Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: CS3 automated stitch example  (Read 33438 times)

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« on: February 17, 2007, 10:29:51 am »

With all the questions on CS3's abilities and since pictures are worth thousands of words, and with the recent stitching discussions, I thought I'd post an illustrated example of CS3's new stitching capabilities.  

Here are four frames captured by just leveling the camera on my tripod and panning these four frames, with no particular attention paid to panning at the nodal point.  I was using the mirror-up and 2-sec timer function on my 5D.  I was not in any particular hurry, but even so the total elapsed time for all four captures was 12 seconds -- or in reality closer to 6 seconds net if I subtract the self-timer delays.  

First off, I know this is not a great image, but one chosen to show how well CS3 automatically handles a difficult stitch. Note that I converted raw images to these small jpegs and the quality of the raw stitch is incredible, though difficult to show on the web with these small jpegs. Also note that I did NO tweaking to the images before or after the stitch and no adjustment of the final stitch or seams;  these are merged "as-shot":

1)


2)


3)


4)


~~~

Here is the dialog that pops up when you open photomerge.  I have added "open" files to the merge:


Here is the finished automatic cylindrical or "sphreical" projection:


Here is the finished automatic perspective correct or "flat" projection:


Here is a closer in crop of the seams -- frames 2 and 4 have the opacity dialed down to 80% so you can see the quality of the seam:


Offered FWIW -- Cheers,
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Nick Rains

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 705
    • http://www.nickrains.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2007, 05:37:20 pm »

Quote
Offered FWIW -- Cheers,
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101375\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Also FWIW, I presented a seminar to 200 pros and students at a conference yesterday and, amongst the stuff I showed, I demoed the Auto-Align and Auto-Blend feature on two images shot like you did, hand held, but on a 17mm lens. Normally I would consider it too much work to stitch two such wide shots but CS3 did it perfectly, first time, and in front of 200 people.

There was a moment of silence and then everyone applauded!

Photomerge is a good thing.
Logged
Nick Rains
Australian Photographer Leica

Ray

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10365
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2007, 05:38:06 pm »

That's very impressive, Jack. I've wasted hours trying to get straight lines straight and a neat join when stitching subjects like this taken from a close distance. It looks as though the cost of the upgrade to CS3 would be justified by this feature alone.

One problem that often occurs with stitched images is lack of a perfectly smooth tonal gradation in the sky, especially when the light source (sun) is to the far left or right of the scene, as in a dawn. How does PS3 handle this?

By the way, have you traded in your 1Ds2 for a 5D?  
Logged

BernardLanguillier

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13983
    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier/sets/
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2007, 05:52:07 pm »

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the information, it seems interesting indeed.

What do you mean by "quality of the raw stitch"? This stitch is actually very easy in terms of images mapping since there are plenty of features. A bright wall is actually probably the easiest subject you could think of.

In terms of flat stitch and straight lines preservation, I have gotten similar results with PTgui, but I was working with a lens positioned on top of its nodal point.

What I find potentially interesting is the fact that camera was not positionned accurately on top of its nodal point.

However, to understand better the quality of the performance displayed by CS3 vs other tools, it would help to:

1. The focal lenght used,
2. Know how far you were from the wall,
3. Know how many mm away from the actual nodal point of that lens the camera was located.

Thanks for sharing these information if you have them.

Regards,
Bernard

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2007, 09:42:08 pm »

Bernard:

1) 45mm (TSE)

2) Approximately 3 meters at the closest point, 15 or so from the farthest (lens was focused at about 4 or 5 meters)

3) I really have no idea -- but I suspect at least 20 or 30 mm "behind" the 45 TSE's nodal point.

What I meant by quality of the raw stitch is there is no artifacting on the fine detail as appears in the far grass in these jpegs -- if I crop and print the perspective correct version at 20x40 inches it appears as would a high-resolution single capture.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2007, 09:57:33 pm by Jack Flesher »
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2007, 09:48:12 pm »

Ray:

I've only started using it myself and have done maybe half a dozen images with significant sky.  In these, I have not been able to see a seam in the sky; blended skies look perfect right out of the gate.  I actually play the "find the seam" game with most of these stitches, only to discover I was wrong when I toggle the layer off -- it is that good  

Cheers,
« Last Edit: February 17, 2007, 09:55:34 pm by Jack Flesher »
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Ray

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10365
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2007, 09:46:25 pm »

Quote
