Why Didn't FLOSS Come up With Photosynth First?

Story: Could Microsoft's Photosynth Have Been Free Software?Total Replies: 4
Author Content
rht

Aug 27, 2008
3:28 AM EST
I don't know if the FLOSS community came up with it before Photosynth but there are a number of open source panorama applications around, and they have been around for some time.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find at least two such open source programs.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 27, 2008
3:51 AM EST
Photosyth isn't just a panorama application. With a panorama application you have to line up the pics yourself. Photosyth does that for you through image analysis.
number6x

Aug 27, 2008
8:10 AM EST
autopano:

automatically create control points for panorama image
Autopano-SIFT looks at your images and compares information about the
images' content to order them correctly. Together with programs like hugin
and enblend, you can create top-quality panorama images.

Warning: "The University of British Columbia has applied for a patent on
the SIFT algorithm in the United States. Applications of this software may
require a license from the University of British Columbia."
number6x

Aug 27, 2008
8:11 AM EST
Hugin:

GUI tools for Hugin
Hugin is a panorama photo stitching program. Essentially, Hugin is a
GUI frontend for Panorama Tools. Stitching is accomplished by using
several overlapping photos taken from the same location, and using
control points to align and transform the photos so that they can be
blended together to form a larger image. Hugin allows for the easy
creation of control points between two images, optimization of the
image transforms, and much more.

This package includes the following graphical interfaces, using the
command-line tools provided in the hugin-tools package:
* hugin - Hugin panorama creator
* hugin_stitch_project - Hugin batch stitcher
* nona_gui - Graphical interface for nona.
number6x

Aug 27, 2008
8:12 AM EST
enblend (use hugin for autoalignment):

image blending tool
Enblend is a tool for compositing images. Given a set of images that overlap
in some irregular way, Enblend overlays them in such a way that the seam
between the images is invisible, or at least very difficult to see. It can,
for example, be used to blend a panorama composed of several images.

It uses a Burt & Adelson multi-resolution spline. This technique tries to
make the seams between the input images invisible. The basic idea is that
image features should be blended across a transition zone proportional in
size to the spatial frequency of the features. For example, objects like
trees and windowpanes have rapid changes in color. By blending these
features in a narrow zone, you will not be able to see the seam because the
eye already expects to see color changes at the edge of these features.
Clouds and sky are the opposite. These features have to be blended across a
wide transition zone because any sudden change in color will be immediately
noticeable.

Enblend does not align images for you. Use a tool like Hugin or PanoTools to
do this. The TIFFs produced by these programs are exactly what Enblend is
designed to work with.

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!