wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: HOW TO GET STARTED?
tflyfish2002 2005-Jan-21 02:59:00
I am new to the forum so I hope youyy will not mind me adding my 2
cents worth.
I have both PT gui and Realviz 4. I love Realviz for a number of
reasons, but first I will agree that due to the not so good
documentation it is hard to learn although Realviz have a number of
excellent onlione tutorials, the problem being that most of the
tutorials are for a older version and leave out some of the important
features of version 4
I shoot multirow pano's and boy it's nice to be able to zoom in on the
Editor window to get to close alignment, once this is done you hit
stitch and the image is stitched to it's partner. No need for lenghty
lens calibration, that is done very quickly and can be saved for
future use.
Were Realivz is really great is at the output stage, if you output to
QTVR cubes or movies, you can preview the output window and make any
changes to the QTVR setting to see how it looks, that's interactively,
Try doing that with PT..
Also 16 bit is no problem for Realviz, input or output (NOt QTVR
obviously)You can add hotspots as well.
Try the Realviz stencil function, this masks parts of any image that
you might want to lose of maybe keep. Although you can output directly
to Photoshop dynamically, there is hardly any need with stencils.
Do yourself a favor and download a copy. I don't think that it can
totally replace PT tools, but for most work it can.
Barry
--- In #removed#, Roger Howard <#removed#> wrote:
>
> On Jan 20, 2005, at 5:07 PM, mark1schuster wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Despite his wrap across my knuckles, I find Roger Howard's reply to
> > my criticism of Panorama Tools very constructive and he shames me
> > into downloading it and trying it out, first for single layer 360s,
> > then, and this might need a new camera, or at least a wide angle
> > attachment, spheres
>
> Ok, I'm glad it didn't come off some other way - I honestly didn't
> intend to be as much a knuckle-wrap as a gentle butt kick in the right
> direction :) We're all struggling to be creative here, but it's also a
> highly technical process - like, in my experience, most creative
> endeavors (I work at a fine arts museum, btw, so I have some insight
> into the insanely technical disciplines behind all those beautiful
> paintings, sculptures, etc).
>
> Anyway, I'm glad you got the nuance, I didn't want to come across as a
> complete a-hole (sometimes I can't help it!).
>
> > Will it work with my old PhotoShop 6? My OS
> > is W-XP.
>
> Absolutely... since you're on Windows, PTGUI or PTAssembler or Hugin
> are your options. These are standalone apps (not Photoshop plugins)...
> they spit out standard TIFF or PSD files which can be read by any
> version of Photoshop.
>
> > Hans Nyberg mentions RealViz 4 although I don't think he was
> > actually recommending it. Hans, I've tried it for single layer
> > panoramas but didn't like it. I thought it lacked sufficient user
> > control for difficult stitching. I don't suppose I would like it
> > better for spheres. Much better for single layers is ArcSoft's
> > Panorama Maker 3. This provides control points for difficult
> > stitching. I've not heard of an ArcSoft spherical application.
>
> I don't think he was recommending it either - and I certainly won't
> (though i own it and use it from time to time). I think it's
> overpriced, buggy, with lower quality output, and while it seems simple
> on first glance, it can easily lead into a lot of frustration. And
> unless you're shooting on a good tripod with calibrated pano head I
> definitely wouldn't recommend it for spherical work (and ESPECIALLY not
> with a lens as long as 38mm). Lack of control is quite true; it has no
> concept of control points either, so even if you "Force Stitch" to
> force it to accept your chosen alignment, it's a purely rough visual
> alignment - never nearly as accurate as control points. Btw, I'm
> definitely not suggesting the PanoTools products are perfect; but on
> the whole, I actually think they are quite suitable for many people;
> it just takes a little time with someone who knows the tool and who can
> help you develop a workflow for your needs, and then it's pretty damn
> easy.
>
> There was a time when I still did single row cylindrical panos with
> Stitcher... stuff I shot with for instance a 50mm (80mm equivalent),,,
> but even then (or maybe especially then) it could get quite frustrating
> trying to get proper alignment all the way around so I could join the
> ends of the pano together properly, and I would often have image pairs
> that just mysteriously would not stitch to each other, for no reason I
> could imagine, or would end up stitching COMPLETELY wrong. All of this
> is dead simple with a PanoTools stitcher.
>
> Try the autopano/autocreate functionality in PTGUI or PTAssembler...
> with a 38mm lens it should do a good job finding all the control points
> for you. I know when I shoot with rectilinear lenses for cylindrical
> panos, I rarely have to do more than 5 or 10 minutes of tweaking
> control points - they are all set automatically and very accurately.
>
> Do let us know if you have specific questions; perhaps the reason no
> one responded to the initial emails is simply because it comes up quite
> frequently on the lists. As a community, I think there are different
> groups trying to solve this in different ways - online FAQs and
> tutorials; the new PanoTools wiki; and so on. I think the newly renamed
> IVRPA is going to make a push to reach out more in these areas too, but
> too soon to tell.