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I've got a large 1 meter by 2 meter pattern printout for a garment. I'm not able to capture fine detail with a single shot, namely the sensor on my camera captures poor detail at distances past a certain threshold. This being the case, I'd like to take multiple close-up shots to, shot by shot, capture the entire printout. With these shots I'd then like to merge them into a single detail-preserved "shot," as it were. Perhaps someone here might know of an opensource program that meshes the images based on pixel geometry--or some such similar method. I'm aware that this technique is used in remote-sensing of farmland at low altitudes. A camera attached to a weather balloon or remote-controlled plane is sent up with a camera programmed to take shots every so often. After the data is retrieved, it is merged into a single image of the area.

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Hugin can do this. The only tricky part is that you need to choose the correct optimizer setting ("positions and translation") to tell Hugin that your camera has moved between shots.

Here are a couple of tutorials for using Hugin like this:

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Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) is free (can be downloaded from here) and can perform the task you describe (and many more).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is great. Thanks for letting me know about it. However, I do have one more question: How can I minimize mismatching? What I'm digitizing has a lot of curves and lines, and some of the shapes don't match up--like 1-3mm. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trancot
    Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 22:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ ICE will only correct minor variations - and only in the planar stitch/camera motions mode (not the rotating motion). You can also set the "feature matching search radius" in the alignment tab - when creating a "new structured panorama" - which may help. Unfortunately, you may need to remove the lens distortions, as much as possible, before attempting to merge in ICE. \$\endgroup\$
    – db9dreamer
    Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 9:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ How do I pick an optimal search radius? What is this radius exactly? \$\endgroup\$
    – Trancot
    Commented Dec 2, 2013 at 2:24
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IMO, using Photoshop to manually stitch several photos together is probably going to be the most accurate, precise way of achieving this. Automatic photo stitchers aren't anywhere close to perfect, and though it will take a ton of time, manual Photoshopping is probably the best choice. Especially if the end result is for a professional sale.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I take it that IMO means "In my opinion." \$\endgroup\$
    – Trancot
    Commented Nov 29, 2013 at 1:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have a Lynda video file describing this technique, but perhaps you could provide a link. I suspect that the method will go something like this: Open the first file, merge it to the next file all the way to the last column, then do this in a separate window to the next row of images upto the last row, then, row by row, merge these panoramic images together. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trancot
    Commented Nov 29, 2013 at 1:03

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