AutoStitch 3's new icon
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The latest version of AutoStitch Panorama for iPhone hit the App Store yesterday. Version 3.0 brings some cool new options that makes this it stand out in this class of pano apps. Read more after the click.
New options in AutoStitch Panorama
You’ll have to dig through the app to select the new options [Info > Options]. The app now has three blending modes — None, Standard, and the new Best. Standard is the old algorithm from previous versions of AutoStitch. The new Best mode promises to help reduce the blur and occasional ghosting where images overlap. There is also a new exposure compensation setting which helps reduce the brightness variation that sometimes occurs between images. Both settings are turned off by default.
The new updates add to AutoStitch some of my favorite features from another app in this class, Panoramatic 360, which has had similar quality and exposure compensation settings for a while. The exposure compensation is especially nice and should help to reduce trips back and forth between AutoStitch and Photogene to help match the characteristics of the stitched images.
AutoStitch still only imports images from your Photo Library — there is no camera support like in Pano or Panoramatic. Also, the new processing algorithms take time and a lot of it, which is why the user-selectable options are a very well-thought out option. This gives the user the choice of speed or quality. On newer iPhones with faster CPUs, this speed hit shouldn’t be nearly as noticeable as on an older 2G or 3G.
I didn’t see much if any improvement in the feature extraction algorithms. Like all apps in this class, sometimes you throw something at it that simply stitches to gether in very odd ways. If you have a series of images that looked strange before, odds are they’ll still stitch together strangely in this new update.
Along with a new icon that better visually represents the app, version 3 will now supports the iPod Touch. The update also adds the feature to email your panos or share to Facebook from within the app.
In addition to creating stunning panoramas, many iPhoneographers also use AutoStitch to create “bends” — more intimate panoramas of close-in scenes where the stitching process creates unique, fish-eye distortions or bends.
AutoStitch Panorama has always been my go-to pano app and while seemingly light on new features, this new update brings significant new features. Version 3.0 brings big, under the hood improvements to the app while retaining its ease of use. A good balance between speed, ease of use and power, AutoStitch Panorama is an excellent pano app and a very worthwhile purchase.
AutoStitch is only $2.99.
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