 Tutorials
PTMac and PanoTools are very versatile. Below are some tutorials showing some of the common tasks in PTMac:
Introduction to PTMac 4 (6.5MB zip file) Making panoramas became easier with PTMac 4. This tutorial shows one very easy method for making spherical panoramas from seventeen images (two rows of eight plus a zenith) with very little user input. After the images are imported, PTMac finds matching points, automatically aligns the images and the new programmable optimizer fine tunes the images.
Using the Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye in PTMac 4 (4MB disk image download): Creating a cubic/spherical panorama using images from the Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye lens. Includes sample images. Note: The disk image will self expand and put a "10.5mm ptmac 4 tutorial" folder on your desktop.
Making a partial panorama from six images (1.2MB) Here we stitch six photos to make a 200 degree panorama suitable for printing or viewing interactively. Photos for this panorama are from a digital camera with a wide angle normal (i.e. not fisheye) lens. - Not yet updated for PTMac 4.
Using the Sigma 8mm fisheye (5 MB disk image download): Creating a cubic/spherical panorama using images from the Sigma 8mm fisheye lens. Includes sample images. Not yet updated for PTMac 4.
Stitching shift lens images (2 MB disk image download): Stitching images taken with a shift lens.
Stitching a 2 by 5 shift lens panorama (3 MB zip download): Making a panorama from a two row by five images per row where the rows are created using a shift lens (top row shifted up and bottom row shifted down). The left-right (yaw) changes are made by moving the camera left-right on a panorama head.
Using masks in Photoshop: Shows you how to edit Photoshop masks to hide or reveal image. Useful for editing the layered Photoshop file options such as Enblend PSD, masked PSD, etc. that can be output by PTMac and PTBatch.
Editing the zenith and nadir: Tutorial on how to create cube faces from an equirectangular (spherical) panorama for editing in a graphics program.
October 2005 MacAddict "How To" (270KB disk image) updated project files and tips.
Start to finish tutorials on panorama photography and stitching:
"How to make panoramas" (external web site) from Brian Greenstone. Includes information on shooting techniques, editing and more. Also check out his PangeaVR plug-in for viewing cubic QTVRs in Safari (uses hardware acceleration for smooth full screen viewing) and his Photoshop equirectangular preview plug-ins.
Cubic QTVR workflow (external web site) by Longfingers shows the full workflow of a cubic panorama process including (Canon 10D, fisheye lens, tripod head information, etc.). Also check out Longfingers' Panorama Backpacker site.
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PTMac and the 360Precision panorama head workflow by Eric Rougier. Another start to finish tutorial. Also check out Eric's great panoramas at fromparis.com.
Other useful links:
Mike Morper's blog has a lot of great panorama tricks and tips for PTMac and photography in general. This is a great place to get started.
Fullscreenqtvr.com From the moon to the Egyptian pyramids, Hans Nyberg's fullscreen QTVR site is often blogged as the most popular panorama site on the web and for good reason.
International VR Photography Association The IVRPA (formerly the IQTVRA) is an international association of professionals who create and produce interactive, immersive images that tell a story in a more dynamic way. Members include professional photographers, multimedia and web developers, artists, enthusiasts, students, and companies that support our technology with software and hardware.
Macuarium Practical guide to PTMac and Panotools (in Spanish). You can translate any of these links for free using Bablefish from Altavista
Michael Edlund Creating a multi-node Quicktime VR tour with Flash navigation
Michel Thoby How to find the nodal point of your camera's lens
Nic Gordon Another way to find the nodal point of your lens
Ken Turkowski Quicktime VR authoring tricks
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