Screenshot Trick 6 : How to do a panorama ?

 - Screenshot Trick 6 - 

How to do a panorama ?

Hi,

Since severals times, you have probably seen very large images on various websites (Nexus and Flickr). Mainly landscapes screenshots.

A very wide and panoramic view of Skyrim. That's very eye candy and this provides a new vision of the landscape, of the world.

It's called a "panorama" or a "panoramic view".
A panorama is a picture unrolled before the spectator in such a way as to give the impression of a continuous view.

You don't see a lot of panoramas on Skyrim Scandal because the blog is oriented armors and outfits showcase. So, not my prority here, but I wanted to share with you this technic. I used it sometimes when I was active on Flickr.

In this article , I will show you finished panoramas and seperate images to create them. All my original shots are 4K (2160p) as usual, so I win precision and details.  However, you can do panoramas whatever the resolution (2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, etc...)

Because sharing is important, I give you the possibily to send me your own panorama on my Nexus mail Here  . I will put your work here with your name (credit of course). The article will be more varied and more funny.

Example 1:

1) Credit

One day, someone shared the panorama technic on Flickr. Flickr is a good place to learn, to share and to see high quality works about Skyrim.
I asked this person if he wanted to be credited here for the panorama technic, but this screenarcher is shy and want to stay anonymous. I respect that. So my friend, if you read this article, thank you a lot.
This screenarcher likes to do landscapes screenshots, mountains screenshots and real photography too (flowers - macro photography and nature).

Example 2:

2) The tool

So, now you know that you need a tool to do that. Indeed, you can't do a panorama with just one screen capture and with special cuts of images

Generally, I never use images editors in my work and in my presentation because I prefer them natural and faithful to my ENB. But this tool doesn't modify your images. This tool only helps you to paste border images.

The tool : IMAGE COMPOSITE EDITOR ( ICE) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/computational-photography-applications/image-composite-editor/

" Image Composite Editor (ICE) is an advanced panoramic image stitcher created by the Microsoft Research Computational Photography Group." This is free.

A very light and easy program. You just need 4 or 5 clicks to create a panorama

step 1 :IMPORT

step 2 : STITCH

step 3 :CROP

step 4 :EXPORT

Example 3 :

A panorama by Glennithin (flickr)

3) Not only for landscape

Panoramas are great for landcapes (the most popular)  but you can create this wide view for all type of images.
My preference is to use panorama for mid-range shots or macro shots. Yes yes, you can do macro - panorama - shots!
Just a matter of taste my friend but I always like to open possibilities. As usual, all is possible.

You will see that a panorama can be horizontal or vertical.

I show you what you can create. This is a technic. After, adapt to your own taste and to your own style if you like to take images.

Example 4 :

4) Several images to create a panorama

That's a rule. You must take several shots of you game to create the panorama. The same technic as a photographer.

First, chose your own field of view in game  : FOV (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 70 ).
Then , take some shots to the left or to the right...and imagine the future panorama. For better results, move only you mouse (left, right or up, down), not direction keys.

Example 5 : 

A finished panorama is normally pretty heavy (weight file ). But you can compress it of course, to publish your work on the internet.
In my case, a panorama is generally 100Mb Bitmap. Then I compress in Jpeg between 2 and 10 Mb

For each panoramas, I show you all seperate shots, then, ICE "pastes" them. I prefer to show you all steps. That's more precise.

Very easy, intuitive and with a nice final effect.

Example 6 :

Example 7 :

Sometimes, the final result is not good or cannot be good. That's normal. You jusy need to take new and more precise images.

Marmotte's tip : you can use this technic to create a very very nice header area of your Nexus mod page. This allows you to add a lot of informations in this important image. And the crop will be less important.

5) How many images to do a panorama?

Depends of what you want to achieve. 2 shots can do a great images, several shots too.
A lot of shots can create a very wide result. Sometimes that's too much wide and you miss details.
It's up to you.
Personally, I like to use 2 or 3 shots to create a panorama because the result makes sense.

Example 8 :

There is a reality too. Your monitor and websites are not made to show properly very wide horizontal or vertical images.

- Vertical panoramasare not adapted to monitors
- Horizontal panoramas have a better result on monitors. But too wide images lose details and visibility.

6) ENBS and panoramas

To do panoramas, best ENBS are cinematic ENB because of the athmosphere.
A realist ENB like mine is not the best. Too much sharped and effects are not ultra powerful.
So, Your choice again.

Example 9 :

7) Why using ICE?

In Skyrim, if you want a wide view, you need to increase your FOV.
If you increase too much your FOV (100, 120, 150), your image start to be deformed.
With ICE, your image will be always clean and logical.

So, I recommend a FOV between 10 and 50 to do panoramas.

Example 10 :

8) Conclusion

So, now you know every details. That's not very difficult to achieve a nice result.
Better are your original shots, better is the final result.

The vertical panorama (several images) is different from the standard vertical shot ( only one image). We will see the standard vertical shot later.

This tool allows you to catch nice views and without losing too much resolution.
Don't forget to send me your result. I'll put them here


Thank you

Marmotte