[Automation Gallery]

any thoughts guys on your favorite toronto skyscraper built to date (or almost complete like the ritz) ? I've heard many like Scotia Plaza but aside from that what do you like?

Hey.. i would take the Canada Trust Tower anytime over everything else.

 

[interchange42]

Time for another visit to the Ritz: welcome to the podium! We'll start on the top floor of the podium, the 5th, and work our way down to the 3rd.

The Ritz Cartlon's spa will feature everything you would expect of a five-star establishment, with various pools, massage rooms, saunas, etc. So far though, the floor features more potential than actual finished spaces.

The pool area is currently furthest along on this floor.

While the pool area is at the back, or south end of the podium, the Tearoom is situated facing north.

Its skylight looks up to the RBC and Ritz Carlton towers.

Its view to the north overlooks Metro Square.

Another two floors down, and we come to the main event area: the Ballroom.

To the north of the Ballroom is a large space lying just outside the centre of the action, which can be configured in a number of ways to support the activities in the ballroom. It is this area that one can see from Wellington Street.

It also has a view of Metro Square of course.

Tomorrow; back to ground level.

 

[khris]

That pool looks very small. It could just be the photos though. You guys should refrain from using fisheye lens to take these photos.

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

Also, the ballroom looks a little low-slung. I would have expected something a little grander, you know? (Or is the lens misleading?)

Not, of course, that I'll ever see the inside of this place myself. (And why would I? I'll hardly have reason to leave my penthouse at Aura.)

 

[whatever]

I also thought the ballroom was a bit cramped, until I looked at the doors (and more specifically the space above the doors). Also, if you look carefully those scaffolds are three sections high. That ceiling must be at least 12-14' high at its lowest point. That space is huge

 

[ganjavih]

Thanks for the tour i42... great job, guys.

 

[Edward Skira]

The ballroom is huge.

 

[interchange42]

None of these pictures are taken with a fisheye lens, although they are all at wide-angle, which does produce mostly imperceptible warping. What they are, however, are composite images that have all been stitched together from at least two images; that is why you often see ghostly images of people who have moved between when the first and subsequent photos were taken. The stitching can produce a fisheye effect when the subject is up close, but we do it so that you can see the whole room from particular vantage points: because of constrained spaces, single shot views do not give the full picture.

The ballroom is made up of four images. The picture would likely have benefitted from having some people in it to give it scale. The doorway to the right of the photo is likely 10 feet tall for example: that garbage container sitting in it would be about 3 feet in height.

Look a the picture of the tearoom: that composite image is made up of 5 originals, bottom to top. The uppermost original was then included immediately below it in the photo tour to give you a better view of the towers above. The exposures of individual photos are equalized when stitching into a composite, which lightened the uppermost original significantly in the composite, to compensate for the darker interior of the room. That lightening washed out the detail of the towers. By presenting the original here separately, and as part of the composite, you can get both a look at the detail, and an overlook at the room.

The pool is a spa pool, not an Olympic sized pool with 25 metre lanes, nor does it have a 10 metre diving board. We hope to take you back in later in the construction process to show you how the room has progressed.

I hope that answers some of your concerns regarding the photos. If we didn't use the stitched images, you would not see as much. You are left having to use your imaginations however, to straighten some of the warped lines.

42

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Thanks for all the stupendous work Ed and i42.

AoD

 

[CityPlaceN1]

^ Agreed. I like the direction the site is going.

 

[ganjavih]

I like the ghostly effect... the Ritz Carlton is haunted and it's not even finished construction yet!

Thanks for taking the time to do these composite photos to give us an idea of what these spaces are really like. Your efforts are noted.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Also, the ballroom looks a little low-slung. I would have expected something a little grander, you know?

Some are low-slung. I'd hold my balls there any day.

 

[khris]

None of these pictures are taken with a fisheye lens, although they are all at wide-angle, which does produce mostly imperceptible warping. What they are, however, are composite images that have all been stitched together from at least two images; that is why you often see ghostly images of people who have moved between when the first and subsequent photos were taken. The stitching can produce a fisheye effect when the subject is up close, but we do it so that you can see the whole room from particular vantage points: because of constrained spaces, single shot views do not give the full picture.

If you want to avoid the fisheye effect when stitching photos, it's possible to do. None of my stitched photos have that look to them, because when I take the photos, I do not move my feet, only the camera. I stay in the same place, and do not move even an inch. I just change the direction I'm taking the photo, and try to keep the camera at the exact same height. Just a suggestion to try out Or bring me next time, and I'll gladly take some photos hehe.

 

[gristle]

I have no criticisms, only compliments.

Thanks for the excellent photos. It's really exciting to see the interior spaces coming together. And the views from up top are amazing. Glad neither of you suffer from vertigo.

Your efforts are appreciated!

 

[interchange42]

If you want to avoid the fisheye effect when stitching photos, it's possible to do. None of my stitched photos have that look to them, because when I take the photos, I do not move my feet, only the camera. I stay in the same place, and do not move even an inch. I just change the direction I'm taking the photo, and try to keep the camera at the exact same height. Just a suggestion to try out Or bring me next time, and I'll gladly take some photos hehe.

Same method here Khris - it all has to do with being very close to the objects in the frame. For example, this completely unrelated photo was taken the same way as the ballroom set of images, it's just that the subject is so much farther away...

I know that software is available to straighten the bowed lines in close-up shots... but there's always one more thing to spend money on, isn't there?

42

PS; that's Grenadier Pond in High Park