Is IPX Wizard (bundled) good for anything but fish

[MK]

The IPX Wizard demo is nice and fine and from what I've seen (haven't played with it much yet) it would appear that it's a stitcher program for fish eye photos. Am I correct? That means to use it I would have to go out and buy an expensive (I'm guessing here) lens? What kind of bundled software is that where in order to use it you have to run out and spend more money on top of what you paid for your 950 already? A copy of Adobe Photo Deluxe would have been much better.

Am I missing something?

If my assumption is correct, then what software can I get to stitch "normal" pictures to create a 2D panoramic (from three photos, say)?

 

[Robert Jeantet]

The IPX Wizard demo is nice and fine and from what I've seen (haven't
played with it much yet) it would appear that it's a stitcher program for
fish eye photos. Am I correct? That means to use it I would have to go
out and buy an expensive (I'm guessing here) lens? What kind of bundled
software is that where in order to use it you have to run out and spend
more money on top of what you paid for your 950 already? A copy of Adobe
Photo Deluxe would have been much better.

Am I missing something?

If my assumption is correct, then what software can I get to stitch
"normal" pictures to create a 2D panoramic (from three photos, say)?

Ipix pictures require you to get the Fisheye lens which, in fact, retails for about $200. Ipix is a very convenient program but the Ipix company has been aggressively attacking others who also have come up with ways of making this type of image. Which is a shame, since the others allowed you to make as many photos as you wanted whereas IPIX charges you $25 for each photo you want to save in the IPIX format...(you purchase "certificates" form them, and load them in your computer. Each time you want to save an IPIX image, a certificate is used up...) There are many people who are trying to get create immersive images without using IPIX, but nothing they've come up with is as convenient --by far-- as the IPIX program, though the other systems do result in images with higher quality.

For making regular panoramic images, there are several programs available:

http://www.livepicture.com markets PhotoVista, which, in my view, is the best and most flexible (it allows manual adjustments, which the others do not)
http://www.pictureworks.com markets Spin Panorama which some people prefer

http://www.enroute.com markets Quickstitch and Quickstitch 360; the first of these allows making a huge image from a whole mosaic, but not 360-degree images. The second is specifically for making 360-degree images.

That's pretty much what's available. I have a panorama page on my website; though the page is in French the pictures show the capabilities of the different programs. You may find this useful.

regards
Robert Jeantet
http://www.sav.org/fpano.html

 

[Peter iNova]

The IPX Wizard demo is nice and fine and from what I've seen (haven't
played with it much yet) it would appear that it's a stitcher program for
fish eye photos. Am I correct? That means to use it I would have to go
out and buy an expensive (I'm guessing here) lens? What kind of bundled
software is that where in order to use it you have to run out and spend
more money on top of what you paid for your 950 already? A copy of Adobe
Photo Deluxe would have been much better.

Am I missing something?

If my assumption is correct, then what software can I get to stitch
"normal" pictures to create a 2D panoramic (from three photos, say)?

Ipix pictures require you to get the Fisheye lens which, in fact, retails
for about $200. Ipix is a very convenient program but the Ipix company
has been aggressively attacking others who also have come up with ways of
making this type of image. Which is a shame, since the others allowed you
to make as many photos as you wanted whereas IPIX charges you $25 for
each photo you want to save in the IPIX format...(you purchase
"certificates" form them, and load them in your computer. Each time you
want to save an IPIX image, a certificate is used up...) There are many
people who are trying to get create immersive images without using IPIX,
but nothing they've come up with is as convenient --by far-- as the IPIX
program, though the other systems do result in images with higher quality.

For making regular panoramic images, there are several programs available:
http://www.livepicture.com markets PhotoVista, which, in my view, is the best
and most flexible (it allows manual adjustments, which the others do not)
http://www.pictureworks.com markets Spin Panorama which some people prefer
http://www.enroute.com markets Quickstitch and Quickstitch 360; the first of
these allows making a huge image from a whole mosaic, but not 360-degree
images. The second is specifically for making 360-degree images.

