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Aligning
the Images by Hand
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| When using the
default settings for stitching the panorama, the computer tries to
align each image. If there are no distinguishing characteristics in
the images, the computer takes its best guess, which sometimes is
not so good. For example, look at the final stitch on the image to
the right (this is an image, not a pano, so don't try to move it as
a pano). |
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| The camera was
not completely level when the panorama images were being taken. When
the pano was stitched, each image was added a little higher than the
next. When the 16th image was being stitched to the 1st image, there
was a considerable shift. The computer did the best it could, but
not as
good as the human eye can do it. So how is "hand alignment"
done? |
| To hand stitch
your images, click on the small triangle between two adjacent images,
in this case 01.jpg and 02.jpg. |
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| Here are the
two images superimposed on one another. Place the cursor, in the form
of a hand, on the image and click to activate. You can either drag
the image on top of the other, or move pixel by pixel using the arrow
keys. |
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Once
the images are aligned, click the "OK" button or if you
want to move to the next image, click the "Next" button.
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When the two
images have been hand aligned, the triangle will be filled with
another smaller triangle as shown.
Repeat the
procedure for each of the images.
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| Click on the
final triangle, located at the outer edge of image 16.jpg, to align
the final image to the initial image. |
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For
this final alignment, notice the difference between the cloud position
and the land positions. Time has passed from the first image to
the final image. The clouds have moved, but of course the land has
not. Align the land and click OK.
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Now
stitch the pano using the default settings.
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| The
panorama now shows the image stitched with proper alignment. |
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| Click on the
Setting button to see the setting options. |
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An
image of the complete panorama will be generated. You can choose
how the images will be processed. Note the FILL, DESKEW, and SHARPEN
commands. These correspond with the steps the computer takes while
stitching the image.
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You can let
the computer decide the number of tiles for an optimal look.
You can adjust
the compression setting which will influence the quality of the
images.
Cinepak compression
is good for panoramas which are destined for web pages.
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| Within
the compression settings, you can set the color depth, and the level
of compression. The best compression will require the most memory,
but the panorama will look better. |
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| The
Playback settings allow you to change the size of the resulting panorama
and in which direction the pano will begin (PAN). In addition, you
can adjust the tilt of the view and the zoom of the view. |
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| You
can also adjust the settings for the appearance quality of the panorama
when the user is putting the pano in motion and when the user stops
the pano. |
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| These
settings allow for flattening (so a variety of players should be able
to play the pano movie) and for the developer to type information
concerning the panorama. |
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| The
final settings you can make on your image set is to determine what
you would like to have the computer construct, the pano PICTure, Tiles,
and/or the Pano. The computer will give the panorama a suffix of pano.
The PICTure file is an intermediate step when creating a pano and
can be used at a later time if you need to retouch the image or redo
the pano. In redoing the pano using the PICTure file, the stitching
step is skipped which saves time. The Tile file is also an intermediate
step in creating a pano. The tiles are also an intermediate step when
creating a pano. The Panorama Stitcher creates the PICT image and
then compresses it and divides it into equal sized sections called
tiles. In redoing the pano using the PICTure file, the compression
step is skipped which saves time. |
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