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This description is nothing but Help, embedded in PanoGraph.
If you wish to have a close look on application before downloading it,
this is page for you.

Welcome
Getting started
     First glance
     Load input images
     Selection of Photo Camera
     Indication of Parameters of Input Images Set
     Stitch pictures
     View Panorama and Virtual Tour
     Save and Open Panorama
Advanced features
     Manual Adjustment
     Manual Stitching
     Parameters of Stitching Method
     Save and Open Parameters
     Add New Photo Camera
Demo Samples
Limitation of Demo Version
Acknowlegements



Welcome

PanoGraph is easy-to-use application that let you stitch snapshots and create panoramic image and virtual tour. PanoGraph puts none limitation on your photo equipments: no high quality cameras or special lenses required. Snapshots made by the simplest photo camera would fit PanoGraph.

PanoGraph can stitch images from bmp and jpg formats that cover almost all practical reasons. Resulting image you can save as jpg-file and see it in any image viewer, as well as in PanoGraph. Using PanoGraph, you can display the same resulting image as virtual tour, that is much more spectacular, especially in case of 360-degree or wide angle panorama.

Getting started

First glance

When you run PanoGraph, you see main window of the application. The upper part of this window contains main menu and toolbar with buttons that corresponds to menu items. The legend below shows meaning of all buttons.

Prepare construction of new panorama
Load images for stitching
Open panorama from file for viewing
Save constructed panorama in file
Display full size panorama
Display panorama as virtual tour
Stitch images automatically and construct panorama
Manual adjustment of stitching
Manual stitching
Select parameters of adjacent images
Select photo camera
Adjust parameters of auto stitching
Help

Checkbox on the right side of buttons used for indication that the set of images should compose 360-degree panorama. Number of loaded images displayed in the right section of toolbar.

To make panorama, you have do only several simple steps: When panorama constructed, you can There is also the possibility of Before preparing next panorama, select menu item File / Make New Panorama or click button .

PanoGraph includes three demo samples, and it is good idea to use them for the first try.

Load input images

For loading set of images for new panorama, select menu item File / Load Pictures or click button . Window for selection image file will appear.

Select necessary pictures and press Open button. For simultaneous selection of several files, press Ctrl key and click files, not releasing Ctrl key. For selection of several files that are in the list one after another, move cursor key while Shift key is pressed.

When you load some images, their thumbnail appears on the window of PanoGraph. You can add pictures to selected set, again using File / Load Pictures. Right mouse button click on each thumbnail invokes pop up menu, that allows delete this image or load another image instead of current.

You can change place of any couple of thumbnails, using drag and drop technique. Of course, you should order thumbnails in proper order before stitching pictures.

Note, that all images, composing panorama, should be of the same size.

Selection of Photo Camera

PanoGraph store the kind of camera you used last time, therefore usually there is no need to select kind of used photo camera. This step required only when you change kind of used camera (or used changeable lenses). Selection of photo camera kind is also necessary when you ran PanoGraph first time.
Select menu item Parameters / Camera or click button . In opened window select kind of your camera in drop down list and press Save and Exit button.

If your camera absent in the list, please add it (seeAdd new Camera).

Indication of Parameters of Input Images Set

First at all, using checkbox on right side on right side of toolbar, indicate, whether or not your set of images compose 360 degree panorama. Only if this checkbox was checked, PanoGraph will stitch the last right image with the first left one.

Automatic construction of panorama is very complex task, because it requires recognizing of complimentary parts of adjacent images. In general case, when set of input images can be very bad, this work can require long time. You can essentially reduce time of performance, if you inform application, that your set of pictures is not so bad at all, and program can skip steps, required only for bad cases.

