14 DAY TRIAL // An updated version of Microsoft’s advanced panoramic image stitcher is now available for download, with support for WIC codecs. Various third parties supply Windows Imaging Component codecs, which allow applications leveraging Microsoft's WIC extensible platform to read and write images in proprietary camera formats. RAW formats are undoubtedly a technology familiar to photographers leveraging digital SLR and high-end cameras, in general.
“We’ve added support for WIC codecs installed on your PC. This means that if you’ve installed a raw codec from your camera manufacturer, then ICE can directly stitch your raw images. I’m excited about this feature, but your mileage may vary depending on what codec you are using,” a member of the ICE team revealed.
By default, WIC works with codecs that support the JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, ICO, GIF, and HD Photo file formats. However, extensibility being a key aspect of WIC, additional codecs can be introduced into Windows, enabling the platform to support more file formats.
Via WIC, ICE now supports the following list of RAW formats: Adobe Digital Negative, Canon Raw, Epson Raw, Fuji Raw, Hasselblad Raw, Kodak Raw, Leica Raw, Mamiya Raw, Minolta Raw, Nikon Raw, Olympus Raw, Panasonic Raw, Pentax Raw, Sigma Raw, Sinar Raw, Sony Raw. According to Microsoft, users need codecs including the Adobe DNG Codec, ArdFry DNG Codec, Canon Raw Codec, FastPictureViewer Codec Pack, Nikon Raw Codec, Olympus Raw Codec, Panasonic Raw Codec, Pentax Raw Codec and Sony Raw Codec.
“We haven’t tested all of these with ICE, so it would be interesting to get feedback on your own experiences with ICE plus raw,” the ICE representative added. Version 1.3.5 of Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) was updated on June 7th, 2010, and is available for download for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
“Photoshop layers are back as an output option. We have also added support for the Adobe Large Document Format (PSB), so there is effectively no longer a resolution limit when exporting to Photoshop. Finally we’ve given users more control over the compatibility mode for PSD/PSB. We’ve fixed most of the top issues reported on the forum. Thanks to everyone who shared their problematic photos with us. We’ve enabled more of the stitching process to use multi-core, so your stitching projects should now run even faster. The ‘jaggies’ on the panorama borders are gone,” the ICE team representative said.
Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) is available for download here.