VRobject
Posts: 145
Location:
Registered: 10 Feb 2005
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Realviz can stitch Sigma 8mm fisheye 6+2 pics … easily :)
Posted: 2 May 2005 at 17:03 GMT
updated: 2 May 2005 at 17:16 GMT
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Realviz can stitch Sigma 8mm fisheye 6+2 pics … easily.
I’m not trying to promote anything here, but as a very happy Realviz Stitcher user, and after seeing numerous threads and post about how hard is to learn and use PanoTools, PTGui, PTMac etc. … I felt that it’s necessary to remind you about this app.
I hate to see that panographers spend more time stitching (and setting billions of control points  ) than taking pictures and driving to the location.
Stitching should be the least important part of the panorama making process.
We should concentrate on the artistic side of photography … and not to worry about the technical aspects.
Don’t let stitching be a kind of creativity bottleneck. Spend more time nowhere near a computer.  Stop retouching every pano !
And since I’ve started throwing advices in every each way … for God’s sake, display the panos in BIG windows … not at 300 x 200 pixels ! … VR panoramic photography should be immersive … and make you feel like you’re there. If after staring at 300 x 200 pixels you feel you’re there, then you have a heck of an imagination
Enough ranting … let’s get serious.
Realviz can stitch 6+2 Sigma 8mm fisheye pics (using just click, drag and pressing enter ), not directly, but after rectilinearization.
Before we proceed, you might want to read more about converting fisheye images to rectilinear (aka rectilinearization ) in this article:
www.acapixus.dk/photography/panotools.htm
6+2 images are perfect for most projects, from real estate to hi-res work for CD and DVDs …even good for crowds and other non-still environments.
Using a 6.2 megapixels dslr, like the Canon 10D, will result in more than 1800 x 1800 pixels per cube face. More than enough resolution and great quality … a lot more than Ipix , more than 3 fisheye shots panos.
Words are cheap … you should try it yourself … it’s easy to learn (about 10 minutes) …
Head to the Realviz page and download the demo version (intentionally I don’t post the link … google for it … get Stitcher, not Stitcher Express, the crippled version).
I will provide you with a very short stitching tutorial.
But wait, you need some Sigma 8 mm pics to stitch  … Fortunately, Karl Harrison was kind enough to make available a set of 6+1 Canon 10D and Sigma 8mm pics … a bit dark, but he also took the time to defish them for us ( it’s easy and batchable ) … so you can start stitching right away.
Here’s the link, download the 7 Defished files (24.2Mb) at the bottom of the page: www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/stitchingtest/update...
Read this page too : www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/tutorial.html
Ok … now open Stitcher … go to File / Load Images … select the 7 images.
Drag one of the images from the Image Strip to the work space … now drag the one next to it too … roughly align them … go to Tools / High Distortion / Calibrate … and wait.
When it’s done drag another image, roughly align it the press Enter to stitch it, … and so on, until you need to close the row of images (go to Stitch / Close Panorama … drag, align, press Enter).
... Alt + click to pan, ctrl + alt + click to zoom, shift + right click to rotate an image.
Then add the top image, in a similar way.
Render the panorama … go to Render / Render…
Stitcher 4 can determine automatically the best rendering size (no oversampling).
I know, the price is insane $ 580 excluding VAT  … Stitcher Express seems to be ok too, although it’s severely crippled (read the comparison table) … $ 119 excluding VAT.
Waiting for your comments …
… please post some more Sigma 8 mm 6+2 pictures, if you have the lens.
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mhc1
Posts: 245
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Registered: 29 Dec 2005
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Re: Realviz can stitch Sigma 8mm fisheye 6+2 pics … easily :)
Posted: 29 Dec 2005 at 20:56 GMT
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Hello VRObject,
I really liked your little workshop.
Since I do not support the Panoweaver licence-system, I am looking hardly for a similar system.
Realstitcher 4 would do the job I guess- as far as 4/6 and nadir/zenit implementation is done.
But when I follow you advices - with the downloaded images-
I cannot click "close panorama" - ist not activated.
Do have to do this before or after zenith adjust ?
Sorry, long time ago that you wrote this - but I eagerly running through all forums to see where to get usable advice.
Thanks
Mike
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VRobject
Posts: 145
Location:
Registered: 10 Feb 2005
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Re: Realviz can stitch Sigma 8mm fisheye 6+2 pics … easily :)
Posted: 30 Dec 2005 at 10:00 GMT
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Hi,
I’m glad you found my little tutorial useful.
Like I said, Realviz can stitch fisheye images, but it’s not the best solution for the Sigma 8mm … because of the extra work needed to defish the shots (+ some vertical FOV is lost in the process) and because it was not designed to work with fisheye lenses. Nevertheless, it is the easy way to stitch.
On the other hand, I hear that the new PTGui www.ptgui.com has improved significantly (fully automatic stitching, Photoshop Large Document .psb output etc.) … and all that for just EUR 70.21 (incl. 19% TAX/VAT).
I’m sure other users can post more info about PTGui, I’m not familiar with it … but you definitely must check it out if you plan to work with a fisheye lens (download the free 30-day trial version).
The latest Realviz Stitcher , version 5 is a step forward … but a small one (there’s an automatic stitching option, a rudimentary use of control points … and 5.0.4 can use Enblend ) … and, of course, it also came with a completely new set of bugs
About your problem: you close the pano after you stitch the last image on the horizontal row (no zenith/nadir images should be present).
Keep an eye on Autopano Pro too : www.autopano.net … fisheye support was promised.
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