stitching images

[girly]

I am trying to stitch 3 images in a horizontal line using Cool 360. I've set the options to horizontal but on the preview the images are not. They are askew so I must be doing something wrong but don't know what. Help please

The photos are head shots of a small boy and two dogs with the boy in the middle

[Ron P.]

First I think you want to use the Wide-Angle and not the full 360 settings. I threw together a quick project, so I could try and refresh my feeble mind with this program. It's been a few years since I've used it. This is what I done.

Step-1, select the photos, which in my case there were 3 landscape photos.
Step-2 Adjust; There are 2 controls, one on the left and one on the bottom of the "TV screen" preview window. Using the one on the bottom you can scroll from left to right, which presents your images. It will have an onion-skin overlay where you can see how they are lining up. Then drag the photos to align overlapping parts. Once that is done you can also do any adjustments to brightness, contrast ect.
Step-3 Finish, this stitches them together. You can then preview it, and save it to an EXE file which includes the 360 viewer, or just to a panorama image.

Here's my finished image..

The panorama was constructed using 3 images of storm clouds. I took several that day, little did I know at the time that these storm clouds would later be responsible for producing the deadly Joplin, Missouri tornado. Any time you can see storm clouds from 150 miles away, you know that the storm is shaping up to be severe.

Now with all that said, are your 3 images shot with the idea of creating a wide-angle, panorama? If not then the program is going to have a hard time figuring out where to stitch them so they appear as one large image. For the best results, you need to shoot consecutive images, overlapping at least by 1/4th. Then programs like 360 just looks at duplicated parts of each image, and stitches them accordingly.

If you're photos are not shot that way, but just 3 random photos, you may be better off doing it manually in PI. You need to start off with a large image document, the frame size should be wider than it is tall. Next you want to open your 3 images, and then copy and paste them into your new wide-angle image. Then align them the best you can. Now the trick comes in how to make them appear as one. This can be done by erasing parts where they overlap, maybe by using the Edit>Fade, or finding a blend mode that works.

[girly]

Hi Thanks for reply

First, how do I use wide angle, I only have Cool 360 with no other options. I cannot see any any controls in the preview window either.

My photos were taken at different times, they are the same size. I tried doing it manually but cannot get the pics close enough together, there is white vertical gap in between the photos which I cannot get rid of, like when you have a photo taken in a photo booth.

[Ron P.]

Is this what your Cool 360 splash screen looks like?

If so, give me a little bit of time, and I'll put together a tutorial, so you can see what I'm doing anyway. It may not be the correct way, but so far it's working for me.

[girly]

Hi

My Cool 360 is a plug in in PI found under Photo and it looks nothing like your splash screen, Just has options for vertical or horizontal and no control butttons.

[Ron P.]

So what version of PI do you have? The Cool 360 I have came with PI 12, and you can launch it from PI 12 however it still looks the same as the screenshot. Do you have Ulead PhotoImpact or Nova? Nova Development sells a similar product to PhotoImpact, however they always tack on Pro to their names.

[girly]

The attachment shows the screen which opens when using Photo 360 in PI.

[Ron P.]

Photo 360 ? as in this.. http://www.ptgui.com/

If so, then you have the wrong web board and forum. That's not a Corel product. You stated it was a plug-in, please post the maker of and where you got the plug-in.

[girly]

This came with PIX3 I didn't get it separately.

[Ron P.]

I have PI 11-PI X3 and the only version that has a panorama program included was PI 12. That was Cool 360 depicted in my screenshots and tutorial. Corel PhotoImpact X3 does not have any such program included. So where did you get your PI X3? I'll ask again, is it one of Nova Development's Products? Is it called Corel PhotoImpact X3 or Nova PhotoImpact Pro 13

Without knowing how can we provide the correct help?

[wds937]

The attachment shows the screen which opens when using Photo 360 in PI.

For what it's worth, I have the download version of Corel PI X3 (purchased from the Corel website), and it contains Cool 360. It looks a lot like your screenshot. It is possible that different plugins were included from one time to another.

[Ron P.]

Thanks for that information. I've been going through everything that I can find to see where it mentions Cool 360 with PI X3. I know my copy does not have it, and there's no link in any menu for it. The WIndow menu in PI, will have the affiliated programs, and for me it's Media One, and Painter Essentials.


I finally found where it is in the Photo menu, was grayed out. Figured out how to activate it. It certainly is different than the original that came with PI 12 or as a stand-alone.

[girly]

Sorry about the confusion. The Cool 360 in PIX3 I used to try and stitch 3 photos together but maybe it doesn't work if the images are not the same. Mine are 3 different images, but same size. Anyway I managed to do it (sort of) with stitch scanned images in the edit section. Maybe I should get a standalone version of Cool 360 if I want to do something again.

Thnaks for trying to help

[Ron P.]

Yesterday I tried using the one in PIX3. While it does work when you use photos shot with the intention of creating a panorama, there's no way I could get 3 random photos to work for it. Panorama programs use the content of the photos to put them together. Without that, it doesn't know how they are suppose to go together.

I located a tutorial by Mary Lou White for PI that I think is what will get you the results you're after. Blended Images, Wishing Well Tutorials..

Here's an example I done a while back. I blended 2 different photos of our little Daisy Mae, to create a wallpaper for my laptop.

[girly]

Thanks I've had a quick look at the tutorial and will give that a try.

BTW when I tried to put 2 images together with Cool 360 in PI they still were askew so gave up in the end.