Section 52. Create a Panorama

52. Create a Panorama

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Chapter 5, "Importing Photos"

The Panorama Assistant is designed to help you put together several photos taken at different angles from the same position. For example, you might want to create panoramic images of natural landscapes to remember the entire view. To do this, first take a series of photos from one spot turning slightly left or right between each photo, and then use the following steps to open the Poster Assistant, add your photos to it, join the photos into a single panoramic image, and output your results.

Create a Panorama

Open Panorama Assistant

You can open Panorama Assistant in two ways, depending on which is easiest for you. If you have the Roxio Home page up, simply click on Home, select Applications, and then select Create Panoramas from the submenu. You can also open Panorama Assistant by selecting Create Panoramas from the Programs, Roxio Easy Media Creator 8, Photo submenu of the Start menu in Windows.

Add Photos

You can add photos to the Panorama Assistant project by clicking on Add Photos to bring up the Media Manager. Use the Media Manager to add photos. After all the photos have been added, click the Next button to adjust the panoramic image.

Set Focal Length

After you have added the photos to the panorama, they are initially joined into a panoramic image. This image might need to be adjusted. First set the focal length to change how the edges of the picture are adjusted for the distance from which the photo was taken. For instance, one of these photos might have a different distance from the grass line to the top of the fence. By adjusting the focal length, the picture is warped slightly so these two lines match up.

Auto Align Photos

After you have set the focal length, click the Auto align button to re-align the photos into a panoramic image.

Fine Tune

If the panoramic image is still not exactly the way you want it, use the mouse to drag the images as close to the correct position as you can. Then click the Fine Tune button to snap the photos into place.

Output Your Project

After you have the image the way you want it, click the Next button to bring up the Output menu. From the Output menu, you can email, print, save, or open the project in PhotoSuite.

To email your project, click on Email to bring up the Email Assistant. The Email Assistant allows you to specify your email client. It also allows you to specify whether to convert the project into compressed JPEG files, turn it into a WMV slideshow movie, or just send it as is with no conversion. For more information, see Use Email Assistant to Email a Project (on the Web).

Tip

When emailing photos to friends, you should convert them to JPEG to conserve space. This speeds up how fast the email is sent and reduces the risk of the email being too big to send.

To print your project, click on Print to bring up the Photo Print Assistant. The Photo Print Assistant gives you the standard options of selecting the printer, setting the paper size and orientation, and specifying how many copies to print.

In addition to those options, the Photo Print Assistant provides a powerful layout manager that allows you to specify whether to print one photo per page or multiple photos per page. The Multiple photos per page option allows you to select one of many templates that automatically configure where the photos fit on the printed page. For example, you can print a sheet that has two 5"x7" photos or you can print a sheet that has one 5"x7" and two 3"x5" photos. You want to select the Crop photo to fill the placeholder and Auto-rotate to fit the placeholders buttons to make the pages of your project fit properly. For more information, see Use Print Assistant to Print a Project (on the Web).

To save the project, click on Save to bring up the Media Manager. Use the Media Manager to find the folder or album where you want to place the project. You can create folders and albums by clicking on the Create a New Folder and Create a New Album buttons respectively. After you have selected the folder or album, select the file type for your project. You can choose from several image file types. Then type in the name of the file and click the Save button.

To edit the project further in PhotoSuite, click on the Edit in PhotoSuite button. This brings up your project in PhotoSuite. For more information about editing the project in PhotoSuite, see the tasks in Chapter 6.