Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook

7.7. Stage 7

7.7.1. Creating the QuickTime VR file

The final versions of the six faces of the cube

In CubicConverter, drag the six cube faces you saved in TIF format into the conversion window. Click Convert To →Cubic QuickTime VR Movie.

Set the default parameters and save them. Click Change to select the degree of compression.

Export the file (via Save As) and name it (in this case, phare.mov). You can then check the overall contrast, color balance, and sharpness using the QuickTime Reader, by simply double-clicking the file that was just generated.

QuickTime window

7.7.2. Final corrections

If the overall image seems a little too dark or light, or if the colors are too strong in certain areas, this can be remedied by correcting the six cube faces that comprise the QuickTime file.

Create backup copies of the six original faces, then open the group of pictures in Photoshop. You might want to use a Curves or Hue/Saturation adjustment on all the pictures, even if the change is practically invisible for some of them. But don't use an Auto Levels adjustment, because the result will vary from one picture to the next and make the faces of the cube look different. It's also wise to wait until this stage to do an overall adjustment of the image and to check the results in the QuickTime Reader by having CubicConverter compile a new file.