I actually play the "find the seam" game with most of these stitches, only to discover I was wrong when I toggle the layer off -- it is that good  

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101464\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Jack,
Looks like I'll have to find a way to download CS3 on a 56k dial-up connection. I've got quite a few images taken over the years for stitching purposes, which didn't work out to my satisfaction due to parallax errors. I even bought a big, heavy, Manfrotto pano head some years ago, big enoughto hold my RB67, with lots of complicated adjustments in relation to focal length and distance to subject, which I've hardly used because it's just too cumbersome and top-heavy. It seemed a good idea at the time, though   .
 
Another area in CS2 which I think is lacking and which I hope has been improved in CS3, is merge to HDR. This is another situation where a tripod seems necessary. Although there is an 'automatic alignment' feature in 'merge to HDR', I have found it to be quite useless for hand-held shots.
Logged

DarkPenguin

  • Guest
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2007, 12:15:18 am »

Start the download and then go to bed.

I have to say that in the few tests I've run CS3 achieved panos that I wasn't able to before.  Using full auto mode.
Logged

Mark_Tuttle

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 92
    • http://
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2007, 02:45:13 pm »

Do you still have to change the file from 16 bit to 8 bit to accomplish this in CS3?
Logged
Mark Tuttle
MarkTuttle dot Net

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2007, 04:39:39 pm »

Quote
Do you still have to change the file from 16 bit to 8 bit to accomplish this in CS3?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101697\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Nope
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Ray

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10365
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2007, 05:26:06 pm »

Quote
Start the download and then go to bed.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101611\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I've been downloading CS3 for the past 16 hours. Have about 7 hours more to go.

I'm using 'Free Download Manager'. I'll be interested to see if this 338MB file has become corrupted during the download.

Use of the computer for other purposes, such as making this post, becomes much slower than normal, of course.
Logged

BernardLanguillier

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13983
    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier/sets/
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2007, 07:59:19 pm »

Quote
Bernard:

1) 45mm (TSE)

2) Approximately 3 meters at the closest point, 15 or so from the farthest (lens was focused at about 4 or 5 meters)

3) I really have no idea -- but I suspect at least 20 or 30 mm "behind" the 45 TSE's nodal point.

What I meant by quality of the raw stitch is there is no artifacting on the fine detail as appears in the far grass in these jpegs -- if I crop and print the perspective correct version at 20x40 inches it appears as would a high-resolution single capture.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101463\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the quick reply.

We might have something interesting then. If I find the time, I'll try PTgui on your images to check how well it performs.

- I expect it to be able to be in the same league for planar projection (I have good results with a 35 mm lens on my D2x),
- I am not sure how well it will correct the nodal point error.

Regards,
Bernard

gdeliz

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2007, 12:15:07 pm »

Jack,  the single row pano looks very good. Will CS3 handle multi-row panos? Has anyone tried this?

Thanks,

George Deliz
Logged

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2007, 01:36:43 pm »

Quote
Jack,  the single row pano looks very good. Will CS3 handle multi-row panos? Has anyone tried this?

Thanks,

George Deliz
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101931\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, and does it just as well as the single row above, but it takes it a little longer to process it  

I should add a word on processing.  While I find CS3 significantly faster than all other dedicated solutions I've tried, it still does take some time to process -- there is obviously a *lot* of math processing going on to make this work...  

A friend of mine threw 12 Aptus 75 frames (in 16-bit about 240 megs each) at it (6x2 grid) and it took 4 hours to do the stitch on his power Mac -- but he said the result was perfect  

I have thrown 8 5D 16-bit frames at it (about 70 megs each) and it took about 5 minutes on my Dual-Xeon (4-G ram) PC.  Surprisingly, my duo-core centrino laptop (2-G ram) processed those same 8 frames in 8-bit in about the same amount of time.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2007, 01:39:11 pm by Jack Flesher »
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Danijela D. Karic

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 221
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2007, 04:15:29 pm »

Quote
A friend of mine threw 12 Aptus 75 frames (in 16-bit about 240 megs each) at it (6x2 grid) and it took 4 hours to do the stitch on his power Mac -- but he said the result was perfect  
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101946\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Hi Jack F,

I have seen some of your images and it was clear to me that you certainly pay attention to detail. Do you personally have any Apturs75 experience, did you happen to see any CF issues with regards to your friend’s a75 images?

