Autopano - Panorama Editor - Masking tool
Contents
Autopano Giga only! This feature is available only in Autopano Giga.
Concept
The Masking tool allows to define objects to keep or to remove on the panorama.
During a panoramic shooting, it may happen that an object is visible in an image and place in another location on another photo (in other words a moving object).
It is also possible to want to display/hide elements of the panorama (in this case it is advisable to double shots to recover material behind those elements, to display either this material or the element, depending on the user's choice).
This tool is based on the Anti-ghost blending algorithm, which automatically keeps or removes moving objects but that doesn't let the user define which element to keep or to remove.
The new Anti-ghost algorithm is now always computed on all panorama to have the same final result in the Panorama editor (a quick render is computed when you open it) and in the rendered panorama.
Using the masks allows to bear this automatic calculation of the Anti-ghost blender to indicates it what it must keep or not:
Simply target a single pixel of the image so that it calculates the relevant object to completely keep or remove it.
It is sometimes useful to define several targets to completely keep/remove an object, if the color tone differences between pixels of the same object are too frank for example.
A new feature let you now see visually where the anti-ghost algorithm decided to put the seams between images (seams visual feedback).
It can so be compared to the Fusion mask tool of Photoshop. Its use is however really simpliest but restrictive and doesn't necessarily allow to be very accurate.
Btw, the following video shows how it is simple to process them:
Where to find
You will find the tool here:
Use
Learn more about the Masking tool use here.
Tools
Add a marker to keep the object
Use this marker in case one or several objects must be kept:
- Select the marker of individual images to apply the mask on a non-bracketed panorama or on an individual image of a bracketing set of images.
- Use the stack marker to keep an object on all images of a stack (bracket).
Add a marker to remove the object
Use this marker in case one or several objects must be removed:
- Select the marker of individual images to apply the mask on a non-bracketed panorama or on an individual image of a bracketing set of images.
- Use the stack marker to remove an object on all images of a stack (bracket).
Lock/Unlock selection
Use this tool to lock the image you want to process, that helps when placing markers to not switching to the other images of the panorama.
Remove
- All markers: removes all the markers placed on the Panorama editing area
- Keeping markers: removes only the keeping markers placed on the Panorama editing area
- Removing markers: removes only the removing markers placed on the Panorama editing area
The contextual menu appears when doing a right clic over the Panorama editing area.
- Remove current marker: removes the marker of the current image selected
- Remove current markers: removes the markers of the current image selected
- Remove current keeping markers: removes the keeping markers of the current image selected
- Remove current removing markers: removes the removing markers of the current image selected
- Remove all markers: removes all the markers of the whole panorama
- Remove all keeping markers: removes all the keeping markers of the whole panorama
- Remove all removing markers: removes all the removing markers of the whole panorama
Seams
You can click on the preview icon 
(at the bottom of the window) to display the visualization of the seams which will help you understand overlapping / moving objects better. It is also compatible with our masking markers ( green/red - see above) in the mask editor and it really helps you choose which moving objects you want to keep and the ones you want to erase. Have a look at the screenshot below to understand better this improvement.
Note: the seams will refine themselves in real time according to the decisions you are taking with the masking markers.
Mistakes to avoid
Classic mistake is to consider markers as «pinholes» on a layer mask. Anti-ghost is a smart and complex algorithm that detects paths in the image, only few markers properly placed are required. If results are not what you expected, try to move the markers to a more relevant place.
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