The Panorama Factory

All digital cameras have built in features which let you take some interesting pictures, but not all of them can create panoramas. The process is much more complex than simply adding a filter or adjusting the white balance. If you want to capture an entire scenery as a panorama, but your camera does not support this, you can always turn to software. The Panorama Factory will let you do this without too much trouble. Everything will be done automatically, according to the settings you make.

The system requirements for this software are low. It can run without any problems even on a low end computer and it is compatible with both Windows (98 to 7) and Mac operating systems. Downloading and installing it will not take long. The setup kit is 8.32 Mb and it features a standard installation wizard.

Manually creating a panorama will require making fine adjustments and it will take too much time. That is why The Panorama Factory features a wizard which will guide you through a number of steps, during which you will only need to make settings by using a series of check boxes or drop menus, placed on the left side of the main window. The larger area on the right is where you can add your images either by browsing for them during the first step of the wizard or by clicking and dragging them. Because the order of the images is important when creating a panorama, you can rearrange them, also by dragging them.

During the next steps, you can specify what camera you have used to take those pictures. There are three drop menus to choose from. The first menu contains camera types (DSLR, film, etc), the second one is for selecting the make of the camera and the model can be selected from the third. Also during this step you can specify the focal length you have used. If you are not sure about this number, you can set a percentage of how certain you are. Alternatively, you can set the program to detect the focal length automatically.

A panorama will not look so good if the pictures used to create it have different exposures. This should not be an issue for the software because you can set it to match or correct exposures. The final result can be a partial or a 360 degree panorama, a spherical, cylindrical or perspective projection. It can be saved as a simple image file, a layered Photoshop image or as other formats. These settings can be made during the final steps of the wizard. Once you click the last Next button, the process will begin and it will take a minute to finish.