No problemo Amigo, it's done. The Sol 84 portrait in full and half resolution can now be downloaded at the original post. Enjoy.


Sorry for the tardy reply Mike. I didn't use Hugin, but will PM you shortly on the topic...

For those who are interested, I've added some refinements to all sizes of both the 2D and 3D MSL Self-Portrait files from my above post in this thread. Changes are listed at the bottom of the original post.

And Mike, thanks for the CAVHOR meta data offer... like others above have mentioned it'd be really interesting to give it a gander but since I probably won't have time to re-visit the MSL Portrait again soon I can't confirm a personal need at this time. Your kindly offer is acknowledged though. I'm sure in the long life of this mission there will be particular mosaics which may be extremely problematic or even impossible without meta-data so your willingness to hoop-jump to connect us with it is very much appreciated. Thanks indeed.

Gotta say Mike, this is a stunning portrait of MSL and just beautifully conceived and captured. Many thanks to everyone involved for the brilliant sequencing. But oh boy, what bear to render. Figuring out the right projection so that no part of the image is too stretched is pretty tricky. And anaglyphing from 2 mosaics that always seem to render slightly differently and aligning them for minimal eye strain even more of a headache. Whew! There's a slew of things one could fidget with for weeks but... ready for prime-time or not, here's my initial version of the full resolution mosaic - anaglyphed (and links to the 2D, Sol 85 version below it). Admittedly, probably the toughest anaglyph I've ever attempted (...and still far from perfect...)

Click the image for a half-sized 9000x7500px version:


...and the Full Resolution anaglyph version at 18000x15000px is here: Sol-84-85-MSL-Self-Portrait-Anaglyph-18000x15000px.zip (32MB Zip File)

Sol 85 in 2D (left channel for 3D)
Half Sized 2D/Sol 85 version at 9000x7500px is HERE (11Mb JPG)
Full Resolution 2D/Sol 85 version at 18000x15000px is HERE (27MB Zip File)

Sol 84 in 2D (right channel for 3D)
Half Sized 2D/Sol 84 version at 9000x7500px is HERE (11Mb JPG)
Full Resolution 2D/Sol 84 version at 18000x15000px is HERE (27MB Zip File)

11/15/12 EDIT: All files have been now been updated and refined...
~ Shutter smear substantially reduced.
~ Horizon flattening refined.
~ Additional anaglyph dirt 'floaters' removed from both channels.
~ Additional anaglyph channel alignments.

11/16/12 EDIT: Added links for Sol 84/2D image to pair with Sol 85 2D for 3D imaging applications.

Sol 51 - Late Morning Anaglyph
Some long-awaited frames needed to complete the lower tier of the 90 frame MC100 Sol 51 panorama recently arrived, though one stinkin' frame from the lower left hand corner is still AWOL, but since there's not a whole lot going on down there I thought I'd go ahead and knock this out. Since the entire pan was also covered by a full MC34 pairing it just begged for anaglyphing. It's a vertically expanded and better refined version of the previous pano from this post, this time with much more foreground detail. All the MC100 dirt spots have been removed & lateral alignments carefully tweaked in various areas making it a super smooth, 165 degree - 41,414 x 2038 pixel - late morning ride across the landscape...

Click the thumbnail for the Half Sized Version (20712x1020px):


And here's the Full Version -> -> -> Sol51-MC34-and-MC100-Late-Morning-Panorama-Anaglyph.jpg ~ If your browser chokes on the size (mine all do) right click the link and do a "Save As..." & open the downloaded file in your preferred image viewer.

(...and BTW, that's a nice anaglyph jardmonkey...)

The deck anaglyph was a quickly cropped draft of the yet incomplete full portraits meant for anaglyphing so I'd committed the cropped layers to the color split to spot align them in without retaining copies the full color left and right layers, but I just opened the master file and cropped them out again so here ya go. I didn't have time to fully spot align all areas of them or clone out a few artifacts, but they should match up pretty well.

So... for those without anaglyph specs right now, here's is a reduced resolution cross-eye view. The zip in the link below it has the full resolution versions for left and right, along with information on downloading and using a freeware program called "StereoPhoto Maker" that lets you load and zoom in and pan around on the high resolution versions with cross-eyed view. I just tried it and it works amazingly well. Be sure and check out the "ReadMe.txt" file I enclosed for important tips on loading them the right way for cross-eyed viewing and a "Quick Start" tutorial.



