I’ve been researching and testing the best way to stitch together 120,000+ frame from a 5-camera timelapse shot over 12 days and nights for my IMAX project. In an ideal workflow, the stitching and fixes required would remain live in AE as the timelapse is a background plate.

 

Also, the stitching software I’ve tested with while they has batch modes, they have no actual timeline or multi-frame preview, so the only way to properly test is to run the noise reduction, color processing and then stitch all the files – which is 4 TB and a couple of weeks of processing for each set of settings.

 

However, if I can stitch in AE – I have a live timeline, can RAM preview etc. Since the cameras were locked in a rig, I should only have to stitch for one set of frame and should be good (except for wind vibration issues). Plus, that’s only 1 processing pass and no need for 4TB+ of intermediate renders.

 

But AFAIK,  there are no true stitching tools for AE. Panorama Tools assumes you have already stitched. The warping blending needed is quite dramatic and not sure how best to approach in AE. Here’s a screenshot of the stitch in AE that shows PTGui Pro’s stitch of frames although blend regions are not displayable:

 

http://www.outsideinthemovie.com/collab/stitch.jpg

 

Any thoughts?

 

stephen van vuuren

336.202.4777

 

http://www.sv2studios.com/

http://www.outsideinthemovie.com/

http://www.stephenv2.me/

 

A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.

–Stanley Kubrick