Readme PTStitcher 2.1


PTStitcher combines images to panoramic views. You simply 
drop all input images onto the application icon of PTStitcher
and a panoramic file to be viewed with all major VR-viewers
is generated in one step.

Changes to Version 2.0b3:
=========================
o First Linux version
o Bug Fixes: bmp-format reader/writer fixed (Win32)
o Tiff reader/writer added (Win32/Linux).

Changes to Version 2.0b2:
=========================
o Photoshop multilayer format reverted
to one transparency channel per layer. This
fixes several problems regarding image file
incompatibilities.

Changes to 2.0b1:
=================
o 48bit image support added. The full dynamic range of these
images is preserved, and 48/64bit data are written as
output. 48bit data can be read as uncompressed tiff or
png-file, and written as tiff, png or single layer Photoshop file.

o New Seaming algorithm is faster and yields better
results.

o Morph-to-fit option added: it corrects slight parallax errors, 
motion misfit or other previously uncorrectable errors. The
feature points used for optimization are morphed to
coincide. They are guaranteed to fit exactly.

o Photoshop multilayer format extended to also include
transparency data for each layer.

o Several minor bug fixes.




Changes to 1.9.2:
=================
o Tiff-reader and ppm-reader added. Both read images
  in excess of the 4k-width limit on older macs. 
o Quicktime importer corrected: reads now large images
  on newer macs.
o PTPicker added for Macs: GUI for aligning images and
  calling PTSTitcher.
o Some minor erors corrected.


Changes to 1.9.1:
=================
o JPEG output supported for IBM-Hotmedia support.
o Folders with images can be processed like single 
  images. This solves a problem with Windows
  command line limitations.
o Mac-version reads images through Quicktime importer.
  Thus almost any format is supported, and the 'PICT'-
  limitation on image size no longer applies.
o Mac version has some rudimentary user interface.
  Images can be loaded via menus, and there is even
  a program icon.
o PTAverage, the density enhancing software, is
  now included in this distribution. Also included 
  is a first Windows version of this program.
o Bug fixes: Mode line in scripts is read correctly,
  IVR-files for LivePicture Cylinders are corrected,
  and some more minor fixes.
o Scripting syntax for macs has been changed to that
  of Windows machines, see Readme.
o The Photoshop plug-in 'Panorama Tools' has been
  updated, too, see the separate Readme about changes.


Changes to 1.9.0:
=================
o First Windows version.
o Panorama conversion capability added: Almost any 
  output format can be generated using any input format.
o More formats available: LivePicture Cylinder.
o VRML-output now includes Zoom-tool.
o Viewer scripts can be customized via templates.
o Script file can be dropped together with image files
  on PTStitcher. 
o Some bug fixes

Changes to 1.0b1:
=================
o More output formats available: VRML-cubes and LivePicture-Java 
  (spherical/cylindrical).
o Fully Apple-scriptable: Build your Web-Panocam.
o PTOptimizer finds optimum image position automatically,
  see separate documentation.
o More options for panorama creation: see examples.
o Several bug fixes.

Changes to 1.0b0:
===============
o Fixed error in PICT-reader, which only worked for 72dpi images.
  (Copied faithfully from Apple's sample code site...)


Output options:
===============
o QTVR movie ready to be viewed with Quicktime plug-in.
  (Windows version requires free VRMakePano utility).
o Smoothmove full spherical panorama ready to be viewed 
  with Infinite Images (iMove) plug-in.
o RealVR full spherical and cylindrical panorama ready to 
  be viewed with LivePicture's ZoomIt viewer.
o LivePicture Java format: Cylindrical and Spherical		
  ready to be viewed with LivePicture Applet
o VRML-Background node (Cubes)	
  ready to be viewed with VRML-browsers.
  Viewer Script with Zoom tool generated.
o JPEG-images for IBM Hotmedia format, ready to
  be imported in free IBM authoring software.
o Panoramic images for viewing and printing
o Multilayer Photoshop file containing one image per layer for
  editing.

Input options:
==============
o Rectilinear lenses with any focal length
o Fisheye lenses with any focal length
o Panoramic cameras
o Any orientation possible (multirow etc)
o PSphere images, allows conversion of 
  almost any format to any format.
o Can read almost any format on Macs/ 
  uncompressed BMP, any TIFF and JPEG images on Windows,
  ppm, TIFF and JPEG on Linux.

Installation:
=============

Macintosh:
----------
Drop the file 'pano12.lib' onto your 'System Folder'.
Your system should then move it to the 'Extensions'-folder.
It replaces the pano-library which comes with my
Photoshop plug-in 'Panorama Tools'. This library only
works with the current version 1.9.2 plug-in which
is included in this package.

Windows:
--------
Put the library file 'pano12.dll' in your 
\Windows\System directory. This library also works 
with the current 1.9.2 version of the Panorama
Tools plug-in. If you do not use that plug-in
you can also leave the library together with
PTStitcher.

Linux:
______
Put the library file 'libpano12.so' in a directory
of the library search path, eg /usr/lib/.

General:
--------
The folder 'Templates' has to be in PTStitcher's
directory. It contains HTML and VRML templates, which
are used to generate the output files. You can edit
them to suit your needs. They can be opened with any 
plain text editor, and hold a C-language format
string. The placeholders starting with a '%' sign
are used by PTStitcher to insert proper output
values. You can move them, but not delete them
or change order.

You need one file with name 'Script' (Windows: 'Script.txt', the
extension is invisible!) in PTStitcher's directory. This scriptfile 
holds the information about how to assemble the panorama. 
See the tutorials section below for details.

Getting Started:
================

PTStitcher works best if used as helper for the PTPicker
application. Please use the examples provided in
<http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/examples.zip>.
To use PTStitcher as standalone program, get the file
<http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/examples2.zip>
with more examples.


Scripting PTStitcher:
=====================

Macintosh:
-----------
PTStitcher is fully scriptable. PTPicker uses this feature to interact
with it. PTStitcher responds to 'DoScript' Apple Events embedded in a 
launch. The data sent should be text consisting of a list of full paths 
in Apple-notation, ie with ':' as delimiter. The syntax has been changed 
for version 1.9.2 and later:

-o outputpano scriptfile image1 image2 ....

Filenames containing spaces should be quoted. Example:

-o "Macintosh HD:panos:result" "Macintosh HD:myscript" "Macintosh HD:image1" "Macintosh HD:image2"


Windows and Linux:
------------------
PTStitcher can be controlled via  commandline arguments.
The syntax is as follows

PTStitcher -o outputpano script.txt image1 image2 ....

The outputpano describes the location for the result panorama, ie what 
PTStitcher asks for when run interactively. This file should not exist yet.
The scriptfile is identified via extension 'txt' and need not appear
as second entry, nor has to be named 'script'. 
All input images follow, and are processed in the order they appear 
in the command line.


Enjoy

Helmut Dersch  
der@fh-furtwangen.de

-------------------------------------
Spherical Panoramas, Macro Panoramas, 
Free Panorama Software:
<http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch>



