Digital image stitching

Steven Prins <sprins1102 [at] aol__com> writes

>I am hoping that someone in the community may have knowledge of
>software that can assemble a jig saw of image fragments.

I can strongly recommend PTGui as the most amazing stitcher I have
ever used. I use it on a regular basis to assemble images of large
works and particularly rock paintings that are not viewable all at
once.

The most important consideration in photo stitching is actually in
taking the images in the first place. You need to make sure you
avoid distortions through wide angle lenses which have become the
standard on compacts and SLRs alike. Because of this I went and paid
big bucks for a lens that prevented me from barrelling out every
image I ever took. A cheaper solution is to simply take one or two
steps back and get in the habit of keeping the lens at 50 or more
all the time. If you have a distortion free set of images then PTGui
loves them and makes incredibly seamless mosaics at the press of a
button or two.

The next trick is to ensure that you achieve a complete coverage in
your suite of photos. Having a computer at hand is useful for this
as the gaps show up immediately. Other conditions such as lighting
etc. seem not to matter very much, but as in all other things
consistency and quality pays off in the end result.

Then it is juts a matter of making sure you have distinctive
features connecting each image. PTGui is good at finding things but
I am constantly disappointed when one image doesn't register and
requires manual registration.

There appears to be no limit to how many photos can be joined and I
remember doing 47 on one occasion. You can make the output any
size you like up to the sum of all input images. Not sure how much
it costs but whatever, it would be worth it if you need this on a
regular basis

Andrew Thorn
ARTCARE
614-1926-9326
613-9326-9326


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:28
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