P: Spherical panoramas 3D view low quality

[kerenyizoltan]

i work with 360 panorama images taken with dedicated cameras
and sometimes i need to edit the pictures (remove tripod, fix other parts)

all worked fine with this workflow:
3D - spherical panorama from layer - making the needed changes on a new layer - merge down the new layer - export panorama.

but recently i noticed that when opening the panorama image in 3D view, the details become pixelated horribly.
and so if i make a change (healing brush), that part of the image will not be the same quality as the rest.

strange thing is that if i just export the image without changing anything, the quality is still perfect!

see the attached image, all i did was copying my head next to the original, using the workflow above, and exported the pano.
as you can see, the left is sharp (even though in 3D view it LOOKED pixelated!) and the copied one on the right IS pixelated.

so it seems to me that the 3D view is the problem.

noticed after installing PS 2020.
but even when i try it in 2019 (which worked fine before) now it's the same issue there as well.

[dzigakaiser]

Hey Zoltan,

I am actually surprised you ever got the full resolution from the spherical panorama layer as I always get a much lower res output compared to the high res paboramas I use. I am curious to see if there is a way to get the full resolution ^^

[kerenyizoltan]

hi,
f.e. in 2018.v19.1.2 the 3D view was still perfect, full resolution.

somewhere in the later versions it got screwed up.
Adobe should look into this.
it's ridiculous.

[jumpymonkey9]

I'm having the exact same issue.  If I draw some lines with a brush, it looks great when I export.  As usual, the preview window looks like garbage, but on export it turns out fine.  But, if I copy a selection and merge it down, the copy looks much lower quality than the preview, and noticeably lower quality when exported.

[kerenyizoltan]

so, this is PS version 21.0.1
i just made a better example to show the problem:


method:
open equirectangular panorama image - 3D - Spherical Panorama - New Panorama Layer From Selected Layer(s) --- (at this point i can only see the shitty pixelated image) --- create new layer - Healing brush tool (replace mode) - (copying the roof line, the cupola, etc) - merge down - Export Panorama.

Now. As for the resolution question:
imported image size: 6720x3360 px
exported image size: 6720x3360 px

so no issue there!

As for the quality though:
the copied parts are blurry, pixelated (as copied from the shitty 3D view), the rest of the image is just like the imported image, sharp.

Why is there no option to address issues like this directly to Adobe?

[kerenyizoltan]

to see the details better:







this is just awful.

[jumpymonkey9]

Are there any other programs that allow you to edit a panorama like this?  Most of what I've found so far only allow stitching images together.  It would be nice if Adobe would just make a separate program just for spherical panoramas, since Photoshop can't seem to cut it.

I may try After Effects and see what I can do there.  I've done plenty of panos in AE, but with motion graphics.  I haven't really had to duplicate or remove anything from an image.  But AE does have some of the same features, so it might be worth a shot.

[kerenyizoltan]

As I mentioned above, version 2018.v19.1.2 works perfect for this method of panorama editing.
Get that somehow, if you know what i mean.

I pay Adobe's annual plan for 3 years now,
so it's really annoying that they screw some functions up like this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thanks for the great info Zoltan and agree with the annoying part. If it was working before, why mess it up?? This is really hindering our creation process for 360 images! 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi, In Photoshop  CC 20.07 I've been experiencing problems with 3D panorama workflow. When I create a new Spherical Panorama  from equirectangular image. The quality of the preview is very low. It looks like all the image is in pixels. In this preview mode I cannot use photoshop tool to retouche the image, because I cannot see details of image. Any workaround ideas?

[kerenyizoltan]

new update: PS version 21.0.2

3D is still pixelated



hey, Adobe stuff, this is a bug report.
can you see? will you fix it?

[StefanKlein]

That low quality is not only a problem with sperical panos, but also with 3D postcards and textures in general. 3D has many, many bugs right now!

[kerenyizoltan]

update:
advice from Adobe chat support:
"For Photoshop 2020 version 21.0.2, GPU also needs to be updated, please check with your GPU update once."

i did that, checked, updated - and it made NO CHANGE.
the problem still exists.

[kerenyizoltan]

new update just arrived
21.0.3

issue NOT fixed!

