Need s/w to stitch jpegs of different sizes

[Franklin]

Am looking for some WinXP software to stitch together about 10 jpegs
into a single jpeg.

My individual jpegs are of sections of map where each one follows the
course taken by a particular road. This makes it harder and I can't get
Irfanview to do what I need.

(1) there is sometimes a bit of overlap between two adjacent jpegs

(2) two jpegs will not always meet at their tops and at their bottoms

(3) the scale is not always the same


One part-solution is to work separately on each jpeg carefully cutting
and trimming it and maybe resizing it. Then splitting it so that
tops&bottoms match, etc. Oh my! That's far too slow!

Is there any freeware could do this job straighforwardly?

Would Pixia manage to do it?

Or PhotoFiltre?

 

[Livewire]

Am looking for some WinXP software to stitch together about 10 jpegs
into a single jpeg.

My individual jpegs are of sections of map where each one follows the
course taken by a particular road. This makes it harder and I can't get
Irfanview to do what I need.

(1) there is sometimes a bit of overlap between two adjacent jpegs

(2) two jpegs will not always meet at their tops and at their bottoms

(3) the scale is not always the same


One part-solution is to work separately on each jpeg carefully cutting
and trimming it and maybe resizing it. Then splitting it so that
tops&bottoms match, etc. Oh my! That's far too slow!

Is there any freeware could do this job straighforwardly?

Would Pixia manage to do it?

Or PhotoFiltre?

In Photofiltre:


1. Resize each image separately so the scale is the same

2.Open a "master" jpeg that consists of the main part of your map. Alter
the canvas size (not image size) so there's lots of space around it.

3. Open another jpeg with another bit of your map, use the selection
tool to copy the area you want

4. Paste your selection into your master jpeg. You can move the
selection round by clicking on it and, by grabbing a corner or side, re-
shape it to match up exactly.

5. Save your master graphic BUT NOT AS A JPEG as each save reduces the
quality. I use tiff instead.

6. Do as often as necessary with the jpegs of various bits of map. Then
You should end up with a pic where the bits you want line up but with
very random edges.

7. Simply copy the area of the master map you want your eventual picture
to be.

Then paste as new image. And hey presto, you've got what you want. You
can save as a tiff, jpeg, or whatever you want.

This sounds as though it takes ages, but actually can be done very
quickly once you're used to ir.


7.

 

[rich]

Am looking for some WinXP software to stitch together about 10 jpegs
into a single jpeg.

My individual jpegs are of sections of map where each one follows the
course taken by a particular road. This makes it harder and I can't get
Irfanview to do what I need.

(1) there is sometimes a bit of overlap between two adjacent jpegs

(2) two jpegs will not always meet at their tops and at their bottoms

I have done exactly this in the past using GIMP.
Briefly:
1. Create a new empty image large enough to hold the combined .jpg's
2. Create a new transparent layer
3. Open first .jpg and copy then close image. Paste into transparent layer
and move to where you want it then anchor to layer.
4. Repeat 2 and 3 for each .jpg so that each is on its own layer. Each new
layer will mask the layers below so cropping is not required and it is easy
to align the images. Use the move tool then the arrow keys for fine
adjustment.
5. It is not essential to have each .jpg on its own layer but makes
corrections a lot easier. Save your work often. Gimps own image format
supports layers.
6. When all parts are assembled, merge down each layer to a final combined
image. Then tidy up the edges by select / copy / paste as new image. Save in
whatever format you need.

(3) the scale is not always the same

You can use the rescale tool on each .jpg / selection after copying into
it's layer.

One part-solution is to work separately on each jpeg carefully cutting
and trimming it and maybe resizing it. Then splitting it so that
tops&bottoms match, etc. Oh my! That's far too slow!

Still tedious, no way around this that I know of and everything has its own
learning curve.

Is there any freeware could do this job straightforwardly?

Would Pixia manage to do it?

don't know

Or PhotoFiltre?

