Forum/thread	Message
Forum: Q & A Thread: Please help!!!	Re: Please help!!! Posted: 21 Sep 2008 at 23:52 GMT go to thread Bex Hugin (hugin.sourceforge.net/) won't cost you anything if you want to try a good software to stitch your images. It's fairly easy to use and will give you much better results. You can also try PTGui free of charge but you will get watermarks. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Tripod Shadows	Re: Tripod Shadows Posted: 21 Sep 2008 at 22:55 GMT go to thread Not sure if this also works with PTGui and PS but when working with Hugin and Gimp you can add the alpha channel mask before loading the pics and adding control points as long as you save colour values for transparent areas. Hugin does not show the mask in the control point window which allows you to place control points in areas that will disappear during blending. Only the preview window shows which areas areas are masked out. This saves you time switching between programs and reloading pics. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0	Re: canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0 Posted: 22 Jul 2008 at 2:16 GMT go to thread Hi Lennart I tried the same pano in both the Beta version and the latest pre-release. Both versions ignore manually entered canvas re Panorama Image sizes on the Stitcher tab. I can only get smaller sizes when I set the parameter Downscale Final Image size in the Preferences to something smaller than 100%. I am using Hugin on XP with Nona as stitcher and could not find any other settings to convince Hugin to size the pano to a certain width/height. Since I have the same problem in the latest Default Installation, I was wondering if you customized anything or if you are using another Stitcher or Blender to get the desired results. thanks Klaus alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0	Re: canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0 Posted: 17 Jul 2008 at 0:16 GMT go to thread Sorry John. It's a pre-release version but not beta anymore. The default installation works fine except the few things I had listed. While the optimum canvas size calculation worked for me in Beta, Hugin Beta did also not produce an output of the size I entered manually. I can only get it smaller when I enter a downscaling percentage in the Preferences. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Wide Angle or Fisheye	Re: Wide Angle or Fisheye Posted: 15 Jul 2008 at 5:33 GMT updated: 15 Jul 2008 at 5:34 GMT go to thread James, I just bought my first fisheye a few weeks ago after considering all the pro's and con's of a fisheye versus a rectilinear lens. In the end I have picked a Pentax zoom fullframe fisheye 10-17mm and like it although I was concerned about the distortion in fisheye images. Tokina has apparently also a 10-17mm fisheye for different mounts. Don't forget to check the pano head settings for the lens before you buy. I was interested in the Sigma 12-20 and only found out later that I could not have used it for a zenith shot on my pano head because the NPP causes it to sit very far back on the upper rail preventing me from going into -90 degree pitch. The advantages I see in the zoom fisheye for pano photography is that the NPP hardly changes for different focal lengths, i.e. I can take a higher resolution pano at 17mm or a lower resolution pano at 10mm without readjusting the position of the camera. The FOV of a fisheye is also larger than the FOV of a rectilinear at the same focal length which saves time in processing because you need less shots. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0	canvas size etc in hugin 0.7.0 Posted: 15 Jul 2008 at 5:10 GMT go to thread I used the Beta version of hugin so far and only changed to release 0.7.0 a few days ago to see if its better. I experience a few strange things and wonder what other users think of the latest release. I shoot mostly 12 shots around (portrait 3872 x 2592 pixels) with close to 40% overlap for which the Beta version fairly consistently calculated a canvas size of about 19,000 pixels as expected. When calculating the optimal size in the stable release 0.7.0, Hugin now strangely comes up with about 25,000 pixels width and increases this number each time I click this button again. I am just wondering if I do anything wrong or if anybody else experiences a similar behaviour because I don't understand where these additional pixels should come from. Also, if I set the canvas size manually to a different value, Hugin seems to ignore these values and still stitches a pano of about 25,000 pixels width. A few other things I have noticed on one pano: - After using exposure correction I had strange shapes appearing in the nadir which are not part of any of the photos. Looks like straight flat rectangles with a shadow sticking out of the grass - Automatic control point creation crashes when using the complete installation. No problems though when installing with default installation. - With exposure correction the 25,000 X 12,500 pixel pano took about 10 hours to complete, I won't try such a large one again with a 1.5Ghz CPU. alert moderator
Forum: Tips & Tricks Thread: Broadband and DialUp	Re: Broadband and DialUp Posted: 7 Jul 2008 at 4:52 GMT go to thread Despite having Broadband I frequently use DialUp links like many other internet users for the very simple reason that I am on a limited plan and I don't have to wait as long for the download to complete. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: are fisheye photos less sharp?	Re: are fisheye photos less sharp? Posted: 4 Jul 2008 at 5:26 GMT go to thread This is a rather strange statement. Do you claim that fisheye lenses do not follow the rules of optics? Increasing the f number should increase DOF. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: are fisheye photos less sharp?	