How do they make those 3-d panoramic viewers?

And how do I get my hands on a "open source" version?

[benlieb]

You've all probably seen them, they let you look up and down and all around.

I'm sure they use some serious number crunching language like java or something, but I can't quite figure it out. Must be triangulations and things.

Any help on where I could get a java aplet or flash swf that I can feed an image to a la ../source.swf?img=theimg.jpg would be really great.

[a1call]

Hi,
WireFusion can do this. It's not free or easy though. You will have to take panoramic pictures in all directions including up a and down. Then you will have to use a program like Autostich (was free last time I checked)to join them. Then project the image on a globe that you set the camera in the middle of. It does take some pain but the results can be great. I have seen other panoramas that are not java based but do not have options for up or down, zoom in or out.