The Dof problem I solved with focus blending. Some images do have up to 5 different focusing points.
The question about the nadir shooting will remain companies secret.... I worked really a long time to find a solution for this.
The nadir is not manipulated. I simply stitched the nadir images with the other images without any stitching errors
Julian, I was expecting a brilliant piece of work - and I wasn't disappointed. All of your work that I've seen is superb. As someone who makes VR panos - modestly - I can easily appreciate the amount of work, skill and experience required to complete such a project. And patience of course.
I imagine that your nadir patching uses some type of viewpoint correction (can't see how else it could be done) but at this FL... blimey.
Thanks for showing us what can be done. I think VR panos are very much a poor relation to other forms of panography - probably because the web is the only display medium. Mind you the equirectangular projection of this pano would be stunning as a huge print!
I'd appreciate a couple of bits of info that won't impinge on your trade secrets!
Which head do you use? Which stitching application?
Roy