What does maximum control point distance less than 1.0 mean?

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Hambagahle

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Feb 9, 2011, 7:18:00 PM2/9/11
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I'm a new user, particularly happy with some macro panorama images you
can see at http://lesapi.photoshelter.com/gallery/Huge-images-of-leaves-in-brilliant-fall-colors/G0000qU5h7rBqk_Q/.

While I understand as a general matter that smaller control point
distances (as reported by the optimizer) imply higher quality stitched
output, imagine my surprise when I got a message from the optimizer
that the maximum control point distance for the first image in the
above gallery (the pin oak leaf) was "too good to be true". In this
case it was 0.726523 pixels.

Given that control point coordinates are stated in pixels, how do you
end up with a maximum control point distance that is less than 1 pixel?

rich.shipley

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Feb 9, 2011, 9:03:37 PM2/9/11
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> Given that control point coordinates are stated in pixels, how do you
> end up with a maximum control point distance that is less than 1 pixel?

I believe the control point distance is how much a certain point on
one image varies in relationship to the same point on next one that it
overlaps. in your case they were slightly less than 1 pixel off, which
is very good. it means the stitcher had an easy time of selecting the
exact same point on the two overlapping images.

John Houghton

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Feb 10, 2011, 2:18:01 AM2/10/11
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"Too good to be true" is often the result of poorly distributed
control points and/or too few points. It's easy for the optimizer to
align a few points in the middle of the overlap areas, but this does
not ensure that the image alignment will be equally good in those
areas devoid of points.

John

On Feb 10, 12:18 am, Hambagahle <lionel_d...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'm a new user, particularly happy with some macro panorama images you
> can see athttp://lesapi.photoshelter.com/gallery/Huge-images-of-leaves-in-brill....

PTGui Support

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Feb 10, 2011, 4:50:39 AM2/10/11
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Hi Lionel,

PTGui calculates the control point distance by projecting the control
point from the second image into the first image. It's possible that the
projected control point ends up somewhere between two pixels so you can
have a distance that is not a whole number, or less than 1 pixel.

As John explained 'too good to be true' often means just that, but if
you have control points well spread over the entire overlap area then it
just means that the images are aligned extremely well.

Joost

Keith Martin

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Feb 10, 2011, 6:10:39 AM2/10/11
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Sometime around 9/2/11 (at 23:18 -0800) John Houghton said:

>It's easy for the optimizer to
>align a few points in the middle of the overlap areas, but this does
>not ensure that the image alignment will be equally good in those
>areas devoid of points.

Absolutely.
The trick is to use a conservative number of points and make sure
those are spread relatively well across the whole overlap area.
Clustering points together won't help with real accuracy, that's no
more effective than hanging a picture by putting a dozen nails into
one side.

I know people sometimes put in loads of points because they're not
confident about individual point accuracy. That just averages out the
uncertainty to some uncertain amount, it doesn't guarantee any
improvements. One well-placed point is far more use than a collection
of imprecise ones, so spend time on those.

With my fisheye shots I aim for four points per image pair, spread
right down the overlap area. I often get very low single-figure
values straight off, sometimes in the zero-point range, and I've seen
"too good to be true" a handful of times. (And yes, the stitch has
been damn perfect in those cases, so I think the cynical message was
misplaced. :-)

k

Kelly

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Feb 10, 2011, 7:15:49 AM2/10/11
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@ Joost,

I've often wondered if these numbers were actually residuals from a
least squares analysis - is this possibly true? (I use least squares
in my day job; land surveying :)

Kelly


On Feb 10, 4:50 am, PTGui Support <supp...@ptgui.com> wrote:
> Hi Lionel,
>
> PTGui calculates the control point distance by projecting the control
> point from the second image into the first image. It's possible that the
> projected control point ends up somewhere between two pixels so you can
> have a distance that is not a whole number, or less than 1 pixel.
>
> As John explained 'too good to be true' often means just that, but if
> you have control points well spread over the entire overlap area then it
> just means that the images are aligned extremely well.
>
> Joost
>
> On 10-2-2011 1:18, Hambagahle wrote:
>
> > I'm a new user, particularly happy with some macro panorama images you
> > can see athttp://lesapi.photoshelter.com/gallery/Huge-images-of-leaves-in-brill....

Jeffrey Martin

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Feb 10, 2011, 10:14:21 AM2/10/11
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by "least squares" do you mean RMS?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_mean_square

PTGui Support

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Feb 10, 2011, 10:29:59 AM2/10/11
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Yes, sort of: the optimizer indeed minimizes the sum of squares of the
control point distances.

But the value displayed after optimization ('average control point
distance') actually is a true average (i.e. arithmetic mean).

Joost

DennisS

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Feb 10, 2011, 10:33:22 AM2/10/11
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The maximum control point distance can be used to tell you how you are
doing. You still have to examine the completed panorama for stitching
errors. Fisheye lenses (like the Sigma 8mm) tend to have control
points bunched up along the horizon. After adding control points at
the Zenith and Nadir and optimizing you get "Too good to be true" you
still have to examine the panorama. If there are no stitching errors
and you have a maximum distance of 0.x, you have a set of images that
are aligned very well. It is more about looking at the finished
panorama than relying on a set of numbers.

Hambagahle

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Feb 10, 2011, 12:45:11 PM2/10/11
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Well, thanks everyone, that's very interesting. The insights in all
the replies are very helpful. Luckily I do inspect my stitched images
thoroughly; these passed my test, and I'm really pleased with them.

Regards

DennisS

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Feb 10, 2011, 6:47:04 PM2/10/11
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When are you going to share?

Joergen Geerds

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Feb 10, 2011, 11:36:04 PM2/10/11
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On Feb 10, 6:47 pm, DennisS <den...@dlsphoto.net> wrote:
> When are you going to share?
I think he posted his results already in his very first post, just
follow his initial link.

joergen

Keith Martin

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Feb 11, 2011, 8:19:23 AM2/11/11
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Sometime around 10/2/11 (at 07:33 -0800) DennisS said:

>Fisheye lenses (like the Sigma 8mm) tend to have control
>points bunched up along the horizon.

That's if you ask PTGui to create control points for you
automatically, right? I rarely do that these days; I find that
creating a few points manually gives excellent results, and it
doesn't take any longer than generating them automatically and
cleaning up the results.

>It is more about looking at the finished
>panorama than relying on a set of numbers.

Definitely. The numbers help a lot, but always look carefully at test
stitches and the final output.

k

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