Not directly about pano2vr but about stitching

[chris15326]

Hey there

I have lots of trouble with stitching errors using PanoramaStudio 3 Pro. So I wonder if there is any better solution than this program. I mean fixing it thanks to pano2vr patching is smooth but so much time is getting consumed by this So I wonder if there is anything better than PanoStudio Pro for stitching.

Thank you for your time and answer!

With kind regards
Chris

[Hopki]

Hi Chris,
For stitching I use PTGui, works for me but that said I would double-check your hardware.
Make sure your NPP is set correctly, I know I spent two days playing with mine with a Nodal Ninja R1 pano head.
Fitting rail stops etc.
Now I can take the shots, throw them into my stitcher and get very good results.
Regards,
Hopki

[chris15326]

Sounds interesting I stumbled upon PTGui as well yesterday!

What does NPP stand for in this context? :- )

Im using a manual Rollei (with a samyang fish eye) where I take 8 shots every 45 degree in horizontal and after that I change the vertical angle to 45 degree up and do 4 more images (every 90 degree) May there is a mistake already happening?

[Hopki]

Hi,
The NPP is No Parallax Point.
The rotation is on the pupil of the lens, just have a look on the PTGui website as this is a basic MUST before shooting to prevent bad stitching.
Regards,
Hopki

[chris15326]

I feel so stupid... So I need to find the nodal point and if I manage to do so and set it up the right way I will cause less “ghost ridges or breaks in straight lines no matter what software I use for stitching?

And this on the image below would be the nodal point adapter on the rollei and where I have to figure the right position / NPP?


Found an interesting tutorial if I'm allowed to link it in here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uadeEgiLRCY

And for a more "scientific"/ data based approach this seems to be a good way to tackle this:
https://www.ptgui.com/cullman_noparallax.pdf

Look at how off my camera sits there... no wonder I need to fix tons of stitching...



Now I wonder if I do any other elemental things wrong....

[360Texas]

HERE is a better video clip... This actually shows the calibration technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HaRZi ... e=youtu.be

Your precision (read down to 1/2 mm) and there should be NO movement between the two poles when rotating the camera 30° left and right of the center mark.

We use PTgui Pro... but there is an less expensive Ptgui version ( https://www.ptgui.com/download.html ) ... as well as a free unlimited that when final stitched watermark version.

THEN take a panorama and stitch it... for testing. When satisfied with results (no stitch errors) then MARK the screw and camera index points for upper bar fore and aft AND the bottom horizontal point using a permanent scratch mark or electrical tape SO you can remove and replace the camera on the pan head.

AFTER your satisfied with the results... then comes taking the panorama settings.

You will need to set the lens to maximize the DEPTH OF FIELD so that ALL is in FOCUS from 1 foot in lens front face to infinity

We use a Sigma 8mm and a full sensor Canon 5d.
Aperture priority at f/8

http://dofmaster.com/doftable.html

It is important that your camera focus ring be set the the HYPER Focal distance shown here as .90 as this too must be verified by opening your image editor software (we use Photoshop) and zoom in to 100% and look around your image to make sure ALL is sharp and clear. If it is not... then adjust your focus ring to .89 or .91 and re-shoot and stitch the equirectangle image and verify sharpness... repeat process 10 times until you get great results BEFORE you go out and take commercial imaging.

Hyper Focal distance

hyperfocal.jpg (258.77 KiB) Viewed 2018 times

ALSO see the focus lens ring setting with a different camera... but process is same.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3541&p=14052&hilit= ... cal#p14052

Hope this helps.

[chris15326]

Thank you for your long and detailed answer! :- )

I now kinda used all the input from here. What's interesting is, after I was creating a graph from my data out of PTGui



I figured that the real point of no parallax was still a couple of mm away but after all it seems to be no straight science anyways. With all the techniques above combined I'm pretty sure I nailed it now finally! I will test it tomorrow.

[360Texas]

Hmm thank you for your prompt reply.

I did add / revise some of the text in my last comment.
Please review and proceed accordingly.

Really looking forward to seeing in this forum your results. Post a link so we can download it and look for stitching issue

Please remember that .5mm or calibrate to at least 1/2 mm which is difficult ... but must make the final detail effort

Would you please label the X and Y scales on the chart.

