Best Stitching Software for use w/ Aperture 3

I've finally diving into landscape panos. I'm purchasing a single-row Pano Elements package from RRS. I currently use Aperture 3 and when doing HDR, I use Photomatix Pro.

What is the best software available today for stitching photos? Aside from that, is there a really good one that can also work as a plug-in for Aperture 3? (Not a requirement, but a bonus if it's nearly as good.) I did a fair amount of searching, and at best, I'm finding threads dating back 18 months ago and a lot can change in that amount of time.

Appreciate everyone's help!

Bryan

I don't know that it's the absolute "best", but Photoshop Elements 10 is very reasonably priced (a lot cheaper than some plugins!) and does a very good job of stitching panos. You can set Aperture up so it uses PSE as a secondary image editor, but not sure if it operates exactly the same as a plugin would.

For Windows, ICE is free and people seem to like it. The two 'big boys' in the field seem to be PTGui Pro and Kolor AutoPano. There's Hugin for a free, pretty fully featured variation on the theme. I like the interface on AutoPano a little more than in PTGui, but PTGui has been better at doing what little HDR stitching I've tried (more like exposure blending, not tone mapping). Still optimizing my workflow in that area though. I have Photomatix, but I struggle to make it give me results I actually like...

Thanks for the suggestions. They are very appreciated!

I just checked out PTGui...pretty expensive. I'll have to check a few of the others out too.

If anyone else has any additional suggestions, keep em' coming!

Thanks,
Bryan

Hugin is free...