Full resolution pair: http://www.edtruthan.com/mars/MSL-Portrait...Stereo-Pair.zip

Nice VR there! Yes, still waiting on those few AWOL frames to complete the full anaglyph mosaic... but like you, I can't resist. Here's a quick preview of the deck in gloriously detailed full resolution...

That's a really good point Emily, especially for anaglyph work, and looking closely there's an awful lot of "schmutz" on the lens. I created a Photoshop automation for myself in CS3 to do the task and thought it might be of use to others, so here it is. It must be performed on totally raw 1648x1200px MAHLI's as the automation relies on that pixel sizing to identify the cloning positions. In brief, it encircles all the "schmutz" with a lasso set at a 1 pixel feather, moves the lasso encirclements down 7 pixels (diameter of the larger "schmutz's"), copies the encirclement areas to a 2nd layer, and moves that layer back up 7 pixels to mask the dirt, then flattens the image, crops out the black borders and a few rows of digital artifacting at the edge and saves the file out to an uncompressed, ready to mosaic 1596x1192px JPG. Each frame takes about 32 seconds on my computer. The only caveat is that on pictures of the rover there's always a potential that it will move a light (or dark) area into a dark (or light) area, actually adding some "schmutz", but that will only occur in the rare instance where a dark/light border falls between the 7 pixel clone area, which after analyzing a batch of processed frames seems a very rare occurrence. Compared to the broad benefit of frame-wide "de-schmutzing" that seems well worth the occasional instance. Instructions on how to install and use the "MAHLI-Dust-Off.atn" file are in the zip. One will need a CS version of PS. I've only tested it on CS3, but I assume it will function well on other CS versions....

Here's a raw "schmutzed" version... and here's a PS automated "de-schmutzed" version.
Download MAHLI-Dust-Off.zip

(P.S. And remember, as per the included instructions, before running the automation, create a folder on your DESKTOP named "(-)" (without the quotes, i.e. left parenthesis, dash, right parenthesis only) as the automation expects it to be there to receive the processed frames, otherwise you may get an error.)

In this brightened crop of your anaglyph FredK, it looks like this delicate little fan is actually attached at two points. Really interesting questions at play here...

Got it up to Gigapan, so the full 84,213 x 3,383px version is online here. Gotta admit, going full screen is pretty fun.

Thanks guys. Am looking into Gigapan right now, nice suggestion. You might want to download your versions of the pano again though. I noticed a few black lines that ended up at lower right and also a filter I'd left on that tinged the darker rocks a bit green here and there. Just fixed it an re-uploaded all versions.

Questioning my sanity last few days... but I had to try this...

Here's a panorama comprised of a whopping 270 MC100 frames from Sols 64, 66, 67, 70, 72, and 74. It's 90 frames across in 3 rows. A few rocks at far left and right are identical so it appears to be a full 360 panorama of the Rocknest site. The full sized pano runs a ridiculous 84,213 x 3,383 pixels in size and over a half a gigabyte as a LZW compressed TIF. Since JPG only supports widths up to 65,535 - that's the largest size available below. The FULL version can be viewed at Gigapan.com here. As it had to be done in sections first then blended together at the junction of sun angles (about center), it was a bit tricky to even out the light and dark exposures throughout, but after some tricky masking I think it ended up uniformly even without departing from the default color and level values. White levels began to burn in a bit at far left but since every tweak requires an excruciating long wait, I saved it out as a "V1" & done for now.

The thumbnail brings up a relatively small 8400x337px version - bigger versions are available in the links below...



Medium = 16860x677px - JPG - 7MB
Large = 30000x1205px - JPG - 19MB
Huge = 65500x2631px - JPG - 48MB
The Full Version (online at Gigapan) = 84,213 x 3,383px is here.

The "Huge" is probably best done as a right clicked and "Save As..." download rather than attempting to be opened it in a browser. Every one of mine chokes on it. Even takes about 20 seconds or longer to open in the average image viewer once downloaded.

Wow, with the additional batch of Sol 74 MC100's down today the "Low Sun Angle" mosaic is growing huge, up to almost 27,000 pixels wide now. This latest batch stitches right up to the left side nicely. Here's the whole shebang in it's gloriously rich raw color at 27000 x 3550px (and 34MB!)...

Another working day at Rocknest...



Edit: Just substituted the second "coffee" for "fresh ground"... duh... how'd I miss that pun the first time? The original is still available here.

