Which panoramic software?

[scraggles]

Which panoramic software is the best? I have photostitch but I was wondering if there is something else thats better.

[tim]

PhotoStitch is better than the PS CS automated feature in my experience, plus PhotoStich is free with the Canon cameras, so that's a bonus :)

[Raj]

I would recommend "panorama factory", am really happy with it. Its not free but is worth spending bucks on IMO. You can try evaluation copy I guess

Good luck :-)

[elbirth]

I've actually had pretty good results using the stitch feature of Photoshop CS. I honestly haven't even tried the photostitch software that came with my camera, so maybe I should...

[Nabil-A]

In my opinion nothing comes close to

PTassembler (best there is in my opinion plus its free !!!!)..for the initial assembly and stitching and PS CS for evening out of seams and colour / level variances.

Im yet to type up a workflow for my approach...but i find using the merge / stitch command in adobe photoshop cs rather hit and miss.

With PT assembler i can pick and choose as many stitch points as needed and so my photos line up first go every go.

take a look at my most first attempt.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=59638

[Nabil-A]

I should mention that ptassembler has many sophisticated panoramic options to meet almost any requirement...

Dont waste your time with the others.. if your after flawless stitching theres only one way to go.

[ATucker]

In my opinion nothing comes close to

PTassembler (best there is in my opinion plus its free !!!!)..

I also use PTAssembler. But it is not free - $39.

PTAssembler is a frontend for Panotools. Panotools is free, as well as the Panotools plugins: Autoblend and Enblend. Panotools is rather difficult to drive, but PTAssembler makes it much easier. I typically use the Enblend plug-in and do not have to do any seam fixing.

More on PTAssembler and Panotools at: www.tawbaware.com (http://www.tawbaware.com)
There is a good discussion forum on this site which includes PTAssembler, PTGui and Hugin users.

PTGUI and Hugin are also frontends for Panotools - Hugin' is free, PTGui is not.

I can't tell you if it is the best since I have not tried all the others. But it works for me and the price did not break the bank. Good luck in your search/research.

[Nabil-A]

MMMM,, been that long ago forget i paid for it... but it doesnt break the bank.

I too agree PTassembler is relatively easy to use and have tried Panotools but found Ptassembler the user friendly option.

[Tim A]

One program that I have mixed feelings about is Autostitch (available for free at autostitch.net). It's a one button wonder most of the time. Takes a few minutes to spit out the panorma but when it's done there is usually never any colour differences and very little ghosting. I'm unsure whether or not there is image degradation - it's tough to tell. What's great about it is it is fast and easy and the results are usually more than sufficient for web use. I also have Photostitch and Photomerge (in PS7) and PTAssembler. Of these I would imagine PTA does the best job...I simply haven't the time to really learn the program and put it to the test - yet. From what I've seen on the net, PTA blows the other programs away. Only drawback is it takes a substantial amount of time to get a good panorama. Autostitch is fast and usually sufficient. It's free, give it a go!

Tim

Some samples:

Canon's PhotoStitch
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/2242PhotoStitch.jpg

PTAssembler
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/2242PTAssembler.jpg

Autostitch
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/2242Autostitch.jpg

No PSing done other than to resize.

[UncleDoug]

If you are looking to produce panoramic prints......

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio (QTVRAS)
The original!!!... Has limitations but is darn solid. Only runs under Mac os 9.x
I dream of the day Turk & Co. would take this program to OS X!
But once understood, produces great images.

PanoramaTools... Great stuff! Based on research done by Helmut Dersch. He/his web site was closed down by iPix and "pattent" enforcement(load of crap). The WYSIWYG front ends are getting better. If you want to leverage the true power of this program you need to go a little "deep" and huck the front ends.

Stitcher (from RealViz)
Great WYSIWYG! If you are playing with panos stitched from medium format or are performing multi-row stitching this may be for you. Can handle large files.

There are many "others", including IPix software, but to me these are the ones that are the standard to be compared to.

PTviewer is accomodated in ExhibitEngine, not too sure if QT is though..

-Doug

[scraggles]

Thanks guys. I'll give PTAssembler a try.

[UncleDoug]

Oh yeah, the stitching feature in PhotoshopCS is crap compared to the before mentioned programs....

-Doug

[steven]

PT GUI is another front end like PTAssembler. It is also low cost and has a good reputation for ease of use. Might want to look at it too.

[sboerup]

I just tried out AutoStitch and the results are, wow. Tried PTAssembler, and thought that it was kinda crappy. PTGui was good, just not for free. Autostitch is kinda slow, but it gets the job done seamlessly and without and loss of color. Although it may be a little slow, I think that it also has a little degredation. I wish it could stitch .tifs, but it can't. I was impressed.

[Scottes]

Depends on what you consider "Best" - In my opinion, it's between Hugin, PTAssembler, and PTGui. Hugin is free, PTA is $39, PTGui is about $75 I think. Both PTA and PTGui have trial periods.

I don't know about Hugin, but PTA can stay in 16-bit, and PTGui can only do 8-bit currently, 16-bit is soming soon. PTGui does have a most helpful Panorama Editor which eases several pains about getting the image to come out correctly. With PTA some steps must be done by hand and by guessing the necessary numeric input. These steps aren't always necessary but can be extremely frustrating when you have to fix a roll or get the horizon line perfect. I'm not too sure about Hugin - it's open source, still not released, and crashed on me a couple times. This does not mean that it won't work for you, so try it.

You will also want Autopano or Autopano-sift, as well as either Enblend or Smartblend.

Currently I think that PTAssembler produces the best output due to it's use of 16-bit images. PTGui is easier to use if you can deal with a pure 8-bit workflow. I don't know about Hugin because I never created a pano with it.

Any of these will do a better job than anything else out there, but they come with a price. PTA is the most difficult to use, and all are more difficult to use and master than any other mentioned.


sboerup, if you think that PTA was kinda crappy then you did something wrong, but it's *very* easy to do something wrong with PTA. It is difficult to master.

[puttick]

The Canon Photostitch software is actually very good indeed, and has got a little better with each release. Use a non-distorting lens (e.g.a prime standard or medium zoom) and keep the exposure even by using manual. Keep your pano to a few frames, it is easy to get carried away. Use a tripod, carefully leveled, and a pan & tilt head. But you can also get great results hand held - here's one I did tonight on my 350D, 70-200 f4 L @70mm hand held - 200ISO - 1/50 f9, 4 images:

I have used Panorama factory but now find it unnecessary.

Nigel

[bkdc]

PTgui PRO will allow you to stitch HDR panoramas. That's a big plus, but it costs big bucks.

[Picture North Carolina]

I have been playing with ptgui lately, but have not tried ptassembler.

Seeing as both are front ends for panorama tools, could somebody who has tried both post a few remarks about ptassembler and if there are any options / features in it that are not available in ptgui?

[Scottes]

Tawbaware hosts the forums for PTA. http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/. You might find some comparative info there. I do not recall seeing any ground-breaking stuff in PTA lately, which means that PTGui probably has it beat. But if you can't afford PTGui....