PTGui 10 - Trying to do HDR Merge to Panorama...not working at all

[Roger Ewing]

According to the documentation online, PTGUI is supposed to identify that you have bracketed photos, with the only requirement that each bracket set have the exact same exposrue times. I have met that requirement. 

Supposedly it is supposed to auto recognize and ask if we want to link the images. That is not happening, and it comes back with an error that it cannot match all the photos, and I need to add control points.

So I started over, and turned on advanced on the menu, and there is an HDR tab, and it was set to No HDR Bracketing. So I started completely over just to be sure, set the Group bracketed images into separate blend planes. I get the same results. 

I am using a Canon 10mm lens to make the photos, and have 7 sets of 6 images for the 360 pano. 

Any thoughts or direction?

[Erik Krause]

Am 25.01.2018 um 04:34 schrieb Roger Ewing:
> According to the documentation online, PTGUI is supposed to identify that
> you have bracketed photos, with the only requirement that each bracket set
> have the exact same exposrue times. I have met that requirement.

Did you shoot at fixed ISO? It's not only exposure time and aperture
that need to be a fixed pattern but ISO as well.

If that's the case please make available your project file for download
somwehere. Without the images for the time being.

Please do not add attachments or images to your posts; instead upload
your files at a file sharing site (for example http://sendspace.com// )
and include a link in your message.

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

[Roger Ewing]

I appreciate the input, everyone.

New data...I got it working. The problem was this: it was the first set I captured after tyring to set up a new 10mm wide angle lens on the rotator. After posting here, I ended up using Affinity Pro and worked on each set to create the HDRs, then ran the resulting 7 files through PTGUI, and they needed to have points added. This morning I got to thinking about that, and decided to put my 8MM fisheye on the camera which had been fully dialed in for settings on the rotator, and that set of HDRs worked as noted in the documentation. 

So, it was a false alarm. I find it interesting that the set with the misaligned lens didn't appear to recognize that they were bracketed.

BTW...shooting in Manual Mode, the ISO, and all else was locked in the same. Only thing that changed was I refocused for each angle shot.

[Chris Sattlberger]

I'm having a similar issue, but in my case it gets weirder. I shot a bracketed pano and on the first try it recognized the bracketing (manual mode, all image series captured in exactly the same steps). Next day I wanted to play around with this a bit more and tried to make a new pano. Same images, same computer. Now, all of a sudden, it doesn't recognize the bracketed series anymore!
Thoughts?

[Erik Krause]

Am 25.01.2018 um 17:10 schrieb Chris Sattlberger:
> I shot a
> bracketed pano and on the first try it recognized the bracketing (manual
> mode, all image series captured in exactly the same steps). Next day I
> wanted to play around with this a bit more and tried to make a new pano.
> Same images, same computer. Now, all of a sudden, it doesn't recognize the
> bracketed series anymore!
> Thoughts?

Go to Image Parameters tab (eventually you have to switch to Advanced
interface on Project Assistant tab beforehand) and check the values in
the EV column. They should show a regular pattern. If you omitted a
single image, or accidentally included a wrong one, there is no regular
pattern any more. If nothing works, save and make available the project
file for download somewhere.

[Roger Ewing]

Well, now I just did another set. It doesn't not come up asking about HDR, it just stitches it together. Looks fine, creates a Pano. But it doesn't appear to be HDR. 

I'm quickly beginning to think it will be simpler to build the HDRS in another batch HDR program then stitch the resulting images in PTGUI. Something else contributing to that thought: I am finding that the stitches are not perfect. For example, the crown molding in a room will have points that do not align up perfectly. A fix for that involves masking (based on my limited amount of playing around with the software), and I find that if I need to do that I would need to mask 6  images instead of 1.

I have uploaded the project here.

[Roger Ewing]

I just realized that may be part of the problem. Actually, they all have the same parameters. BUT...on one of the set of six, I shot them in reverse order. So, not only do they have to be the same times, but they have to be shot in the same order, it seems.

For example, they way I'm doing it is: I first do an eval of what the time for one shot would be in AV mode. So let's say it is .8.  So I have my bracketing set for 2/3 stop. So I will take that bracket, then bump the time up from .8 to 1. and take the next set. But on one set of the photos, I shot from 1. first, then .8. Looks like you can't do that.

