Apple QuickTime VR - Manual (Page 89)

Media-specific problems
Panoramas
I see something that looks like stair steps at the top and bottom of the
panorama.
Cause: The camera was not level when you captured your images.
Solution 1: To work with images that were captured with an off-level camera, you may need
to rotate the images to the approximate angle at the time of capture. Try to make the horizon
in the panorama images a level line from one image to the next, rather than an upward or
downward slope. If the sequence steps upward, try stitching the images with a clockwise
rotation angle of 1 degree. If the sequence steps downward, try rotating the images 1 degree
counterclockwise. Try different values until the stepping is eliminated.
Solution 2: Use the Pair Alignment feature of the Panorama Stitcher tool. See Chapter 4 for
instructions on how to align images when stitching a panorama.
The panorama looks distorted, or the pixels look abnormally large or small in
either height or width.
Cause: You did not correctly calculate the vertical angle of view.
Solution: Use the lens calculator to figure the vertical angle of view and redo the stitching
process. For more information, see “Adding a Lens” in Chapter 4.
I see rectangular bands at regular intervals in the panorama.
Cause: You didn’t take your images with enough overlap between them, and the lighting or
exposure was uneven from frame to frame.
Solution 1: Select Blend in the Image tab in the Stitch Settings window, then restitch
the panorama.
Solution 2: Reshoot the source material with 50 percent overlap. Use a light meter and
supplemental lighting to correct for frame-to-frame differences in lighting.
Solution 3: Turn off auto exposure. Select a manual setting based on the average meter
reading for the scene.
Tips and Troubleshooting 89