The Tiny Planet Project

Kris Fontes, an art teacher at Union City High School in Union City, Pennsylvania, invites you to participate in The Tiny Planets Project. Here is Kris' story:

"While sitting in the eye doctor’s office, flipping through the pages of the January/February 2012 issue of Pennsylvania magazine, I came upon an article about two of the coolest apps for iPhones, IPads and iPods: Photosynth and Tiny Planets. The article was called Tiny Planets and the images in the article immediately captivated me.

I am constantly on the lookout for new ideas to use in my Creative Imaging class at Union City High School and this looked like something that could be very cool to do with my students. As I continued to read I began to envision a myriad of possibilities for this application.

As soon as I left the office, I hurried home to connect to the internet on my iPod and download both apps, Photosynth and Tiny Planets. The next day in school, I shared the idea with my student teacher, and we both realized the potential for an amazing lesson that could stretch beyond the boundaries of our classroom in rural, northwest Pennsylvania to far-off Shanghai or the west coast of the U.S. and everywhere in between.

Start with a Panorama

But what is a Tiny Planet and how is it made? The first step to making a Tiny Planet is to photograph a panorama. To do this you could use a traditional camera and slowly and carefully rotate 360 degrees, being careful to keep the camera steady and overlapping each shot. Using the Photosynth app (a powerful tool for capturing and viewing the world in 3D) makes this process much easier as it automatically takes each shot as you rotate and stops shooting when you get to the last shot. 

Turn it into a Tiny Planet

Once you have the panorama, it’s time to turn it into a Tiny Planet. Using the app by the same name I selected my picture and clicked on the tiny planet icon at the bottom of the screen and watched and waited while it processed. It took about 30 seconds and there it was! My first Tiny Planet! I had the option of choosing Tiny Tube, which inverts the process, making the image look like it is being sucked into itself.

After practicing using the app, I found that the Photosynth app is really awesome for this project, but that the Tiny Planet app doesn’t create the best image every time and that it would be better for my students to use the Photosynth app for their panorama and then import that image into Photoshop. Once in Photoshop the students can follow the directions (see web address below). 

I am really excited to introduce this to my students and then to students around the world. How exciting to see the images produced by students in Asia, New Zealand, London and small towns like my own! Show me yours!

If you are interested in having your students participate in this adventure, look for more info on Art Ed 2.0 (http://arted20.ning.com) or email me at kfontes2@gmail.com."

Who knows, your students' work may show up in SchoolArts!

Tiny planet images here are of the Delaware River.