It would be nice to have the possibility to merge photos to create a panorama inside the dxo-viewpoint. The tool should include the possibility to perform prospective corrections after the merging by identifying the critical points in the original pictures were the merging failed or was bad performed.
It would also be useful to use Artificial Intelligence to fill in empty areas and correct complex distortions that traditional methods struggle to handle (see for example the “fill based on content” function in photoshop
This would be a fundamental change in PL functionality. Currently, PL only work on single images without modifying the original and without generating new content. This kind of change would require at least one of those.
If image A is stitched to image B, it would create image C. Where does that image go? How do you guarantee images A and B are always available to PL in order to render C?
PL is best thought of as a RAW developer with features to crop, tilt, correct perspective, adjust color and light, apply filters, and so on. While it might be nice to import certain parts of images into another image, it would make this a very different product.
If you search this forum you will find this feature has been requested more than once already. To date, DxO have shown no sign of implementing this request.
You at least have the right idea of breathing some life back into DxO ViewPoint and not burdening PhotoLab itself.
Panoramas are a bad business generally (lots of great free and paid competition, endless mediocre competition where panorama is an afterthought as it would be for DxO). Panorama doesn’t belong in PhotoLab.
It is interesting that I was one of those who requested this feature a while back, but the more I work with DXO the more I agree that this shouldn’t be a priority for DXO. There is plenty that they can improve on and where I think the value of DXO lies. For me its elliptical U-Points, better healing brushes, easier use of colour balance between areas and light and dark zones, and their library module.
For stitching I use Photostitcher and for stacking I use Helicon Focus and as these are specialist software packages they can focus on getting these to work well. What would be great is for DXO to enable greater flexibility between other software through the “Export To” switch as it seems to be limited in the amount of export functions and plugins. I.e enable buttons to be created such as the Nik Collection for other software that takes you straight there instead of using the Export To, and then having to map to it.
Personally, I would like to be able to use a single SW where I can process my images without having to resort to several separate tools. In this respect, ON1 PhotoRaw seems to be more flexible than DXO Photolab as it can handle features such as Panorama, HDR, PhotoStacking, Generative AI with a single program.
Since DXO has created a tool dedicated to the management of geometries and improvement of perspective distortions (ViewPoint), it seemed to me the most suitable place to develop a feature such as photomerge for panoramas, not yet included in the DXO catalog.
At least from my point of view, the inclusion of this new feature, if integrated with the professionalism and performance typical of DXO products, would abundantly justify the expense to switch to the new ViewPoint version (6?) which unfortunately today does not seem to offer great advantages compared to the basic features already present in other tools such as ON1 or Photoshop.
In any case, my workflow would certainly be optimized because I could merge the photos that make up the panorama, correct the geometries and carry out the necessary editing while always remaining in the PhotoLab environment and recalling ViewPoint. For DXO too, it would be an added value to offer a tool with additional capacity.