VR PanoWorx

Rating:
Updated: 25 Jul 2000 at 5:00 GMT, by James Rigg [Panoguide]

This is a review of version 1.0.2

VR PanoWorx is specifically targeted at QTVR developers and therefore it includes far more QTVR controls (e.g. to create hotspots etc) than most of the competition. Most stitching packages (other than QTVR Authoring Studio itself) only allow QTVRs to be saved, not to add the additional features the format is capable of. Throughout the stitching process there are some additional controls which are missing from some of the competition. For example, not only can you manually align images but you can then adjust the blending and sharpening. You have complete control over image size not only just before saving but also right at the start before even beginning to stitch your images. You don't even have to exit VR PanoWorx to view your final QTVR panorama.

The interface is a bit clunky. For example, on the setup tab it seems to me the user is asked too many unnecessary questions - you shouldn't have to specify the number of pictures you are going to use, and you should be able to just use the images at whatever size they are without having to enter in the actual pixel size. And if you don't tick the rectilinear box, does that mean you are using a fisheye lens?

If PanoWorx cannot align the images correctly you have to adjust the alignment yourself. Unfortunately you achieve this by clicking on virtual cursor keys in the interface. A single click moves the image 1 pixel, so if you are using very high resolution images this interface can be extremely slow and frustrating. Shame there's no zoom function either with which to achieve the best alignment.

Performance is mediocre and deteriorates with wide-angle lenses (in tests on my PC anyway). The clunky controls don't make it easy for you to experiment with alignment very easily. Particularly worrying is the bug that when using large images PanoWorx seems to abort the loading of the images (without error) and that even with medium size images it will skip the blending of a random seam in the image. So even if I am wrong and better results can be achieved than I show in my tests, PanoWorx is unreliable on the PC. I also found that with large images I couldn't export a flat image (I repeatedly got QuickTime error -2003), so I could only do screengrabs and save QTVR movies.

Being able to save your work in a project file for later tweaking is a great idea... but be warned that the file embeds within itself a copy of the images - so if you try stitching large images, the project file gets very large too and can be slow to load and save.

Having said all this, VR PanoWorx's strongest point is its support of QTVR features. Some aspects of the program seem a little clunky, but you can achieve some great QTVR movies with this, plus add hotspots and have quite a fine level of control over the quality of your final panorama. This is a great alternative to QTVR Authoring Studio... it's such a shame it's so unreliable on the PC.

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