How to Magic Erase among the borders of 2 contiguous photos in a manual panorama?

[joejac]

Hello,

I am testing Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013.
1.- I am making a Panorama by manually stitching 8 pieces of photos, because with the Panorama tool I do not get what I want.

2.- I finally assembled the Panorama, but I need to correct many details using the Clone tool. I like the Magic Erase, but unfortunately it do not work for me among the edges of 2 photos.

3. I did the following in order to test the export quality before I do any retouching:
3.1 I selected the Group and I Exported to a 100% jpg file with good quality, is a 32MB file.

3.2 But if I do Arrange-Create Bitmap Copy and Export the Bitmap not the Group to a 100% jpg, the file is only 20MB with lower quality, no good, I do not understand.
I think I need to Create the Bitmap Copy in order to Magic Erase any border among 2 photos, because Grouped it do not work. I also need to retouch some other details.

3.3 Then I did Edit-Clone Group and over the cloned group I did Flatten Photo Group because the Help says:

Flatten photo group Converts a photo group to a single bitmap.

But it do not Magic Erase the borders among 2 photos either.

4.- Can somebody please explain or provide a link on how to Magic Erase among the borders of 2 contiguous photos in order to create a seamless stitch of my panorama picture?

Thanks a lot and best regards
joejac

[angelize]

Hello Joejac, Welcome to Talkgraphics

When working with the magic erase, do more small areas rather than a single large area. For manually stitching together a panorama you might also consider the manual clone tool after drawing around the area to be cloned click and drag to adjust the cloned area.

You have the right idea with making a bitmap copy of your photos, but you may need to check the dpi settings on the create bitmap options. there is a dropdown list on the bitmap size tab where you can specify up to 300 dpi and if you need an even higher resolution you can type in the amount you want in the box.

[joejac]

Hello Angelize and thanks a lot for your kind welcome and answer.

I love the Magic Erase it works very nice also in big areas, it saves a lot of time, I have erased a complete lamp post, not always is that fast, but it works very nice in about 70% of cases. Also cloning from other images is great to fix some difficult details. Cutting one of the images with the Mask mode it is very nice to stitch with the other image. Modifying the vector points is very precise and helpful to stitch images.

What I am missing is the standard clone tool found on other programs, that it is like painting with some other tiny parts of the image. I would appreciate if you can provide me with a link to a tutorial or video for learning the use of the Standard Clone with Xara. Sorry if I am missing something that for you is obvious, I am an amateur.

I am used to a very simple program, and some times it is difficult for me to find a particular function in all the Xara menus, since it is a very complete program with many nice features. I need to get used to it and the trial period is very short.

I have tried many times even with the highest dpi and my camera works with dpi over 670, and no luck, the only way it works is if I Exported to a 100% jpg from the Group and them I Import in full into the .xar file. I would suggest to check with the Xara programmers.

Thanks a lot and best regards
joejac

[amoore]

Hi joejac

The kind of "standard" clone tool you're talking about doesn't apply in a vector or drawing application such as Xara. That's a tool in a raster or painting application where the clone tool is directly editing pixels in a photo or bitmap. I'll poke around for a link to a discussion that describes the differences between the two types of application (if someone else doesn't get to it first ).

Allison

[Rik]

What I am missing is the standard clone tool found on other programs, that it is like painting with some other tiny parts of the image...
joejac

I think what you're looking for, is what I've used in Photoshop.
Though I can tell you that some of the Xara users have produced some excellent results using Xara.

I recently did this using Photoshop Elements.
But, that's not to say that Xara cannot do this.
I only found it easier in Elements because I knew what I was doing.

I use Xara for vector drawing and have not really used the photo tools.

[joejac]

Thanks a lot for your kind answers

Hello Amoore your explanation is perfect, that is what I was referring to.

That's a tool in a raster or painting application where the clone tool is directly editing pixels in a photo or bitmap...

Hello Rik, I was trying to avoid talking about other programs in this forum but now that you mention Photoshop, which I avoid due to it is a very complex and machine resources hungry program, I will show what I mean by standard Clone tool, to support what Amoore said, please see http://jeffagogo.com/?p=315

I would appreciate any link to a tutorial in case this is possible with Xara. I would like to use only one application for my panoramas, I am planing to do some of my native region, that has very beautiful views.

Sorry about my English, I am Spaniard.

Best regards
joejac

[Rik]

I'm sure a Xara Xpert will be along to tell you how to do this.

What is being shown in the link in your post is very much like what I did using Elements.

I am confident that Xara can do this.
Like I said, it's just that I don't use the photo tool very much in Xara.

[angelize]

Here are two videos from Gary Bouton at the Xara Xone that show the basics of retouching in Xara
http://www.xaraxone.com/tutorials/ju...ideo-tutorial/
http://www.xaraxone.com/tutorials/re...-pro-x-part-2/

And here is a video in which I show you how to retouch a portrait that also demonstrates magic erase and manual cloning tecniques.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...s&goto=newpost

[Big Frank]

If all you want to do is create great panoramas, give this a try: Microsoft ICE:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...roups/ivm/ice/

You just drag and drop your photos, it does the rest, great results.

But if there are any anomalies I do retouching in Xara.

[joejac]

Thanks to all for the useful links.

1.- I still have problems exporting and I do not know why. Same file and group as last sunday, and last sunday I was able to export to 16382x3172 at a maximum resolution of 295 dpi to a file of 31.75MB, and today I try to export same image in same .xar file but it automatically changes measures to 5331x1200 dpi 96 and 1.09MB no matter if I try to change the dpi to 300, it forces to 96 dpi. It is the same if I try to increase the size, it do not allow any change.

2.- I have in Options View: "dpi when autogenerated 960" and selected "Import at dpi specified in the image file". My Paper Size is "Custom" width 150 cms and height 90.4 cms Lock page size and Landscape are selected.

3.- I only added some more picturse to increase the sky size in some parts of the panorama that the sky was too narrow and I was forced to register the trial because the 7 days expired, that where the only changes I did from last sunday that it was exporting fine.

4.- It is also giving "out of memory errors" and the Task Manager reports 7GB of RAM still free, I do not understand, the .xar file is 182.63MB only.

5.- Can someone help me to find what is going on and if I am missing something?

Thanks a lot
joejac