>From: Wayne Harridge <Wayne.Harridge@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Does anyone have any recommendations for simple and cheap software for
>"stitching" scanned images together for panoramas ?
It depends on your platform. PhotoVista comes with a few different cameras
-- I got mine with a cheapie ViviCam 3100 (piece of junk)-: It works great
on a PowerMac. They have a Windows version, but I haven't used it.
There's another called QuickStitch. I should have known better when I
visited their web site and they had a half-dozen products, all with Mac
versions marked "on hold." I paid for a downloaded version anyway, since it
stitches in two dimensions, vs PhotoVista's one. I never could get it to
work. It crashed my machine three times in the first hour. What it did do
was dreadfully slow, with no progress indicator. (Almost as stressful as
being a DJ on an "all minimalist" radio station -- you're never quite sure
if the record is skipping... :-)
I emailed, asking for a refund, and got a run-around. I have to fax some
silly form to their e-commerce vendor. Meanwhile, the bill has shown up on
my credit card, which I have to write a letter to dispute. It's been more
trouble than it's worth! If you have Windows, your mileage may vary, but I
won't do business with them again.
PhotoVista does full 360 stitches, and exports in either their proprietary
viewer format, or cross-platform QuickTime VR. QuickStitch will not do 360,
but they'll sell Windows users (not Mac users) another program that will.
I've been using PhotoVista primarily to turn my Oly gear into medium
format! Rather than shoot a waterfall with a wide-angle, I take four frames
with the 90/2, scan them, stitch them together, then print them at 11" x
30" or so -- more fun than being in the dark, smelling chemicals any day!
Here's some examples, although you don't get the full impact when they're
scaled down for the web:
<http://www.bytesmiths.com/Art_Gallery/SiloPan.mov> LARGE - 684kb, 360
degree QuickTime VR of a bunch of my relatives in a silo. You can pan and
zoom with your mouse. OM-2n, Zuiko 21/3.5 in portrait orientation, 13
frames stitched.
<http://www.bytesmiths.com/Art_Gallery/CoopersSuprMovie.mov> LARGE - 699k,
360 QuickTime VR on the north east flank of Mount Hood at about 8,000 feet.
OM-4, Zuiko 21/3.5 in portrait, 12 frames stitched.
<http://www.bytesmiths.com/Art_Gallery/99AA35-38-Medium.jpg> 89kb vertical
pan of a waterfall. OM-4Ti, Zuiko 90/2, four frames stitched. The full-bit
stitch is about 47MB, which I scaled up using Genuine Fractals to 110MB,
then printed on six 8.5" x 11" pages. It ain't a photographic print, but
from comfortable viewing distance, it might as well be, and it only cost
about $2 in materials!
Requisite Oly content: all the above were shot with Oly equipment.
: Jan Steinman <mailto:jans@xxxxxxxxxxx>
: 19280 Rydman Court, West Linn, OR 97068-1331 USA
: +1.503.635.3229
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