Stitching Software 2012

Some 1.5 years back I visited last time this topic. What are the current stitching software products in the market ?

There is not much movement in terms of new players (rather some disappearing), but the leading (2) existing companies keep their software updated and it is fantastic to see how much they still can improve (at least that ones I use).

From my point of view the important ones remain in 2012:

• PTGUI (curr. Version 9.1.2)
• Autopano by Kolor (curr. Version 2.6)
• Hugin (active opensource project, stable version 2011.4.0 from December 2011)
• Microsoft ICE (curr. Version 1.4.4 May 2011)
  I am not sure about their strategy, the tool is free as part of their research but the proprietary display software like HDView and Photosynth is based on Silverlight which is shelved by Microsoft for further development)

Others:

• Photoshop Panorama Merge Feature
• Panorama Factory (Jan 2011, ?)
• Easypano (still selling at a unreasonable high price, no further comment)
• Realviz (acquired by Autodesk, also expensive)
• iSeemMedia (?)
• Panavue (?)
• Some OEM software bundled with cameras
• A list of panoramic software apps for iPhone and Android
  (Personally I dont believe in phones making serious panoramic images)

Sideline: Seems, since the history of patent wars (creation of fisheye based panoramas) around IPIX (defunc since 2006) is closed, even the patent is owned by Sony now.

My recommendation: Stick to Hugin and ICE if you want to use something for free, otherwise PTGui and Autopano are great products at a reasonable price, up to you to decide which one you prefer, both offer trial versions.