Feature request: smarter blending at hard mask edges

[Tom Sharpless]

One of the very few things PTGui does not handle superbly is blending across 'hard' mask edges.  For example where red meets green along the edge of a light figure on a dark ground, there tends to be an extra-dark stripe right next to the edge, and a fuzzy too-light area farther away.  Another possibly related problem is that a small nadir patch surrounded by dark stuff tends to be rendered too light -- this can seemingly be fixed only by enlarging the patch.

It seems to me that these problems might be improved by a local adjustment of the width of the blend transition zone, according to the distance between mask edges.

-- Tom

[Joergen Geerds]

I agree with tom... while the soft blend did work for some aspects of panorama photography (and still does for 360 video stitching), there are far more advanced methods available, especially seam carving/blending (or whatever the exact term is), which does wonders for panoramas... smart blend kinda worked into that direction, but since it is dead, it would be great to get a blender that would rival the current photoshop blender, in regards to the quality and "intelligence" of the carving path.

[Erik Krause]

Only too true. Photoshop blending algorithm is published but
unfortunately patented. But there are other ways and I provided links to
relevant pages in the past. I hope Joost still has them all. If not, I
can provide them again...

Regarding smartblend: The command line tool (aka plugin) is pretty
outdated, but there are rumors Mike Norel would sell the code... And he
has disclosed the ingredients some time ago.

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

[DaveN]

Please do post the Photoshop blending algorithm link. It would be
interesting to see.

[tracy....@comcast.net]

Little bit off subject, I like to keep my camera on my tripod (on my nodal ninja).  Anyone know of a good, padded carrying case?

Tracy R. Willis

[Luc Villeneuve]

I use Pelican cases. Manufactured to military standards.

On 27 nov. 2012, at 22:12, tracy....@comcast.net wrote:

Little bit off subject, I like to keep my camera on my tripod (on my nodal ninja).  Anyone know of a good, padded carrying case?

Tracy R. Willis

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[luca vascon]

I'm really loyal to Crumpler bags, and I do use a sturdy removable connection between the panohead and the tripod.

There is no "perfect bag ever", but there are "perfect bags for a specific situation". 

Pelicases are ---ing perfect in mani situations, where car or veichles and transportation are included. But do not forget the pelicase is also the perfect place to put your stuff away when at home, with some silicagel bag inside.

I would like to be able to afford a couple of them just for that.

2012/11/28 Luc Villeneuve <luc_vil...@mac.com>

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Luca Vascon.
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Questa è la mia mail privata, la guardo di tanto in tanto.

Se volete parlarmi di lavoro, contattatemi attraverso i siti qui sotto.

www.officinepanottiche.com

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[SunDance]

Why not get a quick release like the 488RC4Head from Manfrotto and mount your NN to it?  That's what I've done and it works great.  Contact me off list for details if you like.

[Joergen Geerds]

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:12:30 PM UTC-5, PanoStitcher wrote:

Little bit off subject, I like to keep my camera on my tripod (on my nodal ninja).  Anyone know of a good, padded carrying case?

Tracy R. Willis

a little bit off topic??? how about very very off topic? this thread is about stitching and blending, and it is really not hard to make a separate topic for your question.

thank you for your derailing it 

[Luciano Bergesch]

Yes 488RC4 is a really great Head, but if U$110,00 it is too expensive for your (and others) pockets remember that there are cheaper options that also work for the same purpose. I have an ordinary head of these and I can say that work very well to my purpose.

I'm talking about "Made in China" parts like this:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ball-Head-with-Quick-release-Plate-as-Manfrotto-484RC2-for-PK018-Free-Shipping/577637012.html

or

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pro-Camera-Tripod-Ball-Head-KS-0-for-Benro-Manfrotto-Gitzo-PTH3/481846105.html

[Matthew Rogers]

Not to put a downer on things but being cheap crap from China only serves to destroy your own local economy. If all people do is send their money to China how can you expect to live in a system that allows you to be paid a decent salary for your own efforts ?

Matt

[luca vascon]

No, Luciano, fazfavor, nao!, please do not. Do not put a small AND cheap ballhead between tripod and head. you will only repent later.

Even a solid socket+removable  plate will introduce flex, wobbling and consequend loss of quality.

I'd choose an arcaswiss type.

;-)

2012/11/28 Luciano Bergesch <luci...@gmail.com>

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[John Houghton]

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 12:17:09 AM UTC, DaveN wrote:

Please do post the Photoshop blending algorithm link.  It would be
interesting to see.

This seems relevant:

 

http://www.agarwala.org/efficient_gdc/

 

John

 

 

[Luc Villeneuve]

Hi,

I just HATE to buy the same piece of equipment more then once. Do not buy cheap stuff.

[Joergen Geerds]

Yes, Aseem, Jeff and a handful of other people worked on the photoshop blender, which IMO is completely outstanding, especially if you have difficult situations like crowds. 

