VR Gigapixel Gallery
Release date: Jul 1, 2020
Developers: Gerald Terveen, Daniel Richter
Publishers: Gigapixel GmbH
Genres: Education
Categories: Tracked Controller Support, VR Only
Supported languages: English

About this application The 'Gigapixel VR Gallery' is an opportunity to view extremely high-resolution pictures in various sizes exactly up close in 6DoF (images can be found on ). The gallery has 48 motifs ranging from 136 megapixels to 15.9 gigapixels. One gigapixel is 1000 megapixels. There is also an option to switch between the high resolution with a resolution of 25 megapixels. This helps to understand what influence the distance to the image has for qualitative perception. The closer you are to the subject, the more important it is that the resolution is high enough. One square on the floor equals 1m². This project is more a matter of the heart than somehow making money professionally. VR Benchmark The VR Gigapixel Gallery enables you to compare different headsets in terms of perceptible resolution without the frame rate factor. Roughly 3 factors limit the visual perception of a headset: 1. Technical limit of VR glasses 2. Resolution of the image 3. Resolution of the eye. Since the size of the image can be individually adjusted, it is easy to reach the limit of the resolution of the eye. Of course, with today's technological level, this means that the resolution of VR glasses is the real limiting factor. If you want to perceive the resolution between different headsets in real situations, apart from the technical specifications, you have a good tool at hand for a subjective optical benchmark. NASA/ESA There are two images in the gallery, which were taken by the Hubble telescope (NASA/ESA). These images in the gallery are scientifically incorrect, because we have optimized them with aesthetic perception in mind and we also corrected certain image errors. ppi is not dpi The most common mistake is that ppi is equated with dpi. Pixels per inch (ppi) means that a rectangular pixel has a defined color. Dot per inch means that a printer assembles a dot from several micro-color dots in order to 'simulate' the color. It is also important that the substrate 'absorbs' the color and that the dot is still somewhat enlarged due to the 'bleeding'. The printer doesn't care what resolution the image has. A single pixel can be easily printed at 1440 dpi because the dpi only reflects the technical ability of the printer. In order to classify ppi and dpi: most prints can print information from 70-150ppi on carrier materials. If you want to get more information on carrier material, it will be a very special application. This was an attempt to simplify the difference between dpi and ppi. The human eye resolves about 350ppi. Image bibliotheca Thuringian woods - original size: 15,9 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 1814m² (97m x 18,7m) Treetop - original size: 2 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 235m² (diameter 17,3m) - special feature: focus stacking Sugar beet - original size: 558 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 64m² (8m x 8m) - special feature: focus stacking sky with clouds - original size: 860 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 99m² (9,3m x 10,6m) deciduous forest - original size: 755 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 86m² (17,9m x 4,8m) German jungle - original size: 4 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 460m² (37,1m x 12,4m) Tower Bridge - original size: 1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 117m² (12,7m x 9,2m) - special feature: colorkey Telephone booths - original size: 234 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 27m² (5,2m x 5,2m) - special feature: focus stacking and colorkey Speicherstadt - original size: 244 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 28m² (6m x 4,7m) - special feature: blue hour Sherlock Holmes - original size: 651 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 75m² (7,4m x 10,2m) Bumblebees and Butterflies - original size: 183 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 21m² (5,7m x 3,7m) Gorge - original size: 1,1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 126m² (15,4m x 8,2m) Love locks - original size: 500 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 57m² (9,5m x 6m) - special feature: focus stacking Sleeping kitten - original size: 162 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 18m² (4,7m x 3,9m) Reichstag building - original size: 810 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 93m² (13,3m x 7m)*special feature: HDR Dandelion - original size: 250 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 28m² (5,8m x 4,9m) Prague - original size: 835 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 96m² (19,5m x 4,9m) Palatinate - original size: 636 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 73m² (13,3m x 5,5m) Orchid - original size: 191 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 22m² (7,3m x 3m) - special feature: focus stacking Nuremberg - original size: 3,1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 356m² (34,6m x 10,3m) Carnation - original size: 191 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 22m² (5,7m x 3,9m) Lunar surface - original size: 1,9 