I am an adobe editor and for most of my drone panorama and stitching. Their software works pretty well. I have heard there are some more specific panorama old stitching software that you can use either being its own standalone software or a plug-in for the Lightroom classic. I’m just looking for some recommendations if anybody has used any of them and likes them. Thank you for any suggestions
Best panorama stitching software?
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waynorth
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My favourite by far is PTGUI: Photo stitching software 360 degree Panorama image software - PTGui Stitching Software
It's fast and flexible, and very accurate. And it can stitch RAW-files, that's imortant for me. It also works with 16-bit files all the way.
It does not have a direct plug-in for Lightroom, but can be integrated in LR as an external editor. Have a look here:
ptgui.com
Another option is Panovolo, which I haven't tried myself. The developer is active on this forum, search for user Panovolo.
It's fast and flexible, and very accurate. And it can stitch RAW-files, that's imortant for me. It also works with 16-bit files all the way.
It does not have a direct plug-in for Lightroom, but can be integrated in LR as an external editor. Have a look here:
Support / FAQ - PTGui Stitching Software
PTGui is image stitching software for stitching photographs into a seamless 360-degree spherical or gigapixel panoramic image
ptgui.com
Thank you. I wish it wasn’t so expensive.My favourite by far is PTGUI: Photo stitching software 360 degree Panorama image software - PTGui Stitching Software
It's fast and flexible, and very accurate. And it can stitch RAW-files, that's imortant for me. It also works with 16-bit files all the way.
It does not have a direct plug-in for Lightroom, but can be integrated in LR as an external editor. Have a look here:
Another option is Panovolo, which I haven't tried myself. The developer is active on this forum, search for user Panovolo.Support / FAQ - PTGui Stitching Software
PTGui is image stitching software for stitching photographs into a seamless 360-degree spherical or gigapixel panoramic image
AeroJ
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Well, if you wanna get all 'hardcore depths' about it, Hugin is free and as good as any of them, and even, I might venture, arguably better than ALL of them, including DJIs famously brilliant stitcher you get in the FLY app, which is not infallible.
I did all my Typhoon H panos in that. Unlike most other pano creators this one has manual options if the auto-stitching fails, but you do have to take a little time to read up on the workflow !
Quick(ish) tutorial on that below...
Last edited:
Felix le Chat
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Agree wholeheartedly. Hugin is the grand-daddy (literally) of all the pano stitchers and still arguably the best. Autopano Giga is also excellent and fully featured. Best of all? They're both freeware. Close third place for speed, accuracy and ease of use: Microsoft ICE v.2.
waynorth
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Hugin and PTGUI are both based on the underlying engine "Panorama Tools", a suite of programs developed in the late 90's by Helmut Dersch.
Hugin and PTGUI have written a graphical interface (GUI) to these tools, instead of having to use the command line to stitch photos.
I believe Hugin does not have built-in support for RAW-files, but needs an external RAW-developer to work with the files.
I am not sure if Hugin can work with 16-bit files from start to finish.
Microsoft ICE is an interesting option, but Microsoft stopped developing it many years ago, and it now seems a bit outdated compared to newer panoramam stirichers. To find and download ICE you need to search the net. The last version is 2.01, it works on 64-bit OS, incl. Windows 10. It can work with 16-bit files.
Autopano Giga was discontinued in 2018, but the developers decided to give it away for free. You get a licence key on their website when you download it. It does not support RAW directly, but does work with 16-bit files.
Users have reported problems with running it on Windows 11, you need to do some modifications to some files to make it work.
Hands down the best is PanoramaStudio Pro 4
It allows you to create extra large panorama and creates all the HTML you need to host it on your own site!
It allows you to create extra large panorama and creates all the HTML you need to host it on your own site!
snapdog
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waynorth
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ICE is a good panorama stitcher. It can work with, and save, 16-bit TIF-files, which is a huge advantage. It is also fast, and you can choose between several projections. It can not open RAW-files directly.
Version 2.01 is the latest and by far the best, previous versions may not work on Windows 10/11. It can be hard to find, as it is not avalible at Microsoft anymore.
try PanoVolo and see if you like the algorithm and workflow that was actually optimized for drone panoramas : PANOVOLO : Panorama Stitching Tool for Drone Photography
waynorth
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Sorry, I mixed up the version numbers. ICE version 2.0.3 is the last (and best) release, and it is 64-bit which means it can work easier with huge images.
