Photoshop Panorama Erstellen

[Ray Kowalewski]

Aclient wants an existing cleared lot photographed to be used in renderings for an upcoming residential project we're designing for the site. I'm thinking I'll photograph the site from a fixed central point, taking shots while rotating the 360 degrees, keeping about a 20-30% overlap between each shot. One revolution at horizon, then one below and one above, each keeping the same overlap. Stitch the shots into a panoramic using Photoshop. In Sketchup, load the image into Vray Domelight and render a cubemap.

I should note that this will be my very first attempt at producing a equirectangular image, or my own IBL of any type for that matter....(I prefer PG HDRI's.....but unfortunately he isn't available to come shoot the site this week)

There is a cool tutorial on how to make HDR skyboxes from Panorama's using streetview downloader -G47M what you will do will be similiar but instead of starting with the google earth, you will start with your pano. The key I found was using png files, not jpgs, prior to setting the exposures and creating the HDR. Does photoshop stitch the photos together for you or are you using another software to process your photos?

Yes, when i first read that article I somehow missed the fact that you don't necessarily need a 'cross' format skybox, you can use a regular 2:1 panorama. That will be easier to make, just basic Photoshop panorama stitching.

Insert a panorama into photoshop by clicking File>Open. The final result is better if you use a 360 image but a wide angle or smaller panorama works too. Your image can be your own or one off the internet.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the tutorial! Feel free to tweak and adjust your final image! There are endless possibilities to this effect so what are you waiting for? Go and create!

I recently developed a process to convert panorama backgrounds in JPG format into full HDRIs with lighting information. Using this coupled with a program to capture Streetview panoramas means that you can now produce your own HDRIs of your own neighbourhood, your favourite holiday destinations or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the world where Streeview information is available. You can also use the HDRI conversion to enhance any JPG panoramas for use as Environments in Daz Studio, Carrara, Octane, or any 3D program which can use HDRIs. I have made the following videos to talk you through the process.

This process will not produce exactly the same as doing a genuine HDRI image using multiple exposures, but as most areas on a typical HDRI are actually within the gamut range that can be captured by a JPG or other Low Dynamic Range Image, you only need to add in the brightest lights to make a usable HDRI. You can also get creative with this technique!

My point being that I doubt that Streetview images are really High Dynamic Range. The typically accepted definition in CG is that it is a 32 bit image with at least 12 stops (EV) of lighting information.

The results from this process are High Dynamic Range Images, it is a process for adding the brighter lighting information back into a Low Dynamic Range Image, eg, a JPG. I agree that the results will not be exactly the same as a true HDRI capture, but for many purposes it will give a somewhat similar result. Plus you can get creative with the technique. So I recommend watching the videos and see for yourself.

As far as corrupting the meaning, honestly, if someone says HDRI I think image with lighting. If it has a photo and lights my scene to match the photo, to me, that is an HDRI whether that meets the above criteria or not.

Here are a handful of examples, all with the same character, three use Streetview captured scenes with the lighting added, the fourth uses one of Flinks Skies, which are JPGs but this one has been processed to add light information to create the HDRI. They are only quickly put together but I think they show the potential. I'd love to see what you all can come up with!

Thanks for taking the time to post, Phil - I'll surely check out the vids in their entirety when I have more time. I've been playing around with an automated process myself for years now to "re-construct" a full dynamic range using different standard 8-bit sources. Like you say, the results are not the same as a true HDRI, but the ease of creation/editing (and the number of existing sources) makes it an extremely attractive option to me.

I used a combination of some scripted 2D image manipulation (Photoshop) and processing done by convolutional neural networks. I've got the networks utilizing cuda cores to speed training (which is fantastic), but this makes the VRAM a major limiting factor (not so fantastic lol). It's a work in progress, especially for the general case, but as computing power continues to grow, so will the possibilities.

Hi Phil , maybe you already know this But HDRlabs.com has a tutorial section on how to make your own free hdri's and they even offer free stock pano's images for you to make them with. I use photoshop cs5 to make mine using a cannon sx 50 which hasa pano setting for shooting HDRi's

Thanks - that covers making them from a camera, but with my method, you don't need any equipment or to have access to the location you want to capture. Actually you don't even need a physical location, you can turn any old JPG or other format into an HDRI, of course you may end up with a nonsensical image, but you can be quite creative. I think each method has its uses. I have huge respect for people who capture "real" HDRIs on location and I don't think this competes with that, it is just a cheap and cheerful alternative - which can actually produce some really good results with a little care.

Hi Phil what you say is all true, But you can apply the same technique using the camera images in the tutorials at HDRi labs with a Daz studio rendered image instead, just use a point of light as your sun source point for your HDRi, it helps if you add solar flares if your planning on using a bright sunlight. . I have done it a few times for setting up scenes in HDRi's for Daz Studio animation it helps for faster rendering than actually using a the full 3d set. when your trying to render a animation for a expansive setting. I just use Photoshop to create & edit them, that is why i had mentioned HDRi labs tutorials, as a alternative.

Ivy - yes, I have done something similar with Carrara. And with the Daz Studio spherical camera and using iRay Canvasses, you should be able to render direct to a panorama HDRI with the latest version.

Hi Phil. I almost forgot to mention you will need the photomerge plugin UI for photoshop for your version of Photoshop you maybe using.to stich together & create panorama images with daz studio renders. unless you have photoshopCC, then I believe the plugin comes with the CC version. I have been using "PS cs5 3D extended" to stich my images together to make panorama images out of daz renders to make HDRi images in Photoshop. I do this to use as back drops in my animated films, it's really simple and great way to match your scenes, the good thing is once you save it as a Panoramic image or HDRi you can use them in other software that can read HDRi files Sometimes you will have to adjust the dome scale a little to match the software and play with lighting scales but really I found this the best way to create match Panormaric scenes & HDRi for projects I have been working on using Daz studio images. to use as HDRi in Daz Studio for animations back ground. I don't have carrera. But i would assume the HDRi's will work for it as well.

FWIW, the same technique works with Bryce images if you get Horo/David Brinnen's spherical mapper camera lens product, or if you are willing to fake the sky and ground from native Bryce cylindrical panoramas, or if you glue together a 6 shot cube render (1 shot for each direction) as you could from any scene rendering tool. Byce can also export what I would call a "MDRI" if you know the 'tricks', which is a partial-range HDRI saved in the full-range HDRI format, but has an extended light response range (relative to a normal png or jpg). While this information sounds like the source of more questions than answers, Horo, over at the Bryce forums has an excellent set of tutorials that cover these techniques on his web site:

I'm certainly *not* trying to hijack this thread with Bryce marketing... (I use Bryce, Carrara, DS, and Poser - all equally badly) but appreciating that the *approach* that all of these tools take to making custom spherical and cube backdrops and HDRI to match those backdrops is pretty 'doable' once you see what Philw, Horo, and a few other generous folks have put together for us. The one point of confusion that I still struggle with is the different formats of the HDRI, and which rendering programs perfer which, and how I can tell if I'm using the right one for each context (e.g. DS UberEnv2 uses one, IRay uses another, light-probes and angular maps differ, but can probably be converted, etc.) I've saved large numbers of howto posts, but need to simply study it to get it under control in my toolkit.

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