43.2 Panorama Formats
A brief introduction to the most relevant panorama formats
Equirectangular
Looks like an unwrapped world map
360˚ horizontal by 180˚ vertically with side ratio 2:1
Equirectangular is also referred to as LatLong or Latitude Longitude
Cube Faces
The 6 cube faces can be mapped inside a cube to reproduce our environment
Cube Faces are great for retouching, i.e. paint out the tripod, as long as you leave the edge pixels untouched
Cube Faces are also referred to as Vertical Cross or Horizontal Cross
Mirror Ball
Looks like a mirror ball and it is one
This is what you get when shooting frontal at a mirror ball
The back side (Axis -Z) is there, it’s just not really visible as it’s around the edge
Because of the strong distortion, the back side (Axis -Z) will sacrifice quality to the point that it’s unusable for detailed reflections
Light Probe
Looks like a mirror ball with a very different distortion, more like a concave version
The back side (Axis -Z) is closer in frame and sacrifices less resolution, but still, it does lose quality
Light Probe is also referred to as Light Map