Create a panorama from Lightroom with the Microsoft Composition Editor (ICE)

Friday, 27. March 2009 | published in Featured, Libary, Tutorial | 2 comments

The free Microsoft Image Composition Editor (version 1.2) is still little known. I’m using it and the program proved itself. It serves me as a replacement for AutoStitch.

The programs uses new algorithms, the merging (stitching) is very easy and fast.

You can open the Image Composite Editor (ICE) drag image files to it, and the program starts it work and presents resulting panorama.

Sometimes I get better results than with the photomerge function in Adobe Photoshop

The generated panoramic photo can be saved from ICE in different formats:

JPEG
TIFF
PSD
PSD with Layers
HD Photo Image
HD View
Deep Zoom
BMP
PNG

The program is only available in a Windows version, no Mac.

If you want to use the program, go to the following Microsoft page, make start the download and install the program with the default settings:

Download of the page (<3MB): http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/

Operating Systems: Windows XP, Vista32, Vista64

From Lightroom

From the Lightroom catalog, there are two possibilities, stitching photos with ICE:

Export Export

Selected the photos in the library and select in the File menu, Export …
Important settings are in file format and color space.
- Format: JPEG or TIFF (8bit or 16bit, no compression)
- Color Space: sRGB
The lowest point Post-Processing
- After Export: Open in Other Application
- Application: C: Program Files Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor ICE.exe
Now we can start the export, then ICE automatically opens the exported images, and generates automatically the panorama.
Save the settings as a preset giving a name such as "Create panorama with ICE," and you c can almost with only one click generate panoramas.

External Editor (Edit …)

The second possibility is to define ICE in the settings as an additional external editor.

Select the menu Edit, Preferences
Go to the tab "External Editing"
Click the black triangle on the right of "Preset" in Additional External Editor, a list of options appears, select "Save Current as New Preset…”. You will be asked for a name, for example, enter "MS ICE Panorama" on.
Adjust all settings, as in the screenshot below. The application is usually to be found there:
C: Program Files Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor ICE.exe
- File format: TIFF (8bit or 16bit)
- Color Space: sRGB
- Compression: no
After all settings are made, click again in Preset, and select the last option Update Preset "MS ICE Panorama"
Leave the preferences box with the button OK

With these settings, you can now select photos in the Library Module, goto the menu Photo, Edit In…> MS ICE Panorama.

You get a dialog box where Lightroom asks you whether copies will be used. Leave the default settings, click Edit, and Lightroom starts creating the Tiff copies of the photos, which in this case are stored in your catalog.

Afterwards Lightroom sends the images to ICE and shortly you have the panorama.

hafenbilbaomini

Have fun creating your panoramas

General External Editing

You can use this description integrate other graphic applications to be used with Lightroom