I was so much waiting fpr the update, that we can really now do full 360 Panos with the Mini3 Pro - including the upper section, the zenith. After the latest update, the drone now finally uses its ability to tilt up and take even pictures of the Zenith. But DJI: dont your engineers test their updates?? Not a single stitichng does work with the zenith area at the top. If u have a blue sky, it is not that recognizable. But if u fly below buldings, towers, bridges, tree tops, its just useless and ruins the whole pano.
I added some sample pictures. always screenshoit from the zenith. if looked at 2D 360 picture, the whole upper section is wrongly placed. It is embarrassing.


The best analysis and recommendation, what hast to be done is here - best professsinal analysis ever seen. It is just one picture missing.

Does it still happen if you stitch in 3rd party software.

DAFlys Posted at 9-3 00:36
Does it still happen if you stitch in 3rd party software.

thats not the queestion, the mini needs to take one more picture uf the zenith section - -> see youtube analysis in my post.

and in general, i expect djo to delivr a proper stitching for their offered function.

Nexus Redux Posted at 9-3 00:38
thats not the queestion, the mini needs to take one more picture uf the zenith section - -> see youtube analysis in my post.

and in general, i expect djo to delivr a proper stitching for their offered function.

But looking up there is always going to be. little bit missing as the camera cannot look straight up.

DAFlys Posted at 9-3 00:50
But looking up there is always going to be. little bit missing as the camera cannot look straight up.

If you switch to vertical the camera covers beyond +90 on the vertical when at max gimbal pitch.

Using PTGUI I take a normal sphere, switch to vertical max gimbal pitch then take one more. Works! Not sure how PTGUI would go stitching say inside a church like that and matching vertical with horizontal precisely but works great for clouds etc.

I think DJI needs to reprogram the Pano function for the Mini 3 Pro to use the vertical mode for all images. Would easily capture in one hit.

On my todo list to try some panos with overhanging details, is a great tool

You can save buying the "Photoshop Super Cubic Nadir and Zenith filter" that Kilian Eisenegger recommends in the YouTube video if you still have a Photoshop CC 2018 version lying around somewhere. This is the last version (can be installed parallel to newer versions!) where the 3D function still works completely. Not only can you do the nadir and zenith fills the same way as shown - you can also do more advanced retouching with the clone tool, text tool and content-aware in the 3D sphere. This is how I added the perspective runway markers in this pano:



Edit: And before others point it out again: The same is of course possible for much less money and with almost even better performance with Affinity Photo. However, with a workflow that takes some getting used to... ;o)

I've been disappointed with the stitching in the Fly App. Your indoor shots of the zenith show up the deficiencies quite starkly.  Have you tried an external program, out of interest, to see if that can eliminate the mismatches? If it does, it would a further indictment of the DJI effort.

DAFlys Posted at 9-3 00:50
But looking up there is always going to be. little bit missing as the camera cannot look straight up.

ok, if ure not interested to wtach the youtube video, dont ask me questions which are explained in there.

SPLflyer Posted at 9-3 04:01
You can save buying the "Photoshop Super Cubic Nadir and Zenith filter" that Kilian Eisenegger recommends in the YouTube video if you still have a Photoshop CC 2018 version lying around somewhere. This is the last version (can be installed parallel to newer versions!) where the 3D function still works completely. Not only can you do the nadir and zenith fills the same way as shown - you can also do more advanced retouching with the clone tool, text tool and content-aware in the 3D sphere. This is how I added the perspective runway markers in this pano:

https://www.skypixel.com/photo360s/bobzin-ultralight-airfield-germany

Beautiful image.

Nexus Redux Posted at 9-3 07:14
ok, if ure not interested to wtach the youtube video, dont ask me questions which are explained in there.

A paragraph of text is far more informative and efficient than a bloated video for conveying information.

You really cant expect people to waste 5-10 minutes watching a video that can be understood with 20 seconds of reading.

Bussty Posted at 9-3 02:34
If you switch to vertical the camera covers beyond +90 on the vertical when at max gimbal pitch.

Using PTGUI I take a normal sphere, switch to vertical max gimbal pitch then take one more. Works! Not sure how PTGUI would go stitching say inside a church like that and matching vertical with horizontal precisely but works great for clouds etc.

I did a little experiment in my room. The Mini 3 was positioned exactly vertically under the halogen power supply. The distance between the vertically positioned drone camera and the transformer was exactly 225 cm. As can be seen in the picture, 25 cm were still imaged beyond the zenith. This corresponds to an acute angle of ~ 6 degrees. Question: Is a single vertical photo at max. 60° pan angle really sufficient to close the missing gap in the sky? There is not very much on the dark side of the zenith! My real attempts under a real sky are still pending – too windy!

