photomerging hundreds of files

[kyleb]

I am trying to merge together atleast 150 files and as much as 450. CS5 just wont do it for me. Im thought my computer would be able to handle it, but it does not seem to want to. Im using a Mac I7 dual core 16gb ram. Each file is a jpg 2300x3500pixel image.

This is an overhead scene shot at the same angle/focal point/everything, I just moved the camera up and down rows to complete the scene. The point of this was to make a super high res file that my friend will be using on her website to create zooming effects etc...it doesnt matter really.

The only way I could make it work, was to do a test of 500px tiny jpgs, which defeats the whole purpose.

I also tried to merge sections and create new files, and then try to merge those new files....CS5 would try and complete it, but there was a lot of wonkiness and the image was just incorrectly merged.

any suggestions?

[John Wheeler]

Hi kyleb

An 8 bit per color channel image of these dimensions and 450 images would be a 10 GB file. I am not surprised that Photoshop chokes on this. I think you will need dedicated software for this. Of the software that I will mention I have not used any of it so cannot make a full recommendation.

A professional version to consider is Autodesk Stitcher at: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=11390049&siteID=123112 It is pretty pricey though at ~$350

Here is a link to another solution I came across: http://www.aguntherphotography.com/projects/highresimg.htm

Maybe other forum members know of better software to use.

I don't think Photoshop is designed to take on this type of task. Hope this helps and if you find a good solution, please post what you end up with. I am sure others would have interest.

[daygraphics]

I just typed a long (not too long) paragraph about a similar (not exact) project that John helped me with. RETOUCHPRO times out very quickly these days...

In any event, I can't type it out again right now, but I will later.

This is a same angle, same perspective effort from a hand-held, high-res camera. I used Photoshop's Large Format Save option - and lots of others steps (which again, I will describe later).

It is working out pretty good.

You can check it out at http://www.daygraphics.net/CIVIC_ARENA_COMING_DOWN

The CIVIC ARENA is coming down! I made it a little smaller to post, but it works at the very high res as well. I do need to do a little nudging between frames to get some exact fine-tuning.

Good luck

[kyleb]

what a headache this is. Since I have never used autostitcher or another one to try which is AutoPanoPro, it is a lot of guessing at tools and a lot of waiting(although they are faster than photoshop.

Still playing with it, so far I have had anything composite together worth keeping even when trying sections.

it may have been the way I shot it also. It wasn't the best set up. the set was 7x10ft worth of material I need to capture on the floor. I had my camera rigged on the end of a pole clamped to a rolling stand.

[mistermonday]

You may have better luck if you merge only the images that will make up one or two rows or columns at a time, save the results, then merge all the results. Also remember that PS has a max dimension limit of 300,000 px x 300,000 px. If you are trying to do an auto merge the interim file may be exceeding this limit.
Another approach might be to downsize the source images before merging because at 300 dpi the max limit would print at approx 85 feet per side and it does not sound like you want a print that is that large.
Regards, Murray

[kyleb]

Thats actually what Im doing right now. I am merging 5-6 photos at a time and making layers of each those on a 30,000x30,000pixel file. Once I get some layers built up, I'll align/blend a couple layers a t a time. So far...so tedious, but seems the best solution so far.

I'm trying not to downsize anything, because the whole point of this is to create a super high resolution photo that can be zoomed into for use on a website navigation.

[daygraphics]

I hope that that the procedure that Murray described to you works. Sounds reasonable. I know that my project needed some isolation of the more unique images and some fussing to make the Auto Align Layers work. Especially the images that were late day shadows and early morning light. These mixed together often failed, as the program needed 40% overlap or unchanged areas. Good luck and let us now how you progress!!!

[Doug Nelson]

PTgui claims it can handle hundreds of source images and has a free trial that watermarks but would otherwise let you try a full-scale test.

http://www.ptgui.com

Autopano is expensive, but claims to handle up to 2000 source images and gigapixel output

http://www.kolor.com/autopano-pro-giga-comparison.html

[kyleb]

Ill be trying ptgui today to see how it works.

[kyleb]

welp, tried it. Although ptgui is pretty quick, it resulted with a bunch of the same problem areas as I was getting with other programs. I didn't take the time to really learn the program other anything, but the time I have spent on this shot has been too much, which means....

Reshoot.