Defining the Basics of Image Stitching

If you are looking for a property for sale, chances are that you came across a virtual tour. This is a simulation of a location made up of imagery and sometimes, with music, sound effects, narration, and text. In a typical virtual tour, the view of the camera remains at a single point. As the user moves the mouse around, the view changes, much like you standing at the centre of a property while looking around the place.

A virtual tour needs a panoramic view of the subject. Since no camera can take an entire 360-degree image, graphic designers often resort to shooting digital images of each section of the place. Once all the images are taken, they are fused together using image stitching.

Image stitching, which is sometimes called photo stitching, involves combining multiple photographic images with edges and overlying fields of view into either of two results: a high-resolution image or a segmented panorama. Image stitching is a precise graphic art since it requires the images to have identical exposures and exact overlaps to create seamless results. An image stitching software is needed for this purpose.

First, each image is calibrated and processed to improve its quality and to correct minute errors. Next, the images are subjected to image registration which analysis orientations so that the sum of absolute differences between overlapping pixels will be reduced. Finally, the image blending process begins. This stage may consist of other sub-stages such as colour mapping (matches colours of adjoining areas), dynamic range extension (adjusts the luminosity of the images), or motion compensation (alters images of moving objects to compensate adjoining images).