(pre)viewer OSX mountain lion?

168 views
Skip to first unread message

HarryD

unread,
Oct 1, 2012, 11:52:42 AM10/1/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
hello,

Can you tell me what program to choice for (pre)view local equirectangular panorama's (tif(16bit) and jpg) on a Macbook Air with OSX mountain lion?
I've tried PanoGLViewOSX but it loads slow I can't find a proper way to zoom in and out.
I've also tried CubicNavigator but I can't find a way to view local files and can't reach the authors web site.
I've tried Panini but (I think) it has no fullscreen, and it doesn't load previews directly from PTGui.
How do you present your panorama's with an Macbook?
Sorry if this question is asked before, I've searched but didn't find a proper topical answer.

Trey Gafford

unread,
Oct 1, 2012, 6:13:23 PM10/1/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hello Harry.  krpano will do it.  Keep in mind the demo version has a watermark.  Here is how I do it.

1.  Output pano from PTGui.
2.  Open in PS and Save for Web.
3.  Drag the file you saved from PS and drop it on "MAKE VTOUR (NORMAL) droplet" in the krpano folder.
4.  A window pops up and shows you krpano's progress.
5.  In the folder that contained the file you dropped in krpano will be a folder named "vtour", open it.
6.  Double click on tour.html and the pano will launch in your default browser.  






--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PTGui" group.
To post to this group, send email to pt...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
Please do not add attachments to your posts; instead upload your files at a file sharing site (for example http://ge.tt/ ) and include a link in your message.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ptgui

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 1:20:08 AM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hello Trey,

Thanks for your extensive and clear answer.
I will definitely try krpano.
It looks like a good tool for presenting my panoramas locally.
However a pity that a conversion is needed.
This will certainly not solve the PREview problem.

Trey Gafford

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 6:38:35 AM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
You're right Tico.  I use the preview tab in PTGui Pro for my preview.  I set it to my 6000x3000 ,my standard finished pano size, and scan for errors.  I use krpano to present work "offline" to a client.  You can also use the Firefox browser and click through all the navigation in your tour and then select "take offline", then don't close Firefox and the pano can be presented without an internet connection.

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 6:49:52 AM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the explanation Trey.
What program goes behind the preview button on the preview tab in your case.
ie what do you have configured as equirectangular jpeg (panorama viewer) on the settings/viewer tab?

Trey Gafford

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 7:30:14 AM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Not sure I understand the question but I hope this helps, the program behind the Preview Button is QuickTime and my equirectangular jpeg is 360x180?  I have found through trial and error that the workflow I described earlier is the one that works for me.  Everybody has or will find their own.  Not really a "one size fits all" kind of thing.

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 7:36:57 AM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Okay, that is exactly the answer to my question.
Quicktime. I'm searching for a different / better solution.
Partly because Quicktime can't display equirectangular jpg's and tif's .

Erik Krause

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 12:09:15 PM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Am 02.10.2012 13:36, schrieb Tico Russell:
> Okay, that is exactly the answer to my question.
> Quicktime. I'm searching for a different / better solution.
> Partly because Quicktime can't display equirectangular jpg's and tif's .

PTGui should prepare a Quicktime movie file if you check "Use QuickTime
player" in Tools->Options->Viewers. At least this is what happens on
windows.

--
Erik Krause
http://www.erik-krause.de

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 12:33:44 PM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hello Erik,

Which is the same in OSX.
but I'm actually looking for the same kind solution as on my Windows computer.
There I use DevalVR as a pre-viewer and standalone viewer. And it can handle jpg and tif (the final format of my pano's)


Erik Krause

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 12:47:10 PM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Am 02.10.2012 18:33, schrieb Tico Russell:
> but I'm actually looking for the same kind solution as on my Windows computer.

Are you through all possibilities listed on
http://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_Viewers#Stand_alone_Viewers ?
panoglview sounds good and even Spi-V is still around ...

