googling a bit unearthed this description of what it might look like:
"Eagles and hawks are neither near sighted nor far-sighted. Since long focal length lenses have a narrow angle of view, they have poor peripheral vision. Hawks and eagles have to turn their heads to see more of their surroundings. They can turn their heads 180 degrees, not quite as much as the owls, which can turn their heads 270 degrees. In contrast, human eyes have a short focal length, so we have a wider angle of view, nearly 180 degrees horizontally, so we don't have to turn our heads unless we need to look behind us, but we don't see as much detail as hawks can when something is far away..." Source: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2011011108374...
So it would be a representation of a much longer focal length with a much narrower field of vision.
Related fun fact: Owl's don't have eyballs they have eyetubes. They can't rotate their eyes in their sockets at all, which is why they can turn their head ~270 degrees, and why they have such an incredibly long focal length.
The resolution is mediocre but for a first-gen experience in VR I was literally floored. I showed these demos to some unwitting subjects and where riftcoaster was "WOW" the 360 video had their mouths hanging open.
And this isn't speculative or crazy expensive - 360 riggings + cameras can be had for <$2k and here are lots of interesting experiences already popping up.
I have viewed 360 vids on the Rift. It's true they are not stereo, but they are still very effective. Simply being able to turn your head an look around is a significant aspect of presence.
These 360 rigs are cool, but they're not stereoscopic as far as I can tell.
I'm not sure how feasible a 360 AND stereoscopic rig would be, but it would be totally awesome. Maybe some sort of head-sized sphere of fisheye cameras with some software to stitch the stereoscopic channels together. Or maybe something involving light field photography (Lytro etc).
There are many hits our brain uses to make the 3D model of the world we have on our minds. Stereoscopic vision is one of them, but really just kick in for objects nearer than you arm cam hold. For distant objects, our brain uses other hints - that's why people aiming at far objects close one of their eyes.
One of the strongest is the parallax effect, specially for medium distance and relative distance between objects. If you doubt it, look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Relative size and color fading works well for big distances - this is the prominent effect in parachuting videos.
These are only two mecanisms, and immersion is not only about 3D sensation. Full periphery vision is of great value for this (IMAX, anyone?). Sound hints, brigthness, contrast, and a lot of other hints also help our brain making the 3D model.
As you say, for far objects, stereoscopic vision doesn’t do much; however, that can be changed..
A really fun project I recommend anyone try is to make a sort of periscope for one eye [make one out of e.g a milk carton and a couple of rectangular mirrors, or some similar tube].
Leave one eye looking out normally, and make the other eye look through the periscope, aimed sideways. The result of this is to increase the effective distance between the two eyes from a couple inches to a foot or more (depending on your periscope).
Now try looking at distant objects like a cityscape or some mountains. The stereo effect will be increased dramatically, and the whole scene will feel very dimensional and close.
No doubt you can induce the same effect in far objects by exaggerating the difference between what each eyes can see. If you didn't have the size to compare, you would actually think they are nearer.
However, this is not very realistic - this is why sometimes the 3D effect in a movie vanishes or looks gimmicky. Until today, the most convincing 3D scene I ever saw were the recording in Avatar, which were recorded using a 3D camera very near to the face of the actor.
Really cool - I can't wait to see more of this.
There's a flaw in the stitching of the 360heros vidoes.. a pinch point at the top and bottom that looks like a black dot with a radial exposure inconsistency.
Someone should work on a better way to blend those edges.
84 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 144 ms ] threadthat or he saw lots of tasty little critters about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falconry
But I'm sure it was a trained bird that returned to its handler after the flight.
Enjoy!
http://kottke.org/13/05/peregrine-falcon-killing-a-duck-in-m...
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6lD7re2Po
The camera mounting makes it a little tiresome to watch but doesn't really make it less interesting.
ps: I wish they uploaded a 720p video of it. a slow-mo camera would have been nice too.
There's a whole community flying model airplanes trough a camera and video goggles: http://vimeo.com/16604842
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPopSm4bfAQ
It was an amazing video and I can't seem to find it anymore.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/index.php has an FPV section (and the rest of the RC stuff is obviously still relevant).