Quote
and it took 4 hours to do the stitch on his power Mac -- but he said the result was perfect  
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101946\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I can’t believe it takes 4 hours to do the MF stitch processing. I was hoping that it could be done during the brake, more like 15min./30min./perhaps even 60min. but 4 hours? forget it, he is better of with Seitz 6x17 full frame with Linhof/Schneider Lenses. Basically, if I purchase P45 or H3D 39 it’s even worse so I better think about adding another mac dedicated for rendering I guess like my brother has in his Animation Department.

Oh, I hope your friend is wrong on this one.

Regards
Danijela
Logged

Christopher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1499
    • http://www.hauser-photoart.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2007, 04:34:05 pm »

This speed problem, exists always with panos. So I decided last year, that I don't have the time to wait 2 hours to get the Panos rendered. I needed to do some other stuff in that time. Now I have a second PC connected with Ethernet 1000MB and it works well.

Ok I'm talking here about 20-40 1DsMk2 files, which are getting kind of big ;-)
Logged
Christopher Hauser
[email=chris@hauser-p

Danijela D. Karic

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 221
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2007, 04:56:22 pm »

Quote
This speed problem, exists always with panos. So I decided last year, that I don't have the time to wait 2 hours to get the Panos rendered. I needed to do some other stuff in that time. Now I have a second PC connected with Ethernet 1000MB and it works well.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101988\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
That is excactly what I was thinking, only you know Mac's are monsters but they do cost a a bit more and that is what bothers me at the moment. However, not many options, so you pay for what it is I guess.

Quote
Ok I'm talking here about 20-40 1DsMk2 files, which are getting kind of big ;-)
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=101988\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Of course 1DsMk2 files are big enough for the second computer if you are processing 24 to 40 files.

I guess it will all work out fine, since batch processing on CaptureOne is fastest so far, but not fast enough. However, compared to the opponents it is substantialy fast, we'll see.

Regards
Danijela
Logged

Jack Flesher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2592
    • www.getdpi.com
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2007, 05:49:39 pm »

Quote
Hi Jack F,

I have seen some of your images and it was clear to me that you certainly pay attention to detail. Do you personally have any Apturs75 experience, did you happen to see any CF issues with regards to your friend’s a75 images?

I do not have enough MF DB experience to express a significant conclusion on any of them, but will offer my initial impressions.  In my limited comparisons of all the current high-end digital MF backs, I give the A75 the nod over the P45 and Hassy H3D-39 --  to my eye, the file is smoother and less "digital" in appearance.  Howeverbut, all three of these backs are extraordinary performers and I don't think you can go wrong with any of them if they suit your purpose.

The A75 does not appear to show significant color-shift even when used with shifted glass on a view camera. By comaprison, the P45 clearly does show color shift. I have not yet seen files from the H39 back mounted on a view camera so cannot comment either way on it.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2007, 05:50:23 pm by Jack Flesher »
Logged
Jack
[url=http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/

Pete JF

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 291
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #18 on: February 22, 2007, 01:08:45 am »

I've been doing a bunch of stitching lately and Im finding that PTGUI is pretty damn great.

I'm thrilled to be able to get salvagable grab shots when I don't have a tripod in my trunk. I'm wondering how much the PS3 stitcher lets you control? I'm still learning PTGUI but I got up to a decent speed pretty fast on it.

This shot is 4 frames stitched in a rectilinear projection. I was pointing way up and over etc..all hand held (that billboard is very tall and my camera position is about a street width away)). Using the vertical line control points (t-1 control points) is great for getting verts, vertical and messing with the horizon line and other stuff...you can get amazingly tight stitches with this app.

Logged

BernardLanguillier

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13983
    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier/sets/
CS3 automated stitch example
« Reply #19 on: February 22, 2007, 02:06:22 am »

Quote
I've been doing a bunch of stitching lately and Im finding that PTGUI is pretty damn great.
[/img]
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102282\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yep, that is my feeling as well, but there are always some things to improve on. Evaluating PS CS3 stitching capability might be worth it.

Personnally, I think that it is a waste of resources for Adobe to develop such functions though.

Instead of trying to compete with - already excellent - small guys in niche applications, they should focus on their most important job which is to keep providing a top notch platform for image editing. We still don't have 64 bits support.

Regards,
Bernard
Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Up