iMove Spherical Photo Solution

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Updated: 14 May 2000 at 5:00 GMT, by James Rigg [Panoguide]

iMove's Spherical Photo Solution is not just software: it includes Kaidan's Quick-Pan Spherical (QPS) which allows you to accurately position the camera/lens so that the camera pans and tilts around the nodal point of the lens. Pano-heads are nothing new, but a head that allows the camera to be tilted upwards or downwards whilst retaining accurate nodal point positioning is neat. The build quality is great and inspires a lot of confidence in the overall solution. (Having said that the QPS is not the only pano-head of its kind).

From a software point of view, the thing that sets iMove's SPS apart from most of the competition is that it is specifically designed to create high resolution spherical panoramic images (i.e. with a maximum 180 degree vertical field of view). Although the up-front costs (US$1500) are quite high, there are no further payments and you can produce as many panoramas as you like. By comparison iPIX, which is probably the best known spherical imaging solution, also involves a charge per image produced. Having said that the iPIX system typically uses a very simple small rotating pano-head and is highly suitable for use in tight spaces ( e.g. the interior of a car), whereas the Kaidan QPS is far too bulky to make such locations viable.

When doing spherical stitching there are so many parameters you can adjust it is very easy to get confused and frustrated especially if you have previous experience with simple non-spherical stitching programs. The documentation is very detailed and explains very clearly how to use the QPS and describes the software too. However more detail, or perhaps a sample set of images and step-by-step walk through on the CD would be very useful in making the whole process easier to understand. I have described some tips of my own in my look at the interface.

iMove's SPS performs extremely well and once you have got the hang of it it is surprisingly simple to use. Its only flaw is that it is unable to compensate for poor quality lenses, i.e. rectilinear lenses that exhibit high levels of linear distortion. With cheaper lenses you are therefore unlikely to get a good stitch or at least finding the best settings will be more difficult.

Once you have created your panorama you can create a QTVR or an iMove PAN. The Hotspot editor does allow you to add a huge number of features and functionality to a PAN (but not to a QTVR movie). If you are a professional panoramic photographer and you are looking for a suitable software solution for creating fantastic immersive tours, I doubt you'll want to use anything else after you've tried iMove's SPS.

Although the iMove SPS seems expensive by comparison to some image stitchers, it is packed with extras: it comes with its own high-quality pano-head, can create spherical as well as cylindrical panoramas and can add a vast array of extra features to your finished panorama. It is more difficult to use than many other (non-spherical) stitching programs, and the stitching tool does perhaps have a few rough edges... but once you have mastered iMove's SPS I don't think you'll look back.

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