photo stitching

[SteveBMe]

Hello all.
I am in need of being able to stitch photos together.

While I have tried the new MS ICE, it does not allow for manual stitching, which at this point seems to be the only way I'll get what I need.

These are not regular photographs. I work for an engineering firm, and have a series of maps that were broken into components for legal recordation in a county recorder's office (the specific set I am working on now have 8 parts). In fact, the layout appears to be in two rows of four images each, from left to right. For the first row I got the four images to stitch, but on the second row I only got 3 to take, and when I further cropped the 8th image, or 4th for the second row, all the program did was to blow that image up to match the sizing of the first 3, which was totally disproportionate. I then tried resizing it, still to no avail. It still blew the last image to a disproportionate size.
The next problem that I seem to be having is that I cannot stitch the two rows together.

I did download the latest IFV version- 4.33, and tried the panorama tool.... while interesting-- it did not allow me what I wanted.
Does anyone know how to do this manually-- without printing the images out, doing the stitch work on paper, then rescan them, etc.....

And no-- photoshop/illustrator won't be happening.

TYIA.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The problem with image stitching programs like ICE is that you need large overlapping areas for them to stitch successfully.

I would do it in my page layout program, PagePlus. That offers the flexibility needed for manually aligning the different map sections. If these maps are scans, and don't align perfectly, you can also rotate them. If they are at different scales, you can resize them, but then it starts getting difficult to line things up perfectly.

The Free Version will do it all, but it doesn't offer export as image or publish to PDF as in the paid-for version. You could either Print to a PDF printer driver, or convert the composite picture to a picture, then copy/paste that to IrfanView for saving as an image.

This is not a trial Shareware version. It is a fully functional version with no time limits, but lacking some of the key features available in the full version, and it has a few nag screens asking if you wish to upgrade. Registration can be done online without the hassle of unsolicited emails and phone calls.

[SteveBMe]

The problem with image stitching programs like ICE is that you need large overlapping areas for them to stitch successfully.

I would do it in my page layout program, PagePlus. That offers the flexibility needed for manually aligning the different map sections. If these maps are scans, and don't align perfectly, you can also rotate them. If they are at different scales, you can resize them, but then it starts getting difficult to line things up perfectly.

The Free Version will do it all, but it doesn't offer export as image or publish to PDF as in the paid-for version. You could either Print to a PDF printer driver, or convert the composite picture to a picture, then copy/paste that to IrfanView for saving as an image.

This is not a trial Shareware version. It is a fully functional version with no time limits, but lacking some of the key features available in the full version, and it has a few nag screens asking if you wish to upgrade. Registration can be done online without the hassle of unsolicited emails and phone calls.

Hi Bhikku.
Well, I downloaded, and installed Page Plus. Only one problem-- I can't find it anywhere on my computer. There's no program directory, there's no desktop icons-- nothing.
I checked another time, tried finding it via the select program to run window.... nothing.
Thanks for the advice, but the program doesn't appear to work.

So..... next......

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

So..... next......

Probably you installed the optional Serif™ Toolbar, but not the program. Don't install the toolbar, don't reboot when asked, but just install the program.

See this post on the Serif forums

[SteveBMe]

Probably you installed the optional Serif™ Toolbar, but not the program. Don't install the toolbar, don't reboot when asked, but just install the program.

See this post on the Serif forums

Nope. I made sure I unchecked the toolbar, and Serif as home page options.

Ok, I see what happened.... The reboot call I got yesterday threw me. It appears to be installing now.
what's with these constant calls for reboot, if that's not what's needed? Makes me think virus.....

[SteveBMe]

wow....
well, it appears I finally have what I wanted.
Bhikku,
Thank you for tolerating my frustrations.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I am not surprised that you're frustrated. Some of us long-term Serif™ users are trying to persuade them to ditch this garbage. Experienced users never install toolbars, and novice users only want to know how to remove it when they discover it has been installed.

The toolbar installer is causing frustrations for many users. The Serif free software never used to have it.

I can understand that IrfanView needs some sponsorship, but Serif™ distribute these free versions to tempt customers to buy their commercial versions, which are mostly excellent value for money, but if new users find these problems they may think that Serif™ don't even know how to program an installer, so it will scare off more users than it attracts.

My PagePlus Review Page created in WebPlus X5.

[SteveBMe]

solutions, solutions.... just give me solutions.

yea, all I want is to stitch together some images that were part of a once larger map, copied into 8 pages, and made part of a legally recorded document from 30 years ago. As our local recorder did not make a full size, single image map of this document, I had to reassemble it, and make sure it accurately represented what I needed, so I could do a much simpler job of corrobrating the information with our records.
ICE only did so much, and IFV couldn't do what I needed, so it appears that Pg+ did the rest.

Hey.... I suppose it's one way to expand my skill set into the realm of graphic arts.
Not bad for an engineering tech educated as a physicist.
Anyway... thanks for the help.

[j7n]

I tried Page Plus, and it installed correctly.

However, the process had way too many steps, and more than one installer was wrapped around the software. Also strange that a free software product required me to supply first and last name, country, and needed a serial number. The installer dropped several DLLs in the system directory. During operation it also downloaded the Flash Player and some data from its own server. If network was blocked, it started up with a delay and displayed an ugly black window where a flash animation would have been.

Page Plus functions are useful and would probably suffice for the simple projects I use CorelDRAW for. I like how it mimics the Microsoft Office interface, and commands are easy to locate even for someone who hasn't used Page Plus before. Exporting as picture is essential to keep work portable and accessible to people who can't or won't run a less widely known product (for example, to print on another, better printer).

The program seemed slow, each letter I typed appeared after a noticeable delay. But I tried it in a virtual machine, and therefore can't be objective. The font selection listbox is always rendered with irritating ClearType, which might be a reason why scrolling through it was slow. Listing the same fonts in Word 2007 was faster.

[Jaff]

panorama software

I actually use Kolor Autopano Giga, also ArcSoft Panorama Maker (15 day trial) sometimes for pano from videos (when I'm too lazy to extract best frames for stitch). Also a recomended software is Hugin (freeware), AutoStitch v2.2 (demo). Great results may come from PanoramaStudio 2 Pro (shareware). It's user choice, how many money can spend for best software that fits its needs.

[Sprintdriver]

Hi.

If need for stitching scanned images is rarely, I'll suggest using Gimp.
With most scanners you can choose to not auto adjust the scanned image, and then the colors don't need corrections before stitching.

Newer versions of Gimp allows the user to put out guides, wich makes it easy to rotate the images (layers) to each other to fit.
I've already done it myself several times with scanned images.

I've also have bought a license of Autopano, but I use that program for photos only.