My Autopano Pro forum

urke wrote:

I want to make really large (multi gigapixel) panoramas with large areas of sky and sea, using my manual pano head.

The structure is X columns with Y rows, horizontal sequences from top left to bottom right.

1 | 2 | 3
4 | 5 | 6

All shots have a certain place in the grid, like shots from the gigapan unit (only this is horizontal sequences, not vertical like the gigapan unit).

1) Will there be support for this kind of horizontal grid structure, with even distance/degree between each shot, in APP2?
2) Will there also be support for the same kind of grid, but with uneven distance/degree between each shot?

If you plan to shoot a lot of this sort of panorama then do yourself a favour and use the Merlin/Papywizard motorised head system:
http://www.autopano.net/forum/t4794-low … papywizard
http://www.autopano.net/forum/t4778-mer … er-reports
http://trac.gbiloba.org/papywizard/

It is not expensive - as motorised heads go - and IMO unbeatable at the price, it fully automates the shooting of mosaic arrays/grids of images, automatically generates an XML data file as described by Frederic, and it will be fully supported by APP2 and APG to faciliate the stitching of large mosiac image arrays (gigapixel panos).

Last edited by mediavets (2008-11-07 11:16:12)

urke wrote:

fma38 wrote:

2) I don't see how APP will be able to align pictures without giving their real positions... But you can build a xml file ...

APP could still know the position of each picture in the grid (like it does with the gigapan unit), but not the precise angle between each shot (very near, though). Couldn´t this help APP with the alignment in some way?

If the position is close to the one on the theorical grid, you're right, I guess APP could be helped by knowing that grid...

mediavets: I am following the discussions about the Merlin/Papywizard system with great interest, and I just might buy this next year. But I also like to have full manual focus control when using 300mm+ lenses, how is this solved? My manual system is quite precise (manfrotto 303sph), but will of course not tell me anything in XML.

Papywizard can wait at each position before shooting; you can use this feature to check (and do) the AF cycle yourself, then go on with the shooting sequence. This way, you will have a precise positionning, with xml output file containing all positions, you will be sure to have no holes, and you can control the AF (and the exposure, if needed) before shooting.

No, you won't need to write anything; there will be an import filter where you enter the grid properties (size, step...).