To do this, select menu item Parameters / Adjacent Pictures or click button . Now you see window for parameters of adjacent pictures. On this page there are five parameters. All these parameters only outline boundaries of most bad cases that can happen in your set of pictures.
The first parameter is the width of common part of two adjacent pictures, measured in percent of picture width.
Of course, PanoGraph can find complimentary parts on two adjacent pictures, only if these parts exists at all, therefore adjacent snapshots should overlap. But if overlapping parts almost cover each of two images, this gives nothing but increasing of performance time. So look on your set of picture and, if you see that for each couple overlapping part for sure is less than, say, 30% of image width, enter 30 as value of this parameter.
The second parameter is a vertical shift of adjacent pictures, measured in percent of picture height.
Evidently, in ideal case all pictures of panorama should lay on one horizontal level. But when you make snapshots without any special equipment, it is hard to keep hand on the same level. Look on the row of thumbnails. If you see, that for all couples of pictures vertical shift is for sure less than 15%, enter 15 as value of this parameter.
The third parameter is the slope between adjacent pictures, measured in degree.
Like the previous case, the less the angle of the slope, the better. Unfortunately, in your row of thumbnails you noticed two adjacent pictures that was done with shift of vertical lines at lest of 10 degrees. Or, may be, even a little greater? To be sure, enter 15 as value of parameter.

Please keep in the mind, that all these parameters only outline “quality” of your set of images in order to reduce performance time. Nothing but increasing performance time happens, if you enter greater value of parameters. But if your set of pictures does not satisfy restrictions, PanoGraph failed to find complimentary parts on adjacent images.

The last two parameters restrict possible length distortion (in percent) of vertical and horizontal lines on adjacent images.
You need not change their default values 5%, beside special cases (like preparing panorama from snapshots, done by camera of unknown kind).

After changing parameters of adjacent pictures, press Save and Exit button. When you ran PanoGraph, last used parameters loaded. Therefore you can set parameters of adjacent pictures, according to your personal ability to make quality set of snapshots, and not change them beside special cases.

Stitch pictures

For stitching pictures in panorama, simply select Tools / Join Pictures or click button . Search of complimentary parts of all couples of adjacent images and panorama construction will be done automatically, reflected by movement on two progress bars.

Selection of complimentary parts is time consuming process. If preliminary estimation of required time is greater than five minutes, you will be prompted to confirm this long work or change parameters in order to reduce time.

View Panorama and Virtual Tour

When panoroma was constructed, its thumbnail appears below thumbnails of composing images. For displaying full size panorama in separate window, select menu item View Panorama / Full Size Picture or press button .

If you stitched couple or three images, it may be the best way to display the result. But if you joined several snapshots that covered wide angle or constructed 360-degree panorama, full size picture of panorama will have a strange look. The reason is because human aye allow observing only relatively narrow view. Therefore in this case much more better use virtual tour, that gave illusion of observing panorama from inside.

Select menu item View Panorama / Virtual Tour or click button . Now you see in the separate window only some part of whole panorama picture.

Using buttons below the window, you can move point of view (manual and auto options allowed) and change magnification.

Save and Open Panorama

Menu item File / Save Panorama and corresponding button allows save constructed panoramas and virtual tours in files. These files has jpg format, therefore they could be shown (as usual images) in any image viewer. But only PanoGraph can demonstrate these files as virtual tours.

To do so, open jpg-file by means of menu item File / Open Panorama or button and proceed exactly as you do when view panorama and virtual tour immediately after its construction.

Note, that it is possible view panorama as virtual tour, only if opened jpg-file was prepared by PanoGraph. Otherwise only menu item Viev Panorama / Full Size Picture would enabled.
 
 

Advanced features

Manual Adjustment

Recognizing similarities on adjacent pictures is a difficult task by itself. For example, if the common part of two snapshots contains only bushes with thousands of similar green leaves or nothing but a sea surface and blue sky or (the worst case) part of smooth white wall of the room, even human could fail to indicate two complimentary parts on adjacent images. No wonder, that in difficult cases like these PanoGraph could make mistakes. To improve the quality of stitching, you can use option of manual adjustment

Manual adjustment could be invoked only when construction of panorama completed and its thumbnail appeared in the bottom part of PanoGraph window. Select menu item Tools / Manual Adjustment or click button . In order to adjust stitching of two adjacent images, click right mouse button on thumbnail of any one of them.
Using pop up menu, select its right or left neighbor. Keep in the mind that in case 360-degree panorama the right neighbor of the last right thumbnail is the first left one – and vice versa.
The window with two full size adjacent snapshots appears. There are two triangles on these snapshots. They represents complimentary parts of two adjacent images. If you will adjust them, drag and drop any vertex of any triangle and click save button. Note, that complimentary triangles should not be very small or very narrow.

