proj-imim:
Questions
Mike 2000-Apr-20 05:28:31
Hi Philippe & everyone,
I've been reading the posts for a few days but felt too imitated to ask
anything. First, I gotta say, Philippe, you must be a genius the way you
developed a virtual tripod. What a great idea.
I've been struggling with little to no success using Panorama Tools
(WINDOWS) for a few weeks and have learned alot of terms (I even understand
some of them now) and lost a significant portion of my life trying to figure
out what I was doing wrong. I tried your approach below and even got an
Optimizer script to run. But the pano never developed and the output was
horrendous. If you don't mind, I'll try to show what I did inside your email
in hopes of learning what and where I went wrong.
> -----------------------------
> My procedure is as follow :
> - First I shoot the panorama, 3 fisheye snapshots 120¡ apart - for more
> details on my method you can visit my website http://philohome.free.fr. .I
> join here "script vÂŽranda" which is the script I used to generate the
sample
> panorama, you can download the three fisheye images and try it yourself
(the
> result may be not so good because the images were heavily compressed for
the
> web)
> - Using Photoshop I then crop the three photos to a square just on the
limit
> of the fisheye circle
(*** I did this using a Nikon Coolpix 950 and 8mm fisheye lens andPhotoShop
5.5 ***)
> The following step is facultative, but useful if you have to verify your
> data...
> - Add a new layer on each photo and place a colored arrow near 4
> corresponding spots between photo 1 and 2, then photo 2 and 3, then photo
3
> and 1. Try to disperse the 4 arrows, but don't chose points too close of
the
> fisheye border, the distorsion is heavier here. These arrows are only a
> visual aid, and have nothing to do with the coded arrows provided by
Helmut.
> - Using the Photoshop info, enter the points coordinates in the script
file
> opened in Notepad (I join an empty script file with the parameters I
> optimize). Tedious, but easy...
(*** Here's the 3 images I used after cropping and adding points to get the
pixel coordinates ***)
(*** http://www.swampcoast.com/ ***)
> - Run panorama tools optimiser. For a 2400x1200 panorama, the error should
> not exceed 5 pixels, 2 pixels for a 800 x 400 (small but fast to render).
If
> the error is higher, either the shots were bad (heavy tilt for example) or
> more probably you made an error entering coordinates.
> - Don't forget to re-select the photo layer before running panorama tools
"I
> nsert" or you will get a colored arrow panorama ;-). That's the mistake I
> too often make...
> - To get a layered photoshop image (useful to fine tune the seams or to
> adjust the color/brightness between the 3 parts of the pano. Yes, this can
> be necessary even with AE-BL lock and 1.3 firmware - you can for example
> perfor a 30 pixels gaussian blur on the masks to smooth the seams), edit
the
> script file and suppress all references to +buf / -buf in the command
lines.
> - Run panorama tools "Insert" on each image in the right order. Set the
> prefs to "Save full sized result to file"
> - Open the result, make any adjustments necessary, flatten the image and
> save it as a Jpeg file.
>
> The following step depends on your viewer.
> I personnaly prefer the Smoothmove/Imove viewer (but now PTViewer gets
> better & better !) because it performs anti-aliasing. For using it you
only
> need to rename your jpeg file : panorama.jpg -> panorama.pan (On PC. On a
> Mac I think you will have to use a utility package from Helmut).
> For the Live Picture Viewer, you have to edit the .IVR script file you get
> in the Panorama tools package to modify the jpeg file name in it to match
> your panorama jpeg file. That's all, it should work.
>
> ---------------------------
>
> Good luck !
>
> Philippe Hurbain
>
>
>
> >Hello List,
> >
> >My name is John Spikowski and I live in Anacortes, Washington USA. I
> started
> >off using IPIX to create 360 sphere panorama images till I found Helmut's
> >wonderful set of tools.
> >
> >I'm still having a problem understanding how to use PT and PhotoShop. I
> have to
> >say that using IPIX Builder to align seams is a pretty easy way to get
the
> job
> >done but at $50.00 a picture, I'll have to get a loan to pay for them.
<BG>
> >
> >Has anyone on the list used PhotoShop 5.5 and Helmut's plug-in to stitch
> >fisheye images? I have the Nikon Coolpix 950 with the Nikon 28mm fisheye
> lens.
> >(IPIX issue)
> >
> >I would be willing to help document the procedure (in English) if someone
> could
> >point me in the right direction. Can PhotoShop be used to visually align
> the
> >seams? I have been able to generate a good result using Pixel Picker,
> >PTOptimizer and PTSticher but this process take a very long time and is
> prone
> >to user based errors.
> >
> >Thanks for any help that can be offered.
> >
> >John
>
>