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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

News: new versions of Autopano Giga ßeta

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Here they are!
But be carefull these are Betas, not final releases…

From the page: http://www.autopano.net/wiki/Lastest_Beta

Release Date : 13 march 2009

Notes :
For MacOS, there are 2 packages now. One for 32bits version that works on MacOS 10.4 and 10.5, but in 32bits only. It uses carbon. The second package is leopard only, uses cocoa and is in 64bits.
For Linux, you'll need proprietary video drivers from your distribution.

Autopano Giga 1.9.5 Beta 1
Autopano Giga Windows 32 bits
Autopano Giga Windows 64 bits
Autopano Giga Mac OS 32 bits ( MacOs 10.4 / 10.5 )
Autopano Giga Mac OS 64 bits ( 10.5 only )
Autopano Giga Linux 64 Bits ( tar.gz )
Autopano Giga Linux 64 Bits ( .deb )

Autopano Pro 1.9.5 Beta 1
It doesn't contains Autopano Tour which is only includes in Giga version. Workspace don't exists and Clauss Rodeon head is not supported.

Autopano Pro Windows 32 bits
Autopano Pro Windows 64 bits
Autopano Pro Mac OS 32 bits ( MacOs 10.4 / 10.5 )
Autopano Pro Mac OS 64 bits ( 10.5 only )
Autopano Pro Linux 64 Bits ( tar.gz )
Autopano Pro Linux 64 Bits ( .deb )
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Nicolas,

I just got the exciting news too from Lional for Kolor. Could you let us know your experience and ideas as soon as you get you test it! I'll be downloading them shortly too!

Thanks for posting this!

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Well Asher
I can't compare with the previous ß that crashed at launching on my Windows partition of the MacPro…
After a very few trials, compared to the 1.4 it seems much faster, uses all 8 cores and GPU…
The Mercator projection has been added and it get points from 77 1Ds3 images lightning fast…

Some display bugs appear (still a ß!) but no crash…
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Well Asher
I can't compare with the previous ß that crashed at launching on my Windows partition of the MacPro…
After a very few trials, compared to the 1.4 it seems much faster, uses all 8 cores and GPU…
The Mercator projection has been added and it get points from 77 1Ds3 images lightning fast…

Some display bugs appear (still a ß!) but no crash…
So, Nicolas,

What does it offer beside the Mercator projection for a humble G5 and Macbook Pro. It really miffs me that the G5 was outdated several weeks after I purchased it! It's a beautiful machine but no easy way to upgrade it! So how I can go faster with the G5 short of putting in the money I'd use for a complete upgrade!

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
So how I can go faster with the G5 short of putting in the money I'd use for a complete upgrade!

Asher you do pushes me to become sarcastic!
It's not an upgrade you need btu a new machine…
The G5 are now part of the history! Yoy can't even use them safely with C1 4.7 (all C1 4.x in fact)
Not my fault! but the Inetel Mac are really faster…

In our office we do have a G4 still running with a raid disk as an image server on our network and a G5 as an email machine… can't trhow these to the garbage!

Computers are like DSLR: 3 years life! (for full service)
 
Computers are like DSLR: 3 years life! (for full service)

I don't fully agree. I do agree when one buys proprietary high end equipment instead of more mainstream equipment. But when a strategical choice is made, equipment can last reasonably long. My previous PC served me fine for 8 years. It started out as a Win ME machine, and got upgraded only with Win XP Pro and a new hard disk. Sure, it became relatively slow compared to the increasing software demands, but it worked.

My new PC, a 64-bit workstation, again offers room for some future growth, but I did choose a slightly more seasoned graphics card in order to avoid excessive power consumption and untested/unsupported features, but still a decent GPU performance. That payed off with AutoPano Giga beta, I have no issues so far and everything is much faster than the APP 1.4.2 version when it comes to rebuilding the preview screen (but the whole computer is also faster, so stitching is more comfortable). APG also works without the GPU speedups, so one doesn't have to upgrade the hardware

There is also a number of other workflow benefits implemented in the beta version. One that I particularly like is the ability to adjust the threshold of (poor) links shown in the Control Points mode, which unclutters the main preview and allows easier selection of the 'worst offenders'.

Very much missed sofar are; better HDR support, Stacking (DOF and Exposure Fusion), different projection methods, and tweakability of some individual parameters. I therefore switch back and forth to PTAssembler (Windows) because its new beta version 5.0 does offer that. Fortunately APG offers a possibility to export/import between the 2 programs (not fully implemented in the beta yet, I read, but it seems to function).

Some more testing needs to be done, but I'm very pleased with the improvements in APG so far.

Bart
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
I don't fully agree.

In a production environment, try to work with layers a 1 Gb file in CS on G4 machine…

It seems also that sw companies work hands in hands with computers companies, to oblige users to upgrade sw AND hardware, for example, capture one 4 doesn't work on G4 and is not supported when used with G5… and CS4 without a comfortable GPU graphic card is slower than CS3…

SW are more and more demanding with hardware, so we are with huger files to work on. Of course an "amateur" can go and have a coffee while his image is being sharpened… but honestly not when you have tens of images to deliver daily…
Too much coffee ain't good!
 
In a production environment, try to work with layers a 1 Gb file in CS on G4 machine…

I don't know the specific limitations of the G4, so I can't comment on that.

It seems also that sw companies work hands in hands with computers companies, to oblige users to upgrade sw AND hardware, for example, capture one 4 doesn't work on G4 and is not supported when used with G5… and CS4 without a comfortable GPU graphic card is slower than CS3…

SW are more and more demanding with hardware, so we are with huger files to work on. Of course an "amateur" can go and have a coffee while his image is being sharpened… but honestly not when you have tens of images to deliver daily…
Too much coffee ain't good!

I agree that in a production environment different criteria may be more important, as long as there are customers willing to pay for the investment. In a business environment it is common practice to write off the computer financially in 3 years, at least in the Netherlands.

But, as you noticed, it's often the software industry that doesn't care (enough) about backwards compatibility, and contingency planning for endusers. They want to sell the same software to new platforms. The hardware functions fine, although relatively slow compared to more expensive new alternatives.
I also think there is a lot of sloppy programming going on, productivity is more important than good programming. Besides, there will be new hardware available to make up for the sloppy programming. And that completes the circle. Quantity over quality, which is also what caused part of the current banking crisis, but that's a different topic.

Bart
 

Jack_Flesher

New member
G5? Asher my friend, it is *definitely* time for you to do an upgrade ;-)

And FWIW on topic with this thread, I installed the Giga beta and can tell you it is significantly faster than AP Pro -- like 2x or 3x faster at rendering the final! Lots of new algorithms too!

Cheers,
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks for the input Nicolas, Bart, and Jack! how bloated these softwares have become! Also there should be a large set of standard routines built into chips that would simplify processing. I can't imagine that all that code is needed for each program, every time. There's also no reason why graphics cards couldn't be added to computers externally to make a G5 or Macbook Pro hand over the work to the card. What amazes me is that Apple writes Aperture to use the graphics card and then has no way of maximizing that on it's flagship MacBook Pro!

Anyway, none of this rant will replace getting a new 8 core machine.

I'm collecting these older Macs! My G4 Tower works perfectly, I use that for email and the forum while I'm working on pictures. The cube has gone to my collection with my apple 2E, LOL, G3 bronze laptop etc. I guess I'll use the G5 for a print server for a new printer!

I've enough computers for a school, LOL!

Asher
 
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