Amazing 3D web photo browsing with PicLens Coriolistic Anachronisms - A Vancouver Blog

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Mar 2
   Vintage! This is a random post. The year was 2008...

Pictures from the road

There’s something to be said for road trips - small adventures within a larger one, little lives of their own, precious and forever remembered like each kiss of a love story. They are my favorite way to travel. I enjoy the absolute freedom, bordering anarchy, the long, cozy hours at the wheel, rocked gently by the rhythm of speed and hypnotized by the flickering of passing poles and changing scenery. I crave the symbiotic relationship established with the road, becoming part of the landscape, playing an active role in the moment, scanning far ahead for hidden danger, exchanging courtesies with other drivers. I long the humming of the wind and the courageous purring of the engine, and a radio sometimes, playing nostalgic melodies as asphalt stretches back and forth to infinity. I miss the curious and enthusiastic conversations and the silences that follow, as one searches inside for echoes to what the eyes perceive and the mind instantly transforms. And then there are the stops. Like as many camp nights on an Everest ascent, like a ship’s layovers on strange islands, they become a time to reflect and explore and try to understand differences, and draw parallels. They are the calm before the storm, or they might be the storm itself. A chance to exercise sore muscles, and unpack, and establish a very temporary residence. A challenge to unfold an immaterial white flag and approach indigenous populations. Stopping means having time to breathe deep, listening closer for the heartbeat of a community, for the sounds of a different life, for the murmurs of nature. It’s becoming an ambassador and at times engaging in duels. Everything in a road trip revolves around discovery, of one’s self if nothing else. And just as we never come out of such an ordeal unchanged, we end up leaving little bits of our own heart behind, minuscule invisible footprints that forever contribute to the spirit of a place. The question is: our those footprints as beautiful as they can be?

[All picture captions © MarieBokkie™]

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2008-03-02 10:50 • Posted in Always: & On the road: & Photoblogs: & South Africa:

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Jun 14

Amazing 3D web photo browsing with PicLens

Well, I got sidetracked. Again. In the middle of posting pictures of the recent Victoria whale watching expedition with Marie, I drifted and have just upgraded the South Africa galleries [1] and [2] with the coolest eye-candy, a 3D photo browser called PicLens, by Cooliris. Now this is going to require a small effort on your part (so small, really) if you want to enjoy the full experience, but I guarantee that if you bare with me, it will blow your mind!

So what are we talking about here? Well, until now, I’ve used (and still do on the blog because implementation here isn’t yet an option) the awesome Lightbox 2 Ajax script to display my photos in a slideshow fashion. However, web-based applications are evolving fast and more than ever, it’s about user experience and 3D interfaces. That’s where PicLens comes in: you install a plugin to your Internet Explorer or Firefox browser and voila (voila, but as always, the plugin installation is much faster and easier on Firefox than IE. No sweat for you sorry Internet Explorer users though, it’ll just take a few additional clicks and maybe a browser restart); the plugin transforms each photo gallery into a super-slick 3D photo-browsing interface, completely immersive and fluid.

Now, for those of you who are really lazy and don’t want to install the plugin, you will still get a PicLens mock-up, but without the 3D effect which, I think, is the most amazing part of the trick. So be bold, install the little plugin, it’s a matter of seconds, you can always uninstall later if it doesn’t live up to your expectations. Convinced? Cool. (No, I’m not getting a commission. I just love the gadget!) Click on one of the browser links above to get the plugin and see you soon in the South Africa galleries...

I’ve placed an entry link at the top of each gallery (gallery links above) but once on the gallery page, the mouse hovered over the lower left corner of each thumbnail will also reveal a blue arrow allowing you to start PicLens on that image.

Once in PicLens, have fun! Drag the 3D wall with your mouse to navigate along it, roll your mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the wall, click on pictures to enlarge them, navigate in all four directions with your cursor arrows, double-click on an image to get the slideshow in full screen, it’s all very intuitive and mesmerizing.

And of course, if you install the plugin and have Picasa Web Albums, a Flickr account, or even Myspace or Facebook, or Youtube, it’ll work there too! And if you don’t have accounts, you can still do generic searches on those sites and get the effect! Or try a Google Images search.

In case I haven’t convinced you yet, you can watch a video of the 3D effect here. Yeah, I know, I’m biased.

You gotta love Web 2.0. :-)

Update (01-12-08):

I have since overhauled the web site completely and removed the PicLens functionality. The South Africa Gallery can now be found here.

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2008-06-14 14:58 • Posted in Bits and pieces: & Reviews: & Web winks:

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  • 1 - Marie says:

    « My mouse is so le tired :-) »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-15 09:35 •
  • 1.1 - Vince answers:

    « Well, take a nep, and zen shoot ze missiles! »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-16 00:36 •
  • 2 - Jane  says:

    « Beence, before I follow any of your instructions, a techno-naif question (don’t laugh): is this iMac user friendly? Or would I have to have an iMac version? »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-15 23:58 •
  • 2.1 - Vince answers:

    « LOL I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with a Mac (lucky you). Here’s the link to the different versions:

    http://www.cooliris.com/site/support/download-all-products.php

    Just choose depending on your browser (for Mac, do you use Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera?), and good luck! ;-) »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-16 00:34 •
  • 3 - Jane  says:

    « Merci bien Beence! :-) »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-16 00:45 •
  • 4 - sigrid says:

    « Yeah, I was gonna say, this is all very well but what about MACs? Our browser is called Safari. Sigh... no consideration for the elite in here. Fine, I’ll go explore by meself. »

    Date of comment: 2008-06-18 05:17 •

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