Free Police Composite Software
When it comes to capturing stunning landscapes, frames are never sufficiently big, even when you have a wide angle lens with you! Well, suppose you have a wide angle lens with you; even then, you might have to crop an image if you want to have a focused panorama shot. Nevertheless, if you’ve a tripod and a camera with manual options, you have a better solution out there — Panorama shots through photo stitching! Photo stitching is a process used for creation of panoramic shot by combining several images, given that all these images have overlapping segments. The best thing about this method is that you can have a high-resolution panoramic shot using your 18-55 mm or other lenses.
Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with the term Photo Stitching — that is incredibly easier! In this post, we have a list of top 8 photo stitching software, which you can use for creating panoramic images that have enhanced clarity and resolution. If you want to use the software, you should be a bit more careful while you capture. For instance, it’s rather necessary that all the images should have common exposure and that tripod level should be kept same during the capturing process. If these are set, we will just move onto the list.
Best Photo Stitching Software
1. Hugin
Law enforcement investigators often rely on some means of preparing a “likeness” of a suspect. The two most popular methods are using the services of a sketch artist or employing one of several different computer programs available on the market today. The Artistic Touch. Law enforcement.
An open source initiative, Hugin lets you enhance your panoramic photography by combining overlapping images, as we said earlier. Hugin is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and it is being used by a large number of photographers when they need high-resolution panoramic shots. It’s a fact that Hugin prioritizes customizability & advanced functions, and thus it’s more or less for professionals. For instance, you can find control points and edit the parameters used so that you get the best output.
Other notable features of Hugin include its feature to correct shots that are wavy due to inconsistency of level, support for various projection types, advanced corrections, support for HDR Stitching etc. User Interface of Hugin is not that tough, but you can get accustomed to it if you’re ready to take some effort. So, go for Hugin when you need a feature-rich and professional panorama software.
- Price: Free
2. Image Composite Editor
Image Composite Editor is the common name for Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor and it’s a project from Computational Photography Group of Microsoft Research wing. Apart from combination of overlapped shots and the export to popular formats like JPEG and TIFF, Image Composite Editor offers support for Silverlight DeepZoom & HD View that are multi-resolution tiled formats. Also, there is an option to upload the multi-resolution output image to Photosynth site of Microsoft. Image Composite Editor is available only for Windows and it has support for Windows XP,7,8 and Windows 8.1.
Notable features of ICE are support for different kinds of camera motion, Gigapixel image support, the feature for exposure blending and the feature to automatically complete missing image parts like sky, clouds etc. An extreme newbie and professional would find Image Composite Editor to be useful and that is what keeps it apart.
- Price: Free
3. Kolor Autopano
Kolor Autopano is a premium photo stitching software that is available for Windows (Windows 7, 8; 64 bits only, ready for Windows 10), Linux Ubuntu 14.04 and Mac OS X 10.5 & later! In spite of the features it offers, Kolor Autopano comes with an extremely intuitive User Interface, which lets almost any user to complete the panorama stitching process in two steps. There are two variants of Kolor Autopano you can get — Kolor Autopano Pro and Kolor Autopano Giga. The latter variant offers additional features like masking tool & pre-stitching plugins. However, general features of Kolor Autopano include support for up to 400 input file formats, 7 export file formats and the ability to create both 360 Degree and 180 Degree Panorama shots by putting the least efforts.
If you want to really know the power of Kolor Autopano, you can check out the Gallery page, where you have a set of panoramic shots that are stitched using the tool.
- Price: 99 Euros for Autopano Pro and 199 Euros for Autopano Giga
4. Autostitch
Autostitch is a bit different from other photo stitching software we have mentioned here. Unlike those, you can use Autostitch to stitch photographs in the most effective way without any kind of input from your side. For instance, the first photo stitching software mentioned in the list wants you to choose matching points and then starts merging. On the other hand, Autostitch can find matching sections of inputted images and proceed with the image stitching process.
There is a demo version of the tool available, with lesser options, but you will have to go for the Pro version if you need features like Cylindrical and Planar projections. To find matches between images, Autostitch uses the SIFT Algorithm. In short, when you need an image stitching software that is simple enough, you can move on with Autostitch. It is available for both OS X and Windows.
- Price: Free Demo & Commercial Variants available
5. PTGui
PTGui is a blazingly fast solution you can depend upon when you need a photo stitching software with an impressive User Interface as well. Available for Mac OS X and Windows, PTGui suits well for professionals as well as amateurs. There are some features you’d miss if you stick onto the normal version of PTGui but the general scenario of features is impressive, indeed. For instance, the features section includes automated stitching images, support for gigapixel panoramas, wide export file format support, interactive adjustment of panorama perspective etc. Also, the upgrade to the PTGui Pro version will give you Viewpoint correction, HDR Panorama stitching support, Exposure Fusion, global adjustment of exposure etc.
In addition, PTGui has support for various types of projections too. If we are to consider all these, PTGui makes sense as a professional photo stitching software.
- Free: Personal License available for 79 Euros
6. PanoramaPlus X4
PanoramaPlus X4 is yet another commercial software that lets you create stunning panoramic shots without requiring you to dedicate that much effort into it. The whole process is more or less automated that you won’t have to think about matching points or other technical stuff when you’ve launched this tool. On the other hand, you can choose all the images you want in the complete panoramic shots and move on, quite simply. Notable features of PanoramaPlus X4 include the ability to get panorama shots from videos, tools for optimizing the panorama shots by means of many kinds of editing, integrated sharing features for uploading directly to Facebook & Flickr, etc.
Also, PanoramaPlus X4 is offering support for almost every popular image format too. Considering the amount you have to pay, what you get is Christmas!
- Price: £20.42
7. ArcSoft Panorama Maker
ArcSoft Panorama Maker is a multipurpose photo stitching software that is available for both Windows and Mac OS X. An optimal panoramic image is three steps away when you’re using ArcSoft Panorama Maker to deal with the stitching process. In both creation and editing sections, ArcSoft Panorama Maker has impressive features to offer you. For instance, when it comes to the stitching aspect, you have five different stitching modes; you have to select a desired format and choose the photographs to fill the space — you’re done.
On the other hand, when you want to edit a panorama shot, there are a lot of options. For instance, there is Align Points and Photo Blend to help you have tweaks on overlapped areas while fine-tuning features of ArcSoft Panorama Maker helps you get the best output in terms of panoramic images. Considering these all, ArcSoft Panorama Maker makes sense — simple as that.
- Price: $79.99; Free trial available
8. Panoweaver 9
Panoweaver 9 is yet another panorama stitching software that gives you the final output in just three steps! You will be able to use it for stitching various kinds of images like Fisheye photos, normal photos and RAW & HDR Photos, with same level of effectiveness. Coming to the output, you can get Cubic, Cylindrical, Spherical or a single fisheye projection mode. Of course, you can have enhanced features if you’re ready to upgrade to the Pro variant of Panoweaver 9. There are both Standard and Professional versions of Panoweaver 9 and there is difference in terms of availability of features too. For instance, you can get support of batch stitching and batch publishing only in the Pro version.
If we are to consider all these, Panoweaver 9 is indeed a notable solution, we bet. Panoweaver 9 is available for Mac and Windows, by the way.
- Price: $99.95 for Standard and $299.95 for Professional
SEE ALSO: 10 Best Free Photo Editing Software
Have you used any of the photo stitching tool mentioned in our list of best photo stitching software? Do let us know in comments section.
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Analysis of Competing Hypotheses Software -- http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/ach/ach.html
Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH) is a simple model for how to think about a complex problem when the available information is incomplete or ambiguous, as typically happens in intelligence analysis. The software downloadable here takes an analyst through a process for making a well-reasoned, analytical judgment. It is particularly useful for issues that require careful weighing of alternative explanations of what has happened, is happening, or is likely to happen in the future. It helps the analyst overcome, or at least minimize, some of the cognitive limitations that make prescient intelligence analysis so difficult. ACH is grounded in basic insights from cognitive psychology, decision analysis, and the scientific method. It helps analysts protect themselves from avoidable error, and improves their chances of making a correct judgment.
This software was developed by Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in collaboration with Richards J. Heuer, Jr. It was developed for use by the U.S. Intelligence Community with funding from the Intelligence Community's Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
In distributing ACH, PARC is making the presently downloadable version of the program available to the general public at no cost when used for non-commercial or educational purposes subject to the terms and conditions of its end user license.
CARVER2 - Target Analysis Software -- http://www.ni2cie.org/CARVER2.asp
CARVER2, a free software tool that provides a non-technical method of comparing and ranking critical infrastructure and key resources. It is the only assessment tool that ranks critical infrastructure across sectors.
The CARVER2 vulnerability assessment tool is designed to quickly and easily identify and compare potential natural disaster and/or terrorist targets at the local, state and national levels in order to assist government officials in the allocation of protective resources. The CARVER2 target analysis tool is available free of charge to federal, state, and local government officials and agencies, as well as non-profit and educational institutions. See below to request the installation package.
Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor -- https://cofee.nw3c.org/
Microsoft COFEE is being made available to individuals employed by law enforcement agencies within the United States and Canada. COFEE means the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor tool that fits on a USB drive and automates the execution of commands for data extraction and related documentation. Distribution is limited to law enforcement agencies. Access to the COFEE product requires verification of employment with a law enforcement agency and agreement to the terms and conditions of the Microsoft/NW3C Sublicense Agreement. The verification process is automated if you have an email account with RISS.NET or LEO.GOV, or have an account with NW3C.
Computer Security Evaluation Tool -- http://www.us-cert.gov/control_systems/satool.html
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its latest cyber system assessment tool to the Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources (CI/KR) community. The Computer Security Evaluation Tool (CSET) is a desktop software tool that guides users through a step-by-step process to evaluate their cyber systems and network security practices against recognized industry standards.
According to DHS, the benefits of CSET include:
- Contributing to an organization's risk management and decision-making process;
- Raising awareness and facilitating discussion on cyber security within the organization;
- Highlighting vulnerabilities in the organization's systems and providing recommendations on ways to address those vulnerabilities;
- Identifying areas of strength and best practices being followed in the organization;
- Providing a method to systematically compare and monitor improvement in the cyber systems; and
- Providing a common industry-wide tool for assessing cyber systems.
CrimeStat III -- http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/CrimeStat/
CrimeStat III is a spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations, developed by Ned Levine & Associates under the direction of Ned Levine, PhD, that was funded by grants from the National Institute of Justice. The program is Windows-based and interfaces with most desktop GIS programs. The purpose is to provide supplemental statistical tools to aid law enforcement agencies and criminal justice researchers in their crime mapping efforts. CrimeStat is being used by many police departments around the country as well as by criminal justice and other researchers. The latest version is 3.3. The program inputs incident locations (e.g., robbery locations) in 'dbf', 'shp', ASCII or ODBC-compliant formats using either spherical or projected coordinates. It calculates various spatial statistics and writes graphical objects to ArcGIS®, MapInfo®, Surfer for Windows®, and other GIS packages.
Comprehensive R Archive Network -- http://cran.r-project.org/
Comprehensive R Archive Network a freely available language and environment for statistical computing and graphics which provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques: linear and nonlinear modelling, statistical tests, time series analysis, classification, clustering, etc.
Decrypto is a fast and automated cryptogram solver by Edwin Olson. It can decode word games often found in newspapers, including puzzles like cryptoquips and patristocrats. You can also download a stand-alone version. [We have also found this program useful for quickly breaking simple substitution ciphers used by some criminal gangs.]
Encryption Wizard (EW) DoD Software Protection Initiative -- http://spi.dod.mil/ewizard.htm
EW is an SPC implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (Rijndael) augmented with a file manager Graphical User Interface (GUI) for ease of use. The 128-bit encryption/decryption algorithm used by Encryption Wizard is considered cryptographically strong and is routinely used in National Security Agency (NSA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certified products. Encryption Wizard is designed to protect data at rest and in transit (such as email attachments). EW is an easy to use tool for protecting sensitive (but not classified) documents, and for protecting files before transmission via email. It allows a user to encrypt files using a 128-bit implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with simple drag-and-drop efficiency. Encryption Wizard can significantly increase an organization‘s security posture at little to no cost to protect sensitive data in transit (E-mail, FTP, or shared web folders) or at rest on a removable storage device. The primary version for government users utilizes a FIPS 140-2 validated encryption engine licensed from RSA
•An improved analytical approach that will make consequence, vulnerability, and likelihood of occurrence assessments of threats more transparent; and
•A natural disaster assessment process supported by historical information to enable likelihood determinations.
NOTE: Although designed for water system vulnerabilities, VSAT is highly applicable to other types of risk analysis.
Google Earth -- http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
Google Earth lets you view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, galaxies in outer space, and the depths of the ocean.
Near Repeat Calculator -- http://www.temple.edu/cj/misc/nr/
This software originates with the relatively recent discovery of the near repeat phenomenon in burglary patterns, a discovery that has highlighted the communicability of crime events that affect the risk level at nearby locations. The near repeat phenomenon states that if a location is the target of a crime (such as burglary), the homes within a relatively short distance have an increased chance of being burgled for a limited number of weeks (Townsley et al, 2003; Bowers and Johnson, 2004; Johnson and Bowers, 2004a, 2004b). This communicability of risk to nearby locations for a short amount of time raises the possibility that other crime types may also suffer from a near repeat spatio-temporal pattern of behavior.
The analytical method employed builds on a space-time clustering methods first pioneered by Knox (1964) to study the epidemiology of childhood leukemia. The Knox test seeks to determine whether there are more event-pairs observed that occur with a closer proximity in space and time than would be expected on the basis of a random distribution. To do this, each shooting for a particular dataset is compared with every other and the spatial and temporal distance between them recorded. The result is a matrix of space-time distances.
To establish a null hypothesis measure against which to test the shooting patterns, we employ a Monte Carlo simulation process. By computing multiple simulations of the expected values, it is possible to generate an expected distribution under a null hypothesis – using the actual study data. This provides a unique way to examine what would occur if there were no near repeat patterns.
Problem Analysis Module -- http://www.popcenter.org/learning/pam/
Problem Analysis Module (PAM) gives you a framework for analyzing any persistent crime and public safety problem. PAM will ask you to input information concerning every aspect of the problem and then suggest the kinds of responses you could try. PAM was developed to assist police problem solving through the asking of specific questions. The questions come from research into a set of powerful theories within the field of Environmental Criminology – particularly Routine Activity Theory, Situational Crime Prevention, and Crime Pattern Theory.
BAIR’s free public crime map, RAIDS Online, connects law enforcement with the community to reduce crime and improve public safety. RAIDS Online is absolutely free to law enforcement and the public! RAIDS On-line’s public crime map works with any RMS to allow law enforcement to share crime data with the public through an easy-to-use online crime map and analytics dashboard. The data is displayed with 8 fields of limited offense information to protect victim privacy. This is a valuable tool for law enforcement to communicate crime activity to their citizens and the media.
Composite Software Inc
SketchFace -- http://sketchface.com/
Created by Ali Daneshmandi, SketchFace is a free web application for creating photo-realistic facial composite pictures.
The program compares two or more courses of action based on two or more evaluation criteria. The user arranges the evaluation criteria in descending order of importance and tells the program how much more important each criterion is than the next lower criterion. These importance ratings are used to calculate weights for each criterion. SquidMat takes user-supplied values for each course-of-action/criterion combination and converts them to Z scores. Using the criterion weights, the program calculates weighted sums for each course of action. The course of action with the highest weighted sum is considered to be the best. SquidMat is designed as a replacement decision matrix program for the CAS3 program DECMAT.