How to make a "Panoramic View" of your town.
Mar 16, 2013 13:07:00 GMT -5
lakooo, rsommons, and 11 more like this
Post by petergeenen on Mar 16, 2013 13:07:00 GMT -5
A crash course in creating a "Panoramic View" of your town.
1- Taking screenshots.
You have to start with taking enough screenshots. The size of screenshots depends on what kind of device you are using.
I have an ipad4 with retina display of 2048x1536 pixels. Ipad models 1 & 2 are 1024×768 pixels.
Iphones and ipods have smaller screensizes, so you will need more screenshots with those devices.
You can take a screen shot on your I-device by pressing the home and on/off button at the same time.
First zoom out as much as possible. (put two fingers on the screen and pinch them together)
After that, try not to change the screensize again, until after you're finished taking screenshots.
Move the screen to the left corner of your town. Wait until the taskbook bar and all other icons disappear.
You will have to wait every time you move the screen.
Then take your first screenshot.
Take a look at the details on the right side of that screen. Now move the screen to the left, keeping enough detail that was visible on the right side, still visible on the left.
Now move your screen up or down, as you prefer.
Have a look at the picture below to get an idea of the order of screenshots.
When you finished taking screenshots, upload them to your computer. I use dropbox for that.
As you can see, my town needs about 38 screenshots. I have all the land (13x13).
Iphones and Ipods probably need more.
2- Stitching your screenshots together.
As far as I know, the only way to stitch your screenshots together, is by doing it manually in a paint/photo program.
I have been looking for a program that does it automatically. But so far, I did not find any that delivers a decent result. If you know a program that can do it, please let me know.
So I do it manually in "Photoshop Elements 9". You can download a free 30 day trial (version 11 at the moment). Photoshop Elements 11
Or you can try free software like GIMP. I will try to ad some screenshots about working with GIMP later on.
You need a program that supports layers. So that each screenshot stays movable.
Working with Photoshop Elements! (remember the screenshots are from version 9, other versions might differ, but the basics are the same)
Open a new blank file. File - New - Blank File
(I use a 17000x9000 canvas)
Open your screenshots. File - Open Go to the directory where your screenshots are located. Select them and open them.
Select the empty canvas first. Then drag your first screenshot onto the screen.
Move it to the starting position. It's the left corner, so to the left in the middle.
Drag your second screenshot onto the screen.
Move it to the first screenshot where they overlap.
Zoom in to the part where they overlap (try to zoom in so that you see enough detail to position the screenshots perfectly together).
Position the second screenshot as good as possible onto the first.
When you did that, zoom back to 1:1, and drag the next screenshot onto the canvas and repeat all steps, until finished.
At the end, when you're satisfied with your work, save the project as a PSD file (keeping all layers intact). File - Save As
Then you can crop. Cropping means cutting of the sides, leaving only the picture you want.
Image - Crop
And resize your image. I usually resize to 5000px wide. Image - Resize - Image Size
Then save as a JPG. File - Save As
Adjust the quality so the filesize goes under 5mb. (my image hosting account allows files up to 5mb)
And here is the finished image.
After that you can upload your picture to a hosting site.
Spider Pig made an instructional video about creating a panoramic.
You can view it here;
If your native language is French or German, could you please check the translation. If you would like to improve them, contact Spider Pig .
English - youtu.be/tjYc1V4hG54
French - youtu.be/b_Qgr-_FJ_Q
German - youtu.be/2aE7dOWmiJI
Done. Please leave feedback.
If you have additional questions. Don't hesitate to ask.
1- Taking screenshots.
You have to start with taking enough screenshots. The size of screenshots depends on what kind of device you are using.
I have an ipad4 with retina display of 2048x1536 pixels. Ipad models 1 & 2 are 1024×768 pixels.
Iphones and ipods have smaller screensizes, so you will need more screenshots with those devices.
You can take a screen shot on your I-device by pressing the home and on/off button at the same time.
First zoom out as much as possible. (put two fingers on the screen and pinch them together)
After that, try not to change the screensize again, until after you're finished taking screenshots.
Move the screen to the left corner of your town. Wait until the taskbook bar and all other icons disappear.
You will have to wait every time you move the screen.
Then take your first screenshot.
Take a look at the details on the right side of that screen. Now move the screen to the left, keeping enough detail that was visible on the right side, still visible on the left.
Now move your screen up or down, as you prefer.
Have a look at the picture below to get an idea of the order of screenshots.
When you finished taking screenshots, upload them to your computer. I use dropbox for that.
As you can see, my town needs about 38 screenshots. I have all the land (13x13).
Iphones and Ipods probably need more.
2- Stitching your screenshots together.
As far as I know, the only way to stitch your screenshots together, is by doing it manually in a paint/photo program.
I have been looking for a program that does it automatically. But so far, I did not find any that delivers a decent result. If you know a program that can do it, please let me know.
So I do it manually in "Photoshop Elements 9". You can download a free 30 day trial (version 11 at the moment). Photoshop Elements 11
Or you can try free software like GIMP. I will try to ad some screenshots about working with GIMP later on.
You need a program that supports layers. So that each screenshot stays movable.
Working with Photoshop Elements! (remember the screenshots are from version 9, other versions might differ, but the basics are the same)
Open a new blank file. File - New - Blank File
(I use a 17000x9000 canvas)
Open your screenshots. File - Open Go to the directory where your screenshots are located. Select them and open them.
Select the empty canvas first. Then drag your first screenshot onto the screen.
Move it to the starting position. It's the left corner, so to the left in the middle.
Drag your second screenshot onto the screen.
Move it to the first screenshot where they overlap.
Zoom in to the part where they overlap (try to zoom in so that you see enough detail to position the screenshots perfectly together).
Position the second screenshot as good as possible onto the first.
When you did that, zoom back to 1:1, and drag the next screenshot onto the canvas and repeat all steps, until finished.
At the end, when you're satisfied with your work, save the project as a PSD file (keeping all layers intact). File - Save As
Then you can crop. Cropping means cutting of the sides, leaving only the picture you want.
Image - Crop
And resize your image. I usually resize to 5000px wide. Image - Resize - Image Size
Then save as a JPG. File - Save As
Adjust the quality so the filesize goes under 5mb. (my image hosting account allows files up to 5mb)
And here is the finished image.
After that you can upload your picture to a hosting site.
Spider Pig made an instructional video about creating a panoramic.
You can view it here;
If your native language is French or German, could you please check the translation. If you would like to improve them, contact Spider Pig .
English - youtu.be/tjYc1V4hG54
French - youtu.be/b_Qgr-_FJ_Q
German - youtu.be/2aE7dOWmiJI
Done. Please leave feedback.
If you have additional questions. Don't hesitate to ask.
