| Author |
Message |
    
John Gruffydd
New member
Username: Johngie
Post Number: 2
Registered: 7-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, July 21, 2007 - 4:10 pm: |   |
I've just upgraded to 4.5 (from 3.4). It's nice to have a virtually unchanged interface but I can appreciate the changes "under the hood". It certainly seems to stitch a "hand held" pan better than the early version.
Could I make suggestions for a wishlist? One thing I don't like in 4.5 is when manually cropping - the crop properties dialog box (much bigger than before) is very obtrusive and literally gets in the way. Could there be an option to open minimised?
It would be nice, too, to be able to customise the interface, especially the button layout.
Great software - greatly appreciated not only by me but by those who see the results.
Regards, John |
John Gruffydd
New member
Username: Johngie
Post Number: 3
Registered: 7-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, July 21, 2007 - 4:39 pm: | |
I realise now I was caught out by that cropping properties box! By default, it selects "Fixed Horizontal Line" (a change from v3.4 and something I didn't expect, nor did I want). It's annoying that the user's last selection is not sticky. Any chance of changing that? |
John Strait
Moderator
Username: Jstrait
Post Number: 318
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 1:08 pm: | |
Thanks for your positive feedback about V4!
Minimizing the crop dialog
I'll think about your request for a smaller crop dialog to see if I can come up with anything.
Customizing button layout
If you mean the toolbar buttons, this is already planned for a future release.
Fixed horizontal line
The cropping horizon line performs two intertwined functions: 1) determining the true horizon for VR export; 2) rotating the cropping rectangle. For VR viewers, the cropping rectangle should be parallel to the true horizon.
Moving the horizon line up-and-down has the same effect as editing the horizontal field of view on the Panoramic properties dialog box. Setting the HFOV incorrectly causes distortion when exporting to a VR format or when converting to Perspective projection.
This is why The Panorama Factory automatically selects Fixed horizon line for stitched images. (It is not automatically selected for other images.)
If the horizon line is in the wrong place, e.g. tilted or curved from the true horizon, it's better to fix this with the warping grid in Wizard step 7/9 – Preview at low resolution. The warping grid is available if you choose the Manual stitching method. The warping grid lets you correct things like a tilted or curved horizon while preserving a valid panoramic coordinate system.
But if you plan to print the panorama instead of exporting to a VR format, you might want to tilt the crop rectangle for purely esthetic reasons. You can temporarily override the fixed horizon line option by holding the ALT key when you move the mouse over the horizon line.
I am reluctant to change this behavior for fear that naive users will accidentally move the horizon line and then get incorrect results when exporting to VR formats or converting to perspective projection.
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