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Author Topic: Warp tools?  (Read 3007 times)

earlybird

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Warp tools?
« on: January 13, 2018, 10:13:16 am »

Hi,
 I have been working with some large stitched panoramas and imagining a feature set for a warp tool to straighten out the composite once it is assembled.

 Currently, I use either Photoshop's "Perspective Crop" or/and Photoshop's Edit>Transform>Warp tools. Both tools are very effective but I am imagining how useful a tool that worked something like the Perspective Crop but actually let you define a perimeter with extra points. The puppet warp tools seems like it has some of the features I want but the points "pull" the discrete points where as I would like something that pulled the inter spaced line segments.

 I writing to ask if perhaps a tool like this already exists. Do you know of one?

 I spent some time searching the subject yesterday, and primarily came up with suggestions to use the tools I have already mentioned.

 I downloaded PTgui and gave it a try thinking it might have some sort of advanced straightening tools but didn't see anything like what I am hoping for.

 I downloaded DXO Viewpoint and while it seems exceptionally powerful it does not seem to address my specific interest.

 Is there a specialy warping tool such as I have described that I may add to my tool kit?

 Thank you.
 
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 10:45:43 am by earlybird »
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MattBurt

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2018, 10:41:33 am »

Microsoft ICE has something like this. It's a pretty impressive app but I have not used it in a couple of years. I typically use it with a particularly difficult stitch that my usual tools don't handle well.
The big drawback last time I used it was it wouldn't take tif files for input but maybe that has changed since then. Worth a try for sure since it is free.
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earlybird

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2018, 10:43:19 am »

Here is a mock up of the sort of tool I am thinking about:



The control points are evenly spaced along the perimeter and the interior matrix intersections are interpolated evenly to correspond with the perimeter placement.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 10:47:32 am by earlybird »
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earlybird

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2018, 10:47:58 am »

Microsoft ICE has something like this. It's a pretty impressive app but I have not used it in a couple of years. I typically use it with a particularly difficult stitch that my usual tools don't handle well.
The big drawback last time I used it was it wouldn't take tif files for input but maybe that has changed since then. Worth a try for sure since it is free.


Thank you for the suggestion Matt.

I would definitely want to be able to work with 16bit ProPhoto RGB TIFF files.

I will take a look at ICE and see if it has become possible.

Thank you.
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MattBurt

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2018, 11:08:21 am »

No problem. Just tried it with 16 bit tiff files out of curiosity and it had no problem. Here's the warping tool that looks a lot like your mockup.
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earlybird

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2018, 11:33:24 am »

Hi Matt,
 I just downloaded ICE 2.0.3 for Winx64 and as you say, it imported my 16bit ProPhoto RGB TIFF files, processed them, and exported a 16bit ProPhoto RGB TIFF.

 It works great.

 I did not see a warp capability that seems to work exactly as I am searching for, but the warp tool you have suggested does seem to be incredibly powerful, and it enables some very useful and quickly accessible warped results.

 Thank you very much for the suggestion. I had not known about ICE and think that I will get a lot of use out of it. Thank you.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2018, 05:19:33 pm »

Hi,
 I have been working with some large stitched panoramas and imagining a feature set for a warp tool to straighten out the composite once it is assembled.

Hi,

I'm not quite sure what it is that you want to achieve, but if you want to straighten horizons and such, PTGUI can do that easily when creating the panorama. Doing it afterwards is not the best workflow.

Cheers,
Bart
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 05:26:24 pm by BartvanderWolf »
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earlybird

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2018, 08:42:02 pm »

Hi Bart,
 It seems to me that ptGUI and ICE allow you to project the data in various ways, and you may be able to find a setting that results in an apperance that is more rectangular than other choices, and then you crop the output your best ability.

 When I use a combination of Photoshop's warp and perspective crop tools it seems as If I can preserve the edges of my original framing more faithfully. With the cropping tools in ptGUI and ICE it seems like I have to trim more off the edges.

 So, what I imagine is a tool that allows me to draw a perimeter that most closely follows the edge of the warped picture and then snap that shape into a rectangle in a manner similar to the function of perspective crop tools.

 Thank you.

« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 08:48:34 pm by earlybird »
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kirkt

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2018, 08:52:53 am »

Take a look at Photoshop’s Adaptive Wide Angle tool, as well as the Upright tool (or whatever it is called now)  in the Camera Raw interface.  The interface of each tool is not structured as a warping grid, but between the two tools you have a lot of flexibility in panorama correction.

Otherwise, as has been pointed out, consider using dedicated pano stitching tools.

Kirk
« Last Edit: January 14, 2018, 08:56:24 am by kirkt »
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2018, 09:40:02 am »

Hi Bart,
 It seems to me that ptGUI and ICE allow you to project the data in various ways, and you may be able to find a setting that results in an apperance that is more rectangular than other choices, and then you crop the output your best ability.

Hi,

Not only does PTGUI allow to choose a more appropriate projection, but it also allows to take out the curve that's caused by using an improper pitch value. That will already take care of having to crop to top and bottom at all. What's left is the visual impression that is caused by looking at the super wide angle image from too far away. PTGUI allows to adjust some of that by squeezing in the horizontal stretching.

On the other hand, if you are confronted with an improperly stitched image from another application, then Affinity Photo already has the tool you are looking for. Attached an example of using the 'Mesh Warp tool' where I, in Source mode, only defined 2 corner points for the upper arched edge in source mode, dragged the center of the connecting line to follow the edge, and did the same for the bottom arched edge, and then switched to destination mode and I applied the resulting distortion.

The resulting keystoning can then be removed by using the perspective tool, and then virtually nothing needs to be cropped or inpainted. But such warps and distortions do affect the final resolution a bit. Doing it while stitching retains resolution better.

Affinity Photo's tools are simple and powerful, but the need to use them can be avoided with a proper stitch.
 
Cheers,
Bart

P.S. Here's an Affinity Photo video tutorial that shows a similar correction on a panorama of a building, which is more tricky due to the straight lines involved: tutorial
« Last Edit: January 14, 2018, 09:45:58 am by BartvanderWolf »
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earlybird

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2018, 07:29:32 pm »

Hi Kirk and Bart,
 Thank you for the suggestions.


 I downloaded Affinity and am learning about its features.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2018, 09:14:55 pm »

I downloaded Affinity and am learning about its features.

FYI, they have an excellent series of short video tutorials here.

Affinity Photo has so many features, including basic Pano stitching, and HDR imaging, and Focus stacking, etc., that those videos are a good way to get people up to speed. The controls of Affinity Photo are very well designed, and many of them offer benefits over what e.g. Photoshop has to offer.

Cheers,
Bart
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kirkt

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Re: Warp tools?
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2018, 05:15:33 pm »

Their collection of video tutorials is second to none.  Really well done, and a vast collection.

kirk
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