SPLflyer Posted at 9-3 13:13
I did a little experiment in my room. The Mini 3 was positioned exactly vertically under the halogen power supply. The distance between the vertically positioned drone camera and the transformer was exactly 225 cm. As can be seen in the picture, 25 cm were still imaged beyond the zenith. This corresponds to an acute angle of ~ 6 degrees. Question: Is a single vertical photo at max. 60° pan angle really sufficient to close the missing gap in the sky? There is not very much on the dark side of the zenith! My real attempts under a real sky are still pending – too windy!

[view_image]

This is very clever Bernd can you try using horizontal as well and see how much is missed. But yes if it's only that last edge that's able to fill the gap it's not going to be the highest  quality part of the sensor. Having said that if you divide that vertical into 100% the drone will ditch that fringe 12.5% at the top to make the image anyway. Sensor quality (I should really say lens quality) from 12.5% down should start to be better than those extreme edges? Great experiment. Really need to get under something and do live test too but too windy here also

SPLflyer Posted at 9-3 04:01
You can save buying the "hotoshop Super Cubic Nadir and Zenith filter" that Kilian Eisenegger recommends in the YouTube video if you still have a Photoshop CC 2018 version lying around somewhere. This is the last version (can be installed parallel to newer versions!) where the 3D function still works completely. Not only can you do the nadir and zenith fills the same way as shown - you can also do more advanced retouching with the clone tool, text tool and content-aware in the 3D sphere. This is how I added the perspective runway markers in this pano:

https://www.skypixel.com/photo360s/bobzin-ultralight-airfield-germany

Lol bet me too it but yes Affinity very handy for that

SPLflyer Posted at 9-3 04:01
You can save buying the "Photoshop Super Cubic Nadir and Zenith filter" that Kilian Eisenegger recommends in the YouTube video if you still have a Photoshop CC 2018 version lying around somewhere. This is the last version (can be installed parallel to newer versions!) where the 3D function still works completely. Not only can you do the nadir and zenith fills the same way as shown - you can also do more advanced retouching with the clone tool, text tool and content-aware in the 3D sphere. This is how I added the perspective runway markers in this pano:

https://www.skypixel.com/photo360s/bobzin-ultralight-airfield-germany

Wow I don't know if there is anywhere in NZ that you could see a view like that there are always hills on the horizon. Amazing sense of space!

Bussty Posted at 9-3 16:15
This is very clever Bernd can you try using horizontal as well and see how much is missed. But yes if it's only that last edge that's able to fill the gap it's not going to be the highest  quality part of the sensor. Having said that if you divide that vertical into 100% the drone will ditch that fringe 12.5% at the top to make the image anyway. Sensor quality (I should really say lens quality) from 12.5% down should start to be better than those extreme edges? Great experiment. Really need to get under something and do live test too but too windy here also

It could fit, Andrew! I have now, as suggested, made a landscape photo in the same way, which comes very close to the zenith. So there is really only a very small area left to fill.

»Having said that if you divide that vertical into 100% the drone will ditch that fringe 12.5% at the top to make the image anyway.«

The photo above was a crop from the original. That's why the 12.5% you measured is not quite correct. But in the original (see photo below), the area 'above' the zenith is also covered with almost 10%.

But what is still noticeable even with the reduced scale is the small longitudinal distortion of the transformer in the 10% edge area of the vertical image. Actually this power supply is circular!

Let's keep waiting for suitable weather...

Cheers, Bernd

SPLflyer Posted at 9-4 00:22
It could fit, Andrew! I have now, as suggested, made a landscape photo in the same way, which comes very close to the zenith. So there is really only a very small area left to fill.

»Having said that if you divide that vertical into 100% the drone will ditch that fringe 12.5% at the top to make the image anyway.«

Great work Bernd! You are right it's a very small area to fill.

My 12.5% was just a guess. I do see the issue with the squashed distortion on the transformer but I guess Panorama Studio and PTGUI have to deal with that now but in the horizontal plane (unless they discard that portion).

To me the neatest thing DJI could do is rewrite the sphere pano function for the Mini 3 Pro to be vertical based. I think all future drones will have this feature so they may as well get it sorted now. Wishful thinking maybe but would be a complete solid solution for them.

If nothing changes at least we know 1 additional vertical shot will definitely cover but your distortion finding trying to match up horizontal with vertical could be an issue for precise stitches. Only real world testing on an over hanging subject will tell.

Nice work

Cheers

Bussty

TBH, I only use autopano and usually that works.

Bussty Posted at 9-4 02:49
Great work Bernd! You are right it's a very small area to fill.

My 12.5% was just a guess. I do see the issue with the squashed distortion on the transformer but I guess Panorama Studio and PTGUI have to deal with that now but in the horizontal plane (unless they discard that portion).

Yesterday I had the opportunity to test the vertical shot. This was taken in the final position of the gimbal after the pano. In PanoramaStudio, the shot has #1, obscuring the top, third regular photo of the pano (counted here as #4) and closes the previous gap. Despite the massive differences in brightness (original DNG) and the strong perspective distortions (time gap!), PanoramaStudio manages to deliver a convincing result (image 2).



