wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: A couple of friends dropped in for a drink...
Pat Swovelin 2006-Jun-25 22:25:00
Richard Crowest wrote:
> http://corvidae.co.uk/panoramas/wwp-garden.html
>
> I really struggled getting the small version below 700kB. I've ended
> up with a cube face size of 956 pixels and a quality setting of just
> 33%, and I'm barely happy with the way it looks. To get there I had
> to apply a very aggressive noise reduction across the whole image,
> then Gaussian blur with a 0.25 pixel radius, and use the history
> brush to undo it in the areas I really needed to keep sharp. Thanks
> for the tips about noise reduction - prior to that, H264 looked like
> the only way to get an allowable file size without destroying the
> appearance.
>
> I think the killer is having detail overhead - the acer leaves are
> beautiful, but just aren't JPEG friendly. With a Californian blue
> sky, you've got no problems. It's a bit ironic really: cubic panorama
> + something to make it worthwhile looking upwards = much bigger file.
>
> That said, the full-screen version was no problem at all - that's the
> one I'm really happy with.
For what it's worth, the full screen version only works correctly in IE
on my XP Pro system. In Firefox and Netscape it only displays as a
strip about 20% of the full height and it's not movable in Quicktime.
It crashed Opera 8.5.
> I do have to confess to cheating slightly. The collared dove and the
> wood pigeon weren't actually there at the same time. In fact, I'm
> stretching the truth calling the wood pigeon a friend - they're not
> that friendly to anyone or anything in the garden - sitting in the
> pulmonaria, fighting in the clematis, and leaving their muck all over
> the place. In days gone by, people made fortunes and built vast
> mansions with exquisite gardens by collecting and selling guano for
> fertiliser, but I think I'd need a much bigger patio to join that
> club...
>
> Richard
Pat Swovelin
Cool Guy @ Large