Centering a composite

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Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Centering a composite

Post by Marpel »

Using the Composite transform, is there an easy way to composite a smaller image into a larger one, where the smaller image is dead center of the larger one?

By default the overlay image starts in the lower left corner and, using 1 point alignment, one has to manually move it into an approximate location.

I have done this operation by first using a grid overlay (with 2 sections vertically and horizontally to get a center point), then deleting the gridded images and using "Reload last settings" to replicate the centered position.

I presume Layout is the only/best tool for this?

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jsachs
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Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Centering a composite

Post by jsachs »

There is no totally automatic way I know of other than Layout.

Using Composite, the grid is a good way to go -- set it up so there are two grid divisions which marks the center. Set the alignment point of each image to the center of the respective image.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Centering a composite

Post by Marpel »

Thanks very much. Pretty much what I was doing.

I was experimenting with an image being resized multiple times to make it progressively smaller, then compositing each smaller image over the next larger size (almost like looking into two mirrors opposite each other), but found the grid method quite cumbersome and the Layout required multiple different settings, even when using Reload last settings, although the center horizontally and vertically buttons in Layout made centering a breeze.

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jsachs
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Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Centering a composite

Post by jsachs »

I was able to make a composite of this type by repeatedly compositing images using 2 point (shift/rotate/scale) alignment and placing each successive image into a smaller a smaller rectangle in the center of the image, using a grid for guidelines. The advantage of this method is that you can replace the overlay image with a different one and it still works the same way.
Composites.jpg
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Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Centering a composite

Post by Marpel »

Thanks, I'll have to give this a try.

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jfoster
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Re: Centering a composite

Post by jfoster »

I tested a couple of ways to do it. They may not meet the "easy" requirement, but might not be too bad once a template workspace is set up. (Maybe a script? Haven't looked into PWP 8 scripts yet). The two examples I looked at quickly just centered on the x-axis for a reality check. They seem to work fine - with no seam artifacts.

The easier way is to add a spacing border to the central image and then create a mask from an 8-bit image (using the New File and Composite transformations). The mask allows you to hide the borders that were used as spacers when comping the images.

The other way is to break each image into quadrants and mirror/flip the pieces such that the centers in the original images are now in the lower left corners. This way you can composite each quadrant precisely and then reassemble the comped quadrants back into the original image.

Jeff
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