| Term | Meaning |
| Nodal point | - in virtual reality, the optical center of a camera lens where all light rays converge. For making panoramic images the nodal point or exact center of the camera lens ideally should be directly above the axis of rotation. |
| Noise | - interference or distortion in video or audio |
| Nonlinear editing | - the ability to edit video and audio in non-sequential patterns |
| NTSC | - National Television Standards committee - the North American television standard |
| Object movie | - an object movie allows the user to rotate and/or tilt a virtual object. It is created by capturing a series of images taken from different angles around the object. For example taking pictures of a statue as you walk around it. |
| PAL | - phase-alternating line - the television standard for Europe and South America |
| Panorama | - a.k.a. Immersive Image, VR - an image or series of images "stitched" together to produce a virtual-world within which the user can navigate a full 360 degrees in a horizontal plane. (Additional features such as sound, video, Flash files etc. can be integrated into the panorama for a fuller sense of interactivity) |
| Panoramic head or Panoramic rig* | - short for "panoramic head". An additional piece of equipment to put on top of a tripod which can be small or very large. Allows the camera to be positioned so that one of the nodal points of the lens is perfectly above the point of rotation. By using a pano-head the camera can be rotated to take a set of pictures for making a panorama without suffering from "parallax". There are various manufacturers. See, for example, Kaidan (www.kaidan.com). |
| Parallax* | - if you shoot a sequence of images for creating a panorama without using a pano-head and tripod you will suffer from parallax. It may be barely noticeable, or it may completely ruin the panorama. The most important factors are: how far off-centre the camera lens's nodal point is when turning, the angle of view of the lens (wider is worse), and how short a distance there is from the camera to the nearest object (shorter is worse). See What is Parallax? |
| Partial panorama | - like a panorama but with a range of motion that is limited to less than 360 degrees. It's created in a way similar to a full 360 degree panorama but restrictions are put on the manipulation of the image. |
| Photostitch | - a Canon company image stitching software application. It allows for creation of panoramic movies as well as mosaics. |
| Pixel | - abbreviated form of the words picture element. A point of a specific colour in an image or video. Digital images are composed of grids of colour called pixels. Each pixel is given a specific location and colour value. Often when enlarged, they look like a mosaic of colours. |
| Plug-in | - helper applications or software programs that extend the capability of the browser in a specific way such as enhancing audio, video or animation |
| PNG | - portable network graphics format.
An image format used for lossless compression and can support images with millions of colours. |
| Pre-production | - the initial planning stages of video production |
| Quicktime | - the software format is Apple Computer's premiere media type, QuickTime. It is a rich digital medium. The virtual photorealistic images of VR can be either panoramas or object movies. |
*(These asterisked definitions courtesy of James Rigg-Panoguide.com)
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MultiMedia:
An InDepth Guide for Teachers
Copyright 2002 Regina Public Schools and Saskatchewan Learning |
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