Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jeremy Northum Senior visualization production specialist Glen Vigus looks at an extremely high-resolution photo he produced from a recent football game. Numerous photos were stitched together to produce a final image 1.4 GB in size. [Click to enlarge]

Beginning this football season, the A&M Department of Visualization in partnership with aggieatheletics.com have given football fans a new way to see the game.

The Kyle Field Panoramic Project, created by Glen Vigus, senior visualization production specialist for the Department of Visualization, creates a panoramic photo that is posted each week on the Aggie Athletics Web site.

Vigus developed the idea after seeing a photo from President Barack Obama's inauguration that used the panoramic technique.

"I thought it was really cool to zoom in and see who was there," Vigus said, "so in February I began pitching ideas about getting it off the ground in November."

It takes a few minutes for the photos, more than 100, to be taken.

"It takes 5 minutes to shoot, but over an hour to process and put all of the photos together," Vigus said. "There are over 144 photos just for the alumni side alone."

Vigus uses the Visualization Laboratory (VizLab) to compile the images into one photo that allows people to zoom in and find individuals in the crowd.If a yell is started or the "Aggie War Hymn" is played before the camera has finished panning, the effect is lost because half of the stadium appears to be just watching the game, while the other half is participating in the yell, Vigus said.

Vigus said the best time to take the photos of the former students' section is during the band's performance.

"The best time to shoot is when the band plays, because everyone is standing up, almost completely still, and watching the band play," Vigus said.

The photos of the student section are usually taken during the first quarter so the band is included.

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