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# PanoramIX Authoring Tool

## Version 0.1.4.92, February 26, 1998

## 6. The Window Menu

The Windows Menu provides the following entries:

1. Edit Image
2. Thumbnails

### 6.1 Edit Image Window

The Edit Image window may be opened or closed by selecting the Edit Images entry in the Windows menu. This window may also be closed by pressing the ESC key when either the main window or the Edit Image window has the input focus.

The Edit Image window presents a copy of one of the images being used to create the panorama. This image is presented in its original unaltered form, except for lines and black areas indicating how the original image is to be modified when building a panorama.

The following lines may be drawn on an Edit Image to show how the image is aligned with respect to the adjacent images.

#### 6.1.1 Left and Right Clipping and Alignment Lines

The left and right limits of the trimmed image are indicated by a pair of lines on the left and right sides of the edit image. In cases of top, bottom, and panoramic images, these lines are vertical. These lines are also vertical for side images with an elevation angle of zero. In the case of a side image with a positive elevation angle, these lines will be nearly vertical converging over the top of the image. If the elevation angle is negative, these lines will converge below the bottom of the image. These lines may be selected and dragged with the mouse or other pointing device.

If the image selected in the Edit Image window is a side image, and the Edit Sides dialog is open, then the act of dragging one of these lines may also affect the state of the adjacent side images. If the "Next" buttons for the Clipped Width and Horizontal Shift for this image have been selected, then the corresponding line in the adjacent will be shifted by an equal amount, preserving the alignment of the columns in these images. If neither of these "Next" buttons is selected, then the adjacent images are not affected. If one of these "Next" buttons is selected but not the other, then the adjacent images will be modified based on the changes in the values for which the "Next" button has been selected (pressed).

In principle, these lines show exactly where each image would be cut to create an non-blended panorama. In practice, there may be small discrepancies between the positions of these lines and the actual areas possessed by the trimmed images. In the case of a blended panorama, these lines indicate matching positions in neighboring images.

#### 6.1.2 Top and Bottom Clipping and Alignment Lines

The upper and lower limits of the trimmed image are shown by a pair of parallel lines. In the cases of top, bottom, or panoramic images, these lines are horizontal. These lines are also horizontal for side images with zero skewing. When the skewing parameter for a side image is non-zero, these lines will be nearly horizontal diagonal lines for which the vertical positions of the left and right ends differ by the value of the skewing parameter.

If the elevation angle for a side image is positive, the bottom line may disappear below the bottom of the edit image. If the elevation angle is negative, the top line may disappear above the top of the image.

The top and bottom lines, if present, may be selected and dragged with the mouse or other pointing device.

If the image selected in the Edit Image window is a side image, and the Edit Sides dialog is open, then the act of dragging one of these lines may also affect the state of the other side images. If the "All" button for the Clipped Height for this side image has been selected, then the resulting clipped height will be applied to all of the other side images. If the "All" button for the Vertical Shift for this side image has been selected, then the vertical shift values for all side images will be changed to match this value.

In principle, these lines show exactly where each image would be cut to create an non-blended panorama. In practice, there may be small discrepancies between the positions of these lines and the actual areas possessed by the trimmed images.

#### 6.1.3 Center Line

A center line parallel to the top and bottom lines is drawn for side images with non-zero elevation. This line represents the direction of the true horizontal (elevation angle of zero). This line cannot be selected or dragged with the mouse. The ability to select and drag the center line may be implemented in a future version of the panorama editor.

#### 6.1.4 Cropping Boundaries

Areas to be suppressed when blending images are shown by black areas at the top, bottom, left and right sides of the edit image. These have horizontal and vertical boundaries which may be selected and dragged with the mouse or pointing device. These boundaries do not affect panoramas which are not blended.

These boundaries serve two purposes. One is to exclude portions of the image data which do not actually belong to the image. For example, an image may include a white boundary as a result of the manner in which a negative was printed or the manner in which the print was scanned. In addition, these boundaries may be used to exclude "props" or other objects which may appear outside the area which would be retained if the images were being trimmed for a non-blended panorama. The regions excluded by these boundaries for these reasons should be as small as possible to provide the smoothest blending of adjacent images.

A second reason for using these cropping boundaries is to minimize the ghosting of features in adjacent images when an accurate alignment cannot be established. In this case, these boundaries must be pulled in close to the corresponding trimming lines. This provides for a softer boundary then is provided with a non-blended panorama.

The cropping boundaries should normally be placed outside the trimming boundaries represented by the left, right, top, and bottom lines. If the cropping areas are extended inside of the trimming area, the resulting blended panorama may become black in areas where cropping areas of adjacent images overlap. Over-cropping or cropping beyond the trimming lines is not permitted by dragging the cropping boundaries with the mouse, but this can be accomplished by specifying the cropping extents in the side image editing dialog. This can also be accomplished by temporarily moving the trimming boundaries inward, pulling the cropping boundaries inward, the moving the trimming boundaries back out beyond the cropping boundaries. In this way, overcropping is discouraged, but possible.

If the image selected in the Edit Image window is a side image, and the Edit Sides dialog is open, then the act of dragging one of these areas may also affect the state of the other side images. If the "All" button for the any of these values has been selected for this image, then the resulting cropping values will be applied to all of the other side images.

Back to the Window Menu

Back to the PanoramIX Authoring Tool

### 6.2 Thumbnail Images Window

The Thumbnail Images window is opened or closed by selecting the Thumbnails entry in the Windows menu. This window presents miniature copies of all images used to produce the current panorama. These images are presented in the order of sprites (if any), top (if any), bottom (if any), sides (if any) and panoramic image (if any). The following example includes one sprite, a top image, a bottom image, and ten side images.

The sizes of these images are all scaled to the vertical size of the thumbnails window and this can be controlled by selecting the top or bottom edges of this window and stretching it vertically. If the full set of images does not fit within the horizontal size of this window, a horizontal scroll bar allows one to select the range of images that can be seen within the available width.

There can be at most one top, bottom, or panoramic image, but there may be one or more side images or sprites. If there are more than one side images or more than one sprite, then the ordering of the sides or sprites may be changed by selecting an image and dragging it to a new position within the set of like images. An image is selected by clicking on it, and the currently selected image is indicated by a gray border. The fourth side image in the example shown above is the currently selected image.

The ordering of the sprites has almost no consequences, but the ordering of the sides has a direct effect on the panoramic image seen in the main window. The ability to re-order the side images may be useful after importing a set of side images with the File/Import Images functions.

Each sprite is represented by single pose within the set of poses comprising the sprite. Initially, this is set to the first pose of the sprite. Double clicking on a sprite activates sprite animation by stepping sequentially through each of the poses of the selected sprite. Double clicking again stops the animation of sprite thumbnails. Any number of sprites can be animated simultaneously.

Resizing the thumbnail window stops the animation of sprite thumbnails.

Back to the Window Menu

Back to the PanoramIX Authoring Tool

Last modified February 27, 1998.
wluken@watson.ibm.com

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