flaws in hugin 2013 and 2014

[Bill Brody]

I have been using hugin successfully for many years on my Mac, currently latest version of OSX, but not for the past 6 months.  I casually follow the postings, but nothing I've noticed has suggested that I couldn't efficiently arrive at an adequate stitch. I trusted in error that it was OK to delete my 2012 version.

I downloaded 2013 final and 2014 beta. Both share the following serious flaws:

1. Cannot use the gui to delete an image after it has been loaded. The option to delete an image file has got to be part of any final package.

2. The assistant via the fast preview gui works, sort of OK, although the default leaves the output image cropped very small; easily remedied by changing the crop, and I do get an adequate stitch.

but

When I load images from what was once the main window gui, the resultant panorama does not show up in the fast preview window, and I cannot proceed to stitching via the stich gui.

It appears clear that a lot of work was done to make the assistant work, but at least as far as I can see, the former functionality of what was once done via the main window has been lost.

Short of a very simple fix I will go back to hugin 2012. 

[AKS-Gmail-IMAP]

I’ve been observing for many years the dynamics regarding the interface design choices as they are discussed here. They are almost as fascinating as the program itself. Hugin’s current state is that of a split personality. One centers about the traditional interface. The other centers about the GL or Fast Panorama window.  

Do not forget that there are right click (control click) options at many locations. As far as I can tell that is the only way to delete an image. Right click on an image or images in the Photos section of the traditional interface window.

The Stitcher is still there, but not when the interface selection is set to Simple. The Simple interface shows only the GL window. Set the interface to Advanced or Expert. Do this at the OS X top menu bar.

 

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[David W. Jones]

The affordances of the current UI design aren't as obvious as those of
the 2012 UI. I think it assumes some moderately-sophisticated "GUI user
experience" on the part of the user.

I also think it's still in transition, so I expect it will keep changing
for awhile.

I hope someday to see the GL/Fast Panorama view as the one main window,
with an (optional) menu bar along the top to make access obvious (the
way the present tabs do), but also making extensive use of
right-clicking on elements within the view to access specifics. But I've
liked graphic apps without minimalistic UIs ever since I met Targa TIPS
25 years ago ...

On 02/07/2014 06:21 PM, AKS-Gmail-IMAP wrote:
> I’ve been observing for many years the dynamics regarding the interface
> design choices as they are discussed here. They are almost as
> fascinating as the program itself. Hugin’s current state is that of a
> split personality. One centers about the traditional interface. The
> other centers about the GL or Fast Panorama window.
>
> Do not forget that there are right click (control click) options at many
> locations. As far as I can tell that is the only way to delete an image.
> Right click on an image or images in the Photos section of the
> traditional interface window.
>
> The Stitcher is still there, but not when the interface selection is set
> to Simple. The Simple interface shows only the GL window. Set the
> interface to Advanced or Expert. Do this at the OS X top menu bar.
>
>
> On Feb 7, 2014, at 9:38 PM, Bill Brody <awb...@gmail.com

> <mailto:awb...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>> I have been using hugin successfully for many years on my Mac,
>> currently latest version of OSX, but not for the past 6 months. I
>> casually follow the postings, but nothing I've noticed has suggested
>> that I couldn't efficiently arrive at an adequate stitch. I trusted in
>> error that it was OK to delete my 2012 version.
>>
>> I downloaded 2013 final and 2014 beta. Both share the following
>> serious flaws:
>> 1. Cannot use the gui to delete an image after it has been loaded. The
>> option to delete an image file has got to be part of any final package.
>> 2. The assistant via the fast preview gui works, sort of OK, although
>> the default leaves the output image cropped very small; easily
>> remedied by changing the crop, and I do get an adequate stitch.
>> but
>> When I load images from what was once the main window gui, the
>> resultant panorama does not show up in the fast preview window, and I
>> cannot proceed to stitching via the stich gui.
>>
>> It appears clear that a lot of work was done to make the assistant
>> work, but at least as far as I can see, the former functionality of
>> what was once done via the main window has been lost.
>>
>> Short of a very simple fix I will go back to hugin 2012.