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 96m² (18,1m x 12,3m) View from the Max Bridge - original size: 1,2 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 139m² (18,3m x 7,6m) Dubai Marina construction site - original size: 4,5 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 513m² (34,4m x 14,9m) Madrid - original size: 986 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 113m² (21,8m x 5,2m) London Skyline - original size: 250 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 28m² (10,4m x 2,7m) Coast - original size: 727 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 83m² (17m x 4,9m) Ireland's west coast - original size: 1,7 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 189m² (27m x 7m) Cherry blossoms - original size: 136 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 16m² (4,9m x 3,2m) Jena - original size: 1,8 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 205m² (24,2m x 7,5m) stack of wood - original size: 250 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 28m² (6m x 4,7m) autumn - original size: 565 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 65m² (diameter 9,1m) Oaks - original size: 1,1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 130m² (22,4m x 5,8m) Frankfurt am Main - original size: 603 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 69m² (13,3m x 5,2m) Fractal - original size: 676 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 44m² (6,6m x 6,6m) Elgersburg - original size: 250 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 29m² (8,5m x 3,4m) Eiffel tower - original size: 823 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 95m² (minor axis 5m, major axis 12m) - special feature: focus stacking Squirrel - original size: 805 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 92m² (14,4m x 6,4m) Tre Cime di Lavaredo - original size: 2,9 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 339m² (42,4m x 8m) Chili - original size: 1,8 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 205m² (15,1m x 13,6m) Burj Khalifa in Dubai - original size: 2,5 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 285m² (11,5m x 24,8m) Carina Nebula - original size: 250 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 28m² (7,7m x 3,7m) BMW Cooper - original size: 1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 118m² (16m x 7,4m) - special feature: focus stacking Birches - original size: 512 megapixel - print size (75ppi): 58m² (8,3m x 7m) Big Ben - original size: 1,4 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 158m² (9,7m x 16,3m) - special feature: colorkey Belvedere - original size: 1,3 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 153m² (24,3m x 6,3m) Alps - original size: 1 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 118m² (18,7m x 6,3m) Alps - original size: 1,7 gigapixel - print size (75ppi): 190m² (27,2m x 7m) Diffraction is the real culprit For everyone who makes the effort to read the text here, here is something nice to know: There are various limits in digital photography that affect the resolution of the image. Diffraction counts as the often underestimated value. Camera manufacturers promise a huge resolution sensor, but this can only be used in very specific situations and is usually just a marketing idea. If we ignore all other influences (which additively worsen everything further), a full-frame camera (24x36mm) with an aperture of 8 only has the possibility to bring about 30 megapixels of information to the sensor due to diffraction. At aperture 11 it would be 15 megapixels and at aperture 16 it would only be 7.5 megapixels. Conversely, the resolution increases with a smaller f-number. At f / 5.6 it would be 60 megapixels, at f / 4 it would be 121 megapixels. You might think that everything is fine, when you use a maximum aperture of 5.6 with a 50 megapixel 35mm camera. There are two problems with this. The lesser problem nowadays is the optimal sharpness of the lens, since this is technically well solved, that it is reasonably homogeneous over a few aperture steps. The bigger problem is that the higher the resolution of the image, the lower the sharpness level, especially the closer the subject is. This means that if you are not close to the infinity focus of the lens, the focus level will be too small if you use a small f-number. This inevitably leads to focus stacking in order to achieve a greater depth of field, which in turn leads to other problems (keyword movement). Or you can just downsize the image. This as a small digression, why pictures often look bad, even though you think you have a sufficiently high-resolution camera. If you have any questions on this topic, we would be happy to help, just contact us. Here are a few approximate values for diffraction and sensor size at aperture 8: Compact camera 2/3 “(7x9mm): 2.2 megapixels MicroFourThirds (13x17mm): 8 megapixels APS-C (16x17mm): 13.5 megapixels Full frame (24x36mm): 30 megapixels Medium format small (30x45mm): 47 megapixels Medium format large (40x53mm): 76 megapixels The bottom line from this information is also that there is no commercially available camera, which at aperture 8 can create even one of the high-resolution images with a single image here, unless the currently known physics is turned upside down.