When you corrected complimentary triangles for all unsatisfactory stitches, click button or select menu item Tools / Join Pictures, and improved panorama will be constructed.

Manual Stitching

Manual adjustment of stitching could be done only after automatic stitching and construction of panorama. If you prefer skip automatic stitching and manually indicate complimentary triangles for each couple of adjacent snapshots, then after loading images and selection parameters click button or select menu item Tools/ Stitch Manually.

The process of manual stitching completely coincide with manual adjustment of stitching. After selection of complimentary triangles for each couple of adjasent, proceed construction of panorama by cliking button or selection menu item Tools / Join Pictures.

Parameters of Stitching Method

Besides manual adjustment, you can affect method of automatic stitching, used by PanoGraph. Window for setting parameters of stitching method invoked by menu item Parameters / Stitching Method or button . Consider three parameters available in this window.

In order to speed stitching, PanoGraph scale down initial images, but scaling down also decrease quality of pictures. The first parameter puts the lower bound to the size (in pixels) of scaled down snapshots. Recommended range of parameter is between 150 and 300.

If you will obtain the best quality and does not mind long wait for result, you could increase this parameter up to real size of your snapshots and exclude scaling dawn at all.

On the other hand, if you use PC with slow processor, you could decrease this parameter and sacrifice quality for the sake of faster performance. Keep in mind that, if necessary, you can afterward adjust panorama manually.

The second parameter is a checkbox that allows turn on and off preliminary smoothing of stitching images. We recommend use default unchecked value. Preliminary smoothing increase performance time and can improve quality of stitching only for special case of pictures of small size.

The last parameter, in some sense, determines the accuracy of stitching method. Recommended range of parameter is from 40 to 70, default value 50. Increasing of this parameter increase quality of stitching, but increase stitching time too.

Save and Open Parameters

Set of all adjustable parameters (parameters of input set of images, kind of used photo camera and parameters of stitching method) could be saved in file and restored when necessary. For this purpose there are menu items Parameters / Save Parameters and Parameters/ Open Parameters.

Note, that the value of checkbox, indicating 360-degree panorama, was not saved together with all other parameters. Therefore, after opening previously saved parameters, you should to verify and, if necessary, change its value.

Add New Photo Camera

If list of photo cameras not includes your camera, you can add it yourself. Open window for camera selection (menu item Parameters / Camera or button ) and click button Add New Camera. Fields for describing new camera appears.
Fill up fields for name of your camera and focus distance in mm (in 35 mm film equivalent) and press Save and Exit button. Focus distance usually inscribed on lenses frame of the camera and could be found in camera technical description.

If you use camera with poor optic system, you have to enter aberration coefficient too, but it hardly happens for modern camera.
There is a simple sign indicating that camera require elimination of aberration and, hence, non-zero aberration coefficient: strict lines (like edges of furniture or buildings), located on the edges of snapshots, appear as curved lines. In this case you have to try several different values of aberration coefficients until receive appropriate result, free of aberration distortion. Aberration coefficient could be positive or negative; its possible value between –0.1 and +0.1.

Window for selection photo camera also allows deleting cameras from the list.

Demo Samples

To become familiar with application, you can construct panoramas and virtual tours, using set of pictures from demo samples, included in PanoGraph. These sets of pictures located in PanoGraph/Demo, in folders Sample1, Sample2 and Sample3. Beside set of pictures, each folder contains file with saved parameters, therefore you should not bother to select them separately. For construction panorama The third sample allows construct 360-degree panorama and virtual tour. Don’t forget check 360-degree panorama before stitching.

Limitation of Demo Version

The unique limitations of Demo Version are as follows: To get rid of these limitations, please register your copy of application. For registration select menu item Help / About, click button Registration and follow instruction in registration window.

Acknowlegements

The author would like to thank his friends that in some or other ways helped him in development of PanoGrah: Alexander Yar (USA), Sergey Khashin (Russia), Pavel Rybalko, Mikhael Briskin, Alexander Desyatnik (Israel). All shortcoming of this application belongs solely to the author, who will be grateful for any bug notices, critics and advises on future improvement of PanoGraph.

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