PanoTools.org Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Stitching 2008 State of the Art

2008-05-01T11:18:31Z

Serge:

== Category ==

I put this article in the category Info, but I don't know whether this is ok. I'd appreciate, if there where ideas for another or for a new category, where such articles fit better. Suggestions which other articles should be in such a category are welcome, too.
--[[User:Erik Krause|Erik Krause]] 21:23, 30 April 2008 (CEST)

----

Hmm, I'd say it seems like a school lesson explaining how things work. I can imagine at least 2 subclasses fort this kind: Lessons explaining how it technically works and lessons explaining how to shoot/choose a composition. These are not tutorials, because a tutorial tells you step by step how to do a job. Possible titles for the category that come to mind are: Classroom, Lectures, Primers, Howitworks, Understanding. A native english speaker could probably come up with the word that says it all. So you'd get something like:

* Classroom:Stitcher technology
* Classroom:Panorama photography

This page would be in the first category. The second category would be good for e.g. composition tips and tips on setting up your camera.
--[[User:Serge|Serge]] 13:18, 1 May 2008 (CEST)

SoC2007 Supporters

2007-12-14T14:47:20Z

Serge: /* Individuals */

See [[SoC 2007 overview]] for usage hints and a page list.

'''instructions'''
* if you don't have one yet, [http://wiki.panotools.org/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&type=signup open a Panotools wiki account]
* Log in with your Panotools wiki account
* find below which category better fits you
* click on the edit link next to the category title
* add your entry as a bullet point at the end of the page (see the examples above you)
* enter your name, place and role in the panoramic community
* if possible, add a link to some relevant panoramic work next to your name

==The following organizations and users support the Open Source developers in their efforts to become a mentoring organization for Google's Summer of Code 2007:==

===Organizations===
Mouth to Source - Navigate the world by river. Add your river to this global initiative and experience some of the greatest journeys on Earth. [http://www.mouthtosource.net]

===Individuals===
* Hdri, paris, france
* Dries Schuddinck, Uitbergen, Belgium, webdesigner
* Yuval Levy, Québec, Canada, photographer [http://www.photopla.net/060825montpellier/]
* Bruno Postle, UK. Designer/engineer, user of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]]. Panotools wiki contributor [http://www.bruno.postle.net/panorama/].
* Roger Williams, Japan. Photographer [http://www.usefilm.com/member/roger/], user of [[panotools]].
* Jeffrey Martin, Czech Republic. Photographer, user of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]]. [http://www.prague360.com]
* Ken Turkowski, United States, scientist and developer of panorama software, including [[QuickTime VR]] and [[DeFish]]. [http://www.worldserver.com/turk], [http://www.realitypixel.com]
* Mark Fink, United States, photographer [http://northernlight.net], Universal pano head developer [http://pinnacle-vr.com]
* Toni Garbasso, Roma, Italy, photographer [http://www.studioargento.com/]
* Luca Vascon, Venice, Italy, photographer, teacher[http://www.lucavascon.net], hardware developer[http://agnos.com/] fisheye addict [http://panopticus.altervista.org/]
* Pip Price, Photographer, UK, [http://pipsqueakmedia.biz], creator of Peak District View [http://peakdistrictview.com]
* Claudio Lanconelli, Ravenna, Italy, photographer, user of [[hugin]] [http://www.viaggioinromagna.it]
* Jim Watters, Canada, Photographer [http://photocreations.ca] and software developer and contributer to [[panotools]]
* Luis Roberto De León, Monterrey, Mexico. photographer and multimedia creator (www.solucionesvisuales.com)
* Milko Amorth, Vancouver, Canada, VR Photography [http://www.vrcanada.ca/]
* Pierre Converset, Séné, France, peintre et photographe.
* Geoffrey Morelle, Tourcoing, France, Photographer [http://www.geoffreymorelle.com/]
* John J Housser, Canada, VR Photographer [http://housser.ca/], User of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]] in panoramic photography workshops using open-source software [http://housser.ca/?content=view_vr&id=152]
* Waleed Nassar, Cairo, Egypt, VR Photographer [http://www.madeena360.com/]
* Jérôme Muffat-Méridol, Paris, France, Photographer [http://www.webphotomag.com/]
* Luca Zampieri, Roma, Italy, photographer [http://www.studiothema.it/]
* Uri Cogan, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, Artist [http://www.uricogan.com/]
* Vincent Massy, Grimentz, Suisse, utilisateur panotools
* Sebastian Nowozin, Germany. Author of autopano-sift [http://cs.tu-berlin.de/~nowozin/autopano-sift/]
* Eric Verdier, Zacatecas, Mexico, architecte photographer,[http://www.ledetour.com/]
* Eduardo Hutter, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Panotools user
* J.D. Smith, United States, Astronomer and developer/user of [[Hugin]]/[[panotools]] and related imaging toolsets (e.g. [[Multi-Layer TIFF editing with the Gimp]], [http://turtle.as.arizona.edu/jdsmith/exposure_blend.php], [http://turtle.as.arizona.edu/im/mdr16])
* Keith Martin, London, UK[http://www.thesmallest.com/vr/]. VR photographer, MacUser magazine technical editor [http://www.macuser.co.uk/] and Senior Lecturer in Publishing, LCC, University of the Arts, London[http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/]
* Serge Maandag, Middelburg, Netherlands. Enthousiastic non profit user of VR panorama software and freetime photographer [http://www.360photo.org/]
* Landis Bennett, SF Bay Area, California, USA - VR Photographer, World Wide Panorama organizer [http://worldwidepanorama.com/], PanoTools user
* Giuseppe Rota, Brescia, Italy, author of Qtpfsgui [http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net].
* UKAI Ippei; Nagoya, Japan; developer/localiser of hugin, mainly worked on Mac OS X port; undergraduate Informatics student at The University of Edinburgh.
* Jean-François PARIS, France, freetime photographer. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfparis/sets/72157594246390232/]
* Roger Howard, technologist, community ambassador, and VR photographer
* Philippe Lainé, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France, VR Photographer and multimedia creator
* Petrus van der Merwe, Cape Town, South Africa, Multimedia developer & panorama photographer. User of Hugin and Panotools.
* G E Scott Knauss, Naples, Italy, Panoramic Photographer, User of Hugin and Panotools on Linux. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/immauss/sets/72157594345434375/]
* Matteo Brusa, Panotools user.
* Thomas Steiner, Hugin user; Vienna, Austria
* Alessandro Ugazio, Torino, Italy, freetime photographer [http://www.ziouga.it]
* Carl von Einem, Photographer, Panotools wiki contributor; Munich, Germany
* Timo Schnitzlein, tech translator annd amateur photographer, Munich, Germany
* Sara Caccivio, Firenze, Italy, Architect
* Tim Poulsen, Rochester, NY, web developer and amateur photographer [http://www.skypanther.com]
* Ira Machefsky, Englewood, NJ, amateur photographer and panoramist
* Michael Bajko, Waitakere City, Aotearoa/New Zealand; Actor, farmer, panographer.
* Sukry, Kuala Lumpur, Photographer/computer tech.[http://flickr.com/photos/kanyor/402829616/]
* Elfinn Færevåg, Amateur photographer.
* Bob Bright, Victoria, Canada, panographer & hugin user.
* Emmanuel Perez-Duarte, Paris, France, amateur user of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]], personal page: [http://flickr.com/photos/manuperez/]
* Tito Dupret, Multimedia Director, <WHTour.org>, [http://www.whtour.org/]
* Thomas Rauscher, Vienna, Austria, Software Developer, [http://www.pano2qtvr.com]
* Bernhard Vogl, Vienna, Austria, amateur, [http://www.austria-360.at]
* David Haberthür, Switzerland, amateur and avid user of hugin, [http://flickr.com/photos/habi/tags/hugin]
* Roberto Mancuso, Milano-Cividale del Friuli, Photographer/panographer
* Fiore Cappone, Cosenza, Italy, panophotographer [http://www.vrplace.com/]
* Nick Crossland, Sheffield, UK, web developer and pano photographer [http://www.panoptics.co.uk]
* Viktor Balogh, Kartal, Hungary, VR Photographer [http://vrphoto.hu/]
* Dominique Salino, freetime photographer, New Caledonia, PTGui user

[[Category:Community:Project]]

User:Serge

2007-12-14T14:43:01Z

Serge: /* Artwork */

== Full Name ==
Serge Maandag

== Interest ==
Playing around and enjoying creative approaches to problems.

== Current Kit ==
[http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042003nikond70s.asp Nikon D70s Camera] and a [http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/105fe.htm Nikkor 10.5mm lens] 
Manfrotto [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/op/preview/cache/offonce/pid/2275?livid=68%7C69&idx=71 055 CLB tripod] and [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/off/pid/2344?livid=80|81&idx=85 410 geared camera head] 
[http://www.nodalninja.com/nodal_ninja_3.html Nodal Ninja 3 panorama bracket]
A pair of [http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/life_online/Articles/a2002-07-02-computers_features_eyes.html good eyes] 

== Experience ==
I'm somewhat of a dinosaur on the panotools mailing list. I joined in 2001, at which time I did not know GUIs for the panorama tools existed. Therefore I painstakingly tought myself how to optimize and stitch using script files on a msdos command line. As soon as I had discovered PtGui, I gladly paid a few bucks for it and never used the command line scripting again. Lately I have begun trying the excellent [http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ hugin package]. Simply because it's fun doing it all with free tools.

== Artwork ==
My panorama home page is [http://www.360photo.org/ This one], it's sparsely updated and mainly shows my holiday panoramas. 
To see one of my more original approaches to view a panorama, click [[:Image:Serge_maandag_stacked_fotos.jpg | here]].

== Other Interests ==
3d photography. I take 2 images a few centimeters apart from each other, line them up on my computer and print them out as anaglyph images (red-blue glasses) or next to each other for parallel viewing. To line up the images I use the panorama tools optimizer. I'll add the procedure to this wiki later.

Common idiot errors

2007-07-23T19:03:50Z

Serge: Added some of my stupidities..

This is a page dedicated to Luca Vascon, who suggested to have a Hall of Fame for all of us who made some basic and very common errors and who can laugh about that...

