The above image is composed of three separate photographs that have been stitched together using Panorama Tools. Click on the red rectangle to see a magnified view. To properly frame the scene the camera was tilted up. This caused perspective effects making the buildings appear to tilt towards the center. However you'll notice that the buildings are perfectly vertical in the above image. Perspective, and lens distortion, are easily corrected in Panorama Tools. It's also one of the few applications that allows you to stitch multiple rows of images for high-resolution mosaics, and control interpolation using state-of-the-art interpolation algorithms.
This tutorial explains how to create quality printable panoramas with Panorama Tools. Written by Professor Helmut Dersch, Panorama Tools is a free software application distributed under the GNU General Public License. Unlike many stitching tools, Panorama Tools requires that you specify control points for stitching. This means you need to identify the same features in adjacent images so they may be joined together. In addition, to correct for lens and perspective distortion you'll need to understand the factors involved. It's a lot more difficult than simply pressing a button. The payoff? High-quality panoramas where you control the quality. The complete distribution for Panorama Tools, as made by Helmut Dersch, is available at this web site. Updates for several modules are available from Jim Watter's web site.
Several excellent programs have been written that interface to Panorama Tools: PTGui, written by Joost Nieuwenhuijse, and PTAssembler, by Max Lyons, supply a Windows interface. PTGui and PTAssembler are available for a modest sum. PTMac, a version for the Macintosh written by Kevin Kratzke, is also available. Screen snapshots in this document are based on PTGui.
Procedures described apply to normal non-fisheye lenses. This document is based on version 1.04 of PTGui and version 2.6b1 of Panorama Tools. Also check out PTLens, software that automates correction for lens pincushion and barrel distortion.
To print individual pages, left-click on the page to give it focus then right-click and choose Print.
Tom Niemann
Portland, Oregon
epaperpress.com