Carlos Chegado Lists

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 12:57:22 PM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Harry,

That was one of the first issues I had since moving from Windows to Mac some time ago.
After extensive search, nothing pleased me, so I managed to use the same windows tools FSPViewer and Deval VR Player to view my equirectangular files locally without any conversion on my Mac!
You need to install Wine first, but works well and plays these files much quicker and better than having to go trough all the steps of processing the images trough KRPano or whatever viewer you want to use.

I currently use Wine + FSP Viewer to view my Equirectangular files on a MBP running Mountain Lion ;-)
Deval VR Player works the exact same way too, but I find FSP Viewer Quicker in daily use.

My best regards
Os melhores cumprimentos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos Chegado




Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 2, 2012, 1:34:24 PM10/2/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Yes, I did.
But I thought / hoped that the information was a bit dated

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 2:28:25 AM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hi Carlos,

thank you for your clear answer.
good to hear that other people have experienced the same.
I will definitely consider your solution.
maybe a bit overdone, installing a completely different operating system simulator for such a humble task.
Food for programmers?

Carlos Chegado Lists

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 7:00:54 AM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hi Tico,

On the contrary, it's not overdone, it's simple and easy.

Let's clear up a few thing first:

Wine is not an emulator!


Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, Mac OSX, & BSD. Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows applications into your desktop.

I never liked OS emulators and I wouldn't install one myself for it's space and memory penalties.

But Wine is something else, once installed, you just click on those .exe applications from Windows and most of them (not all) will run without any issues whatsoever. I must say though, that I don't use Wine to run complex or heavy duty windows applications on Mac, but for everything else, it's fast and simple.

I originally installed Wine on my MBP running Snow Leopard to benefit from Smartblend. It integrates very well with PTGui and blends much better than PTGui native blender (although a bit slower). Then I learned that most other pano related scripts/aplications I had from Windows would also run very well using Wine, such as FSPViewer and Deval VR Player. This is crucial since there is nothing comparable in the Mac world that could replace this two wonderful apps for local playing of equirectangular files that PTGui spits out.

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, the only change to Wine is the need to install Xquartz (http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/) because Mountain Lion doesn't come with X11 anymore and Xquartz replaces it.

Mac users don't need to be scared of those pesky .EXE applications anymore ;-)

My best regards
Os melhores cumprimentos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos Chegado

I you're into Panoramas, you should consider attending the Iceland 2013 - International Panoramic Photography Conference, June 10-16, 2013.

floz

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 8:53:57 AM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
But what's wrong with PanoGLview ?!

Carlos Chegado Lists

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 10:21:47 AM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Floz,

With PanoGLview, every time I load a new equirectangular file, I get a window with a progress bar saying that it's "Generating Panorama Image" and I have to wait until it finishes generating that panorama image before I can look at it. I don't get it, since I am loading a "Panorama Image" in the first place!

That same equirectangular file or any other, loads instantly in FSPViewer!

I say FSPViewer has a good speed advantage over PanoGLviewer ;-)

My best regards
Os melhores cumprimentos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos Chegado




On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 1:53 PM, floz <fkn...@gmail.com> wrote:
But what's wrong with PanoGLview ?!

sphericalMiracle

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 1:41:41 PM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hi HarryD,
Here's how I like to preview, although it takes an extra step and an iPhone/iPad. There's an app called iPano which is a great little viewer. Just drop your preview equirectangular or QuickTime into it via iTunes. Not exactly viewing it on the Mac, but hope it helps.

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 3:31:29 PM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com

Op 3 okt. 2012, om 14:53 heeft floz <fkn...@gmail.com> het volgende geschreven:

But what's wrong with PanoGLview ?!


 
In my opening post I wrote:
"I've tried PanoGLViewOSX but it loads slow I can't find a proper way to zoom in and out."
And that seems to be confirmed by Floz.