=== Forgot to pull off the metal ring of the Sigma 8mm fisheye ===
Erik Krause

Michel Thoby

Michael Crane

Jim Dawson

Barry the Dunce

John Mitchener

Thomas Rauscher

Dave at 360Texas

Shop clerk at Foto SOBOTKA

=== Forgot to pull off the metal ring of the Sigma 8mm fisheye, even after years of experience ===

Luca Vascon

=== Forgot to shoot one of the 4 images and substituted with a mirrored one from the other 3 ===

Luca Vascon

=== No image tabs in Panorama Editor (PTGui)/No images checked in Create Pano Tab ===
Patrick Born

=== Forgot to check ISO setting at next event after shooting with high ISO at an evening event, resulting in horribly noisy panoramas ===

John Riley

Thomas Rauscher

Serge Maandag

=== Forgot to set the camera back to autofocus / jpg / p-mode while shooting normal images after shooting a panorama ===

Serge Maandag

=== Forgot to shoot the zenith ===

Serge Maandag (numerous times..)

[[Category:Community:People]]

Heads

2007-06-28T21:50:23Z

Serge: Rayonex? Is it really a trade name or a typo on a lot of webpages?

== Off the shelf ==

There are a number of panoramic tripod heads on the market, at widely varying prices.

=== Agnos ===

[http://www.agnos.com Agnos] - Italian manufacturer of panoramic heads and accesories for panoramic photography. I bought an adapter for my fc-e9 fisheye adapter and it is very well built and of a good quality. They will also release (if they didn't yet) a new solution for creating a spherical pano out of 3 pics taken at 120 degrees each with a DSLR rotated at 45 degrees (!).

=== Bogen/Manfrotto 303SPH ===

A more expensive option is the Bogen/Manfrotto 303SPH, a large, but well made head. It could double as a boat anchor! I (Rick) have the 303SPH and the Agnos mentioned below. Bogen has a site dedicated to their line of pano heads [http://www.manfrotto.com/303SPH/ Manfrotto 303SPH Mini-Site]. Some users complain that the head sags - I have not experienced this. This head can be used with virtually any lens / camera combination. I used to use it with the FC-E9 fisheye, but the head left too large of a footprint in the image. --[[User:Add360.com|Add360.com]] 03:21, 7 Nov 2005 (EST)

=== Jasper ===

For me, the [http://www.stereoscopy.com/jasper/panorama.html Jasper Engineering] head has been an excellent value. At about $200, it's strong enough for serious 35mm or comparable digital cameras, which can be used horizontally or (with the included adapter) vertically. [[Nodal Point]] correction is horizontal and covers a variety of focal lengths as long as (I'm guessing) 135mm or more. Like so many heads, a bubble level is included, but hard to read when the head is set up at eye level. The builder will add custom touches very reasonably, In my case I put a Wimberly/Arca quick realease plate on the base. The base is machined aluminum; they provided a peel and stick piece of rubber for the base (to keep the plate from slipping) for about ten bucks.

Pivoting parts on this unit are tightened with cap screws which have patent caps on them to give more leverage in tightening. I ended up prying these off and taking a t-handle allen wrench with me. I'm using a D-70 and a 17-35 usually; a smaller camera would be fine without that extra step.

=== Kaidan ===

[http://www.kaidan.com Kaidan] offers two tripod heads. The [http://www.kaidan.com/Detail.bok?no=146 KiWi] and [http://www.kaidan.com/products/QPIV.html QuickPan]. The KiWi when equipped with [http://www.kaidan.com/Detail.bok?no=148 Twin-Axis Bracket] will work for smaller cameras equipped with fisheye lenses. This is a single-row solution. Kaidan's QuickPan Spherical will allow for multirow panoramas with either rectilinear or fisheye lenses. The aforementioned Twin-Axis Bracket will also work on the QuickPan for single-row fisheye panoramas.

Kaidan is also due to release their QuickPan Professional tripod head in the early part of 2006.

=== Nodal Ninja ===
[http://www.NodalNinja.com/ Nodal Ninja] built by Fanotec, satisfies price (approx $199), quality, ease of use, and portability (less than 500 grams). Used by professionals and amateurs alike this is an easy to use full spherical panoramic tripod head. With this pano head you are able to produce single row 360 degree cylindrical panoramas, multirow 360x180 degree spherical panoramas, or mosaics. With the optional T-adapter you can mount your camera in Landscape mode as well as use many third party quick release plates.
This model does not support larger DSLR's like the D2X, Fuji S3 Pro or Canon Mark II type cameras or DSLR's using battery grips or larger lenses like the FC-E9 or the Rayonex (Raynox) lens. For these cameras Fanotec is developing the Nodal Ninja 5 due out est. August 2007.

=== Novoflex ===
[http://www.novoflex.com/ Novoflex] is a German company with a good reputation in building high-precision photographic accessories.
The company offers two already pre-assembled products:

The non-tiltable [http://www.novoflex.com/english/html/fr_esz8.htm Panorama VR System] for cylindrical panoramas.

The universal [http://www.novoflex.com/english/html/fr_esz10.htm Panorama VR Pro System] for spherical panoramas.

All parts are built modular to be combine- and interchangeable with others parts from Novoflex. E.g. you can use a standard angle bracket or focusing rack as a part of your panohead setup. This makes it easy to create a custom panorama head that fits your specific needs. Also, it gives you the option to upgrade your setup - or easily re-order a broken part.

=== 360Precision ===

The [http://www.360precision.com/ 360Precision] is a more expensive but very predictable panoramic head. At U.S. prices from $995-1095 for a single camera and lens setup, it is beyond the average user's price point. Its simple controls make it a very plausible option for those that make panoramas frequently and with the same equipment each time. The 360Precision heads are built to a specific body and specific lens combination, saving the photographer the need to find the entrance pupil for their lens and midpoint of the camera. Because of this, it is a very precise way to batch-create panoramas without needing to generate control points for each panorama. The sacrifice is that you lose the option of using a different combination of camera and lens with this head until you purchase an additional lens arm.

Although these limits may seem restrictive, the results are very, very predictable. Their suggested workflow is to calibrate a template in your software (hugin, PTGui, PTMac), and for every panorama afterward, apply the template and immediatly skip to stitching. This saves you the time spent in generating and correcting control points in each panorama. For those that can save significant amounts of time and/or money by doing this, this head truly is a life saver. The generation of the template can be time consuming but may save you hours upon hours of post processing time compared to other solutions.

It is possible to upgrade the 360Precision in modular ways, for instance if you decide to use a different lens for your panoramas, you can order just the lens arm you need, or if you decide to use a different camera for panoramas, you can order just the different camera leg and use the same lens arm.

=== KingPano, Panosaurus ===

Very affordable pan/tilt heads which allow horizontal and vertical rotation around the nodal point i.e. for [[high resolution partial panoramas|multi row panoramas]] are the, [http://gregwired.com/pano/Pano.htm Panosaurus] and [http://www.kingpano.com/ KingPano].

=== Pinnacle VR Universal Pano Head ===

Priced towards the upper end of the middle ($399) is the Pinnacle VR head that will work with any camera where the tripod hole is in the center of the lens axis. Using pin registration, it can accomodate cameras with or without battery grips attached and supports a wide range of lenses from fisheye to 135mm (on a full frame sensor, 80mm on an APS sized sensor). Details and sample sets of images with PTGui templates can be found at [http://www.pinnacle-vr.com/ Pinnacle VR]

=== RODEON VR Head ===
Professional, high precision, fully automatic, programmable pano head ( Very expensive ). The camera is tilted and rotated using motor control with high accuracy. found at [http://www.dr-clauss.de/RODEONVRHead_e.htm RODEON VR Head]

=== Reviews ===
Various unbias reviews are floating about on many of these panorama tripod heads:

'''360Precision''':
[http://www.360rage.com/panorama-hardware-item.php?i=2 360 Rage] |
[http://www.panoguide.com/forums/tipsntricks/2179 PanoGuide Forum] |
[http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/tutorial/index.asp?ID=40&pagename=360precision%20Adjuste Dr. Karl Harrison] |
[http://www.fromparis.com/html/technical_us_quicktime_vr_360precision_adjuste_head_part1.php Eric Rougier] |

'''Kaidan''':
[http://www.precomania.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=9277958/id_type=M Precomania] |
[http://www.vrphotography.com/data/pages/casestudies/vrheadreview1103.html VRPhotography] Note: This is an older review |

'''Manfrotto 303SPH''':
[http://www.rosaurophotography.com/html/panoramas/vr_review/303sph/303sph_review.html Rosauro Ona] |
[http://www.precomania.com/publicprofile.php/productreviews/userid=624974 Precomania] |
[http://www.vrphotography.com/data/pages/casestudies/vrheadreview1103.html VRPhotography] |

'''Nodal Ninja''':
[http://nodalninja.com/DPhotoUK_05_07_1024.jpg Digital Photographer Magazine] |
[http://www.rosaurophotography.com/html/panoramas/vr_review/nn3/nn3_review.html Rosauro Ona] |
[http://www.xyzcomputing.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1000&Itemid=2 Josh Korwin of XYZ Computing] |
[http://panoguide.com/forums/tipsntricks/1984 PanoGuide Forum] |
[http://www.fromparis.com/html/technical_us_quicktime_vr_small_nadir_hole.php Eric Rougier] |
[http://www.pixelmania.nl/artikel.aspx?rubriekid=2&artikelid=301 Pixelmania (dutch)] |
[http://www.360rage.com/panorama-hardware-item.php?i=9 360 Rage] |
[http://www.galerie-photo.com/panoramique-nodal-ninja.html Thierry Rebours (french)] |
[http://www.camera2go.nl/readarticle.php?article_id=11 Cameraportal (dutch)] | Coming Soon - Reviews by: Ken Rockwell.com, Zoom.nl, Ellis Vener, Dr. Karl Harrison

'''Novoflex''':
[http://www.360rage.com/panorama-hardware-item.php?i=12 360 Rage] |

'''Panosaurus''':
[http://www.tawbaware.com/panosaurus_review.htm Tabaware] |
[http://panoramicearth.blogspot.com/2006/06/part-2-panorsaurus-head-review.html Peter Watts] |
[http://www.panoguide.com/forums/qna/2467 Panoguide forum] |

== Lens brackets ==
Another way to keep the lens/camera fixed to the [[no-parallax point]] are lens brackets that directly mounted onto the lens itself. The advantages are less vibrations but the drawback is that you need one bracket for each lens.

