TechRadar Verdict
Pros
- +
Decent panoramic images with right shots
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Full 360-degree panoramas or full spherical output options
- +
Multimedia output is the program's key sell
Cons
- -
Stitching not always accurate
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Lacks post-stitching correction for distortion or horizon adjustment
- -
No SmartBlend for Macs
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Slow to decode raw files
- -
Expensive solution
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Shooting a high-resolution panoramic image can be a meticulous operation. With the goal to capture a set of well exposed shots that overlap one another, you need a powerful piece of software to help out with the post-production in order to stitch together all those images into one.
Enter Easypano's Panoweaver. Among the more popular panorama stitching software packages available, version 7.4 adds some top-end output solutions to cater for both print and multimedia.
Ease of use
While shots can be easily stitched together for printable images in JPEG, PSD, TIFF, PNG or BMP formats with the click of a few buttons, a lot of Easypano Panoweaver 7.4's worth comes from its ability to produce cylindrical and spherical (or even cubic) panoramas up to a full 360 degrees.
These can then be output as scrollable QuickTime (QTVR), Flash, standalone SWF, Java and now HTML5 (Safari only, there are no other compatible browsers as yet) formats for computers and multimedia devices, including the iPad.
Easypano Panoweaver 7.4 holds its worth in a couple of distinct areas: firstly professionals wanting to make full 360-degree spherical panoramas won't be able to do so in Photoshop.
Here Panoweaver even has a feature to remove the tripod from the frame for an altogether smoother finish.
Secondly there are those all-important output formats - the likes of HTML5 make for true multimedia integration. Take, for example, a professional selling 'virtual walkthroughs' to hotels or venues, the sort of imagery that'd look tip top on any website, and Panoweaver could prove an invaluable tool.
In all cases the output files provide navigable panoramas that can be fluidly moved through. Press and hold the mouse over the rendered file and you can 'walk' through the given scene.
Alternatively, an automated side-scrolling presentation gives a sense of depth that's very different to looking at a standard image, although this process will cause considerable edge softening and blurring and lack some detail in certain areas.
