Feature request: Save as format for big files thru gigapan uploader

[andybryant]

Feature request: Save as format for big files thru gigapan uploader

by andybryant » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:24 pm

Hi,

One feature I'd love to see in AutoPano would be a file format that supports files >2GB, and can be fed directly to the gigapan uploader. PSB is fine for exporting big files to PhotoShop, but nothing else seems able to read the files; and the uploader can only cope with big files in RAW (which I've had a lot of compatibility issues with).

A.

[AlexandreJ]

by AlexandreJ » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:11 pm

A raw writter in fact ? This can be done.

[Gordon]

by Gordon » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:53 pm

Hi,

One feature I'd love to see in AutoPano would be a file format that supports files >2GB, and can be fed directly to the gigapan uploader. PSB is fine for exporting big files to PhotoShop, but nothing else seems able to read the files; and the uploader can only cope with big files in RAW (which I've had a lot of compatibility issues with).

A.

Second that...

Gordon

[DrSlony]

by DrSlony » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:36 pm

What sort of raw? Uncompressed RGB? Will it work with open source apps?

[andybryant]

by andybryant » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:39 pm

It isn't completely clear what the gigapan RAW format is; although I think it is Photoshop RAW, not camera RAW. This is the info that was posted to the gigapan forums when the feature was added to the uploader:-

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When you get past the roughly 1-2 gigapixel range, images start to become too large for TIFF or JPEG format. Adobe's Photoshop Raw format is a way for you to save and load very large images -- as large as your disk will allow. We've tested this at more than 10 gigapixels. (This isn't the same RAW format as some digital cameras output).

Photoshop Raw format is an unusual format. Specifically, the format does not include information about the width or height of the image in pixels, or whether the pixels are greyscale or color, with our without transparency, etc. So, when using Photoshop Raw format with the stitcher and uploader, always do it like so:

* Image should be RGB color, 8 bits per channel
* Use "interleaved" format when saving or loading in Photoshop
* When saving, be sure to include the width and height of the image in the filename like so: filename_widthxheight.raw. For example, SchilthornNorth_102738x19848.raw is 102738 pixels wide by 19848 pixels high. The uploader will read the image dimensions directly from the filename, and the stitcher will automatically add dimensions to the filename when exporting the stitched image.
* Use ".raw" as your file suffix
* When loading Photoshop Raw into Photoshop, you'll be asked what dimensions your image is. Use the dimensions from the filename.

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[Gordon]

by Gordon » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:45 pm

andybryant your right it is Photoshop RAW, not camera RAW that the gigapan stitcher uses for its images.

Gordon

[AlexandreJ]

by AlexandreJ » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:34 pm

Yes, raw format ( do not mislead that with camera's raw format ) is the simplest format in the world,
just plain pixels stored in an uncompressed format, RGBA, RGBA, ... RGBA ( width * height times ). The RGBA is either 32bits ( 4*8bits ) or 64bits ( 4*16bits ) or even 128bits ( 4*32bits float ).
This can be created easily in the writer.