Some examples:

* Agnos [http://www.agnos.com/catalogo.htm?v_categ_lista=PR001-RINGT Lens ring]
* Laser cut wooden brackets form [http://www.bophoto.com/bracket/ Pano Bracket from bophoto]
* Self made bracket [http://homepage.mac.com/wkaemena/Nikon8Head.jpg Willy Kaemena]

== Self made ==

If you want to build our own pan/tilt head you might get some ideas from those shown below.

Multirow
* [http://www.einem.net/~dersch/heliarVR/heliarVR0.html Helmut Dersch]
* [http://www.erik-krause.de/panohead Erik Krause]
* [http://www.trozzreaxxion.net/misc/panorama/panorama.html Mike Runge (German)]
* [http://blog.robertbreuer.com/?p=16 Robert Breuer (German)]
* [http://www.dffe.at/panohead/ Bernhard Vogl]
* [http://www.nyfeler-mueller.ch/MonoPodHead/QTVR/MonopodHeadQTVR.html Peter Nyfeler/Monopod]
* [http://www.nyfeler-mueller.ch/PanoHeadMulti/PanoHeadMulti.html Peter Nyfeler/Tripod]
* [http://www.chem.uky.edu/xray/people/Parkin/panohead/panohead.html Sean Parkin (English)]
Single row
* [http://www.heiliger-net.de/panphoto/n_hardware.htm Panphoto.de (German)]

[[Category:Hardware]]

ChristmasBallPanoTutor

2007-03-21T18:07:00Z

Serge: Added interactive pano

== Creating a [[PanoRama|panorama]] from a christmas ball reflection ==

=== Intro ===

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to create a full spherical panorama is by photographing a mirror ball. The easiest source for a mirror ball is probably the collection of christmas balls on your attic, so that is what we are going to use in this tutorial.

=== Requirements ===
To make your own christmas ball panorama the way I do it in this tutorial, you'll need a christmas ball, a camera and some software. Read on.
==== The camera ====
You can of course use a digital camera or you can use an anolog one and scan the results. What matters only, is that you'll probably want to use a camera with some zooming capacity. Since you are photographing a mirror, the camera and it's tripod (or you) will be in the reflection. The further away the camera is, the less it blocks the view. Also, the larger the Field of View (FoV) of your resulting image will be.

==== The christmas ball ====
The christmas ball should be as perfectly round as possible to minimize distortion. Of course it should be as reflective and color free as possible, but it also helps a lot if the reflective layer is the top layer of the ball. Using a big ball will give your panorama a better resolution. It will also allow you to position your camera further away from the ball. A tiny ball will generally give you a bigger FoV and it can give the viewer of the panorama the feeling that he is a tiny person in a weird big world.

==== Software ====
I use [http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html Adobe Photoshop] for this tutorial. Basically any version of Adobe [[Photoshop]] will work, as long as it supports the [[Panorama Tools Plugins]]. You can perhaps do it just as well with other software than [[Photoshop]]. If you do not have it, follow closely what I do and find a way to do it alternatively. Even better, add it your procedure to this tutorial. Of course you need the [[Panorama tools]] too. Optionally you can also use the [http://www.flamingpear.com/flexify.html Flexify plugin from Flaming Pear] for the conversion.

=== Photographing the christmas ball ===
To get the least amount of distortion, be sure to point the hanging mechanism of the ball on the opposite side of the camera. Apart from that, use your imagination.
Photograph it and load up the resulting photo in Photoshop. For this tutorial I assumed you photographed the ball from straight above.

=== Converting the picture to an equirectangular image ===
First of all flip the image horizontally, because it is mirrored. Secondly crop it to a square so the edge of the ball touches the edge of of the image on all 4 sides.
Finding the edge of the ball is hard, since what you see directly around the ball is per definition exactly the same as what you see in the ball. It is after all a mirror.. Your cropped image should look like this:

[[Image:Christmas_ball_cropped.jpg|left|thumb|Cropped to the edges]]

While this looks like a [[Fisheye Projection]] image, it certainly is not. First of all the FoV is close to 360 degrees, which is very uncommon for a fisheye image. Secondly, with a fisheye the number of degrees covered in the image with each millimeter you move away from the center is the same. That is a difficult sentence, so I'll give an example: Say you draw a circle with a diameter of 1 cm from the center of the image and that cicle covers 10 degrees FoV. Then a circle with a diameter of 2 cm will have a FoV of 2 x 10 = 20 degrees. And so on.

With this reflection, this is not the case. In the center part of the image the rule more or less holds, but as you get nearer to the edge of the ball, more and more degrees are crammed into a mm. Therefore you can not simply defish this image, but you'll have to convert it from "convex mirror" or "mirror ball" to [[Equirectangular Projection]].
To convert it you can use the [[Panorama Tools Plugins]] or the flexify plugin from Flaming Pear.
 

===== Convert using The Panorama Tools plugins =====
# From the Photoshop menu, choose Filter - Panorama Tools - Remap.
# Set HFoV and VFoV to 360 degrees. Set ''Convert From'' to ''Convex mirror'' and set ''Convert To'' to ''PSphere.'' (A PSphere is the same as equirectangular)
# Click ''Prefs'' in the upper right corner, uncheck option a and check options b and c. Make sure the textbox of option c holds the path to the photoshop program itself. The result of the remap will make the image twice as wide as it is high, but photoshop does not allow plugins to alter the image size. Therefore we need to save the image and reopen it.
# Click ''OK.''

===== Convert using the Flexify plugin from Flaming Pear =====
# From the photoshop menu, choose ''Filter - Flaming Pear - Flexify.''
# Set ''input'' to ''mirror ball'' and ''output'' to ''equirectangular.'' Set ''Latitude'' to 0, ''Longitude'' and ''Spin'' to 90 and ''Glue'' to ''normal.''
# Click ''OK.'' What you will get is the same output the panorama tools would have given, only the width of the image is condensed by a factor 2. This is because Photoshop does not allow the Flexify filter to change the image dimensions.
# From the photoshop menu, choose ''Image - Image Size.'' uncheck ''constrain proportions'' and double the image width.

===== The Result of the conversion =====
What you should have now is an equirectangular image with the center of the camera exactly in the upper row of pixels, like this:

[[Image:Christmas_ball_equirectangular_wrong_fov.jpg|left|thumb|400px|converted to equirectangular projection]]

If you used the [[Panorama Tools Plugins]] for the conversion, you may have an image that is one pixel too wide. It's a bug in the Panorama Tools. Use the Image - Image Size dialog to check if the horizontal size is exactly twice the vertical size. If not make it so by altering the horizontal size. Make sure ''Constrain Proportions'' is unchecked.
 

=== Fixing the Field of View (optional) ===

You can skip this part if you are not looking for optimal results. I don't, because if you skip it, you might have a sort of barrel distorted panorama.

Unless you shot the ball at at a distance that is infinitely larger than the diameter of the ball, your FoV will not be 360 degrees. It will be less, but usually not much.
you can actually calculate the resulting FoV. You do it like this:

FoV = 360 - 2 * arcsin ( d / (2 * s) )

With d being the diameter of the ball and s being the distance of the camera lens to the center of the ball. Make sure that arcsin returns degrees, not radials.

If you don't like to do calculations, just guess. Try 340 degrees.

We are going the use result you got from the calculation to correct the FoV of the image. Let's pretend you got 340 degrees FoV.
That means 360-340=20 degrees are missing in the equirectangular image. That 20 degrees is the view right behind the ball. It will be directly opposite to the center of your camera lens. In your equirectangular image, that will be the bottom part of your image. we are going to fill it with black.

In an [[Equirectangular Projection|equirectangular]] image, The height of the image is directly proportional to the vertical FoV. The horizontal FoV of your image is 360 degrees, but the vertical FoV is not 180 degrees like in a full equirectangular image. Therefore the vertical size of this image should not be half the horizontal size, but a bit less. We are going to scale it by a factor 340/360. So grab your calculator and change the vertical size (Image - Image Size dialog) to 340/360 * old_size. So if your image has a vertical size of 720 pixels, change it to 720 * 340/360 = 680 pixels. Again, make sure ''Constrain Proportions'' is unchecked.

Now we have an equirectangular image that is not twice as wide as it is high, but most [[Panorama Viewers]] require it to be. To fix that we enlargen the image, filling the extra part with black. From the [[Photoshop]] menu, choose Image - Canvas size. Click the middle upper arrow and change the height to half the size of the width. Set canvas extension color to black. Click OK.

And there you are. Your first christmas ball panorama. It should look something like this:

[[Image:Christmas_ball_equirectangular_filled.jpg|center|thumb|800px|Final equirectangular version]]

Note I did not fill it with black, but with purple. Only to show what part was filled up by the canvas size change.

Below this line you can see an interactive example of the image above. Drag the mouse in the image to look around, use ctrl and shift to zoom. My christmas ball was far from round, as you can see :(

<center>
<pano file="Christmas_ball_equirectangular_filled.jpg" width="350" height="200" viewer="ptviewer"/>
</center>

=== Saving and viewing the results ===

Save the image as [[JPEG]] and choose a viewer to see your panorama. For a choice of viewers, check the [[Software|software]] page. [[PTViewer]] would be a good example of a small, easy to use panorama viewer.

=== Notes ===

I will make some additions describing how to act if you have not shot the ball from straight above.

--[[User:Serge|Serge]] 21:35, 18 Dec 2004 (EST)

[[Category:Tutorial:Nice to know]]

Edit zenith and nadir in one go with PTGui

2007-03-21T18:07:00Z

Serge: fixed some typo's

== General ==

Here I show you a fast way to retouch zenith and nadir in one go. 
Use this method only if you have a proper stitched panorama and only 
the top (zenith) and bottom (nadir) areas need some retouching. 
Otherwise use other technics as described under 
[[Extracting and inserting rectilinear Views]] and [[How to use PTEditor]]. 
 
