On Saturday, August 26, I once again packed the digital camera and tripod and headed to Christofferson Park to photograph the latest developments. It is nearing completion as you can see from the QuickTime VR movie below. This park is located right off Oakwood Road east of the Christofferson farm. The center stage for this movie is the picnic shelter where I set up the camera and tripod. I took 12 discrete shots exactly 30 degrees a part and then took some closeups of the sign and other highlights in order to create a connected "scene" within this virtual reality movie. You will need Apple's QuickTime plugin to view. So if you don't have QuickTime, you can click on the link located in the lower right corner of this page to download it. (Just click the QuickTime logo picture.) IMPORTANT: The City of Ames officially dedicated this park on the 23rd of September, 2000, at 10:30am. I now have the entire dedication available on CDROM so email me if you want a copy!
Once I finished taking the pictures, I used an application called QuickTime VR Authoring Studio and brought the pictures in and created a panarama image of all 12 pictures. Next, I instructed the application to "stitch" the images together to give the view the feeling you are standing there at the park with the ability to view 360 degrees. You can also zoom in on objects and views by hitting the shift key or the control key to zoom in and out. Notice also when you rotate the movie, try pointing the cursor on the sign, the basketball court, the swingset located to the right of the basketball court and the play area located due south of the park or just to the right of the swingset area. You will notice the cursor change to an arrow. Click on these objects to get a better view. Note when you click on the sign from the main movie, you will be able to "rotate" it to see both sides when you "click and drag" the mouse. The stone frame now supports a beautiful sign which is not seen here since this movie was made prior to the park dedication on September 23, 2000, at 10:30 in the morning.
I do have the park dedication available on CDROM for those interested. Just let me know!