Op 3 okt. 2012, om 16:21 heeft Carlos Chegado Lists <c...@carloschegado.com> het volgende geschreven:

Floz,

With PanoGLview, every time I load a new equirectangular file, I get a window with a progress bar saying that it's "Generating Panorama Image" and I have to wait until it finishes generating that panorama image before I can look at it. I don't get it, since I am loading a "Panorama Image" in the first place!

That same equirectangular file or any other, loads instantly in FSPViewer!

I say FSPViewer has a good speed advantage over PanoGLviewer ;-)

Tico Russell

unread,
Oct 3, 2012, 3:39:15 PM10/3/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the hint.
I already use iPano on my iPod and iPad.
But for PREview the playback quality is to poor.
And the method you describe too cumbersome.
I am looking for a fast direct solution on the Macbook.

Op 3 okt. 2012, om 19:41 heeft sphericalMiracle <sphericalm...@gmail.com> het volgende geschreven:

> Hi HarryD,
> Here's how I like to preview, although it takes an extra step and an iPhone/iPad. There's an app called iPano which is a great little viewer. Just drop your preview equirectangular or QuickTime into it via iTunes. Not exactly viewing it on the Mac, but hope it helps.
>

floz

unread,
Oct 4, 2012, 7:38:56 AM10/4/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
PanoGLView zoom is controlled with the scroll "wheel", ie two finger gesture on trackpad. Yes, it takes a little bit longer in terms of loading, but works fine for me. Have used FSP viewer 5 years ago, but haven't tried it through Wine now. Should take a look at it some time...

Hans Nyberg

unread,
Oct 4, 2012, 8:59:55 AM10/4/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
If you are a Mac user I am surprised that you do not know Panopreviewer by Brian Greenstone. http://www.pangeasoft.net/pano/plugin/panopreviewer.html Yes I know that it is not  working in 64 bit so you can not use CS6 with it. However it works fine with CS4 (inspite the fact that he says it does not)  and also CS5 if you in info set it to open in 32bit. I always keep my older photoshop version so I actually have bot CS4 and 5 working together with CS6.
This also solves another problem which is that having CS6 open while you stitch does not work except for very small panos.  So what I do is set CS4 to use just 1 GB RAM out of my 16GB and I also set the scratch file on an external disc not used by PTGui. Now I have no problem having it open when I stitch my normal 14600x7300 16 bit panos.  
As previewer I set Photoshop CS4. I can now generate a 5000x2500 preview and it opens automatically in Photoshop CS4. A click on my F1 keyboard and it opens in an interactive version which you can  also open fullscreen.

That whole process from pressing the Preview in PTGui to fullscreen in Panopreviewer. takes just 25 sec on my 2 year old iMac.

Panopreviewer can handle equirectangulars up to around 16000x8000.

Hans

Hans Nyberg

unread,
Oct 4, 2012, 9:02:27 AM10/4/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Just one thing , Zenith may have some  strange  errors showing straight lines. Just use your keyboard up/down arrows to correct it.
Hans

Gill747

unread,
Oct 4, 2012, 10:01:00 AM10/4/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Hans

I have OS X 10.5.8 and CS 5. on a dual IMac.
I tried to install panopreviewer but it did not show up under filters in CS 5 and the same with CS 4.
I installed with web browsers off and photoshop closed.
Any ideas why it did not install?

Thanks Richard

Hans Nyberg

unread,
Oct 4, 2012, 3:19:45 PM10/4/12
to pt...@googlegroups.com
Actually I just installed it in CS5 as I only had it in CS4. The plugin has to be copied into  Plugins/filters/
Then you can copy the action PanoPreviewer.atn into Presets/ Actions

Actually I guess it does not matter where the plugin is. I can see that in CS4 I have it in Plugins/Import/Export.

Remember to set CS5 to use as 32 bit in info if you want to use CS5 for it..

You should find the plugin under Filter / Pangea Software after you restart Photoshop. You have to activate the PanoPreviewer action under actions. It should be in the list in the action menu  and when you choose it it it becomes active as an action. which responds to F1.

Hans
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages