Photomerge of large tiff files

I found an alternative, cloud-based solution. This thread may be closed, though the input could be helpful for anyone else facing the same challenges.

I've tried all of the suggestions above but have had no success. Even allowing for processing over night, it still only completes about 10% of the alignment.

I will go back to the GIS approach and see if I can find any success that way.

Thanks for the input!

What OS version???

This is a tough one often unsolved from what I seen over many years, but if we try a number of things should get to the bottom of this.

1) 16mb is not much ram for a 5gb photomerge, you may have difficulty getting this to work. Close down all other apps and:

2) try a higher cache level

3) Make sure preferences >> units >> Pixels before starting photomerge. (known issue for crash not freeze, but can't hurt to check)

4) Try 8 bit .psd files. First record quick action to convert to 8 bit. then file >> scripts. image processor to convert folder of images to .psd and put checkmark to add your convert to 8 bit script.

5) Does photomerge work for you on a simpler set of images? You may need to do some experimentation to find out if this is a resolution issue, excessive image overlap or other.

How many files of what pixel dimensions each?

Don't use Photomerge. Split it up into its individual components, that way you have much more control. Stack them with your reference (midpoint) image at the bottom of the stack - the others will align to that. First run Auto-Align, then Auto-Blend. Merge before any resizing, otherwise the seams will be visible.

Photomerge has one particular stumbling block that can freeze the whole process. Or at least it used to: It had "content-aware fill empty areas" checked by default. Anyone who's done large panos know that empty areas may well be half the image area when done, before cropping.