 
 

== Workflow ==

=== Remap to zenith and nadir view ===
 
 
Open PTGui and add one spherical panorama. As you can see the source pano is 6000 x 3000 pixels in size: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_001.jpg]] 
 
 
 
On the '''''Lens Setting''''' tab add the yellow highlighted values: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_002.jpg]] 
 
 
 
On the '''''Panorama Settings''''' tab add the yellow highlighted values: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_003.jpg]] 
 
 
 
On the '''''Image parameters''''' tab add the yellow highlighted values and you can immediately see the remapping of the image: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_004.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Enable '''''Lock aspect ratio''''', press '''''Set optimum size''''' button and compare the values with the original size of the panorama. 
Choose as output file format '''''TIFF (.tif)''''' for fewer quality loss. Press '''''Create Panorama!''''' to start the remapping process: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_005.jpg]] 
 
 
 
You don't have to add control points and optimize in this case, so press '''''OK'''''. 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_006.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Now you can see the familiar progress bar of Panotools: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_007.jpg]] 
 
 
 

=== Retouching zenith and nadir in one go ===
 
Here you see the remapped panorama opened in Photoshop. The yellow circles mark zenith and nadir as nearly flat regions. 
It is now much easier to retouch these regions. 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_008.jpg]] 
 
 
 

=== Remapping back to normal view ===
 
Open the retouched panorama again in PTGui with the same values under '''''Lens Settings''''' and '''''Panorama Settings'''''. 
Fill in the yellow highlighted values under '''''Yaw''''' and '''''Roll'''''. 
The '''''Warped''''' view changes imediately to the original projection. 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_010.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Change the values as below, alter output file name to your needs and press '''''Create Panorama!''''' 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_011.jpg]] 
If you want the best possible quality, follow the next steps. Otherwise you are done here. 
 
 
 

== Merging with most quality ==

Open the retouched, spherical pano in Photoshop and take a look at the layer palette. 
Drag and drop the background layer over the '''''new layer''''' icon to make a copy of it: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_012.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Here you can see an additional layer as copy of the background. 
Now drag and drop background layer over the '''''recycle bin''''' icon at the bottom of the 
layer palette to delete it: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_013.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Rename the existing layer to '''''zenith and nadir''''' by double clicking its layer name: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_014.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Choose the '''''Marquee Tool''''' and change the feather width to 40: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_015.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Set the grid under '''''Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grids & Slices > Gridline every''''' to '''50%''' 
and '''''Subdivison''''' to '''1'''. Left click the grid cross in the middle of the pano and drag the selection 
square to the most right side by holding '''''Alt''''' key until it looks like the image below and then release the left 
mouse button: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_016.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Press '''''Delete''''' key that only zenith and nadir region of the retouched pano will stay: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_017.jpg]] 
To delete the rectangle selection, press Ctrl+D. 
 
 
 
 
Open the original pano. Switch to the retouched pano and press '''''Ctrl+A''''' to select the whole image. 
Change to '''''Move Tool''''' and drag and drop the retouched pano over the original 
pano by holding '''''Shift''''' key to align it proper. 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_018.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Now you can see two layers in the original file, the original background layer and 
on top of that, the dropped layer. 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_019.jpg]] 
 
 
 
Flatten these layers to background under '''''Layer > Flatten Image''''' : 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_020.jpg]] 
 
 
 
You are done now, but don't forget to save the panorama with a different name: 
 
[[Image:PTGUIret_021.jpg]] 
 
 
 
[[User:Pitdavos|Peter Nyfeler]] (Pitdavos)

[[Category:Tutorial:Nice to know]]

SoC2007 Supporters

2007-03-06T21:31:36Z

Serge: /* Individuals */

'''instructions'''
* if you don't have one yet, [http://wiki.panoramatools.org/Special:Userlogin open a Panotools wiki account]
* Log in with your Panotools wiki account
* find below which category better fits you
* click on the edit link next to the category title
* add your entry as a bullet point at the end of the page (see the examples above you)
* enter your name, place and role in the panoramic community
* if possible, add a link to some relevant panoramic work next to your name

==The following organizations and users support the Open Source developers in their efforts to become a mentoring organization for Google's Summer of Code 2007:==

===Organizations===

===Individuals===
hdri, paris, france
* Yuval Levy, Québec, Canada, photographer [http://www.photopla.net/060825montpellier/]
* Bruno Postle, UK. Designer/engineer, user of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]]. Panotools wiki contributor [http://www.bruno.postle.net/panorama/].
* Roger Williams, Japan. Photographer [http://www.usefilm.com/member/roger/], user of [[panotools]].
* Jeffrey Martin, Czech Republic. Photographer, user of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]]. [http://www.prague360.com]
* Ken Turkowski, United States, scientist and developer of panorama software, including [[QuickTime VR]] and [[DeFish]]. [http://www.worldserver.com/turk], [http://www.realitypixel.com]
* Mark Fink, United States, photographer [http://northernlight.net], Universal pano head developer [http://pinnacle-vr.com]
* Toni Garbasso, Roma, Italy, photographer [http://www.studioargento.com/]
* Pip Price, Photographer, UK, [http://pipsqueakmedia.biz], creator of Peak District View [http://peakdistrictview.com]
* Claudio Lanconelli, Ravenna, Italy, photographer, user of [[hugin]] [http://www.viaggioinromagna.it]
* Jim Watters, Canada, Photographer [http://photocreations.ca] and software developer and contributer to [[panotools]]
* Luis Roberto De León, Monterrey, Mexico. photographer and multimedia creator (www.solucionesvisuales.com)
* Milko Amorth, Vancouver, Canada, VR Photography [http://www.vrcanada.ca/]
* Pierre Converset, Séné, France, peintre et photographe.
* Geoffrey Morelle, Tourcoing, France, Photographer [http://www.geoffreymorelle.com/]
* John J Housser, Canada, VR Photographer [http://housser.ca/], User of [[panotools]] and [[hugin]] in panoramic photography workshops using open-source software [http://housser.ca/?content=view_vr&id=152]
* Waleed Nassar, Cairo, Egypt, VR Photographer [http://www.madeena360.com/]
* Jérôme Muffat-Méridol, Paris, France, Photographer [http://www.webphotomag.com/]
* Luca Zampieri, Roma, Italy, photographer [http://www.studiothema.it/]
* Uri Cogan, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, Artist [http://www.uricogan.com/]
* Vincent Massy, Grimentz, Suisse, utilisateur panotools
* Sebastian Nowozin, Germany. Author of autopano-sift [http://cs.tu-berlin.de/~nowozin/autopano-sift/]
* Eric Verdier, Zacatecas, Mexico, architecte photographer,[http://www.ledetour.com/]
* Eduardo Hutter, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Panotools user
* J.D. Smith, United States, Astronomer and developer/user of [[Hugin]]/[[panotools]] and related imaging toolsets (e.g. [[Multi-Layer TIFF editing with the Gimp]], [http://turtle.as.arizona.edu/jdsmith/exposure_blend.php], [http://turtle.as.arizona.edu/im/mdr16])
* Keith Martin, London, UK[http://www.thesmallest.com/vr/]. VR photographer, MacUser magazine technical editor [http://www.macuser.co.uk/] and Senior Lecturer in Publishing, LCC, University of the Arts, London[http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/]
* Serge Maandag, Middelburg, Netherlands. Enthousiastic non profit user of VR panorama software and freetime photographer [http://pano.maandag.com/]

User:Serge

2007-02-15T19:20:42Z

Serge:

== Full Name ==
Serge Maandag

== Interest ==
Playing around and enjoying creative approaches to problems.

== Current Kit ==
[http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042003nikond70s.asp Nikon D70s Camera] and a [http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/105fe.htm Nikkor 10.5mm lens] 
Manfrotto [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/op/preview/cache/offonce/pid/2275?livid=68%7C69&idx=71 055 CLB tripod] and [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/off/pid/2344?livid=80|81&idx=85 410 geared camera head] 
[http://www.nodalninja.com/nodal_ninja_3.html Nodal Ninja 3 panorama bracket]
A pair of [http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/life_online/Articles/a2002-07-02-computers_features_eyes.html good eyes] 

== Experience ==
I'm somewhat of a dinosaur on the panotools mailing list. I joined in 2001, at which time I did not know GUIs for the panorama tools existed. Therefore I painstakingly tought myself how to optimize and stitch using script files on a msdos command line. As soon as I had discovered PtGui, I gladly paid a few bucks for it and never used the command line scripting again. Lately I have begun trying the excellent [http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ hugin package]. Simply because it's fun doing it all with free tools.

== Artwork ==
My panorama home page is [http://pano.maandag.com This one], it's sparsely updated and mainly shows my holiday panoramas. 
To see one of my more original approaches to view a panorama, click [[:Image:Serge_maandag_stacked_fotos.jpg | here]].

== Other Interests ==
3d photography. I take 2 images a few centimeters apart from each other, line them up on my computer and print them out as anaglyph images (red-blue glasses) or next to each other for parallel viewing. To line up the images I use the panorama tools optimizer. I'll add the procedure to this wiki later.

User:Serge

2007-02-15T19:19:45Z

Serge:

== Full Name ==
Serge Maandag

== Interest ==
Playing around and enjoying creative approaches to problems.

== Current Kit ==
[http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042003nikond70s.asp Nikon D70s Camera] and a [http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/105fe.htm Nikkor 10.5mm lens] 
Manfrotto [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/op/preview/cache/offonce/pid/2275?livid=68%7C69&idx=71 055 CLB tripod] and [http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/off/pid/2344?livid=80|81&idx=85 410 geared camera head 
[http://www.nodalninja.com/nodal_ninja_3.html Nodal Ninja 3 panorama bracket]
A pair of [http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/life_online/Articles/a2002-07-02-computers_features_eyes.html good eyes] 

== Experience ==
I'm somewhat of a dinosaur on the panotools mailing list. I joined in 2001, at which time I did not know GUIs for the panorama tools existed. Therefore I painstakingly tought myself how to optimize and stitch using script files on a msdos command line. As soon as I had discovered PtGui, I gladly paid a few bucks for it and never used the command line scripting again. Lately I have begun trying the excellent [http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ hugin package]. Simply because it's fun doing it all with free tools.

== Artwork ==
My panorama home page is [http://pano.maandag.com This one], it's sparsely updated and mainly shows my holiday panoramas. 
To see one of my more original approaches to view a panorama, click [[:Image:Serge_maandag_stacked_fotos.jpg]].

== Other Interests ==
3d photography. I take 2 images a few centimeters apart from each other, line them up on my computer and print them out as anaglyph images (red-blue glasses) or next to each other for parallel viewing. To line up the images I use the panorama tools optimizer. I'll add the procedure to this wiki later.

WP:User Guidelines

2006-10-25T20:50:33Z

Serge: typo stuff

''' Project Team '''
[mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au Kathy Wheeler],
[mailto:einem@gmx.de Carl von Einem],
[mailto:joel.foner@fonerassoc.com Joel A. Foner],
[mailto:panoramas@socal.rr.com Pat Swovelin],
[mailto:roger@adex-japan.com Roger D. Williams],
[mailto:yahoo@maandag.com Serge Maandag]
[mailto:erik.krause@gmx.de Erik Krause]

'''E-Mail to the [mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au,einem@gmx.de,joel.foner@fonerassoc.com,panoramas@socal.rr.com,roger@adex-japan.com,yahoo@maandag.com,erik.krause@gmx.de?subject=%5BWorkingParty%5D Team]
'''

= User Guidelines =

The PanoTools List Guidelines (this document) aims to provide the List members and moderators a clear framework within which the List may operate for the benefit of our Panoramic Community. The document consists of two parts: The actual '''guidelines''' which are more of recommendations and the '''responsibilities''' which have legal character and will have serious consequences if violated.

==Introduction==

The Panotools Community currently operates two main lists on Yahoo groups - [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG PanotoolsNG] and [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoTools-List Panotools-List]. There are more special topic lists which serve as a communication forum for planning meetings (panotools-meeting), development (panotools-devel at souceforge) etc.

''PanotoolsNG'' was set up to provide a home for open discussion of the creation and display of panoramas, panoramic images and associated technologies. Topics range from artistic appreciation and aims to heavily technical discourses.

We have members with a wide range of experiences and the newcomer is asked not to be intimidated by the level of some discussions. There is a saying "there is no such thing as a stupid question - just occasionally stupid answers."

''Panotools-List'' however has been set up to discuss the future of the PanoTools yahoo group - management issuess, political issues and potentially controversial issues.

Both lists have their own separate culture, characters, acceptable subjects and recommended usage Guidelines. Please review them before posting.

==Joint common ground==

Our goal is to make this list a fun, informative and useful place for ALL participants. In order to keep the list a good environment for learning and communication, we ask that you follow a few simple and obvious guidelines.
These guidelines are based on both Internet standards and successful group guidelines for many other large email and other communities on the 'net: Please...

* '''use a meaningful subject'''. With a load of 20 to 30 messages a day it is not easy to read them all. A decent subject line helps to adress the person who can help. "Help" or "I'm frustrated" f.e. are not meaningful subjects.
* '''mark off-topic threads'''. Sometimes it might be interesting to post something that is off topic. It is a nice custom to mark such subject lines with a preceding [OT]. It might be of interest to use more such tags: [CP] (critics please), [OS] (only showing) or the like...
* '''change the subject line if the subject changes'''. Often the subject changes during a discussion. Please mark those changes with a new subject line. It would be good to quote the old subject in order to know where the subject line comes from: "<new subject> (was: <old subject>)"
* '''don't start an entirely NEW thread by changing the subject line'''. Please don't simply press "Reply" in an unrelated message if you want to start a new thread. A hidden reference in the mail header will link your post to the unrelated thread - making it invisible to someone with a threading mail client who set this thread to "ignore" or who sorts by newest threads.
* '''use plain text for messages'''. Many users read the list in plain text format. No need for fancy formatting.
* '''only quote what you are replying to''' This is especially necessary if you read the digest version. There is absolutely no point in quoting the whole digest only to write a sentence or two. Please quote the relevant paragraphs only. Please use quoting characters (> at the beginning of a line) and don't indent quoted paragraphs, since it might be necessary to quote several instances of a message. Also, please put your reply to the quoted text below it, it's far less confusing then replying above the quoted text.
* '''keep in mind you are posting to a forum''' Your post will probably be read by a lot of users, not only the one you reply to. Read your post again before sending and check whether it is potentially useful to the whole list. If not reply privately.
* '''limit your footers / signatures'''. Yahoo automatically adds footer material and brief messages may get lost in the clutter! Limit your footer to 4 lines if possible.
* '''don't rely on the sense of humour''' This is an international list and a non-native speaker might not spot the subtleties of the english language. Even a native speaker might have a different sense of humor. Please mark questionable paragraphs with appropriate tags or smilies: <g> for grin, :-) for smile, ;-) for irony etc...
* '''don't feed the Trolls''' If you find a posting that is designed intentionally to annoy, to antagonize or to cause trouble please ignore it. Don't reply, not even "Stop this" or alike. The less replies a Troll get's the sooner he goes away. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll Wikipedia:Internet Troll] for details.

== List specific issues ==

===Panotools-List===

''Panotools-List'' is the so called "political list". It's mainly for discussions about the other panotools lists future and policy. It probably will get heated. To avoid unnecessary flame wars: Please...

* '''always keep the purpose of this list in mind''' We want to make the panotoolsNG list a better place.
* '''try to be as neutral as possible''' To decry unqualified doesn't help anyone - critics should be constructive.

===PanotoolsNG===

* '''keep the list on topic'''. We are here to discuss PanoTools, panoramic imaging, and techniques, technologies, and other developments that directly feed into these subjects. If a thread gets too far off topic expect the listmoms to step in to steer it back on track. Respect this action, and if you have an objection take it up with the listmoms in private.

* '''all posts should have a civil tone''' Flamewars will not be tolerated.

** If you have a problem with the subject, tone or content of a message, or a problem with any other members behavior, you must contact the list admins directly. No discussion on list will be tolerated - sparking entire threads about a message you believe is off-topic or inappropriate is an action that itself is off-topic, inappropriate and possibly trolling.

** All members will get a first warning and any further misbehavior may be dealt with by moderation or banning with no further interaction.

* '''be ethical in your postings'''. This means you should make clear all professional interests in a subject you comment on - for instance, reviewing a piece of hardware that you happen to sell, or trashing software of a competitor - to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

* '''do not post commercial announcments to the list''' without first consulting the list admins. If approved you will likely be given a blanket approval for future postings as the old list regulars already have.

* '''use content warnings''' - If you post a message that links to content that may be controversial because of political, sexual or other themes, please note that in your message. ''No debates about these themes will be tolerated on the list'', however if you have content - panoramas - that are relevant to the list, we welcome you linking to them even if they have controversial themes.

== Moderators ==

Both Panotools-List and PanotoolsNG have a number of moderators to spread the responsibilities and provide a democratic decision making entity. They are asked not to act unilaterally. Moderators should be familiar with the range of acceptable material, topics and culture of their lists.

===Moderators Responsibilities ===

The Moderators should be patient and calm and rely on the groups self cleaning property in the first place. A healthy group can cope with a certain amount of trouble and rule breaches. The Moderators only should intervene,
* in case of a flame war
* if a member is reluctant to stop causing trouble
* immediately in very serious cases

The main goal of a moderator should be to encourage anyone to post to the group and to do that without fear some rule could have been broken.

=== Moderators Authorities ===

List Moderators are empowered to take action where a breach of the List rules has or is likely to occur, or an issue has arisen that gives cause for concern. One or more actions, including but not limited to the list below, may be undertaken to resolve the situation:

* Contact the group member and/or the List-admin to discuss the apparently inappropriate behavior and steps to resolve it
* Remove posts from the discussion group list/archive
* Temporarily moderate (ie the moderators review the messages before they are posted)
* In extreme cases temporarily change the entire group privileges from ''unmoderated'' posting to ''moderated''
* Temporarily ban a specific user or users from posting to the group
* Permanently remove a specific user or users from the group

If a serious issue arises, the moderator will first attempt to reach other moderators immediately for ''second opinions'' (a separat mailing list for the moderators exists). If this is not possible in an appropriate time frame, the moderator is empowered to take proactive action, to be followed by peer review by the whole moderators group. Where a moderator has acted in good faith and subsequently had the action overturned by the peer review no individual recriminations will be tolerated.

== Related Links ==
# The official [http://rfc.net/rfc1855.html RFC 1855] '''Internet Netiquette'''
# [http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html Yahoo's] group guidelines
# [http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html learn to quote]
# [http://tinyurl.com/ tinyurl.com] to get '''shorter URLs''' for posting

= Responsibilities =
Other than the above guidelines, where only repeated violations will have serious consequences, the following responsibilities are obligatory. No violation will be tolerated.

== Archives, Repostings ==

# The community encourages the creation of public archives of [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG PanotoolsNG], provided that they respect the following conditions:
## Only [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG PanotoolsNG] members are allowed to run a public archive.
## Archives must respect author Copyright as stated in the YahooGroup T&C.
## Archives must protect author privacy to a standard equal to or higher than the original mailing list.
## Archives must carry the list in its entirety, subordinated to author's Copyright.
## The origin of any single message must be visible.
## Archives may not censor, edit, reply, comment, mix or otherwise alter the text of messages or the flow of events on the original mailing list.
# Due to the transitory nature of [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoTools-List Panotools-List], the community expressly forbid the publication of an archive of that msiling list, other than the original at YahooGroup.

