vis-ftp.cs.umass.edu/vis-ftp.cs.umass.edu.tar/vis-ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/Software/FlightData/ReadMe.txt

Text File | 2000-04-25 | 6KB | 113 lines

        How to Make Mosaics from Movies and Data
    University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Computer Vision Laboratory

1. Data Requirements:
    -A Quicktime movie clip of the region to be mosaiked.
    -If a Geo-Corrected mosaic is desired, a Flight Data File is needed, with data
        corresponding to the movie clip

2. Program Requirements:
    FrameMaker.exe - this program was written with the help of Apple QuickTime
        Library Functions, and will extract every frame of a QT movie and
        store them in a BitMap file. This program also produces an ordered
        listing of every BitMap file name created in a text file (extension
        .in), which is required for the Mosaic program. Be sure to follow the
        instructions of the program - it is a console application, and
        requires detailed keyboard entries of file paths and file names.

    - **** Because this was written with QT libraries, it is necessary to have
        Quicktime FULLY installed on the same machine as the program.

    Mosaiker.exe - this is the main mosaic-generating program. This program creates
        mosaics in two large steps. First, it MATCHES each pair of images, and
        records their relation to each other. Then it MOSAICS all the images
        together. If a "Geo-Corrected" mosaic is selected, the recorded track is
        'warped' to match the geo-track computed from the geographic information
        captured during the flight.

        This program will only work with bitmap images, and produces the
        mosaics in bitmap form.

3. Instructions:

    Step 1: Extract the frames
    Ensure enough disk space is available, and run the FrameMaker program. Enter
    the FULL path name of the movie clip, starting with the Drive letter (ex. C:).
    If you do not, Quicktime cannot open the movie (don't forget the .mov!).

    Enter 'f' for frames, and y/n for horita data. (Horita data is a geographical
    video signal that was recorded onto the audio track, rather than displayed on
    the video. It sounds like machine language when the movie is played with audio).
    If yes is entered, the name of each BitMap image will consist of the extracted
    date and timecode of the frame.

    Enter the FULL path of the location where the frames are to be written, starting
    with the Drive letter, and ending with a '\'.
    NOTE: Try and make this the final location of the frames, because the full path
    name is recorded in the *.in file. If these frames are moved, this file will have
    to be corrected, so the Mosaiker program can find these frames.

    The number of frames will be displayed, as well as a skip option. To extract
    every frame, enter 0. To extract every third frame, enter 2. NOTE: the quality
    of the mosaic will deteriorate as the frames get farther apart. To generate a
    good mosaic, extract all the frames. Now the program will begin executing.

    TIP:
    It is a good idea to create a new folder in the directory where the frames are,
    to work from and put the results in. Place the *.in file, which is a listing of
    every frame, in this new folder. This file is an input to the mosaiker program.


    Step 2: Mosaic
    If a geo-mosaic is desired, place a copy of the meta-file that contains the
    relevant geo-data in the same directory as the *.in file, and rename it
    *.in.full.txt, to match the sequence file *.in. This is how the mosaic program
    finds this file, by appending '.full.txt' to the sequence file name.

    NOTE: If this data contains too many zeros, there may not be enough information
    to correctly adjust the mosaic. If this happens the final mosaic may not look good.
    The quality of a geo-corrected mosaic depends directly on the quality of the
    flight data!

    Start the Mosaiker program. Click on the far left button underneath 'File', or
    select File->Open_Sequence_File. Find the *.in file and click Open.

    The first step is to match all the images. Click the blue-bordered "play" button
    to begin matching. Each image will appear in the left window, and red lines will
    flash over the image. These red lines are 'motion vectors' computed from the two
    frames. If you have a good monitor with a high brightness setting, the difference
    between the two frames will appear in the right window. Matching only has to be
    run once on a set of data.

    Once matching is done, a 'Mosaic Option' panel will appear. Here you can select
    the type of mosaic (free or geo-corrected). Other options are:

    Smooth Track: Highly recommended for geo-corrected, where the flight data can
        be jittery.

    Multiple Mosaics: For generating stereo pairs.

    Draw Track: This will create a copy of the mosaic with a red track plotting the
        centerpoints of each frame. For a geo-corrected mosaic, a green track
        showing the free centers will also be plotted, to see the difference.

    Draw Profile: This will attach a red altitude profile to the long side of the
        mosaic.

    Clicking OK will start the mosaic build process. When completed, the mosaic
    will be displayed. If the track or profile was selected, you will be prompted
    to save that image (the original mosaic is automatically saved as tmp$$$$$.bmp,
    and if selected, the stereo mosaics are also automatically saved).

    Extras:
    To create another mosaic, select Options->Mosaic_Option. The Mosaic option panel
    will reappear.
    To view the frames (in a stuttered movie fashion) Click the 'Play Video' button
    (second from the left) or select File->Play_Video.
    To open a bitmap, click the 'Open BMP' button (the shadowed person - far right)
    or select File->Open_BMP_file.
    To stop matching, or the 'play video' feature, click the blue-bordered 'stop'
    button (second from right).