Author Topic: Software: Image Composite Editor (Read 7526 times)

oboy · « **on:** November 05, 2008, 19:12 »

Just found a very useful free panoramic stitching software from Microsoft. You can read more about it on my blog at:
http://photoinfos.blogspot.com/2008/11/software-image-composite-editor.html

madelaide · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2008, 19:33 »

Neat. But have you tried it?

Regards,
Adelaide

PS: There are some very curious applications there. Autocollage seems a fun thing to use.

oboy · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2008, 21:50 »

I tried it today with some different images and it worked without any problem. I have to play with it a little more, but so far it looks good.

madelaide · « **Reply #3 on:** November 07, 2008, 19:24 »

It would be nice if you could post some examples. I have tried some of these stitching softwares in the past and was not quite impressed with their results. Although much more time-consuming, I end up doing mine in the photo editor, frame by frame.

One nice exception was PhotoFit, a Japanese software. Not a very friendly interface, but the results looked good in the free version, but as this free version meant out small outputs, I was never able to view the image in high res.

Regards,
Adelaide

RacePhoto · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2008, 00:29 »

I like this software, Autopano Pro (Kolor Autopano). This was something I whipped up during a lunch break, hand held. How does it look? I'll add details and what it was, after you have a chance to look without bias. Reduced for the web, the original is 11310 x 5037 and that's cropped to remove the jagged edges. That's my shadow. Shot from the top of a grandstand. New office building going up with will eventually replace the little farmhouse in the upper left.

http://www.autopano.net/

madelaide · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2008, 15:21 »

Curious effect, did you stitch both horizontally and vertically?

This software has to be good, it's very expensive!

Regards,
Adelaide

RacePhoto · « **Reply #6 on:** November 17, 2008, 23:08 »

Quote from: madelaide on November 10, 2008, 15:21

Curious effect, did you stitch both horizontally and vertically?

This software has to be good, it's very expensive!

Regards,
Adelaide

Yes I did a bit of pushing the limits. It's 57 photos (not a typo fifty-seven) all stitched together. Roughly four or five vertical and 10 - 12 horizontal, plus some extras to get the grandstand and the ground directly below. No it's not perfect, but if I had just cropped the center, instead of going to the 180 degree, nearly fisheye effect, it would look more natural. The software has to compensate for all the panning and warp the photos to blend them. Oh by the way, hand held.

I like to set the camera for aperture priority so the depth of field merges better. The software blends the differences in tones, which is super! No banding in the sky. Here's one from a different weekend, only 14 photos. Original is 5200 wide, reduced to a more friendly web size 800 wide using Irfanview for all editing. Nothing fancy, Just having fun.

AVAVA · « **Reply #7 on:** November 17, 2008, 23:59 »

Thanks for sharing the link Race. I am going to get a copy and play around. The piece on the Paris 20 gig project was interesting as well. Pretty cool duel camera panning head for exact control. I bet that was a pretty penny.

Cheers,
AVAVA

RacePhoto · « **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2008, 04:46 »

Quote from: AVAVA on November 17, 2008, 23:59

Thanks for sharing the link Race. I am going to get a copy and play around. The piece on the Paris 20 gig project was interesting as well. Pretty cool duel camera panning head for exact control. I bet that was a pretty penny.

Cheers,
AVAVA

I'll have to go look, it was almost a year ago that I last looked at their site. I don't recall that project.

Just for fun, it works this way too.

I can't remember how many photos, probably a dozen. Nice depth of field.