Stitching images

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Re: Stitching images

Postby briancbb » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:19 am

Dale

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Autopano.

Over New Year I was in Disney Orlando and took a number of photographs of the fireworks with the 'castle' in the background taken at slightly different zooms and with misalignment between shots (the castle appearing in slightly different positions). I thought if I put these in a Photodex show, it would look odd with the castle slightly moving position between slides, and I would have to manually try and align them with pan and zoom on each slide. A daunting task through several 10,s of photos.

Dropping the whole folder of photos into a trial of Autopano, just to see it pick out true multi-shot panos, I was amazed that it took my fireworks photos and aligned and zoomed the castle to be the same on each layer :D . Save these as layers and my job is nearly done.

Just need to buy Autopano now :D
Briancbb (Brian, Clown by birth)
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Re: Stitching images

Postby im42n8 » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:18 pm

JARTHMD,

You can rename the output file anyway you want. it defaults to a name that typically includes the name of the project, render size (dimensions), The name of the type of projection, name of the type of color correction used, and the type of image blending used. IT also includes the first and last images names, and number of images used.

You can tell it to save as HDR, JPG, PNG, PSB/PSD (both are Adobe formats but the PSB is for huge files typically), TIFF, or EXR. There are also 12 levels of image quality and the DPI. You specify the type of interpolation you want (there are 7 types) and the type of blending (there are 4, one is none!). Anyway, there are a number of things you can do with the image after the initial stitch. You can also save it as a pano so you can recall the work you've already done and work from there.

Anyway, I've been pretty impressed by what it can do! Well satisfied too...esp since i don't have a panohead!

It beats anything CS3 or CS4 can do ... but then, this is a dedicated product with LOTS of real neat capabilities.

Brian,

I had a tough time working with some images I had ... trying to stitch the together manual... what a chore ...especially since I didn't have a panohead. Dummy me. What a PITA! So I looked around for some s/w to do the task. After trying a several of them out (including some freeware ones), I settled on Autopano Pro. I liked the idea of finding images that'd work in a pano. Now, it's not always smart about it but, for the most part, it's pretty darned impressive. It'll find the ones that may work and you can choose to continue with the initial rendering or not. Also, you can, during the editing session (where you can do cropping and other things), you can take images out of the render or put them back in so you can see what the effect will be. BUY IT! You definitely won't regret it if you have any pano work you want to do now or in the future!!! :D

Dale

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Re: Stitching images

Postby PhilipWeir » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:02 am

For those interested there is a discussion of AutoPano and PTGui here: http://www.panoguide.com/forums/qna/5236/

Philip

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Re: Stitching images

Postby Frankie » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:15 am

Hi Philip,
I've read this thread. I'm still confused as to which program is better. It seems like people prefer which ever program they started out with, Autopano Pro or PTGui. I've downloaded the trials for both and still can't decide which one to go with. PTGui looks sharper but Autopano has some nice features too - like finding the panoramas in the file for you and I see they're coming out with an upgraded version at the end of the month. Since I'm not up to speed with either program it's also hard for me to tell at this point which one is more user friendly. Any opinions? Also, any good tutorial sites? I'm thinking if I become more familiar with learning the programs it'll be easier to see which one has a simpler learning curve.

Thanks.

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Re: Stitching images

Postby PhilipWeir » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:26 am

Frankie, for me personally I prefer PTGui but that's because I've been using it for about 3 or 4 years and don't want to spend the money on another piece of software. I love the idea of having the software select candidate images for a panorama from a whole folder of images as Dale has said is the case with AutoPano. I should also point out that my use of PTGui is very elementary, I've almost always used the wizard and never delved into all the bells and whistles it offers. If I had to decide today to buy a new Pano making software I would trial both AutoPano and PTGui and see which one fitted my own purposes.

Philip

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Re: Stitching images

Postby Frankie » Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:57 am

Hey Philip,
That's pretty much what I've been reading and hearing from people. I'm still holding off on the purchase in case I see something more definitive. I guess the bottom line is that it really doesn't matter too much which way I go since the users of both programs seem to be happy with what they have. I'm like you regarding the wizard. Not much for using the detailed programs on my microwave or washing machine - never could program my VCR in days gone by - so the basic program is most important for me too.

Thanks for the reply,
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Re: Stitching images

Postby BenM » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:56 am

I would have posted this sooner but I had forgotten the name of the website and it took some searching to relocate it. Has anyone checked out or heard of Microsoft's Photosynth? It's at photosynth.net. It appears to be a high tech photo stitching product. It's a free download but the hardware requirements are well above minimum.

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Re: Stitching images

Postby Frankie » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:27 pm

Hi Ben,

CNN used Photosynth to capture a 3D of the President's inaugaration. I read somewhere that it takes about 75 photos to really get a good "synth". I went to the site photosynth.net but wasn't able to really get a good look at it because I had to download the program before I could view any of the synths there and I didn't want to do that. It also says that all synths are public and viewable by anyone on the internet. Not sure if that's a bad thing but not sure if I'd like that either. Do you know of any sites that show samples of what it can do without downloading the program?

Frankie

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Re: Stitching images

Postby Frankie » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:00 am

I found a good tutorial site for PTGui if anyone is interested.

John Houghton's website.

www.johnhpanos.com/

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Re: Stitching images

Postby duglas50 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:50 pm

For stitching images I've been using the free Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) and have been very pleased with the results. If you would like to check it out here is the link http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ ... s/ivm/ICE/.

Doug
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Re: Stitching images

Postby Frankie » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:42 pm

Hi Doug,
I downloaded Microsoft ICE to take a look at it. The price looks just about right. The only problem for me is that it only supports jpg files.

Frankie

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Re: Stitching images

Postby duglas50 » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:30 pm

Frankie,
Yes, that is a drawback.

Doug
Family Heritage Photography
http://www.familyheritagephotography.com
    Producer 5.0, Photoshop Elements 14, Lightroom 6, Adobe Premiere Elements 9, Topaz Adjust, Portrait Professional, On1 Photo 10, ImgBurn, Audacity, Nikon D7200, D5000

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