The Air3s does a reasonable job stitching a 360 degree panorama using the 24mm camera, but deicated software like PanoVolo does a much better job. Also, the Air3s can't stitch the 137 photos taken using the 80mm camera, while PanoVolo can.
Here is a comparison of the stitching by the drone itself (Air3s) compared to using PanoVolo. This is looking almost straight down from around 50m and is a zoomed in screen grab of just that part of the 360 degree panorama. It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a little wind, so possibly the drone moved slightly.
From the Air3s' auto stitch:
And using the same exact images through PanoVolo:
You can still see some tiny errors, but so much better!
Both images untouched after stitching. PanoVolo also creates a final image with slightly higher resolution,
So, it is really useful that the drone creates its own panorama for you automatically, but dedicated software will always do a better job!
Bob
Here is a comparison of the stitching by the drone itself (Air3s) compared to using PanoVolo. This is looking almost straight down from around 50m and is a zoomed in screen grab of just that part of the 360 degree panorama. It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a little wind, so possibly the drone moved slightly.
From the Air3s' auto stitch:
And using the same exact images through PanoVolo:
You can still see some tiny errors, but so much better!
Both images untouched after stitching. PanoVolo also creates a final image with slightly higher resolution,
So, it is really useful that the drone creates its own panorama for you automatically, but dedicated software will always do a better job!
Bob
snapdog
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AeroJ
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It really varies from day to day and from software to software. Sometimes ICE is fine, sometimes not. Personally I found it amongst the least reliable of them.
A year later I would still posit that Hugin remains the only one that is error-free (or rescuable) for absolutely everything. The windier the day we took the pano the higher the chance that only Hugin can save it IME, although the DJI auto-stitcher constantly surprises me with how consistent it is, and how little I need to turn to anything else... they really did a good job on that for an 'in-the-box' solution.
A year later I would still posit that Hugin remains the only one that is error-free (or rescuable) for absolutely everything. The windier the day we took the pano the higher the chance that only Hugin can save it IME, although the DJI auto-stitcher constantly surprises me with how consistent it is, and how little I need to turn to anything else... they really did a good job on that for an 'in-the-box' solution.
Don't want to go (to much) off topic, but since creating 360s out of the camera is part of this thread... Is there any way to turn OFF the automatic panorama generation? I don't need it, I don't want it, it just slows down getting to the next shot. Someone said "just start flying away and it will stop", I do NOT find that to be true. Also it seems the auto generated ones do not follow the 2X width/height ratio....
I use ICE (super simple), and Kolor AutoPanoGiga (many options). tried the newer PanoVolo (almost to simple and I find it not tolerant of "extra" images, like shooting extra zeniths), and if you want to go WAY back Autostitch v2.2 by Matthew Brown and David Lowe University of British Columbia in 2004. Have Hugin, but the others seem simpler, maybe just what you get used too!
I use ICE (super simple), and Kolor AutoPanoGiga (many options). tried the newer PanoVolo (almost to simple and I find it not tolerant of "extra" images, like shooting extra zeniths), and if you want to go WAY back Autostitch v2.2 by Matthew Brown and David Lowe University of British Columbia in 2004. Have Hugin, but the others seem simpler, maybe just what you get used too!
Unfortunately from what I understand the drones that have built in stitching will stitch and there is no option to turn this off. Yes, waste of time, battery and SD card space for those who don't need it.
In the past the stitching could be cancelled when controls were applied after panorama was 50+ % done (reported by others on this forum), but it changed in newer firmware and stitching still continues while the drone flies.
In the past the stitching could be cancelled when controls were applied after panorama was 50+ % done (reported by others on this forum), but it changed in newer firmware and stitching still continues while the drone flies.
How does it waste time or battery if it allows you to continue to fly while it is still stitching? It is multitasking for you!
1. General rule of physics - nothing is free. Stitching takes a LOT of CPU resources and drains the battery
2. You cannot take photos/videos while stitching is in progress.
It's not wasting time, though, like it used to, where you couldn’t touch the sticks, or it would cancel the stitch, forcing you to remain hovering while it completed the stitch. Just fly to the next pano location during the short stitching time, or shoot a 360 pano with the 70mm 3x telephoto. It can't stitch that one! LOL!
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