Panotools Bylaws

2006-10-07T22:55:10Z

Serge: fixed some typo's

=Process=
# Everybody is welcome to give feedback on and discuss each and every provision in the by-laws within the given time frame.
# The place to give feedback is [http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Panotools-List/ Panotools-List].
# Please give feedback on an open thread or on the latest version of the draft only.
# Newer versions of the draft will be published on the wiki and announced here.
# When starting a new thread, please quote the relevant provision, not the whole text. To facilitate references, provisions are numbered.
# If a provision is already declared closed marked by a (C) next to the provision number, state in your initial comment that you request to re-open a provision and state the reason for your request. I reserve judgment on whether to re-open the provision or refuse the change request. Coming late to the party is not a good reason to reopen a provision.
# One issue = one mailing list thread. If you have more than one issue, please don't group them. Instead start many threads.
# Typos and other minor edits can be forwarded to me directly. No need to clog the mailing list. Express in public feedback on provisions that you want publicly discussed.
# I will strive to solicit feedback from the group at large issue by issue, thread by thread, and to bring each thread to a closure/compromise. If after a reasonable amount of time there is no feedback/discussion, I will declare a provision closed.
# I will declare a thread/provision closed and amend the draft with its conclusions when I will have reasonable indication that the issue has been thoroughly discussed.
# When all threads / provisions are closed, I will officially turn the document to the elected moderators. If they accept it, they will automatically become the initial board of the Verein. If they reject it, we are back to the drawing board.
# If the elected moderators will accept the draft a vote will be held on PanotoolsNG asking the membership at large if they want to transfer ownership of the list to the new entity. If they reject it, we are back to the drawing board.
# If we made it until here, we are done.

=Timeline=
* Provision that have not been given feedback on by '''October 13''' will be declared closed.
* Discussions on open provisions will be tentatively scheduled to last one week. If the discussion does not come to a closure, they will be extended.
* The intention is to finalize this document '''by November 1'''.

=By-Laws=
== Art. 1 Name, Office and Business Year ==

(1.1) Under the name "PanoTools IG" - Verein Panotools Interest Group
- referred to as "Verein" in the following text - exists a Verein
according to Articles 60ff of the Swiss Civil Law Book.

(1.2) Main Office of the Verein is the residence of the President.

(1.3) The business year is the calender year.

(1.4) Official communications within the Verein is in English.

== Art. 2 Objectives, Means and Tasks ==

(2.1) The Objective of the Verein is to enable the non-profit exchange, collection and distribution of Knowledge related to Panorama Photography

(2.2) A mailing list open to all civilly behaved interested persons is
the main but not exclusive means for Knowledge exchange. The mailing
list will be operated by the Verein on the free YahooGroup
infrastructure.

(2.3) A wiki open to all interested persons is the main but not
exclusive means for Knowledge collection and distribution. The wiki
will be operated on an appropriate infrastructure to be defined by
the
Verein's board and to be enshrined in these bylaws soon after
implementation.

(2.4) The Verein will obtain, maintain and if necessary finance
the IT
infrastructure necessary to operate the mailing list and the wiki.

(2.5) The Verein can consider additional means to forward its
objective.

(2.6) The Verein has an exclusively non-profit objective.

(2.7) The Verein may raise money to forward its objective.

(2.8) The Verein may channel its funds to other entities and
projects as long as the funds are committed to the same objective as
the Verein.

== Art. 3 Membership ==

(3.1) The Verein has two classes of membership: members and honorary
members.

(3.2) Any natural or juridical person can become a member by joining
the Verein's mailing list.

(3.3) ''Deleted''.

(3.4) Board members can nominate honorary members based on their
merit
and achievement in the Panotools community.

== Art.4 Rights and Duties of Members ==

(4.1) All members have the right to participate in the Verein's
activities, including the mailing list and the wiki. Moreover they
have the right to propose a motion to the Board.

(4.2) All members are obliged to support the Verein in its Objective
by making appropriate use of the Verein's infrastructure.

(4.3) All members have a duty to insure that their contact
information
in the mailing list is current. The Verein declines all
responsibility
for failure of any member to maintain current contact information,
particularly in the case that the member did not receive important
communication from the Verein and couldn't exercise his/her right
to vote.

(4.4) All members have the right to elect and be elected to the
Verein's organs and the right to vote and address the General
Assembly.

(4.5) ''Deleted''.

== Art. 5 Begin and End of Membership ==

(5.1) Membership must be applied for to the Board by applying to join
the Panotools_GA Mailing List. Only in exceptional cases can the
Board
refuse membership. The Board has no obligation to explain its
decision. The rejected applicant can request a review of the
application by the General Assembly. The General Assembly's decision
is final.

(5.2) Membership is terminated by voluntary termination (quitting the
Panotools_GA mailing list), expulsion, death of the member or loss of
legal capacity.

(5.3) Voluntary termination is effective whenever the member wishes.

(5.4) Expulsion of a member with immediate effect can be decided by
the Board for important reasons when the member offends repeatedly
and
in significant manner these bylaws, the policies or the interests or
objective of the Verein. The Board decides on an expulsion with a two
thirds majority. Before the decision, the offending member is given
two weeks time to refute the allegations. Expelled members can
file an
objection with the General Assembly within thirty days of the
expulsion. The objection is decided upon at the next General Assembly
by simple majority. The objecting member as well as the Board has the
right to address the General Assembly prior to the vote. The General
Assembly's decision is final.

(5.5) All claims for membership are void in case of termination. No
refund of donations nor other compensation of any kind will be due to
the terminated or expelled member.

== Art. 6 Membership fees ==

(6.1) There are no mandatory membership fees.

== Art. 7 Organs of the Verein ==

(7.1) The Verein has a
* General Assembly
* Board
* Auditors

== Art. 8 The General Assembly ==

(8.1) The General Assembly is the highest organ of the Verein. It
will
decide the most important issues of the Verein. In particular, it
must
fulfill the following tasks which it can't delegate:
* Elect the Board and the Auditors
* Approve the yearly report and the audit report
* Approve the budget
* Discharge the Board and the Auditors
* Approve the bylaws and any changes to them
* Discuss and decide on motions and objections presented to the General Assembly
* Discuss and decide on Verein affairs put forward for discussion by the Board
* Decide any eventual dissolution of the Verein.

(8.2) The Board will call a General Assembly to be held every year on
November 1. The General Assembly takes place online, on the
panotools_GA mailing list. The invitation to the General Assembly
with
the provisional agenda for the meeting and items to be voted on must
be mailed out to the panotools_GA mailing list at least four weeks in
advance of the voting. Objections to the agenda, propositions and
vote
candidature must be sent to the Board at least two weeks before the
General Assembly. [NEW: VOTING PROCESS]. On the day of the General
Assembly, the Board sets the appropriate polls in the polls
section of
the panotools_GA YahooGroup. All polls are open for at least seven
days. Once all polling has ended, the Board summarizes the decisions.

(8.3) Late agenda items, including propositions, motions, petitions
and objections, but excluding changes to the bylaws must be added to
the agenda if during the General Assembly a majority of voting
members
votes in favour of dealing with the issue. [NEW: VOTING PROCESS]. On
the day of the General Assembly, the Board sets a poll on whether the
General Assembly accepts the addition to the agenda. If the addition
to the agenda is accepted, the General Assembly is extended by
another
seven days poll on the actual item.

(8.4) The Board can call an extraordinary General Assembly at any
time
by announcing it to the General Assembly with a justification. The
Board must call a General Assembly if it is petitioned to do so by at
least 50 members in writing (e-mail). The extraordinary General
Assembly announcement will be e-mailed out at least four weeks in
advance of the extraordinary General Assembly.

(8.5) Decisions of the General Assembly are documented in a protocol
to be made available to all members within 60 days of the General
Assembly. The protocol will be scheduled for approval by the next
General Assembly.

(8.6) An item must be put on the agenda of the General Assembly if at
least 25 members petition the Board in writing (e-mail).

(8.7) In advance of the General Assembly, all parties who have a
right
to address the General Assembly on an agenda item will post their
statement to the panotools_GA. A member of the Board chosen to run
the
agenda approves the relevant posting before starting their poll. All
other messages to the panotools_GA group that are not relevant to the
process will be discarded.

== Art 9. Voting Rights and Quorum ==

(9.1) Each Member has one vote. Voting rights are non-transferable

(9.2) Each regularly called General Assembly will be a quorum no
matter how many members participate.

(9.3) The General Assembly makes decision by a simple majority of
voting members. In the case of a tie, the motion is rejected.
Non-voting members accept the outcome of the vote.

(9.4) For changes to the bylaws and for decisions over the
dissolution
of the Verein a two thirds majority is required.

== Art. 10 Board ==

(10.1) The Board is made up of a President and 4-6 additional
Directors.

(10.2) Directors and Presidents are chosen for a one year term at the
annual General Assembly. Their mandate starts on January 1 and
ends on
December 31. Unlimited re-elections are permitted. The term of the
current Board ends sixty days after the election of a new Board. To
smooth the transfer of ownership, the current Board will let the new
Board access its daily business during the transition from the
current
to the new Board.

(10.3) The Board makes decisions with a simple majority. In the case
of a tie, the President decides. The Board has a quorum when at least
half of its members take part in the vote. Decisions of the Board are
documented in a protocol. The protocol must be made accessible to all
Members within 60 days of the decision(s).

(10.4) The Board manages or delegates the Verein's business and
resources that are not assigned to other organs through the bylaws.
The Board may sanction budget deficits up to 50% of an individual
expense, as long as the overall budget deficit is not over 10%.

(10.5) The Board is accountable to the General Assembly.

(10.6) It takes the signature of two Board members to act legally
binding for the Verein.

(10.7) The liability of the Board is limited to intentional damages
and gross negligence.

(10.8) Candidates for the Board can put forward their name for
election after the invitation to the annual General Assembly is
issued. The General Assembly will vote on each candidate
separately in
a vote that allows votes in favor (Yes) or against (No) for each
candidate. A Candidate's net vote is the count of Yes votes less the
count of No votes. A Candidate with a negative vote count is
rejected.
If there are more Candidates than posts, those Candidates are
retained
with the highest positive vote count. In the case of a tie, the
Candidate with the least No votes prevails. If there is still a tie
the current Board decides. The Candidate with the least No votes is
elected President. In case of a tie, the Candidate with the most Yes
votes prevails. If there is still a tie, the current Board decides.

(10.9) Board members are volunteers and are not compensated,
financially or with any other means, for their activity for the
Verein.

== Art. 11 Auditors ==

(11.1) The Verein has two auditors who do not belong to the Board nor
are employed by the Verein. They are elected by the General Assembly
for a year. Unlimited re-elections are permitted.

(11.2) The Auditors audit the books and the funds of the Verein, the
activity of the Board and report on them to the General Assembly.