are fisheye photos less sharp? Posted: 3 Jul 2008 at 23:33 GMT updated: 3 Jul 2008 at 23:41 GMT go to thread I bought recently a Pentax 10-17mm fisheye. When producing the first panoramas I noticed that the photos taken at 17mm and the resulting panos are not as sharp as the photos I took with a 18-55mm Sigma at 18mm. I generally try to shoot panos with an aperture of 19 or higher and expect a good DOF at this aperture. While the sharpness is not a problem for downsized panos on the web, I would really like to maintain sharpness of the original which I try to keep at 16,000 x 8,000 or a bit higher when my computer can handle it. Are fisheye photos generally less sharp than photos from a rectilinear lens? I read quite a few postings about focusing fisheye lenses but relied so far on autofocus of the first image on an object which is about halfway of the distance range covered by the pano and leaving the focus on this setting. At f19 I would have a hyperfocal distance of about 0.5meters, at f22 0.44meters. Is it better practice to switch autofocus off and set the distance manually to the hyperfocal distance? alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Can Gimp save EXIF data in TIF files?	Re: Can Gimp save EXIF data in TIF files? Posted: 16 Jun 2008 at 3:56 GMT go to thread Interesting. I checked again but version 2.4.6 definitely loses my EXIF data. Did you have to modify any settings in GIMP to retain EXIF data? alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Pentax 10-17mm fisheye vs Sigma 10-20mm	Pentax 10-17mm on K10D with NN3 works for zenith shot Posted: 15 Jun 2008 at 22:37 GMT go to thread Just to complete this thread for other users: The Pentax 10-17mm has arrived and I tried it last weekend. The 95mm upper rail setting for the NN3 listed on the Nodal Ninja site is wrong for my Pentax 10-17mm fisheye. At 95mm I have still parallax. I found my lens to be parallax free at 90.5mm with the zoom at 10mm, about 89.9mm when at 17mm. With the camera at 90.5mm the body of the camera only interferes slightly at the edge of the rotator when tilting into -90° for the zenith shot. By losening the knob for the upper rail a bit more than usual I have enough play to rotate into position without releasing the camera from the upper rail. After all, the Pentax 10-17mm was the right choice for my setup because I could not have done this with the Sigma 10-20mm. I decided to take 6 shots at 0°pitch plus zenith/nadir at 10mm or 12 shots at ±30° plus zenith/nadir at 17mm. 8 shots at 45° yaw increment has only a very small overlap. 10 shots would be enough but I would have to change the detent ring. At 17mm I still get over 16000pixels width for the 360° pano. Still getting used to the distortion but very happy that I can leave the camera in position and use the same detent ring for a 6+2 shot low resolution or a 24+2 higher resolution pano. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: How do i make my 360 panos move on the web? Coffee Cup -	Re: How do i make my 360 panos move on the web? Coffee Cup - Posted: 12 Jun 2008 at 21:41 GMT go to thread Bill, did you just include a JPEG file in your page or how did you set up the website? If you use a JPG, you need a viewer to show the pano accurately and to move it. E.g. PTViewer on www.fsoft.it/panorama/ptviewer.htm, or DevalVR on www.devalvr.com or others. You can also create a MOV file with PTGui which requires a plugin, I believe DevalVR can also show MOV files. Or you can create flashfiles with yet another software. Personally I like the PTViewer because it is Java, it is free, and runs on every platform. I also don't need other software and can customize easily how it looks on the webpage. There is good additional documentation on Prof. Helmut Dersch's PTViewer website webuser.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/PTVJ/doc.html. I have read on a Flickr forum recently that there is also a viewer which you can use by simply providing a link while having your image on your own website but I have not checked this out. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Can Gimp save EXIF data in TIF files?	Can Gimp save EXIF data in TIF files? Posted: 11 Jun 2008 at 2:33 GMT go to thread I downloaded recently Gimp 2.4.6 to edit nadir images. Despite finding a few blogs or forums where users claim they can save EXIF data in TIF files, I cannot find the option anywhere in the save dialog and all files exported with Gimp have lost the EXIF data. Does anybody know if there is a plugin to retain the EXIF data in TIF files? alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Java Viewer	Re: Java Viewer Posted: 9 Jun 2008 at 23:40 GMT updated: 9 Jun 2008 at 23:43 GMT go to thread The controller menu is just part of a background image with static hotspots. Here is a sample how I set up mine: I set my applet width=712 height=480: Parameter view_width defines the width of the area where the pano is shown. I set it smaller than the applet because I use a frame around it: <param name=view_width value=701> Parameter view_height defines the height of the area where the pano is shown. I set it smaller because I use my own toolbar at the bottom and a frame around the pano: <param name=view_height value=420> My toolbar is just part of a gif file of the width of the applet with a few buttons at the bottom. The first button is to start automatic rotation to the left. The x/y values are where the button starts, the a/b values are where the button ends: <param name=shotspot0 value=" x1 y438 a86 b468 u'ptviewer: startAutoPan(-0.2,0,1)' "> The second button is to start automatic rotation to the right. The x/y values are where the button starts, the a/b values are where the button ends: <param name=shotspot1 value=" x87 y438 a172 b468 u'ptviewer: startAutoPan(0.2,0,1)' "> The 3rd button is to stop automatic rotation: <param name=shotspot2 value=" x173 y438 a261 b468 u'ptviewer: stopAutoPan()' "> The 4th button is to pan up: <param name=shotspot3 value=" x262 y438 a347 b468 u'ptviewer:panUp()' "> The 5th button is to pan down: <param name=shotspot4 value=" x348 y438 a434 b468 u'ptviewer:panDown()' "> Then I use some buttons for zooming and toggling hotspots: <param name=shotspot5 value=" x435 y438 a522 b468 u'ptviewer:ZoomIn()' "> <param name=shotspot6 value=" x523 y438 a609 b468 u'ptviewer:ZoomOut()' "> <param name=shotspot7 value=" x610 y438 a704 b468 u'ptviewer:toggleHS()' "> I just started a personal homepage which is still very rough but if you want to have a look how I used PTViewer, just go to the Australian panoramas. www.hyspherical.com You can do a much better job if you invest a bit of time. I am just playing around with this after work. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Java Viewer	Re: Java Viewer Posted: 9 Jun 2008 at 23:28 GMT go to thread There are hundreds of them on Flickr.com. There is an entire group for equirectangular panos. Just check the copyright of the individual contributor before using it. alert moderator