How to create a panorama in Linux

Create a Panorama - Exolucere.ca

 It took several hours of research to realize that I needed not one but four programs: Hugin, Panotools, Autopano-SIFT, and Enblend.  The first three somehow installed themselves (I honestly don't remember doing it), but the last one required some futzing (hint: sudo sh ./configure).  Then, of course, there was the learning curve I had to go through in order to get all those programs running, and talking to each other (turns out Enblend only works with tiffs).

Result: gorgeous panoramas that are well-aligned and beautifully blended.  Granted, the output format is tiff, but that is very easy to convert.

Once again, it struck me as irritating that this process took so long to figure out.  Linux will never be a mainstream OS as long as tasks such as this are difficult and require you to compile your own software.  But then I realized, once again, that it took me months to go through the same process on Windoze.  Part of the problem was that there were too many panorama programs available, and it took me forever to figure out (a) which ones would even do what I wanted, and (b) which one was best (turns out the answer was several, depending on exactly what I was trying to do).  Then, I ran into the problem that all the best panorama software for Windoze is expensive.  Very expensive.  Running from hundreds of dollars to over a thousand.  On Linux, of course, it is all free, for nearly the same functionality.  Besides, panorama stitching isn't something that the average user needs; people who stitch panoramas are already propellerheads to begin with.

Verdict: Linux wins, again.