(11.3) The Auditors must be given access at any time to all relevant
books, accounts, e-mails, protocols, logs and other correspondence.

== Art. 12 Finances ==

(12.1) The Board is responsible to keep a book of the Verein's
expenditures.

(12.2) Only the Verein's funds are liable for the Verein's
obligations. A personal liability of the Board members is excluded.

== Art. 13 Dissolution of the Verein ==

(13.1) In the case of the dissolution of the Verein or change of its
non-profit orientation, the Verein's funds will be transfered to a
non-profit organization active in promoting Panorama Photography. The
decision to whom to transfer the funds is left to the General Assembly.

(13.2) The elected Board will act as liquidator, unless the General
Assembly decides otherwise.

== Art. 14 Provisional Provisions ==
(14.1) Once this document is declared final, it will be turned over to the elected PanotoolsNG moderators.
(14.2) If a majority of the PanotoolsNG moderators will accept this document, it will put to a vote of its membership the transfer of ownership of the PanotoolsNG mailing list to the Verein.
(14.3) If a majority of the voting PanotoolsNG members will vote to transfer ownership of the PanotoolsNG to the Verein Panotools IG, and when at least two people join Panotools_GA, the Verein will constitute.
(14.4) The first General Assembly will take place within one month of constitution, and not on the date stated in provision (8.2)
(14.5) The PanotoolsNG moderators will be the first provisional board, and will conduct the business of the Verein until the General Assembly elects the board and that board is ready to become operational.

WP:User Guidelines

2006-07-28T18:16:19Z

Serge: Removed line about criminal content

== Project Team ==
[mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au Kathy Wheeler],
[mailto:einem@gmx.de Carl von Einem],
[mailto:joel.foner@fonerassoc.com Joel A. Foner],
[mailto:panoramas@socal.rr.com Pat Swovelin],
[mailto:roger@adex-japan.com Roger D. Williams],
[mailto:yahoo@maandag.com Serge Maandag]
[mailto:erik.krause@gmx.de Erik Krause]

'''E-Mail to the [mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au,einem@gmx.de,joel.foner@fonerassoc.com,panoramas@socal.rr.com,roger@adex-japan.com,yahoo@maandag.com,erik.krause@gmx.de?subject=%5BWorkingParty%5D Team]
'''

== Related Links ==
1. The official [http://rfc.net/rfc1855.html RFC 1855] '''Internet Netiquette'''

2. The [http://www.hwg.org/lists/netiquette.html HWG] ('''HTML writers Group''') has a nicely put users guide

3. [http://lists.apple.com/tc.html Apples] list guidelines

4. [http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html Yahoo's] group guidelines

5. [http://vr.albury.net.au/~kathyw/PanoTools/email-rules-of-the-road-v1.1.pdf email-rules-of-the-road-v1.1]

6. [http://tinyurl.com/ tinyurl.com] to get '''shorter URLs''' for posting

7: [http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html learn to quote]

== Draft Guidelines ==

The PanoTools List Guidelines (this document) aims to provide the List members and moderators a clear framework within which the List may operate for the benefit of our Panoramic Community.

===Introduction===

The Panotools Community currently operates two main lists on Yahoo groups - [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG PanotoolsNG] and [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoTools-List Panotools-List]. There are more special topic lists which serve as a communication forum for planning meetings (panotools-meeting), development (panotools-devel at souceforge) etc.

''PanotoolsNG'' was set up to provide a home for open discussion of the creation and display of panoramas, panoramic images and associated technologies. Topics range from artistic appreciation and aims to heavilly technical discourses.

We have members with a wide range of experiences and the newcomer is asked not to be intimidated by the level of some discussions. There is a saying "there is no such thing as a stupid question - just occasionally stupid answers."

''Panotools-List'' however has been set up to discuss the future of the PanoTools yahoo group - management issuess, political issues and potentially controversial issues.

Both lists have their own separate culture, characters, acceptable subjects and recommended usage Guidelines. Please review them before posting.

===Joint common ground===

All communications on both lists should adhere to basic acceptable Netiquette as defined in the Internet RFC1855. According to the special nature of the list there are additional guidelines:

* '''Please use a meaningful subject'''. With a load of 20 to 30 messages a day it is not easy to read them all. A decent subject line helps to adress the person who can help. "Help" or "I'm frustrated" f.e. are not meaningful subjects.
* '''Please mark off-topic threads'''. Sometimes it might be interesting to post something that is off topic. It is a nice custom to mark such subject lines with a preceding [OT]. It might be of interest to use more such tags: [CP] (critics please), [OS] (only showing) or the like...
* '''Change the subject line if the subject changes'''. Often the subject changes during a discussion. Please mark those changes with a new subject line. It would be good to quote the old subject in order to know where the subject line comes from: "<new subject> (was: <old subject>)"
* '''Please don't start an entirely NEW thread by changing the subject line'''. Please don't simply press "Reply" in an unrelated message if you want to start a new thread. A hidden reference in the mail header will link your post to the unrelated thread - making it invisible to someone with a threading mail client who set this thread to "ignore".
* '''Please use plain text for messages'''. Many users read the list in plain text format.
* '''Please only quote what you are replying to''' This is especially necessary if you read the digest version. There is absolutely no point in quoting the whole digest only to write a sentence or two. Please quote the relevant paragraphs only. Please use quoting characters (> at the beginning of a line) and don't indent quoted paragraphs, since it might be necessary to quote several instances of a message. Also, please put you reply to the quoted text below it, it's far less confusing then replying above the quote (so called "top posting").
* '''Please keep in mind you are posting to a forum''' Your post will probably be read by a lot of users, not only the one you reply to. Read your post again before sending and check whether it is potentially useful to the whole list. If not reply privately.
* '''Please limit your footers / signatures'''. Yahoo automatically adds footer material and brief messages may get lost in the clutter! Limit your footer to 4 lines if possible.
* '''Don't rely on the sense of humour''' This is an international list and a non-native speaker might not spot the subtleties of the english language. Even a native speaker might have a different sense of humor. Please mark questionable paragraphs with appropriate tags or smilies: <g> for grin, :-) for smile, ;-) for irony etc...

=== List specific issues ===

'''Panotools-List'''

''Panotools-List'' will get heated. To avoid unnecessary flame wars please:

* THINK before posting;
* keep personal responses OFF THE LIST;
* TRY to be as NEUTRAL as possible in replies - eg instead of saying someone's ideas are "bad" say perhaps another idea may be "better".

'''PanotoolsNG'''

* Please KEEP the list ON TOPIC. We are here to discuss PanoTools, panoramic imaging, and techniques, technologies, and other developments that directly feed into these subjects. If a thread gets too far off topic expect the listmoms to step in to steer it back on track. Respect this action, and if you have an objection take it up with the listmoms in private.

* All posts must have a CIVIL TONE; ''flamewars will not be tolerated''.

* If you have a PROBLEM with the subject, tone or content of a message, or a problem with any other members behavior, you must CONTACT the LIST ADMINS directly. No discussion on list will be tolerated - sparking entire threads about a message you believe is off-topic or inappropriate is an action that itself is off-topic, inappropriate and possibly trolling.

* All members will get a first warning and any further misbehavior may be dealt with by moderation or banning with no further interaction.

* Please be ETHICAL in your POSTINGS. This means you should make clear all professional interests in a subject you comment on - for instance, reviewing a piece of hardware that you happen to sell, or trashing software of a competitor - to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

* Please DO NOT POST COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS to the list without first ''consulting the list admins''. If approved you will likely be given a blanket approval for future postings.

* CONTENT WARNINGS - If you post a message that links to content that may be controversial because of political, sexual or other themes, please note that in your message. ''No debates about these themes will be tolerated on the list'', however if you have content - panoramas - that are relevant to the list, we welcome you linking to them even if they have controversial themes.

=== Moderators Responsibilities ===

The Moderators are responsible for the smooth operation of both lists. Moderators should be familiar with the range of acceptable material, topics and culture of their lists. Both Panotools-List and PanotoolsNG have a number of moderators to spread the responsibilities and provide a democratic decision making entity.

List Moderators are empowered to take action where a breach of the List rules has or is likely to occur, or an issue has arisen that gives cause for concern. One or more actions, including but not limited to the list below, may be undertaken to resolve the situation:

* Contact the group member and/or the List-admin to discuss the apparently inappropriate behavior and steps to resolve it;

* Remove posts from the discussion group list/archive

* Temporarily moderate (ie the moderators review the messages before they are posted) or ban a specific user or users from posting to the group

* Permanently remove a specific user or users from the group

* In extreme cases temporarily change the entire group privileges from ''unmoderated'' posting to ''moderated''

If a serious issue arises, the moderator will first attempt to reach other moderators immediately for ''second opinions''. If this is not possible in an appropriate time frame, the moderator is empowered to take pro‐active action, to be followed by peer review by the whole moderators group. Where a moderator has acted in good faith and subsequently had the action overturned by the peer review no individual recriminations will be tolerated.

WP talk:User Guidelines

2006-07-28T18:14:44Z

Serge: /* Criminal content? */

So who is on board? -> please add to "Team"
(Just to fill in some examples how we can use the wiki)

== Learn to Quote ==

Forgive me having made myself a member of WP...
I've just added a link to "learn to quote" but I think I don't want to be a regular member of the team - too much responsibilities at the moment...--[[User:Erik Krause|Erik Krause]] 21:49, 17 July 2006 (CEST)

== Please hang around Erik ... ==

Until I can get the hang of this ''new fangled'' environment. Actually, a summary of how we use it now we've got it would be '''real good''' IMHO. [[User:KathyW|KathyW]] 02:48, 18 July 2006 (CEST)

update: Seems as if I'm already a member, hence I added myself to the team list... --[[User:Erik Krause|Erik Krause]] 13:08, 25 July 2006 (CEST)

== List vs NG ==

It seems (painfully) obvious that the political '''List''' is going to need a different and more liberal Guide than '''NG'''. Actually a big 'WARNING SOMETIMES JUVENILE CONTENT' may be more in order <g>.

Seriously, '''List''' will get more heated as that's what it's there for - a place where people can let off steam and rant occasionally. So (IMHO) the tone of the Guide for '''List''' should probably be ''"tolerance required here"'' and ''"some posts may offend - you have been warned"''. I don't think we should try to stop that, as long as it does not get out of hand. If members are aware that that is the ''nature of the group'' then they may be less likely to become offended ...

