Tikiorama - The Virtual Tiki Experience

Just when you thought you didn't’t have enough Tiki in your life . . . . .

Tikiorama – The Virtual Tiki Experience

There is a free website called virtual3D.com that hosts panoramic photos from all over the world. It’s extremely cool to see what people have photographed. I’ve created my own web site group there called ‘Tikiorama’ where I’ve put several panoramas I’ve done of Tiki establishments. Anyone can join the group and add their own panoramas. I’m hoping it’ll start something that will get contributions from T.C. people. Most of us can’t get to the gazillion Tiki places that are out there but I think this is something that could give a lot of us the next best thing to being there.

These first panoramas of mine are very amateur early tries, but they underscore the point that anyone can do this. I did them with no special equipment (even though there is a lot of expensive panorama paraphernalia out there for pro photographers). A hand held digital camera and some free software were all I used. I’m learning as I go about what it takes for getting good panoramas. If I could do just one thing over to make the photos I’ve done better it would be to have used a tripod. Steady, focused, nice stitching. But I didn’t want to be a total geek when I took the photos. You'll already look like a light house standing there slowly taking pictures around the room.

Group home page:
http://www.you3dview.com/group/Tikiorama

It isn’t necessary to join the ‘Tikiorama’ group to upload panoramas. My intent is for the group to be a central location for people searching for decent panoramas if they are specifically looking to see Tiki establishments. I want to limit photos to sincere attempts to showcase places – not people or events. Panoramas of your Uncle George’s birthday party at Forbidden Island with half the people in the photos mugging for the camera like they’re at Cabo Wabo shouldn’t make the cut. There can be home bar panoramas if they’re well photographed to show off the room, but keep your ugly mugs (and your ugly mugs) out of the way.

Give it a spin, literally, and you’ll see how fun it is. I challenge you to get your camera out there and let the rest of us on the other side of the country experience your favorite haunt.

Classic Velvets
by Song Shen

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2011-08-21 15:51 ]

Nice, Okolehao. I had seen some of those panorama sites but thought you had to use a special lens and tripod

Thanks - I really have fun doing these. If nobody does anymore I might go back and redo the ones I've already done now that I've got the hang of it.

Here is a good site for learning how to make panoramas: http://www.panoguide.com/howto/;jsessionid=C9A3BF8CB71DD28F386A27C0967C2E88

Here is the free program I used for stitching the photos.:
http://www.autostitch.net

If anyone is intimidated by the process I'll do the stitching and uploading to you3dview.com for you if you'll take the pictures. Three things to remember that will help you the most.

1. Turn off the flash and set the exposure to a high setting. You want to get the ambient light but usually inside it's too dark. Your camera will try to set the shutter speed so low that it's hard to get a focused picture because you can't hold the camera steady for that long. The photo will be grainier but it's a trade off.
2. Try to aim the camera straight ahead on all shots. Think of a horizontal line at eye level running all around the room and follow it. It's hard because it's natural to kind of wander a little high and low after each shot.
3. Turn to the right after each photo and overlap the next photo about 1/4 to 1/3 of the last photo. Go completely around the room to back where you started. Don't stop too soon.

Really - if you have a favorite bar or restaurant it just takes 2 minutes to take the pictures. You'll have fun and you'll also be doing something that may help some tiki researcher 100 years from now when your favorite place is long gone and tiki will have been forgotten. Someone will put together a big thick ipad-VR coffee table book that will be a collectible because it's out of print and which will spawn a tiki renaissance where mugs are collected, old music and clothes become hip, and many, many people spend waaaay too much time on the net talking about it.

"That old panorama must have been made in 2028/9 because Tikifarm didn't issue that radioactive mug after that. And the holographic bar was definitely a Bamboo Ben creation that was started about then when the Trader Vic's Salt Lake City, UT closed and he was recycling dialithium crystals to power waterfall fixtures."
:)

I've added Hula's Island Grill's Monterey dining room and Tiki Room, and a farewell composite of Trader Vic's Emeryville before its remodel with photos provided by our own Joshua Bell.

http://www.you3dview.com/video/581/Hulas-Island-Grill--Monterey-CA
http://www.you3dview.com/video/497/Hulas-Island-Grills-Tiki-Room--Monterey-CA

http://www.you3dview.com/video/585/Traider-Vics--Emoryville-CA

:drink:Group home page:
http://www.you3dview.com/group/Tikiorama

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2011-08-21 16:35 ]

My latest trip to S.F. allowed my wife and me to sit back and enjoy a Scorpion Bowl while watching the sprinkler system and strobe light 'rain storm' at the one and only Tonga Room.

LONG LIVE THE TONGA ROOM!

http://www.you3dview.com/video/1118/The-Tonga-Room--San-Francisco-CA

:drink:Group home page:
http://www.you3dview.com/group/Tikiorama

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2011-08-21 16:36 ]

At last, I've added my favorite Tiki bar. Forbidden Island! Experience it in its rarest uncrowded form with bartenders preping fresh juices just minutes before opening for the evening.

http://www.you3dview.com/video/1112/Forbidden-Island--Alameda-CA

:drink:Group home page:
http://www.you3dview.com/group/Tikiorama

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2011-08-21 16:41 ]