That's pretty much what's available. I have a panorama page on my
website; though the page is in French the pictures show the capabilities
of the different programs. You may find this useful.

regards
Robert Jeantet
http://www.sav.org/fpano.html

I have my own thoughts about IPIX:

I would point you to http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/ for free panoramic software and an headful about IPIX. It would appear that IPIX is well on their way to becoming the most reviled group of jerks and ss s in the digital photography universe. What a shame. They could have been popular, appreciated and helpful to this, the very beginning of digital imaging's contribution to our lives, but instead they are litigious, dishonest, stupid, greedy, grasping, nasty, threatening and irresponsible. Not responding to the issue at hand fits the definition of "irresponsible" and wait till you hear the "humorous" press release their president put out.

I have the fisheye. What a great tool. I got some IPIX licenses "free" with it. Haven't used them yet. Don't plan to.

-iNova

 

[Michael11945]

What Robert Jeantet said is correct, IPIX are not a nice people company. Whilst it is not pence, the $200 for the 950's fisheye lense isn't bad value, a comparable lense for a film camera is at cheapest $900, with a standard Nikon example rising to $3000 +. To see what can be done with the fisheye and without IPIX try: http://freespace.virgin.net/firstchurch.rosemarystbelfast/Assets/craw3.HTML so long as you have a modern browser this java view of some woods should work fine, to view the ground or sky hold (if you have windows) your left mouse button down and move the mouse around, if you've got a Mac hold the large single button down for the same effec, if you click on the zoom logo you will get the option of zooming in or out. There are some more images here: http://www.belfastchurch.in2home.co.uk/QTVRHOMEPAGE.html along I'm afraid with a few dead links.

Spherical panoramas are the way to go, and blast most alteratives such as Quicktime VR into dated oblivion. Using the Livepicture viewer the versatility of them is enormous and once you've created them you can endless tinker with: the initial view that people see on the horizontal and vertical planes, whether or not the image spins and if so at what speed, how far people can zoom in and so on.

Regards Michael

I can send you a tutorial explaining exactly how (more or less for free) you can create spherical panoramas, e-mail me for more.

The IPX Wizard demo is nice and fine and from what I've seen (haven't
played with it much yet) it would appear that it's a stitcher program for
fish eye photos. Am I correct? That means to use it I would have to go
out and buy an expensive (I'm guessing here) lens? What kind of bundled
software is that where in order to use it you have to run out and spend
more money on top of what you paid for your 950 already? A copy of Adobe
Photo Deluxe would have been much better.

Am I missing something?

If my assumption is correct, then what software can I get to stitch
"normal" pictures to create a 2D panoramic (from three photos, say)?

Ipix pictures require you to get the Fisheye lens which, in fact, retails
for about $200. Ipix is a very convenient program but the Ipix company
has been aggressively attacking others who also have come up with ways of
making this type of image. Which is a shame, since the others allowed you
to make as many photos as you wanted whereas IPIX charges you $25 for
each photo you want to save in the IPIX format...(you purchase
"certificates" form them, and load them in your computer. Each time you
want to save an IPIX image, a certificate is used up...) There are many
people who are trying to get create immersive images without using IPIX,
but nothing they've come up with is as convenient --by far-- as the IPIX
program, though the other systems do result in images with higher quality.

For making regular panoramic images, there are several programs available:
http://www.livepicture.com markets PhotoVista, which, in my view, is the best
and most flexible (it allows manual adjustments, which the others do not)
http://www.pictureworks.com markets Spin Panorama which some people prefer
http://www.enroute.com markets Quickstitch and Quickstitch 360; the first of
these allows making a huge image from a whole mosaic, but not 360-degree
images. The second is specifically for making 360-degree images.

