NAME
enblend - combine images using a multiresolution
spline
SYNOPSIS
enblend [OPTIONS] -o output-file
input-files...
DESCRIPTION
Enblend overlays multiple TIFF images using the
Burt & Adelson multiresolution spline. This technique tries to
make the seams between the input images invisible. The basic idea
is that image features should be blended across a transition zone
proportional in size to the spatial frequency of the features. For
example, objects like trees and windowpanes have rapid changes in
color. By blending these features in a narrow zone, you will not be
able to see the seam because the eye already expects to see color
changes at the edge of these features. Clouds and sky are the
opposite. These features have to be blended across a wide
transition zone because any sudden change in color will be
immediately noticeable.
Enblend expects each input TIFF to have an alpha channel. The
alpha channel should indicate the region of the file that has valid
image data. Enblend compares the alpha regions in the input files
to find the areas where images overlap. Alpha channels can be used
to indicate to Enblend that certain portions of an input image
should not contribute to the final image.
Enblend does not align images for you. Use a tool like
Hugin or PanoTools to do this. The TIFFs produced by
these programs are exactly what enblend is designed to work with.
Sometimes these GUIs allow you to select feathering for the edges
of your images. This treatment is detrimental to Enblend. Turn off
feathering by deselecting it or setting the feather width to zero.
Enblend blends the images in the order you specify on the
command line. You should order your images according to the way
that they overlap, for example from left-to-right across the
panorama. If you are making a multi-row panorama, I recommend
blending each horizontal row individually, and then running Enblend
a final time to blend all of the rows together vertically.
COMMON OPTIONS
- -a
- Pre-assemble non-overlapping images before each blending
iteration. This overrides the default behavior which is to blend
the images sequentially in the order given on the command line.
Enblend will do fewer blending iterations, but it will do more work
in each iteration.
- -h
- Print information on the available options.
- -l num
- Use exactly this many levels for pyramid blending. This trades
off quality of results for faster execution time and lower memory
usage. The default is to use as many levels as possible given the
size of the overlap region. Enblend may still use a smaller number
of levels if the geometry of the images demands it.
- -o output-file
- Required. Specify the name of the output file.
- -v
- Verbose output.
- -w
- Blend around the -180/+180 boundary. Useful for full-360
panoramas. Enblend currently does not blend the zenith or the
nadir, so you may still see some seams in these areas.
- -z
- Use LZW compression for the output images.
- input-files
- Two or more TIFF files.
EXTENDED OPTIONS
- -b kilobytes
- Set the block size for Enblend's image cache. This is the
amount of data that Enblend will move to and from the disk in one
go. The default is 2 MiB which should be good for most systems.
- -c
- Use the CIE L*a*b* color space for blending.
- -g
- Gimp (ver. < 2) and Cinepaint exhibit unusual behaviors when
loading images with unassociated alpha channels. Use the -g flag to
work around this. With this flag Enblend will create the output
image with the associated alpha tag set, even though the image is
really unassociated alpha.
- -f WIDTHxHEIGHT
- Set the size of the output image manually. This is useful when
the input images are cropped TIFF files, such as those produced by
Nona.
- -m megabytes
- Set the size of Enblend's image cache. This is the amount of
memory Enblend will use for storing image data before swapping to
disk. The default is 1 GiB.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Please see the Enblend web page at:
http://enblend.sourceforge.net/
AUTHOR
Andrew Mihal <acmihal@users.sourceforge.net>