--

David W. Jones
gnome...@gmail.com
wandering the landscape of god
http://dancingtreefrog.com

[Bill Brody]

My issue with the gui is as follows:

In the 2012 version when I changed anything in one window there was a corresponding update in the other windows. Failure to update across gui elements is simply poor design. At the very least there should be a button that says update all windows.

There is nothing sophisticated by having options hidden behind option-click, right-click and so forth. Good program design should make it apparent that there are additional options. Since there is a button that says add image, there should be a button that says delete image. Hiding options is just anoither way of telling users that they should go look at the output script and edit it in a text editor, hardly ui sophphistication.

[David W. Jones]

The Hugin UI is in tension right now, pulled between the extremes of
usability, functionality and target audience. One usability/target
audience extreme is "fast and simple" fostered by smartphone/P&S camera
pano functions - tap pano button, shoot frames with phone showing you
preview image to guide you in overlapping and aligning, tap make pano
button, show your finished pano to your admiring friends. Another
extreme is the professional/expert user that (1) wants detailed control
over every element and (2) isn't shooting their images guided by a
smartphone/camera.

I could have sworn, though, that if I changed something on one tab or
the Assistant, the change was reflected in the corresponding spots on
other tabs. Do you have something specific where that's not happening?

Interesting thing about Hugin 2013 I've observed on my 1920x1080
displays here. It leaves quite a bit of screen area unused.

Sometimes I think the current trend in computer GUI design, driven by
the raving popularity of phone and tablets where you have only the
clumsy broad brush of a fingertip to work with, is a big mistake. The
usage environments are very different. A number of websites are like
that these days. They give me a page full of enormous buttons on my 22"
LCD, wasting space and forcing me to scroll, scroll, scroll to see more.
That's a good design principle for a small screen device like a phone or
a tablet. It's a bad idea on a real computer screen.

I still hope to someday see a Hugin UI that is the Fast/GL Preview
window, with a menu bar and functions corresponding to what it offers
now was tabs - and the ability to access context-specific functionality
by right-clicking appropriate spots in the window. But I like graphic
apps with minimalistic GUIs, see Targa TIPS (Targa Image Processing
System) as I've mentioned below.

[Dale Bengston]

I skipped the 2013 version because of the major UI changes, which hid so much behind right-mouse-clicks. I've now been using the 2014.0.0 beta for a few weeks, and I still dislike how buried everything in the Photos tab has become. I can't even tell you how long it took to figure out how to unlink an image stack. All the hidden parameters and modal changes are a huge step in the wrong direction.

I'm mostly using a 15" laptop, so my screen is not large. Still, there is a lot of unused real estate in the Photos tab, so there is no justification for hiding everything. Flipping back and forth... using radio buttons? At least the Group by control is a popup; the Display should be too. The best-case scenario would be to let the user decide which columns to see in the table of photos - positions, lens parameters, etc. - and do away with this distracting modality.

It also took me some time to figure out how to get the Optimizer tab to appear. If I'm in Expert mode why do I have to fiddle around with a popup in the Photos tab to make another essential tab appear? (Same for exposure.)

Other "buried" features are things like having to command-click (Mac) on the lens parameters in Optimizer to add them in. Also command-click on Image parameters to select/deselect. I have to ask, why abandon the checkboxes? You can't get any more intuitive than that.

Honestly, I'm a long-time Hugin user, and I know what it can do. I have been grudgingly willing to poke around and figure out what the various secret handshakes are to do things that were obvious before. I can't imagine trying to pick this up as a first-time user with the 2013/14 interface.

I"m not just complaining because it's different. I embrace change if it's for the better. But 2013/14 is harder to use because so much is so hidden. It is not an improvement to have to hold down a key (yes, I use Macs) and click the mouse to pop up a box to edit a setting, when I could just direct-type it before.

I know this is an old thread. I hope someone's still reading.

[David W. Jones]

Here, here! I use a 15.6", 1920x1080 laptop, and there's a lot of empty
space on Hugin 2013 tabs that could have been used.

I have Hugin 2012 on one machine and Hugin 2013 on another. 2012 is
quite simply much easier to use.

Haven't tried 2014 version yet.