I tried 4 times consequently to stitch 4 images in Photomerge activated from Bridge – with same settings (auto and defaults i.e. blending images on, vignette removal off, distortion correction off). I was surprised of the result because each time I tried PS generated different panorama. Just to make sure I thoroughly checked if the stitch settings were really the same – they were… Am I missing something essential?
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I had the same problem with the CS4 trial version. Results were inconsistent each time I ran Photomerge on the same set of images. I also tried running the Auto Align and Auto Blend functions manually but saw the same inconsistency.
In all fairness to CS4, and as someone who has been heavy into panos for a few years now, it does pretty well and even blended blue skies that PTGui could not, though you have no way to make adjustments like you do in PTGui.
However, if you’re really serious about doing panos you should use a panoramic tripod head like the Panosaurus – that will give CS4 better images to work with and just might allow it to stitch them together perfectly the first time.
I did not see any problem when merging bundles of 20-35 pictures, as long as they where not a full-circle panos. The problem I did see is that in order to break the pano in a place I wanted it to break, I had to remove one picture from that area, thus not able to create a full-circle pano. See my post from 12.17.2008, 9:36pm. David
PhotoMerge appears to have been broken in the move to CS4.
Whilst I am glad that PhotoMerge in CS4 is working for SOME, on my two main, quite different, XPP/3 systems (one with supported 3D card, one without) I have been unable to get CS4 to create ANY panoramas.
In CS4, as shipped in the ‘Master Collection’, attempting to merge only two images that, on the same systems [right now, TODAY!] are merged by CS3 (and ptGUI, and APP) results only in a series of processing msgs during which a file named something like "unnamed_panorama1" appears as a tab. When processing stops, that tab vanishes. Sadly, no trace of this file is seen in the recent file list, nor anywhere on the hard-drive.
Yes, Default Photomerge entries are being used (as well as all possible combinations of geo-correct, vig-removal, various projections etc).
Repeating this merge attempt with ‘tab view’ disabled results in the same sequence (only the evanescent image is a free floating one).
Initially, my thought was that this was because I had not yet ‘activated’ CS4. Sadly, ‘activation’ produced no change: Images are energetically being processed, but the final result disappears.
Copying the ‘manually align’ option from CS3 into CS4 results, at the end of various processing messages, in an ErrMsg popping up saying that "CS4 was unable to automatically align ‘some’ images.
Um, there were only two images, and was not the point of selecting ‘manually align’ images to MANUALLY align images?
CS4 then displays a completely transparent "untitled_Panorama1" image and LOCKS.
Random clicking on the interface produced a "This program has …" error (I saved the error dump, if anyone from Adobe is interested) and died.
To re-iterate, I have yet to be able to create the simplest two-image panorama with CS4 on two, quite different, XPP/3 systems.
This failure is with images that CS3 has no trouble with on these same systems, at the same time as CS4 fails.
As we know from math, one counter example is enough to kill a theory. So my one (and actually one out of several) successful result puts your first generalized statement into question.
While stating the above, by know means am I even hinting that PhotoMerge is clean of bugs. I don’t know what is XPP/3 system (do you mean Win XP + SP3 ?). Anyway, the possibilities are endless. As a starter, we are talking about a different HW & OS environment than mine, different pictures and a different SW package you got from Adobe. From my experience in hitech development, yes, even though your pictures were successfully processed in one environment, it is not a proof that they are "clean" as far as Adobe’s SW requirements are. I purposely use the term Adobe’s SW rather than Photomerge because we are talking about a conglomerate of many Adobe’s (and possibly third party’s !) SW pieces, including even different Photomerge flavors. And most likely, no one person in Adobe really knows all the requirements precisely…
So for completeness of my post from 12.17.2008, 9:36pm, let me tell you my environment: * Win XP + SP3 (Version 5.1, build 2600.xpsp.080413-2111), activated. * My CS4 is from the trial downloaded version of Photoshop CS4 Extended (files ADOBEPHSPCS4_LS1.exe & ADOBEPHSPCS4_LS1.7z) NOT activated. * HW is my own putting together of an Intel MB with an Intel Pentium D 3.2 GHz & peripherals.