Well you're right it's kind of a variant but with a totally different mechanism. What I like about the filter approach is that traditional white balancing adjustments like the "Gray World" curves balancing, levels tweaks, and most of the "Auto White Balance" algorithms I've experimented with involve directly altering the separate RGB input levels to hopefully achieve a balanced assumption of neutral gray, but in doing so, often alter the white and black intensity levels and contrast. It can get really tricky. The filtering approach doesn't attempt to foundationally alter the already existing RGB relationships or drastically alter the white or black intensity levels, just correct the yellowish cast from the atmospheric light by utilizing its directly inverted counterpart to filter it back toward neutral. That said, though professional graphics is a part of my business, I'm certainly not a scholar of color science as the knowledge of many members here are clearly beyond mine. What I do know is that of the many differing and sometimes subjectively random results from a variety of white balance routines I've played around with, it seems to be a pretty quick and painless technique, and if the post-filtering calibration target grays and whites are any evidence, offers a reasonably acceptable quantum of accuracy too. - As you said though... If "neutral" is the goal that is.

Sorry for the long post but if this works as a fairly accurate white balancing trick I wanted to get everybody's take on it and share the technique...

The white balance issue (thanks for bringing it to the forefront mcaplinger) certainly is a pesky one for imagery geeks like myself. Where there is a calibration target in the image its a pretty simple task to equalize RGB values based on a gray target. Mcapliger's general adjustment values are certainly a move in the right direction. But with so many differing landscapes and lighting values based on time of day, sun angle, and atmosphic dust content, and absolutely nothing to accurately base mean gray values on, I've been struggling with how to find a method of determining just how one would go about getting an accurate white balance with any given image. This morning I stumbled across a technique that after a some extensive tests seems to show promise...

I was remembering how if one takes a color image (any image that is, Earth based or not), and copies it into another layer, inverts the color, and reduces the opacity of that inverted upper layer to 50%, the transparent inverted colors cancel out the colors of the original image below, leaving a blank neutral grayscale image. Using this concept and and a few tools in Photoshop (requires any CS version) I created custom photo filters (that vary slightly on a per image basis) that appear to white balance the Martian atmospheric tinge on calibration targets near perfectly, and so by extension one could argue the landscape as well.

Here's the technique I used for the following examples (I suppose one could loosely refer to it as "IBF" or Invert > Blur > Filter):

1. Open an MSL image in Photoshop.
2. Duplicate the "Background" layer. You now have a "Background copy" layer above the original.
3. With the "Background copy" layer selected, choose "Image > Adjustments > Invert", then "Filter > Blur > Average". You should now have a bluish single colored blank layer.
4. Use the eye dropper tool to select this color as your foreground color on the tools palette. Now turn this layer off so you can see the original image.
5. Now select your MSL image layer again ("Background") and choose "Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter..."
6. In the dialog that opens choose the "Color" radio button and click on the default color swatch and assign it with the bluish foreground color you saved on the tools palette.
7. Move the slider to 95%. (determined because at 95% the calibration target gray RGB values are closest).

Now if the image you're using is a landscape shot you're going to notice the color has washed out quite a bit. This is the filter at work. Just do the following.

8. Choose "Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation..." and increase the Saturation Slider to about 55-60.

This last adjustment is about where most of the tests I ran on landscapes seemed to restore the color to about the intensity of the original, though admittedly it's arbitrary. In fact, the calibration target samples below only seemed to require a 25-30 increase in saturation, as any higher seemed to over saturate them. I take this to perhaps be and indication that the farther away the target, the more saturation "recovery" must be applied (due to the extra desaturation effect of the atmosphere?).

Using this technique on an image by image basis (i.e. the precise color of the filter varying as per the inverted, blurred averaged color of the original) I was able to achieve the following results. As the technique seemed to almost perfectly balance the white, gray, and black levels of the calibration targets, could we then assume that the landscape color values must then be similarly accurate? Hmmmm.

On the topic of particle sizes in dune encrustation as compared to its underlying material and the possible causes for it, there's a pretty good chapter in the 2009 publication "Dark Dunes on Mars" by planetary geologist Daniela Tirsch of the German Aerospace Center Institute of Planetary Research about Martian dune induration and imobilization: Chapter 5.7 "The Immobilization of Dunes - Possible Types of Consolidation" that references Spirit's "Serpent" dune (with photos) and offers some hypotheses about the induration processes at work. The entire publication appears to be available too, in a series of PDF's here. Have only had a chance to scan through some of it, but it looks pretty interesting.

