Odd PS Photomerge problem

[Kirk Gittings]

Deleting the settings file solves the problem....temporarily.

Any thoughts on this? If I close PS, delete the preferences file, open PS, set my new preferences, copy and save that new preferences file and use that the next time the file gets corrupted, that fresh preferences file I saved is already corrupted and I have to delete it and just build a new one from scratch every time. I have tried creating new files eliminating a specific preference setting each time to see if a particular setting is causing the problem but it isn't.

What is causing the settings file to get corrupted???

I am back to this same question again with a brand new faster computer running 64 Bit Vista and 64 bit PS CS4 now. Extremely slow merges unless I use a brand new fresh preferences file with none of my custom settings applied. Not that I have anything weird that I can think of in terms of custom settings, just color profiles, scratch disk location etc. Differences this time?-none of my plugins work with 64 bit so none of those are installed.

Any new thoughts on this all to common problem?

[michaelbiondo]

Sorry to hear about your problems kirk, Since I use mac systems I am afraid I can not help at all with the corrupted preferences issue. Regarding the various stitching software, I am working with CS3, APP pro and PTgui. I am shooting with a Cambo Ultima view camera with a Canon 1ds mkII mounted on the rear as a capture device, for lenses I use the schneider digitar 28 and various hasselblad glass. I like this set up for architecture as it allows me to create 9 frame stitches (there up and three across ) So far so good. Everyone is happy (including my accountant) but I am spending too much time behind the computer.  My problem is that when I  bracket my exposures (2 stops either way) and create the stitches the resulting files do not align precisely. They can vary from dead on to three or four pixels off, this is a pain because I like to paint (with layer masks) from one exposure on to another. Is anyone else have this problem ?  The folks at APP suggested that in application settings I  "Change "Detect links in" to "one stack level". This means there will be only one level of the bracket that has links and not all layers. Effectively, it will give what you want : every layer will have the same links" well that does not seem to be doing the trick.....

[Kirk Gittings]

Can't help you with that one. I own and use APP sometimes but have not encountered that problem. I would suggest starting a new thread as there are some people here with allot of experence with APP.

Good bump however for my original issue. Anyone have any thoughts about the all too common corruption of the preferences file on CS4?

[JeffKohn]

Sorry to hear about your problems kirk, Since I use mac systems I am afraid I can not help at all with the corrupted preferences issue. Regarding the various stitching software, I am working with CS3, APP pro and PTgui. I am shooting with a Cambo Ultima view camera with a Canon 1ds mkII mounted on the rear as a capture device, for lenses I use the schneider digitar 28 and various hasselblad glass. I like this set up for architecture as it allows me to create 9 frame stitches (there up and three across ) So far so good. Everyone is happy (including my accountant) but I am spending too much time behind the computer.  My problem is that when I  bracket my exposures (2 stops either way) and create the stitches the resulting files do not align precisely. They can vary from dead on to three or four pixels off, this is a pain because I like to paint (with layer masks) from one exposure on to another. Is anyone else have this problem ?  The folks at APP suggested that in application settings I  "Change "Detect links in" to "one stack level". This means there will be only one level of the bracket that has links and not all layers. Effectively, it will give what you want : every layer will have the same links" well that does not seem to be doing the trick.....

I can't comment on doing this in APP, since my past experience is that it didn't handle this scenario very well. PTGui can do it just fine, though. Just configure it to enable HDR stitching and link the layers. I prefer the Exposure Fusion option to the regular HDR processing. Then on the output tab, tell it to output the 'blend planes' in addition to the final blended shot, and it will give you what you want.

One word of warning, if you use Smartblend for the blending, sometimes it will blend slightly differently for each bracket and you'll get small alignment problems in certain parts of the image. I prefer to use the 'PTGui' option for blending when dealing with brackets.

[michaelbiondo]

Jeff, Thank you so much. I tested the PTgui solution with your recommended settings and it worked perfectly. You really saved me a lot of time and effort, I owe you one.
I am constantly in awe the power of user forums, the collective knowledge of all of us is really impressive!
Michael Biondo