Start from another thread:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...findpost&p=9484



About "elaboration", i was referring to "flattened" images (without dark borders): I'm able to roughly correct this issue through "illumination" effect with PaintShopPro (yes, I do not use PhotoShop, and i should... ).
Anyway, it seems to me that you obtained excellent results also from this standpoint, based on the mentioned last image!!!
Are you still using PTGui or is a PovRay stitching?????

I only use PTGui for these stitchings. If the frames are from the Pancam and multiple filtered then sometimes also using the color/brightness correction setting (only then).

(As far as I know) The shadowing effects at the borders comes from the Lens design. There are software that maybe are able to clear this effect, but they need always the used camera typ. I found a freeware software that could be able too, but it's seems this software isn't written for Window (only in DOS) and it's somewhat to difficult for my English (without DOS experience) to learn it from the description (or I've had not to go for it so far).

P.S. I also dont know whether my English always adds up

That piece of freeware (enblend) is suitable to be used as plugin for PTGui, and it works (at least to me...) on windows environments.

Ok, it's described as "Windows executable" and also I downloaded this packet, but I wasn't able to handle it (I didnt found a "self-contained" programm for starting) and it seemed to me funny because of this statement: "First, use programs like Hugin and PanoTools to stitch your images together. Select "Multiple TIFF" as the output file type. Then run Enblend on those TIFFs" - why "for heaven's sake" the TIFF format!? TIFF is always a very big format, isn't it?!

Perhaps I will it try again in consideration of a Plugin.

I just started using enblend from a command window, in multiple steps, instead of as a plugin, because it was still leaving visible borders. The order in which the images are sent to enblend seems to make a difference in the quality of the blending. The method suggested by the enblend documentation works wonders, but isn't the default behavior at least for ptassembler (this may or may not be true for ptgui) which sends the images to a single enblend operation in sequential order.
Here's how it seems to work best:

Enblend one horizontal row at a time, then enblend the rows together. This isn't the order in which many of the panoramas were taken, so you have to know the image numbers which correspond to a row.

for a panorama taken in this order:
1 6 7
2 5 8
3 4 9
after you output multiple image .tif's from your panotools frontend, the commands would be :
enblend -o toprow.tif 1.tif 6.tif 7.tif
enblend -o midrow.tif 2.tif 5.tif 8.tif
enblend -o botrow.tif 3.tif 4.tif 9.tif
enblend -o final.tif toprow.tif midrow.tif botrow.tif

This seems to take the greatest advantage of enblend’s ‘smart borders’, since it never has to stitch multiple borders in the same operation.

Well, my experience was not so hard.
I just followed the instructions and it worked - as a plug-in; actually when started a "cmd" window is automagically opened in which environment enblend runs.

Selecting .tiff as output files is the way PTGui recognizes it should use Enblend. I would also prefer to avoid this option, but this is how it works.

Great, Daniel, have you try this with Rover raw pics? Is it possible to show a before and after pic?

BTW: I dont know what means a "commando window" and "multiple steps" by using Enblend. Has that to do with this: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen...n-us/batch.mspx

I would love to get "Enblend" with a "normal" user interface.

New day new luck. Now Enblend runs as plugin - by using PTGui - on my computer too.

My (short) practical experience would say too: Enblend is suitable for the last finish by stitching and processing pans from MER's. It's suitable for smart borders but not against the Lens shadowing effects.

(800KB) http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_sol460_navcam_b.jpg

Amazing that the borders of the lower three frames have become nearly perfect.

I'm wondering about the size of the image when I finally generate it from TIFF to JPEG. It has become smaller than generated from PSD to JPEG (circa 300KB less). BTW, the pan in TIFF format is 62MB

Nice work Tman! I usually change feather width in PTgui for improving borders but more importantly maybe I save everything as .psd with feather tool applied. I can then correct minor imperfections for each frame=layer using the skew tool. You could also save without feathering and adjust the overlap yourself with the eraser.
Nico

Yes I know! That's also an alternative
Thank you for the "little" shove.

Nico, I tried to stitch a part of the sol149 Pancam Columbia Hill pan (PNG). Because I'm searching a view of Husband Hill for the time when Spirit goes on the westward side along to the summit (of course your pan from this sol is nearly perfekt, but you know the details have become something less).
Then by working I thought I should try to stitch the entire pan, but I've got a problem or in other words, PTGui has a problem by using the "color/brightness" correction... Take a look at following pan, the right (last) frame want never work (I get always this difference in color):

http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_pancam_sol149.jpg

What's the trouble? Have you any idea maybe?

No thanks. The big differences in color/brightness are as you know caused by the pre-processing on 8-bit files.
You could download from Analyst Notebook the 12-bit files which usually display minor differences between frames or only in brightness or sky.
Use ImageJ or IMG2PNG for conversion.
You could select the sky only using the magic wand tool in PS, adjust the RGB levels separately and then invert the selection to do the same for the terrain of that particular frame.
I've tried the color/brightness correction in PTgui but without decent results.
It does ok to some degree when selecting brightness correction only for navcam or one-filter monochromatic Pancam-pans.
The only limiting factor on this work is time, color-matching frames can take long although there is another way; if you manage to produce 3 separate identical pans (let's say an L2,L5,L6)and use only the brightness correction in PTgui you could then import those 3 pans in PS, paste them on top of each other, colorize them and adjust only the brightness a bit here and there. Again, time..you'd be faster I reckon using the 12-bit .rad files.

Nico

It's better to whack out a layered feathered photoshop file from PTGui and adjust each layer using levels than it is to use the bright/cont from PTGui itself

Doug

Yes, it seems the best way is to work with each frame (or layer), even after stitching. This function of PTGui is absolutely great. For note, I've just found the authors of PTGui are aware of this color adjustment problem http://www.ptgui.com/support.html#5_2

Regarding of the 12-bit files from the Analyst Notebook. As yet I wasn't able to understand how I get these 12-bit files. I was able to download there a PNG picture by using the showed image at the right. For example: http://anserver1.eprsl.wustl.edu/navigator...FF6104P2272L4C1
But these pictures are 8-bit in PS and only circa 1MB. Where are the 12-bit files? I suppose it is concerned with the 2MB files that are to download as ".img". This files then have to conversion by ImageJ or IMG2PNG..., right?

Tman, you need to follow the 'arrow' icon in between the 'eye' icon and 'save' icon for a given image. That takes you to a new download-page consisting of science data and operations data.
Within the science data click the save icon for whatever file you want. (.rad files)

Nico