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I recall there being a lot of cool panoramic picture stitchers in the past, especially one that came with some old volume of Digital Photography for Dummies. But I can't find this software any more. Does anyone know what that genre of software is actually called?

Also, does Quicktime still have a circular, google-walkaboutesque, feature? And what software can generate those things.

hyperslug
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Peter Turner
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  • If you have 2 different questions it's ok to post separate questions. BTW, the 1st Q is a dup see Related links at right. The 2nd Q is Quicktime VR and Apple recommends these: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/resources/tools/authoring.html – hyperslug Sep 15 '09 at 15:50
  • @hyperslug dead link.. is it worth correcting it? –  Aug 12 '21 at 12:31

8 Answers8

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Panorama Tools is free and of good quality. It has a nice GUI called Hugin.

Ludwig Weinzierl
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If you are on Mac try PanoEdit.

It boasts features such as:

  • Automatic geometry and exposure matching
  • Interactive projection editor
  • Autocrop tool
MMM
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Alexander B
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For my money, there is no doubt that Autostitch yields the best results out there. The base version is free for down load at the developers website.

http://people.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

The short write up in Wikipedia says "The software uses the SIFT- and the RANSAC-Algorithm. This program differs from others such as photostitch in that it automatically stitches together even unaligned or zoomed photographs seamlessly without user input, whereas others often require the user to highlight matching areas for the photographs to merge properly. The only requirement is that all photographs be taken from a single point."

If the currently offered demo is the same as I downloaded sometime ago, it is fully functional, but very short on documentation of the obscure parameters. The best way to try it is to chuck a shoebox of photos at it and go form there.

The developers web site contains plenty of examples of how the program works through the process.

It has been licensed to some commercial vendors who have wrapped in a better interface, and added features.

Kije
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  • The link to the university is dead. But the developer has the website http://matthewalunbrown.com/autostitch/autostitch.html , also wiki has changed a bit... –  Aug 12 '21 at 12:53
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I'm not sure about the actual name, but you can find answers on this question : How to make a cyclorama

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Gnoupi
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I think panoramic photo/image stitching pretty much covers it.

MS labs do a free one, pretty good as it goes:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/

Bonus
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  • It's also included in the Microsoft Live Photo Gallery (I think that's what it's called). – alex Sep 15 '09 at 16:08
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If you are a GIMP user you can use the Pandora plugin.

Ludwig Weinzierl
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We produce professional panos and have tested every kind of beast existing.

Our choice is PTGui for stitching, smartblend plugin gives the better results.

drAlberT
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"Image stitching"?

Adobe Photoshop does it.

Lazer
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  • photoshop is a quite entry level tool for such a job. – drAlberT Sep 22 '09 at 17:02
  • @AlberT what did you find lacking in Photoshop? I felt that Photoshop did really good. Where does it lack according to you? – Lazer Sep 22 '09 at 23:41
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    AFAIK photoshop do not known anything about camera settings (exposure, lens parameters, etc.) so it can be used quite well for landscape stitching or simple non grand angular jobs. When you have to compose an equirectangular image using a 14mm you need to compensate lens distortions, to fine adjust lens parameters and so on, and you need to be able to do it for every image in the puzzle. Of course if you are a clever photoshop user could do a good job, but we are looking for the right tool, not only the right man :) – drAlberT Sep 23 '09 at 07:40
  • @AlberT okay, I cant really say I support your view :|, but can you let me know which is the 'right' tool for the 'job' according to you? – Lazer Sep 23 '09 at 09:45
  • Could you expand on this accepted answer? There are too many additions of Photoshop that the answer doesn't explain enough –  Aug 12 '21 at 12:42