The copying / pasting works just about the same, only no layers. You would
have to resize / match scale separately. I have a lot of respect for
Photofiltre but at the end of the day it is only a small application.

Rather than get the GIMP and GTK+ permanent installation which writes a
whole load of junk to M$ "my folders" try PortableGIMP

http://portableapps.com/apps/photos_design/image_editors/portable_gimp

Still a bit buggy but works.

 

[remove]

Am looking for some WinXP software to stitch together about 10 jpegs
into a single jpeg.

My individual jpegs are of sections of map where each one follows the
course taken by a particular road. This makes it harder and I can't get
Irfanview to do what I need.

(1) there is sometimes a bit of overlap between two adjacent jpegs

(2) two jpegs will not always meet at their tops and at their bottoms

(3) the scale is not always the same


One part-solution is to work separately on each jpeg carefully cutting
and trimming it and maybe resizing it. Then splitting it so that
tops&bottoms match, etc. Oh my! That's far too slow!

Is there any freeware could do this job straighforwardly?

Would Pixia manage to do it?

Or PhotoFiltre?

At the risk of getting slapped down for suggesting something not
adhering strictly to the freeware definition, try AutoStitch at:

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

While noting the software as Demo with an expiration date, I've
re-downloaded it 3 or 4 times after expiration and re-installed with
no problem. The license states that you can use the images
commercially as long as you acknowledge to program.

 

[Franklin]

At the risk of getting slapped down for suggesting something not
adhering strictly to the freeware definition, try AutoStitch at:

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

While noting the software as Demo with an expiration date, I've
re-downloaded it 3 or 4 times after expiration and re-installed
with no problem. The license states that you can use the images
commercially as long as you acknowledge to program.

I seem to recall trying AutoStitch [non-freeware flame shields on]
and getting some awkward installation problem which I couldn't
resolve. Maybe I ought to revisit it.

[flame shields off]

 

[Franklin]

In Photofiltre:


1. Resize each image separately so the scale is the same

2.Open a "master" jpeg that consists of the main part of your map.
Alter the canvas size (not image size) so there's lots of space
around it.

3. Open another jpeg with another bit of your map, use the
selection tool to copy the area you want

4. Paste your selection into your master jpeg. You can move the
selection round by clicking on it and, by grabbing a corner or
side, re- shape it to match up exactly.

5. Save your master graphic BUT NOT AS A JPEG as each save reduces
the quality. I use tiff instead.

6. Do as often as necessary with the jpegs of various bits of map.
Then You should end up with a pic where the bits you want line up
but with very random edges.

7. Simply copy the area of the master map you want your eventual
picture to be.

Then paste as new image. And hey presto, you've got what you want.
You can save as a tiff, jpeg, or whatever you want.

This sounds as though it takes ages, but actually can be done very
quickly once you're used to ir.

Thanks for the detailed instructions, Livewire. Much appreciated.

I will give this a go and also will compare with results from Rich's
suggestion of GIMP.

Thank you.

 

[Franklin]

I have done exactly this in the past using GIMP.
Briefly:
1. Create a new empty image large enough to hold the combined
.jpg's 2. Create a new transparent layer
3. Open first .jpg and copy then close image. Paste into
transparent layer and move to where you want it then anchor to
layer. 4. Repeat 2 and 3 for each .jpg so that each is on its own
layer. Each new layer will mask the layers below so cropping is
not required and it is easy to align the images. Use the move tool
then the arrow keys for fine adjustment.
5. It is not essential to have each .jpg on its own layer but makes
corrections a lot easier. Save your work often. Gimps own image
format supports layers.
6. When all parts are assembled, merge down each layer to a final
combined image. Then tidy up the edges by select / copy / paste as
new image. Save in whatever format you need.

Thanks for the detailed instructions, Rich. It is appreciated.

I will give this a go and also will compare with results from
Livewire's suggestion of PhotoFiltre.

It's going to be tedious though!

Thank you.