Need Help With Automated Stitching
Marquales
I'm attempting to use PTGui Pro (company license) to create a panoramic "Webcam" view of a Marina. I'm using an automated outdoor P/T head and a Sanyo HD-4600 IP video camera that also shoots 1920x1080 JPG still shots. The camera's "no parallax point" is roughly aligned for the pan motion, but due to the mechanics of the P/T head, the tilt axis is about 15 cm below the camera.
The Sanyo camera has a 5.76 x 4.29 mm CCD, and a 6.3 to 63 mm zoom lens, which is set to a 5.5x optical zoom. Unfortunately, there is no EXIF data, so I have no idea what lens settings to use in PTGui; I've tried various, without consistent results.
I have the camera and P/T head set up to shoot 170 shots (5 rows of 35 shots, starting at the top right and returning to the right after each row.) The head is reasonably accurate, but not so much so that you can stitch without aligning to new control points between each series of shots.
There is a bit of unbroken sky or water, so I've attempted to use the "align to grid" function, with acceptable results. The final image looks perfect if I use the "Numerical Transform" to apply a pitch of 7 and a roll of 1.6, followed by a manual crop.
I've been trying to create a batch workflow that will allow me to process these series of images, with no success. Since my alignment is necessarily not perfect, (camera is mounted on a roof, P/T head tilt parallax issue, etc.), my stitched image is distorted, and the resulting panorama needs to be straightened and cropped. While I have been able to get excellent results with manual edits, I have been unable to automate the process.
My goal is to execute a continuous batch process, wherein I shoot the 170 images; stitch them with PTGui; Zoomify the results; FTP Flash and HTML-5 to a web server; cleanup, and repeat. Everything works but the PTGui part. At my most successful, I've been able to get a properly stitched image in place, put I can't get the pitch, roll or crop right. Results can be viewed here: panorama.portolympia.com. (daylight only... West Coast USA, GMT -8)
In addition to using the numeric transform, I've set image 85 as the "anchor image"; I can't get the panorama to stitch properly with either approach, nor can I get my manual crop settings to persist.
I've tried saving my settings as a template and as a project, but in no case can I get the batch processor to run properly on subsequent sets of images.
I've included two sets of images, which can be downloaded from the following locations:
Help would be much appreciated, as I've been working on this problem for over a week, and my head will soon explode...
John Houghton
to stitch set2. For set2, control points were generated and only y,p,r
optimized. A comparison image can be seen at:
http://www.johnhpanos.com/set1-set2.jpg
The subject is not a good one for creating templates, given the
tendency of boats and water to move about between shots. Moreover,
the shooting pattern is not quite a tidy array of rows and columns and
is slightly different for the two shoots. There were 5 or 6 orphan
images that were positioned manually for each panorama. The template
project was levelled with vertical line control points.
(Straightening the panorama didn't work). The lens setting seems to
be 35mm at a crop factor of 6.
John
PTGui Support
This template gave me a reasonably good result for your two panoramas:
http://ge.tt/8wQ2HNP/v/0?c
Your lens settings should be set to 35mm, focal length multiplier 6.6
In the Project Settings tab, Align Images behaviour:
Only enable the Generate Control points checkbox, and the Optimize
Project checkbox. Uncheck the rest.
Project Settings tab, Batch Stitcher actions: enable the first two
checkboxes, disable 'but only if enough..'.
Optimizer tab: I've set the Anchor image to 84, this is approximately
the center of the panorama.
Hope this helps!
Joost
On 12-10-2012 1:21, Marquales wrote:
> I'm attempting to use PTGui Pro (company license) to create a panoramic
> 15 cm below the camera.
>
> The Sanyo camera has a 5.76 x 4.29 mm CCD, and a 6.3 to 63 mm zoom lens,
> various, without consistent results.
>
> I have the camera and P/T head set up to shoot 170 shots (5 rows of 35
> shots, starting at the top right and returning to the right after each
>
> There is a bit of unbroken sky or water, so I've attempted to use the
> "align to grid" function, with acceptable results. The final image looks
> perfect if I use the "Numerical Transform" to apply a pitch of 7 and a
> roll of 1.6, followed by a manual crop.
>
> I've been trying to create a batch workflow that will allow me to
> parallax issue, etc.), my stitched image is distorted, and the resulting
> the process.
>
> My goal is to execute a continuous batch process, wherein I shoot the
> 170 images; stitch them with PTGui; Zoomify the results; FTP Flash and
> HTML-5 to a web server; cleanup, and repeat.Everything works but the
> right.Results can be viewed here:panorama.portolympia.com
> In addition to using the numeric transform, I've set image 85 as the
> "anchor image"; I can't get the panorama to stitch properly with either
> approach, nor can I get my manual crop settings to persist.
>
> I've tried saving my settings as a template and as a project, but in no
> case can I get the batch processor to run properly on subsequent sets of
> images.
>
> I've included two sets of images, which can be downloaded from the
> following locations:
>
> http://ge.tt/2dhSuLP?c
>
> http://ge.tt/3BO0vLP?c
>
> Help would be much appreciated, as I've been working on this problem for
> over a week, and my head will soon explode...
>
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "PTGui" group.
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PTGui Support
big difference between the two panoramas. It's risky to depend on the
control point generator to fix this, it's always possible that PTGui
cannot find control points for a certain image (for example at nighttime
when it's dark).
Joost
Marquales
Thanks very much for your help with the template for our Marina project. It's been running for a few days now with excellent results. We weren't expecting perfect, artifact free stitches, just a reasonable panoramic view of the full breadth of the Marina. Actually, the artifacts are often quite amusing, especially where a sailboat is captured in one row, and gone by the time the camera pans back over that spot. We've found quite a few "sunken" boats... Likewise, we weren't expecting night shots to stitch; we may be able to set the camera to very low-Lux operation for night views, or just show the last viable image from dusk to dawn.
We know that the P/T head isn't very accurate, but it was designed for "industrial" use. The head is integrated with a climate controlled camera enclosure, and can operate in any weather, continuously for years without maintenance. Right now, we have it set to shoot a frame every five seconds, which adds up to over 6,300,000 P/T movements per year. We were thinking of upgrading the system to use a DSLR (EXIF data would be nice!), but then we realized that most DSLRs are rated at a 150,000 shot shutter life; we'd have to replace the camera every nine days...
Thanks again for your help, and we look forward to using PTGui in various projects for other clients.