Thoughts? [[User:KathyW|KathyW]] 06:54, 18 July 2006 (CEST)

(Serge) I completely agree. Ofcourse there will be a set of rules that'll apply to both. No bullying, no threats, no illegal stuff, etc. But the NG list will certainly reauire a much softer tone of voice than the List list (stupid name..). If things realy get out of hand the mods always should have the possibility to stop a thread/user. By mods judgement that is, not necessary by pointing towards rules and accompanying penalties. When the mods cannot agree, reduce the decision to two options and do a simple hand of votes. (/Serge)
[[User:Serge|Serge]] 23:56, 19 July 2006 (CEST)

== Content warning? ==

I wouldn't write this. "For adults" normally means that there is implizit sexual content. This is not the case. And of course one can shoot panoramas and participate in the list at any age. I'm on the list now since the old days of proj-imim and the kamasutra-3D thread was the first one who would have deserved a "content warning".
--[[User:Erik Krause|Erik Krause]] 10:08, 25 July 2006 (CEST)

(KathyW) Fair point Eric. I will edit it again (I'm sure Roger won't mind and he can speak up if he does ;-) and I might demote it on the list. As you say, it's not something that happens often, but it does occasionally and we need policy to handle it. [[User:KathyW|KathyW]] 12:41, 25 July 2006 (CEST)

==Criminal content?==
The paragraph "* Do not post anything that can be considered illegal or criminal by the general worldwide justice systems. If in doubt, contact the moderators in private to get approval for posting the message." should be altered to something like: "Remeber that this list is public. Don't post anything that is not meant for the public"

Reason, for example: IPIX still holds the fisheye stitching patent in some countries. It might be illegal to point to a panotools version that works for 180° fisheyes in those countries. But of course we want to do that. It's anyones own descision to post such content.

<Serge>
I thought about that, but thought I was overreacting. Since you get the same ideas, it's indeed something to reconsider. Otoh, I did mention "the general worldwide justice systems".
I was just trying to give us a handle in case of kiddy porn, real personal threats and the likes. But since we never encountered such a thing, we probably don't need the hook too.
I'll remove it..
</Serge>

WP:User Guidelines

2006-07-27T16:14:26Z

Serge: added some points, corrected some typo's. "serious issue" really needs to be defined, b.t.w.

== Project Team ==
[mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au Kathy Wheeler],
[mailto:einem@gmx.de Carl von Einem],
[mailto:joel.foner@fonerassoc.com Joel A. Foner],
[mailto:panoramas@socal.rr.com Pat Swovelin],
[mailto:roger@adex-japan.com Roger D. Williams],
[mailto:yahoo@maandag.com Serge Maandag]
[mailto:erik.krause@gmx.de Erik Krause]

'''E-Mail to the [mailto:kathyw@home.albury.net.au,einem@gmx.de,joel.foner@fonerassoc.com,panoramas@socal.rr.com,roger@adex-japan.com,yahoo@maandag.com,erik.krause@gmx.de?subject=%5BWorkingParty%5D Team]
'''

== Related Links ==
1. The official [http://rfc.net/rfc1855.html RFC 1855] '''Internet Netiquette'''

2. The [http://www.hwg.org/lists/netiquette.html HWG] ('''HTML writers Group''') has a nicely put users guide

3. [http://lists.apple.com/tc.html Apples] list guidelines

4. [http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html Yahoo's] group guidelines

5. [http://vr.albury.net.au/~kathyw/PanoTools/email-rules-of-the-road-v1.1.pdf email-rules-of-the-road-v1.1]

6. [http://tinyurl.com/ tinyurl.com] to get '''shorter URLs''' for posting

7: [http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html learn to quote]

== Draft Guidelines ==

The PanoTools List Guidelines (this document) aims to provide the List members and moderators a clear framework within which the List may operate for the benefit of our Panoramic Community.

===Introduction===

The Panotools Community currently operates two main lists on Yahoo groups - [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG PanotoolsNG] and [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoTools-List Panotools-List]. There are more special topic lists which serve as a communication forum for planning meetings (panotools-meeting), development (panotools-devel at souceforge) etc.

''PanotoolsNG'' was set up to provide a home for open discussion of the creation and display of panoramas, panoramic images and associated technologies. Topics range from artistic appreciation and aims to heavilly technical discourses.

We have members with a wide range of experiences and the newcomer is asked not to be intimidated by the level of some discussions. There is a saying "there is no such thing as a stupid question - just occasionally stupid answers."

''Panotools-List'' however has been set up to discuss the future of the PanoTools yahoo group - management issuess, political issues and potentially controversial issues.

Both lists have their own separate culture, characters, acceptable subjects and recommended usage Guidelines. Please review them before posting.

===Joint common ground===

All communications on both lists should adhere to basic acceptable Netiquette as defined in the Internet RFC1855. According to the special nature of the list there are additional guidelines:

* '''Please use a meaningful subject'''. With a load of 20 to 30 messages a day it is not easy to read them all. A decent subject line helps to adress the person who can help. "Help" or "I'm frustrated" f.e. are not meaningful subjects.
* '''Please mark off-topic threads'''. Sometimes it might be interesting to post something that is off topic. It is a nice custom to mark such subject lines with a preceding [OT]. It might be of interest to use more such tags: [CP] (critics please), [OS] (only showing) or the like...
* '''Change the subject line if the subject changes'''. Often the subject changes during a discussion. Please mark those changes with a new subject line. It would be good to quote the old subject in order to know where the subject line comes from: "<new subject> (was: <old subject>)"
* '''Please don't start an entirely NEW thread by changing the subject line'''. Please don't simply press "Reply" in an unrelated message if you want to start a new thread. A hidden reference in the mail header will link your post to the unrelated thread - making it invisible to someone with a threading mail client who set this thread to "ignore".
* '''Please use plain text for messages'''. Many users read the list in plain text format.
* '''Please only quote what you are replying to''' This is especially necessary if you read the digest version. There is absolutely no point in quoting the whole digest only to write a sentence or two. Please quote the relevant paragraphs only. Please use quoting characters (> at the beginning of a line) and don't indent quoted paragraphs, since it might be necessary to quote several instances of a message. Also, please put you reply to the quoted text below it, it's far less confusing then replying above the quote (so called "top posting").
* '''Please keep in mind you are posting to a forum''' Your post will probably be read by a lot of users, not only the one you reply to. Read your post again before sending and check whether it is potentially useful to the whole list. If not reply privately.
* '''Please limit your footers / signatures'''. Yahoo automatically adds footer material and brief messages may get lost in the clutter! Limit your footer to 4 lines if possible.
* '''Don't rely on the sense of humour''' This is an international list and a non-native speaker might not spot the subtleties of the english language. Even a native speaker might have a different sense of humor. Please mark questionable paragraphs with appropriate tags or smilies: <g> for grin, :-) for smile, ;-) for irony etc...

=== List specific issues ===

'''Panotools-List'''

''Panotools-List'' will get heated. To avoid unnecessary flame wars please:

* THINK before posting;
* keep personal responses OFF THE LIST;
* TRY to be as NEUTRAL as possible in replies - eg instead of saying someone's ideas are "bad" say perhaps another idea may be "better".

'''PanotoolsNG'''

* Please KEEP the list ON TOPIC. We are here to discuss PanoTools, panoramic imaging, and techniques, technologies, and other developments that directly feed into these subjects. If a thread gets too far off topic expect the listmoms to step in to steer it back on track. Respect this action, and if you have an objection take it up with the listmoms in private.

* All posts must have a CIVIL TONE; ''flamewars will not be tolerated''.

* If you have a PROBLEM with the subject, tone or content of a message, or a problem with any other members behavior, you must CONTACT the LIST ADMINS directly. No discussion on list will be tolerated - sparking entire threads about a message you believe is off-topic or inappropriate is an action that itself is off-topic, inappropriate and possibly trolling.

* All members will get a first warning and any further misbehavior may be dealt with by moderation or banning with no further interaction.

* Please be ETHICAL in your POSTINGS. This means you should make clear all professional interests in a subject you comment on - for instance, reviewing a piece of hardware that you happen to sell, or trashing software of a competitor - to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

* Please DO NOT POST COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS to the list without first ''consulting the list admins''. If approved you will likely be given a blanket approval for future postings.

* CONTENT WARNINGS - If you post a message that links to content that may be controversial because of political, sexual or other themes, please note that in your message. ''No debates about these themes will be tolerated on the list'', however if you have content - panoramas - that are relevant to the list, we welcome you linking to them even if they have controversial themes.

* Do not post anything that can be considered illegal or criminal by the general worldwide justice systems. If in doubt, contact the moderators in private to get approval for posting the message.

=== Moderators Responsibilities ===

The Moderators are responsible for the smooth operation of both lists. Moderators should be familiar with the range of acceptable material, topics and culture of their lists. Both Panotools-List and PanotoolsNG have a number of moderators to spread the responsibilities and provide a democratic decision making entity.

List Moderators are empowered to take action where a breach of the List rules has or is likely to occur, or an issue has arisen that gives cause for concern. One or more actions, including but not limited to the list below, may be undertaken to resolve the situation:

* Contact the group member and/or the List-admin to discuss the apparently inappropriate behavior and steps to resolve it;

* Remove posts from the discussion group list/archive

* Temporarily moderate (ie the moderators review the messages before they are posted) or ban a specific user or users from posting to the group

* Permanently remove a specific user or users from the group

* In extreme cases temporarily change the entire group privileges from ''unmoderated'' posting to ''moderated''

If a serious issue arises, the moderator will first attempt to reach other moderators immediately for ''second opinions''. If this is not possible in an appropriate time frame, the moderator is empowered to take pro‐active action, to be followed by peer review by the whole moderators group. Where a moderator has acted in good faith and subsequently had the action overturned by the peer review no individual recriminations will be tolerated.

ChristmasBallPanoTutor

2006-07-21T12:31:38Z

Serge: Added interactive pano

WP talk:User Guidelines

2006-07-19T21:57:09Z

Serge: /* List vs NG */