Product reviews by Psychedelicious
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PTgui
Rating: 
Updated: 20 Sep 2007 at 16:06 GMT,
by Psychedelicious
PTGui is incomparable. In my opinion it is the one stitching program that truly performs flawlessly. Sure you can still trip up PTGui in automatic stitching mode, but there is hardly a panorama that cannot be stitched by PTGui. In every case PTGui will provide better results than any competing product. Realviz Stitcher comes close, but is a huge ripoff in comparison to the superior PTGui. I've used both, as well as ImageAssembler. Nothing compares to PTGui.
Realviz Stitcher may be preferred by virtual tour builders because it is a complete solution, whereas PTGui only creates the panorama, not the tour. However PTGui is the best choice for using panorama technique to create printable images, including panoramas and photo mosaics. this is because PTGui offers two optimizers (PTGui and PanoTools) and four blending modes (PTGui, PanoTools, EnBlend, and SmartBlend). While all stitching applications make mistakes now and then, PTGui can succeed at perfect stitching more often than any other application, you just need to experiment with different combos of optimizer and blending. With a well-calibrated camera/rotator/lens cobo and PTGui it is indeed possible to achieve perfect stitching most of the time... better than any other application.
Stitcher
Rating: 
Updated: 20 Sep 2007 at 15:57 GMT,
by Psychedelicious
Stitcher is very nice... and in many cases will provide flawless output with a minimum of fuss. I'd love to give it 6 stars, but I cannot because PTGui deserves 6 stars, so Stitcher can only have five. Why is this? Stitcher is too expensive, and is also not quite capable of reaching the level of perfection that PTGui can. PTGui is capable of perfect stitching, so long as one uses a very well calibrated pano head, and a prime lens. Stitcher is still prone to slight errors even when calibration is perfect. Stitcher is great for web tours, the slight errors are too small to see a web resolution... but for prints, PTGui can produce superior results thanks to superior control, more blending and output options, and better interpolation.
The catch is this... PTGui can be more complex to use, especially if you want to push it to the limit. Stitcher and PTGui produce similar results in their default modes, so Stitcher's ease of use may be the deciding factor for those who prize simplicity over precision.
PMVR
Rating: 
Updated: 20 Sep 2007 at 15:43 GMT,
by Psychedelicious
The other reviews show a distinct lack of undertanding regarding projection and vision. While it is true that human vision is not purely rectilinear, rectilinear projection is the closest approximation of reality; especially when the field of view is not too extreme.
Most architecture involves straight lines, and most virtual tours are of architecture... preservingt these straight lines is the primary task of a panorama viewer. PMVR dispenses with this. It is the least capable panorama viewer. Showing straight lines as curves destroys the proper presentation of architecture. A better approach is to use a true spherical/cylindrical viewer, but limit the maximum FOV to 100 degrees or less. PMVR is an unimpressive and highly limiting way to view panoramas. Rectilinear projection is much better.