That's pretty much what's available. I have a panorama page on my
website; though the page is in French the pictures show the capabilities
of the different programs. You may find this useful.

regards
Robert Jeantet
http://www.sav.org/fpano.html

 

[Michael11945]

I have been able to set up in Russia: http://www.glasnet.ru/webboard/eng/index.php?board=728 as yet I am the only person to have contributed anything, further contributions welcome. Feel free to add whatever you want to this board as it is in Russia and BEYOND Ipix and their filthy lawyers.

Again visit http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch and particularly the download PTStitcher program and e-mail me for any help you might need using it.

P.S. Once you've mastered spherical panoramas you may want to create hotspots, this can if you're diligent and studious be done and learned using code, if you're not try from http://www.livepicture.com Reality Studio it costs $120 but is worth it, Macintosh fans can even run it using a PC emumlation package like Virtual PC.

Regards Michael

The IPX Wizard demo is nice and fine and from what I've seen (haven't
played with it much yet) it would appear that it's a stitcher program for
fish eye photos. Am I correct? That means to use it I would have to go
out and buy an expensive (I'm guessing here) lens? What kind of bundled
software is that where in order to use it you have to run out and spend
more money on top of what you paid for your 950 already? A copy of Adobe
Photo Deluxe would have been much better.

Am I missing something?

If my assumption is correct, then what software can I get to stitch
"normal" pictures to create a 2D panoramic (from three photos, say)?

Ipix pictures require you to get the Fisheye lens which, in fact, retails
for about $200. Ipix is a very convenient program but the Ipix company
has been aggressively attacking others who also have come up with ways of
making this type of image. Which is a shame, since the others allowed you
to make as many photos as you wanted whereas IPIX charges you $25 for
each photo you want to save in the IPIX format...(you purchase
"certificates" form them, and load them in your computer. Each time you
want to save an IPIX image, a certificate is used up...) There are many
people who are trying to get create immersive images without using IPIX,
but nothing they've come up with is as convenient --by far-- as the IPIX
program, though the other systems do result in images with higher quality.

For making regular panoramic images, there are several programs available:
http://www.livepicture.com markets PhotoVista, which, in my view, is the best
and most flexible (it allows manual adjustments, which the others do not)
http://www.pictureworks.com markets Spin Panorama which some people prefer
http://www.enroute.com markets Quickstitch and Quickstitch 360; the first of
these allows making a huge image from a whole mosaic, but not 360-degree
images. The second is specifically for making 360-degree images.

That's pretty much what's available. I have a panorama page on my
website; though the page is in French the pictures show the capabilities
of the different programs. You may find this useful.

regards
Robert Jeantet
http://www.sav.org/fpano.html

I have my own thoughts about IPIX:

I would point you to http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/ for free
panoramic software and an headful about IPIX. It would appear that IPIX
is well on their way to becoming the most reviled group of jerks and
ss s in the digital photography universe. What a shame. They could
have been popular, appreciated and helpful to this, the very beginning of
digital imaging's contribution to our lives, but instead they are
litigious, dishonest, stupid, greedy, grasping, nasty, threatening and
irresponsible. Not responding to the issue at hand fits the definition
of "irresponsible" and wait till you hear the "humorous" press release
their president put out.

I have the fisheye. What a great tool. I got some IPIX licenses "free"
with it. Haven't used them yet. Don't plan to.

-iNova

 

[Paul T]

I have been playing with the ptstitcher program this week and think it has the potential to be as easy to use as the IPIX software. It took me a little while to figure out how to change the script to use a 1600x1200 fisheye picture as the source but the final result was pretty good. My current problem is my test shots didn't rotate on the nodal point of the fisheye. How are you rotating your camera? Can you give me the a diminsion from the camera to the rotation point?

I'm thinking about writing wizard front end for the PTSticher to create the scripts. Should be fairly easy to do. Helmut has done the really hard part of actually creating the panorama's.
Paul T.