It required only a little retouching at the direct zenith, because the final image processing made a small pivot point visible.



I can live with such a result for landscape shots with an open sky.

How the vertical shot can be inserted in a canopy, under a bridge or in a building, I leave to other people's experiments ;-). At least DJI should consider whether they could not permanently reprogram the two highlighted shots to vertical?

Happy stitching, Bernd

Nice work Bernd

Montfrooij Posted at 2022-9-5 03:17
TBH, I only use autopano and usually that works.

In Autopano Are you able to stitch aerial pano where the sky is showing 50%?
My pano fails when trying in Autopano giga.

Ranjan Posted at 4-10 00:34
In Autopano Are you able to stitch aerial pano where the sky is showing 50%?
My pano fails when trying in Autopano giga.

That depends on the pattern in the sky. If it is just blue sky : of course not.
It needs distinguishable details to create markers for the stitching process.

However, you can force the software to include all images and move the 'wrongly stitched' ones around the sphere to put them where you want.
That way I did manage to fix some stitching errors in the past.

Montfrooij Posted at 4-10 01:21
That depends on the pattern in the sky. If it is just blue sky : of course not.
It needs distinguishable details to create markers for the stitching process.

Yes my stitching failure is due to plain sky, is there a way to have preset template in autopano giga for 35 images?
I remember in old days when I used to use APG a lot it had such ability now support forum is gone so cant remember how to use template or how to move wrongly stitched images to correct location.

Any tutorial you have?
Thanks

Ranjan Posted at 4-10 01:45
Yes my stitching failure is due to plain sky, is there a way to have preset template in autopano giga for 35 images?
I remember in old days when I used to use APG a lot it had such ability now support forum is gone so cant remember how to use template or how to move wrongly stitched images to correct location.

Of course, Autopano Giga has the advantage of being free. However, it takes a lot of effort to manually position the images of a blue sky in the right place. In this thread https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... 149&pid=2941120 I explained how it is possible with the really very inexpensive PanoramaStudio 3 Pro to do this automatically using the included EXIF position data of each image. Just make the checkmark in the settings at the right place (see screenshot in the linked thread) and you get perfect results. If you have manually taken a vertical shot at 60° gimbal from the zenith, the program even closes the gap completely.

SPLflyer Posted at 4-10 02:59
Of course, Autopano Giga has the advantage of being free. However, it takes a lot of effort to manually position the images of a blue sky in the right place. In this thread https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=282149&pid=2941120 I explained how it is possible with the really very inexpensive PanoramaStudio 3 Pro to do this automatically using the included EXIF position data of each image. Just make the checkmark in the settings at the right place (see screenshot in the linked thread) and you get perfect results. If you have manually taken a vertical shot at 60° gimbal from the zenith, the program even closes the gap completely.

That is nice!

Ranjan Posted at 4-10 01:45
Yes my stitching failure is due to plain sky, is there a way to have preset template in autopano giga for 35 images?
I remember in old days when I used to use APG a lot it had such ability now support forum is gone so cant remember how to use template or how to move wrongly stitched images to correct location.

Not that I'm aware off.
I have not made a tutorial yet (since there is usually a lot of details in my panos)

Blériot53 Posted at 2022-9-3 06:35
I've been disappointed with the stitching in the Fly App. Your indoor shots of the zenith show up the deficiencies quite starkly.  Have you tried an external program, out of interest, to see if that can eliminate the mismatches? If it does, it would a further indictment of the DJI effort.

i didnt, as it should be possible for dji to reprogram the software. it jsut takes one more pictures for them in vertical mode and taken upwards to the max. my impression is, that dji is simply not interested and too lazy to do that. so we remain with an unusable stitching procedure...

Nexus Redux Posted at 5-7 23:00
i didnt, as it should be possible for dji to reprogram the software. it jsut takes one more pictures for them in vertical mode and taken upwards to the max. my impression is, that dji is simply not interested and too lazy to do that. so we remain with an unusable stitching procedure...

It's more than six months since I posted that comment, and during that time I've seen some improvement in the DJI stitching, following updates.  It's not perfect, but it's better than it was.

Blériot53 Posted at 5-7 23:13
It's more than six months since I posted that comment, and during that time I've seen some improvement in the DJI stitching, following updates.  It's not perfect, but it's better than it was.

i didnt see any improvement, the problem with the broken stitching at the top remains as it was....

see my latest post: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=288174

also the solution for that is included - added by other users. it just wold take that one vertical picture...

Nexus Redux Posted at 5-7 23:17
i didnt see any improvement, the problem with the broken stitching at the top remains as it was....

see my latest post: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=288174

OK thanks. I've read through that thread now. What you-and  others - are saying there makes perfect sense to me.  Let's hope that DJI will take it on board. I wouldn't hold your breath though - it may take quite a while.