Kampung Ketiau

Experimental pano stitching using only 16 pictures using Panasonic Fx520. I chose it over Nikon DSLR D40 because there is less gap.

For detailed comparisons with D40 you can refer to my other blog at 360x180pano.blogspot.com

Updates on Kota Kinabalu developments in 360x180 degree Pano

I've improved my generation of 360x180 degree Panoramic pictures.
During the last Christmas day, 25th of Dec, 2008, I took panos at 3
sites in Kota Kinabalu. Earlier, I took pictures at the new Kota
Kinabalu airport. The last few days, I start processing them. With a
new PC, Athlon 64 X2, 5200, with 4Gbyte of RAM, processing is much
faster. This month, I have uploaded to sabahheaven blogspot, more than
10 panoramic pictures.

There is a new esplanade in front of Hyatt Hotel but fishing is not
allowed and boats cannot berth there. Just next to it is the KK Market
Jetty, an old but modern pontoon based jetty which makes it convenient
for passengers to get inside boats. It is mainly used for people
travelling to Gaya Island. Tourists are welcome but passengers are
present in large numbers. Too large that they had to wait for their
boats to land while waiting for their turn. Those waiting, had to
anchor about 50 meters from the jetty in order to avioid congesting.

Large fishing boats are tied to the concrete embankments next to the
esplanade. Instead of wasting money building the esplanade out of
wood, they should allow fishing and boating instead. It is a waste of
our seafront. They should build more pontoons for boats and sun
shelters for fishermen and picnickers. Meanwhile, the former chicken
market is left empty and dilapidated due to no maintenance.

Because I have so many pictures presented in large sizes of 1920
horizontal resolutions, each taking up to 200Kbytes of data, I post my
pictures in the form of posts. Unfortunately blogspot wiill archive
and hide these posts when I have posted, i.e. uploaded, more than 10
pictures.

Centrepoint KK Reblended

The original centrepoint KK panoramic picture was stiched using autostich. They are stiched from VGA resolution pictures, more than 100 of them. Despite these large number, the bottom is still not covered.

This time, control points were generated using a stand-alone Autopano Sift for windows. Surprisingly only 2 pictures were not connected.

Then in the preview, many pictures were deselected in order to reduce human interferences. Centrepoint KK is still the prime shopping mall in Kota Kinabalu where you can find virtually any consumer item so there will always be people around.

A few pictures were cropped in order to minimise human presence. I prefer some non-oerlap compared to too much overlap because it reduces overall sharpness. These gaps can be spot healed easily.

Marriage Ceremony

Reblended using smartblend. Earlier it didn't look as sharp. It had nothing to do with the 30% JPEG compression.

In order to show the pictures more clearly, I had opted to upload 1920 resolution pictures while increasing the compression setting of the JPEG to 30%. At 100%, there is no compression. 0% means that it is at the maximum compression setting.

I can't recall what I did earlier on but I believe I used normal enblend 3.1 and Gimp 2.2 to do the image scaling.

KKIA Arrival Hall: Inside

Warisan Square 2

In front of Anjung Samudera

Sutere Harbour Marina Clubhouse at Sunset

KKIA Arrival Hall 2008

Just commissioned KKIA arrial hall.

Jetty at KK Market

Heavily crowded jetty. So many boats and passengers are waiting to alight on these pontoons.

Hyatt Seafront

A new sea front esplanade in front of Hyatt Regency Hotel. Fishing and boat berthing is not allowed despite so many boats and fishing vessels waiting to dock to the sea front.

KK Plaza Rooftop

View from the 5th floor car park of KK Plaza Shopping Mall right in front of KK Wet Market.

Sutera Harbour Marina

Warisan Square

Warisan Square. The most prominent downtown area of Kota Kinabalu, and the latest(2008) shopping mall.

Sutera Harbour Marina Swimming Pool

The fastest panoramic pictures that I had taken and stitched using Hugin and SmartBlend. It probabaly took less than an hour total. With smartblend I don't need to spend so much time cropping.

EPF COMPLEX

The only functioning water fountain at Kota Kinabalu.

Gracepoint 2

Gracepoint Food court at Sabah's Oil dispute Tragedy

This is a medium cost food court at Sembulan. It is located at the Memorial of the death of Sabahan ministers who refused to sign the oil agreement with Malaysia.

Villagers heard an explosion in the air of the Norman Islander STOL(short take off and landing) aircraft just before the plane fall like a stone. All passengers, most of which are cabinet members of Sabah's State Assembly died.