PanoTools

Rating:
Updated: 19 Oct 2004 at 15:22 GMT, by GURL

I think the current version of Pano Tools review on PanoGuide needs a main updates. Panotools should not be seen anymore as a self-contained software but as the main engine for a large family of tools!

Four interfaces:
- PTgui
- PTassembler
- Hugin
- PTmac

Many great "add-on":
- Enblend (sophisticated edges blending)
- Autopano (control points setting)
- PTlens and associated Photoshop Correct filter (FOV, distortion)
- PTviewer (improved)

Many interesting versions of pano12.dll:
- much faster versions
- 16-bit versions
- etc (ask Google about pano12.dll !)

Many tutorials, FAQ and forums
- too many of them again, ask Google

Most of my (amateur) photo work (panoramas and mosaics) now derives from those many tools. For me, the most important one was Max Lyons tutorial: www.tawbaware.com/ptasmblr_tutorial.htm because it's a proof Pano Tools not being anymore "an over-kill for simple cylindrical panorama stitching" and the first step to some 100 millions pixels mosaics like those:
www.pbase.com/image/29776279/original

www.afric-impact.org/perso-coldfusion/gurl/Theze-...

www.afric-impact.org/perso-coldfusion/gurl/Pbase_...


[I use:
- PTOptimizer and PTStitcher 2.6.ML12 from Mas Lyons site
- Jim Water pano12.dll (318KB) Version: 2.7.0.6 Date: 2004-10-07 as described there: photocreations.ca/panotools/index.html ]

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Rating:
Updated: 24 Jan 2001 at 5:00 GMT, by James Rigg [Panoguide]

This is a review of version 2.1

Panorama Tools used to be a set of plugins for image editing programs such as Adobe PhotoShop, Paintshop Pro, GIMP, Graphic Converter, etc. It still is. But now, there's PanoTools, which is a suite of tools including the Panorama Tools plugins. Now you can achieve even more:

* PTPicker: Java frontend to panorama stitcher and other tools. It provides a graphical interface for feature point selection and position optimization.
* PTStitcher: Panorama stitching tool which remaps, adjusts and combines arbitrary images to panoramic views.
* PTStereo: Creates 3-dimensional objects from 2 stereoscopic or more images.
* PTInterpolate: Physically valid true view interpolator. Given two images of the same scene taken from different positions, this tool creates views from any intermediate position.
* PTMorpher: Morphing tool.
* PTAverage: Averages images to reduce noise and enhance density.
* PTStripe: Combines images into movie-stripes for viewing in object-viewers.
* Panorama Tools: Photoshop and GraphicConverter plug-ins for image correction and remapping.

PanoTools is not just a panoramic image stitcher. The plugins and apps rely on scripts that tell them what to do. The main advantage of version 2.1 over some previous versions is that there is now a GUI that makes the script much easier to write. Instead of having to write the text file script to pass to the script Optimizer and then to PTStitcher, you can now create it interactively using PTPicker, a Java front end. Alternatively, Windows users can use PTGui by Joost Nieuwenhuijse, which provides similar functionality. (For the record my personal prefence is for PTGui, although there are a few things it cannot do that PTPicker can.)

Now that it is so much easier to write the scripts with which to do image stitching, surprise surprise, it is now a much faster process to tweak the control points if you don't get the desired results. Images that I had difficulty stitching when I reviewed version 1.8b2, I found quite easy to stitch with 2.1. However, it can still be difficult to position control points though if a pair of images lack sufficient detail, are too low resolution, or if the subject matter moved between shots.

Because PanoTools can output a PhotoShop format layered image, you can modify the amount of blending and the exact position of seams afterwards to avoid blending problems caused by poor lighting or by moving objects. However, this means you need a good image editing program such as Adobe PhotoShop, Paintshop Pro or Corel Photo-Paint. Also you will need to be familiar with modifying masked layers, feathering and so on. Having said that, the tutorials and manuals that tend to accompany this kind of software tends to be very good. Oh, and yes you can modify the amount of blending (i.e. the amount of feathering in pixels) from within PTPicker or PTGui.

One of the most important things is that PanoTools is still the only completely free software that allows you to create fully spherical panoramas. You pay nothing for the software, and you don't have to pay per image created either. Using PTStitcher you can convert the finished image into an iMove format panorama (PAN), create an appropriate ISeeMedia Image Worlds (IVR) control file for the ISeeMedia Zoom viewers, QuickTime VR (cylindrical), and using free utilities from Apple you can create a cubic QTVR. Not only that, but owners of some of the mirror devices such as the BeHere system, Cyclovision or others, can use PanoTools to extract the panoramic image, rather than pay the per-image licence fee that the manufacturer's own software demands [2].

PanoTools is also one of very few tools to allow you to stitch images that were created with the camera pitched upwards or downwards, or even to stitch multiple rows of images. It can even handle a mixture of lenses used for the same panoramic image.

PanoTools is the most versatile and powerful image manipulation and panoramic image stitching suite there is. All serious panoramic photographers should already have this on their computers... but you might find that PanoTools is over-kill for simple cylindrical panorama stitching, particularly if you are new to panoramic photography.

Footnotes

[1] however this involves plotting a grid of triangles across the object which is time consuming. So, for most object photography it is probably better to shoot more pictures, unless for some reason that is difficult (e.g. doing an object movie of a building perhaps?)

[2] however if you do own one of these devices you should check the warranty and other information from the manufacturer before using PanoTools to ensure you are not infringing on any intellectual property owned by the manufacturer, or voiding the warranty.

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