Hugin [cool software]

So today, I was re-formatting one of my user's computers and going through their currently installed software when I saw some Canon utilities installed. I would rather etch a drawing than have to install the software that comes with a Canon digital camera - 10 different versions of 7 utilities and their plugins for working with photo formats you'll never even hear of... (you get the idea - if you buy a digital camera, leave the CD in the box.)

The user expressed concern over the fact that he used the Canon software to stitch panoramas together, so I told him 'give me a minute to find something better, because I know it has to be out there, AND open source...'

Sure enough, I found Hugin, an open source project that utilizes a few other utilities together in a graphical interface that does a bang up job of combining separate photos into a panoramic image.

I called the user in and asked them if they had any source images they had stitched together so we could try them out. Turns out, they deleted all their previous source images once the stitches were done.

He went and grabbed his camera and took a few shots of me. A few minutes later, without even consulting a manual, we produced this amazing stitch (click for larger image):

Anyways... for free and that easy, I had to pass it along.

I think I may write up a list of all the open source applications that I think are worth while...