List by Sol with infinite scroll! (hey that rhymes...) Perfecto! I know I speak for the masses when I say infinite thanks.

Beautiful post cards Ant. And here's one in stereo. Sunset at Gale ~ Sol 50 ~ MC34 & MC100 anaglyph pairing.



...no words.

Here's and updated version of the Sol 59 & 60 MC100 anaglyph pairing of the rock slab field with an emphasis on reducing the separation of the colors in the area specific to the rock slabs in foreground center and right so as to support very close zooming on them. There's also a shift toward white balancing too to differentiate rock types just a hair.



One particularly interesting slab (that I've dubbed "Sunsetter" for it's similarity to an awning of the same name) is this guy, who seems so well cemented to his underlying layer so as to almost defy gravity. There's evidently more rock supporting him that is readily visible in the shadow if brightened, but this field is full of interesting characters like this. Has anyone been able to calculate based on the distance to this rock field how large this guy might be, and for that matter all these slabs and Phil's sea lions?

Ask and ye shall receive! Here's the Full Resolution Anaglyph. Sols 59 & 60 MC100 pairing...



Oh Wow...

Edit: Just went in and cloned out those pesky MC100 dirt spots that float in mid-air and realigned the separation of the sides just a hair. A pairing like this one, that has a pretty wide baseline (compared to the target's distance from MSL), makes the foreground and distant objects vary wildly in the separation of colors. I think this one strikes a decent balance that makes all depth fields accessible without too much eye adjustment though.

Edit 2: A slightly more white balanced version of the anaglyph with reduced color separation in the area specific to the slabs to support very close zooming on them has been posted here.

Here's the Sol 59 (partial) MC100 mosaic whith some white balancing. This is a really enthralling rock field. Not only that the great number of slabs exposed appear to be composed of very thin layers, but that they're apparently so well cemented they tend to resist collapse. And their apparently tilted (but formation consistent) angle of exposure is interesting to ponder.



AND... there's also a sister MC100 mosaic taken on Sol 60 (not down yet) with a few meter basline differential that'll be excellent for stereo viewing of this field when the full frames are available. Here's a quick test draft utilizing a thumbnail mosaic for the left eye...



...being a dedicated MC100 pair this will be razor sharp when the Sol 60 full frames are down.

EDIT: The above anaglyph is now available in Full Resolution two posts down or click here.

Animated GIF Anaglyph of 1st Martian Soil Scoop - Sol 61

Wow Damien, both of these are really magnificent, but "Late Afternoon at Gale" is simply a stunningly realized MSL portrait. Went straight to new wallpaper. Excellent work.

Nice anaglyphs guys... Well, here's some fresh new Z-axis eye candy from Sol 51...

MSL took a huge 90 frame MC100 panorama (with corresponding MC34 coverage!) on Sol 51 consisting of two rows of 45 frames each. Though only 59 frames have come down yet, all 45 from the top row are complete. Below is the ridiculously long pano from that top row paired with the MC34 coverage. Near as I can tell the pano starts at roughly 10 degrees azimuth and continues right to about 170 degrees, covering about 160 degrees of horizon. The full resolution version stretches almost 42,000 pixels though I've reduced the width to 29,999 to keep it under the 30k mark that starts spitting up errors in some browsers, Photoshop, and many image viewers. I cloned out those nasty MC100 dirt spots, to keep the viewing immersion clean. The high thermal inertia unit depression's east flank is pretty well covered for quite some distance too:

Anaglyph - 29,999x966px - 9.12MB:


AND... here's a full resolution crop of part of the pano that included 7 frames from the lower row. Luckily this section was centered on the HTIU depression as well and includes Phil's sea lions and a few of the tilted and fractured strata slabs we first saw in the Sol 54 mosaic:

Anaglyph - 6660x2057px - 5.5MB:


Just love these Mastcam 34/100 pairings...

Ok ngunn, look right in the center of this anaglyph (this thing pops right out in 3D). There's a Big Island there. Is that the island you're looking for? Based on the Mt. Sharp ridge lines in the background it would be just a bit north of due east from the MSL position on Sol 51 from which this anaglyph was made, so pretty well corresponds to the island you're referring to on Peter's map.



BTW this is a crop of a much larger anaglyph I'm working on from the Sol 51 Mastcams...