The Altar Q QTVR was made by John Borden, President and Owner of Peace River Studios. The following is his description of the process.
Altar Q was photographed so as to show it in the context of the adjacent exhibits in the Maya section at the Peabody Museum. We designed and fabricated a folding portable precision camera positioning dolly, which carried the camera and lights around the object. The dolly stopped at preset positions to record individual pictures with a digital camera. We chose ten degree horizontal increments, but the method can record at any number of degrees. We made four 36 picture rotations around the Altar, and after each full circle we elevated the camera ten degrees in 'latitude' to pre set positions on a vertical boom.
To set up for recording, we positioned a large circular degree
dial parallel to the floor on a frame above the center of the altar.
We affixed a long boom to a pivot pin at the center of the dial and
at the other end of the boom we attached the camera dolly, at a
distance appropriate for properly framing the images at all angles
around the altar. Next we rolled the dolly to each of 36 positions
(as indicated by the dial) around 
the
altar, and placed small adhesive paper discs on the floor under each
dolly position. We used discs colored to match the floor color so
they would not show in any of the pictures.
We then disconnected the boom, removed the dial and it's support frame, turned on the lights, and recorded each picture after registering the dolly over the pre-positioned spots on the floor.
Variations of this method, and the
portable structural system, can be applied to recording objects in
the field so that they can be viewed and studied from all angles in
the context of archaeological exploration, for example. A new
version of the software that allows you to play back the images,
QuickTime VR, now allows the viewer to zoom in on prerecorded objects
to examine them in even greater detail.
This experiment was a rewarding step in our work toward expanding natural history and scientific investigation and understanding through the integration of new tools, techniques, and software.