I'd also suggest a couple YouTube channels. Both FliteTest and RCModelReviews have numerous videos covering various aspects of the RC and FPV hobby.
But, I'm afraid people are going to hurt a lot of birds in making more videos like this.
Excellent nonetheless, very reminiscent of base jumper Jeb Corliss' - Grinding the Crack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k (1:35-1:45 of the video gets me everytime)
There's some great proximity basejump wingsuit footage out there, the sport is developing quickly. Try this one:
https://vimeo.com/71960552
Incredible.
Ps. If you fly laminar air from the ocean there are hardly any collapses, regarding speed ~ 40kmh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y3Dl0BGFfw
The extras part of the documentary includes a behind-the-scenes look at getting the birds-eye shot.
Maybe that's just me!
A second later I was like...
"doublefacepalm.jpg"
"Eagles and hawks are neither near sighted nor far-sighted. Since long focal length lenses have a narrow angle of view, they have poor peripheral vision. Hawks and eagles have to turn their heads to see more of their surroundings. They can turn their heads 180 degrees, not quite as much as the owls, which can turn their heads 270 degrees. In contrast, human eyes have a short focal length, so we have a wider angle of view, nearly 180 degrees horizontally, so we don't have to turn our heads unless we need to look behind us, but we don't see as much detail as hawks can when something is far away..." Source: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2011011108374...
So it would be a representation of a much longer focal length with a much narrower field of vision.
Related fun fact: Owl's don't have eyballs they have eyetubes. They can't rotate their eyes in their sockets at all, which is why they can turn their head ~270 degrees, and why they have such an incredibly long focal length.
Then I checked out a "wingsuit" video shot in 360 degrees and realized I had completely missed the potential of the platform:
http://www.makingview.com/makingview.com/?page_id=1691
The resolution is mediocre but for a first-gen experience in VR I was literally floored. I showed these demos to some unwitting subjects and where riftcoaster was "WOW" the 360 video had their mouths hanging open.
And this isn't speculative or crazy expensive - 360 riggings + cameras can be had for <$2k and here are lots of interesting experiences already popping up.
Rigging:
http://www.360heros.com/ or http://freedom360.us/
Demos:
http://immersivemedia.com/demos/
http://www.airpano.com/360-videos.php
These two vids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7HtvXc-Bo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4iltd0wMlU played through http://vrplayer.codeplex.com/ are great examples.
I'm not sure how feasible a 360 AND stereoscopic rig would be, but it would be totally awesome. Maybe some sort of head-sized sphere of fisheye cameras with some software to stitch the stereoscopic channels together. Or maybe something involving light field photography (Lytro etc).
There are many hits our brain uses to make the 3D model of the world we have on our minds. Stereoscopic vision is one of them, but really just kick in for objects nearer than you arm cam hold. For distant objects, our brain uses other hints - that's why people aiming at far objects close one of their eyes.
One of the strongest is the parallax effect, specially for medium distance and relative distance between objects. If you doubt it, look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Relative size and color fading works well for big distances - this is the prominent effect in parachuting videos.
These are only two mecanisms, and immersion is not only about 3D sensation. Full periphery vision is of great value for this (IMAX, anyone?). Sound hints, brigthness, contrast, and a lot of other hints also help our brain making the 3D model.
A really fun project I recommend anyone try is to make a sort of periscope for one eye [make one out of e.g a milk carton and a couple of rectangular mirrors, or some similar tube].
Leave one eye looking out normally, and make the other eye look through the periscope, aimed sideways. The result of this is to increase the effective distance between the two eyes from a couple inches to a foot or more (depending on your periscope).
Now try looking at distant objects like a cityscape or some mountains. The stereo effect will be increased dramatically, and the whole scene will feel very dimensional and close.
However, this is not very realistic - this is why sometimes the 3D effect in a movie vanishes or looks gimmicky. Until today, the most convincing 3D scene I ever saw were the recording in Avatar, which were recorded using a 3D camera very near to the face of the actor.