Dave still at
https://360texas.com

[chris15326]

Hmm thank you for your prompt reply.

I did add / revise some of the text in my last comment.
Please review and proceed accordingly.

Really looking forward to seeing in this forum your results. Post a link, so we can download it and look for stitching issue

Please remember that .5mm or calibrate to at least 1/2 mm which is difficult ... but must make the final detail effort

Would you please label the X and Y scales on the chart.

Dave still at
https://360texas.com

Well I thank you guys for being so awesome! I'm super ambitious about the whole thing
I edited my post as well and changed the image / added information on the x and y-axis.

Here is btw my best result so far.... The PTGui data suggests that the best point would be around 6.8mm but the best result so far I managed to get around 7.3... as you can see below: (The distance for example from the to the door handles sphere is exactly identical measured from the broom to the outside of the dark ring of this sphere-like shape of the door handle(marked the part I'm talking about with a red line below)





Tiles on the floor gave me nightmares before.



I will test the current setup later on a similar ground

[360Texas]

Here is a forum link - few years ago pictures of calibrating pano/camera process using a simple Nodal Ninja R1 pan head.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11596&p=47843&hilit ... int#p47843

[chris15326]

Here is a forum link - few years ago pictures of calibrating pano/camera process using a simple Nodal Ninja R1 pan head.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11596&p=47843&hilit ... int#p47843

Awesome I will rebuild your testing setup tomorrow when there is light again over here!

For testing the stitching error rate... Is there any kind of motive that is perfect for trigger stitching errors or will any image cause errors when the NPP isn't correct? Cause I got the feeling straight lines (makes sense somehow) like on tiles make it worst if you got any stitching problems

[1uv3]

Is there any kind of motive that is perfect for trigger stitching errors

If you don't have enough overlap and there is a lot of featureless area that PTGui cannot find control points for such as a lot of sky or white walls within a room, then this will cause stitching errors as well regardless of how well your NPP is dialed in. But if the NPP is not dialed in then you're almost always guaranteed to have some stitching errors somewhere within the final node.

Once you get your camera dialed in you will find that 99% of the time PTGui does a perfect stitch without the need to manually add control points as well.

Also, depending on your setup and if you have everything dialed in but still get a stitching error, you might want to try the Optimizer/Minimize Lens Distortion settings from the drop down in PTGui. I had an Olympus years back and had the NPP dialed in but kept getting errors. I contacted support and they had me select "Heavy Lens Shift" and voila! That fixed the issue.

[chris15326]

Is there any kind of motive that is perfect for trigger stitching errors

If you don't have enough overlap and there is a lot of featureless area that PTGui cannot find control points for such as a lot of sky or white walls within a room, then this will cause stitching errors as well regardless of how well your NPP is dialed in. But if the NPP is not dialed in then you're almost always guaranteed to have some stitching errors somewhere within the final node.

Once you get your camera dialed in you will find that 99% of the time PTGui does a perfect stitch without the need to manually add control points as well.

Also, depending on your setup and if you have everything dialed in but still get a stitching error, you might want to try the Optimizer/Minimize Lens Distortion settings from the drop down in PTGui. I had an Olympus years back and had the NPP dialed in but kept getting errors. I contacted support and they had me select "Heavy Lens Shift" and voila! That fixed the issue.

Thank you for these infos! Sadly over here the budget wont allow to go pro / anything else beyond "trial" for PTGui. Thats why right now Im using Panorama Studio 3 Pro for stitching after using LR ENfuse in Lightroom to fuse my HDR images.

I somehow believe Panorama Studio 3 Pro isnt half as good as PTGui but for now I need to find a way to make it work with this piece of software. Cant wait being able to upgrade to PTGui

[chris15326]

Here is a forum link - few years ago pictures of calibrating pano/camera process using a simple Nodal Ninja R1 pan head.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11596&p=47843&hilit ... int#p47843

I recreated the scene as good as I could over here

[360Texas]

ok.. so now.... how well did the panorama stitching turn out ?

I always test by looking up a the convergence at top zenith.... and then tilt down to nadir bottom. The bottom should show a tripod cap as a SQUARE box with all sides being equal dimensions.