[Luciano]

All of you are right, there is no comparison between a U$25,00 head from China with a U$400,00 Arca-Swiss or a U$ 200,00 Manfrotto head.

But I just was talking about cheap alternatives, from my own experience. at other times it was frustrating, and positive in others as in the case of the ball head/quick release, so I humbly share here. I agree that we should generally avoid cheap solutions but I think $ 25 ~ 50 a very low risk investment with this one.

Did you guys already tryed no brand tripod heads before? please share your experience!

My experience:
as I said earlier I have a cheap (big) head, and have a Manfrotto Head as well. Both works the same. FOR ME. I did not say both are the same thing, but for ME both work the same way.
The finish is obviously different (poor), head movement is not smooth like the Manfrotto head, but it works very well to bracked shots with my NN MK3. no wobbling here.

I found it at local photo gear seller side by side with branded ones. I guess buying at the local dealer I have helped the local economy... or not?
I decided to buy this cheap after being woefully stolen twice. I can not afford these losses easily, so I decided to try a cheaper alternative as backup gear and I got surprised. Of course, within this cheap universe there are better and worse heads, maybe I'll get lucky. I keep this cheap big head permanently mounted on a tripod from 2 years until now and during this period bravely survived 4 trips exposed to unprotected handling from careless airlines.

still the question of helping the local economy and avoid "crap stuff from China" , the question is much bigger than buying a $25.00 goods from there. Maybe we should consider other factors as we typed in our shining Apple gear or mobile devices or PCs and many others who outsource cheap labor in China and flood the shelves of local stores with own brands and nice status.

Regards

Luciano

[Ken Warner]

The blender described in the paper is pretty good. I bet Joost's blender is just as good.

[imag...@gmail.com]

Wow, I think s/b filed in different universe OT. Tracy, are you a bot? Or in the same class of human as this person?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=525835607426627

[Kelly]

John,

Thank you for the link and getting things back to Tom's original post... albeit ever so briefly.

Kelly

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:50:14 AM UTC-5, John Houghton wrote:

[Erik Krause]

Am 28.11.2012 01:17, schrieb DaveN:
> Please do post the Photoshop blending algorithm link. It would be
> interesting to see.

-> http://www.agarwala.org/efficient_gdc/

[Erik Krause]

Am 28.11.2012 18:33, schrieb Ken Warner:
> The blender described in the paper is pretty good. I bet Joost's
> blender is just as good.

You mean Joost's blender, which is still to come...

[Erik Krause]

Am 28.11.2012 16:41, schrieb Joergen Geerds:
> Yes, Aseem, Jeff and a handful of other people worked on the photoshop
> blender, which IMO is completely outstanding, especially if you have
> difficult situations like crowds.

My favorite is this one:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~bsumma/Panorama_Weaving/index.html

[Ken Warner]

I don't understand. The blender in PTGui was not written by Joost?

[Erik Krause]

Am 29.11.2012 23:03, schrieb Ken Warner:
> I don't understand. The blender in PTGui was not written by Joost?

It was (presumably), but it is not content-aware. That's why so many
users still use smartblend...

[Kelly]

Erik,

Are you already using a pano weaving tool like the one in the video?

Kelly

[Ken Warner]

Content aware blender would be good. I never found Smartblend to be that useful. My problem areas are usually in the sky with clouds or in the nadir around rocks. The blender in the reference paper might (or might not) improve PTGui's current blender.

I think being able to move seams directly with the mouse instead of indirectly with masks would be helpful. With content aware blending across seams of course.

[Joergen Geerds]

On Friday, November 30, 2012 8:09:48 AM UTC-5, DemonDuck wrote:

Content aware blender would be good.  I never found Smartblend to be that useful.  My problem areas are usually in the sky with clouds or in the nadir around rocks.  The blender in the reference paper might (or might not) improve PTGui's current blender.

The blender in the reference paper is part of photoshop for the last 2 major releases, but you need to own photoshop to use it.

[Erik Krause]

Am 30.11.2012 13:04, schrieb Kelly:
>
> Are you already using a pano weaving tool like the one in the video?

No, I use smartblend.

[Erik Krause]

Am 30.11.2012 14:09, schrieb Ken Warner:
> I never found Smartblend to be that useful. My problem areas are
> usually in the sky with clouds or in the nadir around rocks.

See for a comparison:
http://www.panoramas.dk/panorama/CS3-autoblending.html
note that enblend has a content aware seam optimization meanwhile, but
it still doesn't work as good as smartblend.

> The blender in the reference paper might (or might not) improve
> PTGui's current blender.

PTGui currently is the last blender that doesn't have seam optimization
in one or the other way. Just the quality of enblend 3 - which is now
outdated since 3 years.

[Henrik]

So will PTGui get a smarter blender soon? As in a content aware?

Henrik

Sent from my iPhone

[DaveN]

Thanks. That is interesting.

[Joost Nieuwenhuijse - PTGui Support]

It's on the wish list..

Joost