I"m going to do another set, and be sure I get them in the same order.

[Erik Krause]

Am 25.01.2018 um 17:57 schrieb Roger Ewing:
> I just realized that may be part of the problem. Actually, they all have
> the same parameters. BUT...on one of the set of six, I shot them in reverse
> order. So, not only do they have to be the same times, but they have to be
> shot in the same order, it seems.

That's exactly the case. If you reoder them, so you get the same pattern
it should worl

BTW.: You do much too much brackets. 3 brackets at -2Ev 0Ev and 2 Ev
would give you a larger dynamic range. In your example you can safely
use only the 1/2s, 1s and 1.6s exposures.

[Erik Krause]

Am 25.01.2018 um 17:48 schrieb Roger Ewing:
> I have uploaded the project here

> <https://www.dropbox.com/s/bcdq5yfa0m12zom/Sixes.pts?dl=0>.

Just another observation: Using RAW images directly in PTGui defeats the
whole purpose of RAW shooting, since you loos almost all benefits.
You'll probably be better off, if you shoot jpeg. Use RAW only for
maximum quality and with a proper RAW converter, do a CA removal,
defringing, denoising, highlight restoration etc. and convert to 16bit
TIFF, which can hold the complete dynamic range of the shot.

> I first do an eval of what the time
> for one shot would be in AV mode. So let's say it is .8. So I have my
> bracketing set for 2/3 stop. So I will take that bracket, then bump the
> time up from .8 to 1. and take the next set. But on one set of the photos,
> I shot from 1. first, then .8.

This is tedious and error prone. I do it like that: I first decide which
highlights I want to keep (f.e. bright clouds near the sun). I do a test
shot and adjust the base value if needed. Actual shooting is done in
M-mode with auto bracketing +/- 2EV. Or in the rare occasion when I need
more DR, I use Magic Lantern auto bracketing, which allows for an
arbitrary number of shots. This way I don't need to touch the camera
while shooting one set, which minimizes the risk of moving it accidentally.

[John Houghton]

On Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 4:48:34 PM UTC, Roger Ewing wrote:

Well, now I just did another set. It doesn't not come up asking about HDR, it just stitches it together. Looks fine, creates a Pano. But it doesn't appear to be HDR. 

I'm quickly beginning to think it will be simpler to build the HDRS in another batch HDR program then stitch the resulting images in PTGUI. Something else contributing to that thought: I am finding that the stitches are not perfect. For example, the crown molding in a room will have points that do not align up perfectly. A fix for that involves masking (based on my limited amount of playing around with the software), and I find that if I need to do that I would need to mask 6  images instead of 1.

I have uploaded the project here.

On the Source Images tab, I reordered the set of images that were in the wrong order so that the exposures matched the other sets. PTGui then recognised the presence of HDR sets and linked them accordingly. I have uploaded the project file to https://www.sendspace.com/file/g5uyuq .  Note that if you create a mask on one of the images in a set, the other 5 images in that set get a copy of the same mask also, so you do not have to individually edit each of the 6 images.

Also note that the creation of an HDR output panorama is done independently of the linking.  The images will be divided into the 6 blend planes by their exposure values alone.  Even if the images are in the wrong order, you can link the images manually if you like.  That will have no effect on the panorama generation.

John

[Roger Ewing]

Thanks for that input, John. I had expected to be able to reorder them on the tab where you can see the exposure info, and couldn't. That was helpful.

[Keith]

On my DSLR I can set a 7 step bracketing range, +_ 2ev for full capture of all the light values. Most of the time this is overkill, but it means with one press of the shutter each position is captured consistently and simply. As usual, everything is set to manual. No change of (manual) focus either.

Back home I dl the Raw images into the software that came with the camera, I can correct white balance, Ca, etc.

it’s easy to see which of the 7 step photo sets hold no practical data, some are completely black, others completely burnt out. I setup the screen so that I have around 10 rows of 7 images. I normally discard 2 of the exposures. Not really wasterful as I this automates the whole workflow and I don’t even have to be too fussy about the initial exposure value.

I export to tiff and these go straight into PTGui with no problem and most of the time need no tinkering to HDR stitch. I output a 32 bit radiance file and process this in Photomatix pro.

Hope that helps.