PTGUI questions

[feppe]

I've gotten tired of the instability of Autopano and its consistent inability to correctly align nighttime bracketed layers, and am getting much better results with PTGUI.

I have three questions and would appreciate help from anyone who has more experience with PTGUI:

• Is there a way to automatically get each bracketed layer of the pano embedded in a single .psd file? I've only succeeded in getting each frame embedded as a layer, but not the entire bracketed layer of a pano. Autopano can do that, but it does them only in separate files.
• Is there a way to force two identical panos, taken with similar settings, to align? For example, if I take two passes of the same pano with identical manual exposure, can I align them both just like a bracketed exposure?
• Can I crop the pano itself before rendering it? I've only found an option to crop each frame, but not the final result.

[fike]

A few answers...at least from what I recall.

1  If I understand you you want to make an HDR and have it come out as a single pano with three layers...one for each exposure in your bracket.  No, I don't think PTGUI does that.  My best suggestion is to make three different panos with a template (See 2 below) then assemble or blend them with Photomatix or PS.

2 Yes there is an option called save as template.  Then load new images and apply the template.

3 No, you can't crop the image before rendering.  Sometimes this necessitates making a PSB file (over 30,000 pixels in either dimension).  Then you go into PS and crop.  Kind of a pain, but I understand that it is a limitation.

The PTGUI FAQ addresses some of these issues in more detail.  http://www.ptgui.com/support.html

[JeffKohn]

• Is there a way to automatically get each bracketed layer of the pano embedded in a single .psd file? I've only succeeded in getting each frame embedded as a layer, but not the entire bracketed layer of a pano. Autopano can do that, but it does them only in separate files.

You can't get them all in the same PSD as layers, but you can get each  bracketed layer output to its own PSD. Combining these in Photoshop should be pretty trivial. They'll still be stitched with the same control points and aligned.

• Is there a way to force two identical panos, taken with similar settings, to align? For example, if I take two passes of the same pano with identical manual exposure, can I align them both just like a bracketed exposure?

I'm not exactly sure I understand what you're describing, but no I don't think so.

• Can I crop the pano itself before rendering it? I've only found an option to crop each frame, but not the final result.

No, this is my biggest annoyance with PTGui and frankly I think it's pretty stupid. PTGui insists on the vanishing point being in the center of the output image and doesn't allow any post-stitch  cropping.

[BernardLanguillier]

Is there a way to automatically get each bracketed layer of the pano embedded in a single .psd file? I've only succeeded in getting each frame embedded as a layer, but not the entire bracketed layer of a pano. Autopano can do that, but it does them only in separate files.

I believe that it is possible in the rendering option of an HDR pano to specify that each level of exposure is contained in a given layer.

Is there a way to force two identical panos, taken with similar settings, to align? For example, if I take two passes of the same pano with identical manual exposure, can I align them both just like a bracketed exposure?

You can use templates, or replace the images of one pano with other images. You should be aware though that if maximum image quality is required you need to make sure that the images are perfectly aligned at the pixel level, which requires a very heavy tripod and robust head...

It is more realistic to open the bracketed images in PTgui and to tell the software to align everything, this will deal with small inaccuracies better.

Can I crop the pano itself before rendering it? I've only found an option to crop each frame, but not the final result.

At least in PTgui Pto, you can crop the output of PTgui by dragging the borders of the preview window since version 8.0 or 8.1.

Cheers,
Bernard

[BernardLanguillier]

You can't get them all in the same PSD as layers, but you can get each  bracketed layer output to its own PSD. Combining these in Photoshop should be pretty trivial. They'll No, this is my biggest annoyance with PTGui and frankly I think it's pretty stupid. PTGui insists on the vanishing point being in the center of the output image and doesn't allow any post-stitch  cropping.

Jeff,

Yes, you can crop the pano before output by dragging the edges of the preview window. Since this tip is going to save you thousands of $ in HD in the coming month, don't hesitate to do a small donation to my bank account.  

Cheers,
Bernard

[feppe]

Thanks, all, for the responses! Very helpful.

[JeffKohn]

Jeff,

Yes, you can crop the pano before output by dragging the edges of the preview window. Since this tip is going to save you thousands of $ in HD in the coming month, don't hesitate to do a small donation to my bank account.  

Cheers,
Bernard

You're not talking about the FOV sliders in the Panorama Editor window, are you? That's not what I have in mind.

[Luis Argerich]

No, just drag the borders of the image itself to set your output crop.

You're not talking about the FOV sliders in the Panorama Editor window, are you? That's not what I have in mind.

[fike]

No, just drag the borders of the image itself to set your output crop.

This doesn't do the same thing.  When you shoot well above or below the horizon, you end up with lots of white space at the top or bottom of the image.  This is unavoidable, even using those sliders.  See link below.

http://www.ptgui.com/support.html#6_7

[BernardLanguillier]

This doesn't do the same thing.  When you shoot well above or below the horizon, you end up with lots of white space at the top or bottom of the image.  This is unavoidable, even using those sliders.  See link below.

http://www.ptgui.com/support.html#6_7

This FAQ is not up to date, again just drag the borders to crop...  

Look at the 3rd bullet of the new features list under Version 8.0 (2 September 2008).

http://www.ptgui.com/versionhistory.html

Cheers,
Bernard

[JeffKohn]

This FAQ is not up to date, again just drag the borders to crop...  

Look at the 3rd bullet of the new features list under Version 8.0 (2 September 2008).

http://www.ptgui.com/versionhistory.html

Cheers,
Bernard

Well I learned something new today, thanks Bernard. (in my defense there's no visual indication of this feature in the UI unless you happen to rest your mouse cursor in the right place). It's still not as nice as the crop tool in APP, but it at least allows me to trim the dead space from my panos. It's really not so much about disk space, as the fact that if you use the 'blend planes" files for exposure blending in some tonemapping or fusion software, those black areas outside the image can cause problems. And since the planes are in separate files, applying the exact same crop to each of them can be tedious.

[BernardLanguillier]

Well I learned something new today, thanks Bernard. (in my defense there's no visual indication of this feature in the UI unless you happen to rest your mouse cursor in the right place). It's still not as nice as the crop tool in APP, but it at least allows me to trim the dead space from my panos. It's really not so much about disk space, as the fact that if you use the 'blend planes" files for exposure blending in some tonemapping or fusion software, those black areas outside the image can cause problems. And since the planes are in separate files, applying the exact same crop to each of them can be tedious.

Well, many of my panos would be 20+ GB without this crop tool... so at least it helps my disk space problems and speeds up pano computation significantly.

Cheers,
Bernard

[JeffKohn]

Well, many of my panos would be 20+ GB without this crop tool... so at least it helps my disk space problems and speeds up pano computation significantly.

Cheers,
Bernard

Yes, it will definitely make a big difference for file sizes when the camera was angled up/down and the vanishing point isn't in the center of your composition.

[fike]

This FAQ is not up to date, again just drag the borders to crop...  

Look at the 3rd bullet of the new features list under Version 8.0 (2 September 2008).

http://www.ptgui.com/versionhistory.html

Cheers,
Bernard

Huh.  I really should read those release notes more closely.  how elegant.  thanks for the tip.