[kerenyizoltan]

funny enough, i contacted adobe support to open the case again, because it is not resolved,
and they told me that this PS update was just a normal update.
- okay, so what kind of update shall we wait for? - i asked.
- a future update.

it would be funny if it wasn't sad.

[Andrew_Sender]

Hi Zoltan,
I work for the Photoshop engineering team.  Could you email me (sender@adobe.com) PSD displaying the pixelation issue?

Andrew

[kerenyizoltan]

hi Andrew,
thanks for contacting me.

why do you need a PSD, though?

did you try the method i described above (2 months ago), to see the issue?

in case you missed it, here it goes again:

--------------------
method:
open equirectangular panorama image - 3D - Spherical Panorama - New Panorama Layer From Selected Layer(s) --- (at this point i can only see the pixelated image) --- create new layer - Healing brush tool (replace mode) - (copying the roof line, the cupola, etc) - merge down - Export Panorama.

Now. As for the resolution question:
imported image size: 6720x3360 px
exported image size: 6720x3360 px

so no issue there!

As for the quality though:
the copied parts are blurry, pixelated (as copied from the 3D view), the rest of the image is just like the imported image, sharp.
--------------------

i really can not be more specific.
hope my english is good enough for you to understand every step.

anyway, i'll email you the original picture (it's 3MB so can not attach here due to the 2MB max upload image size)
and the method description,
so you can check the same roof line if it gets pixelated for you as well in the 3D view.

you could have already tried long time ago with any picture though...

hope that helps...

br, Z

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

You can do it in AE if you have Mocha Pro

[Andrew_Sender]

Thanks Z!
I tried reproducing the issue with your steps on Ps 21.0.3 but was unsuccessful in seeing the issue.  I emailed three attachments. The PSD before and after, and the exported jpg.

Now that I have been reading up on more 3D related issues.  There has been a number of workaround solutions of changing the Ps language to English.  By any chance are you using a non-English language in Photoshop?  If so, can you try in English and see if that resolves the issue.  Our engineering team is looking into this language affecting 3D layers issue.

Andrew

[kerenyizoltan]

hi Andrew,
what exactly were your steps before exporting the image?
did you try to copy parts of it (especially the roofline) with the healing brush?

if you just opened the image in 3D, and exported - sure you won't see any difference.

can you please copy the same parts as I did, right next to the original, in red circles, so that we can compare the "healed" parts on the same image?

i do use English PS.

z

[Andrew_Sender]

Hi Everyone,
I think I was able to reproduce the problem with Z's steps.  It looks like the canvas loses resoluation after the making the layer 3D -> Spherical Panorama -> New Panorama Layer From Selected Layer(s).  Once that happens, the healing brush tool (replace mode) picks up this low resolution.  I'll inform the engineering team and have them investigate this further.  Thank you everyone for your posts and efforts!

Sincerely,
Andrew

[jumpymonkey9]

That's fantastic!  Finally, some progress.  

[kerenyizoltan]

new update just arrived
21.1.0

issue NOT fixed!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I have been communicating with Adobe today who claim that my problem is that my Graphics card drivers??? need updating. I have done the latest Mac OS Catalina 10.15.3 and running Ps 21.1.0 but my Spherical Panoramas are still pixelated. I am shooting on a Spheron HDRi VR camera and the images are pin sharp before I import them into Ps 3D. Is this the same issue discussed in this forum?

[kerenyizoltan]

Gerard, adobe support is a waste of time, they barely understand english, and have no clue what the problem really is.
I was also told to update my graphics drivers, some other support person wanted to connect to my computer (?!), they promise that it will be fixed in future update and so on.
they are worthless.

Andrew (see above) says he is photoshop engineering team member, and managed to reproduce our issue on the 2nd try... no comment there... 
you know, i'm really grateful if anybody looks into the issue, but seems like adobe does not have the sharpest knives in the drawer... 

the issue still not fixed, for 3-4 months now!

i have the latest PS version - 3d is not sharp.
i also have 2018.v19.1.2 installed - 3d is sharp, no problems!
(i checked many versions in between, and this is the one that works...)

so my suggestion to you: find 2018.v19.1.2 and use that to edit 360 photos.

[Roei Tzoref]

thanks for posting this issue. I hope this is fixed soon, I am teaching 360 manipulation and for showing this the first time to students I'd hate to teach workflows that are destructive.  in the meantime a possible alternate workflow is to use After effects. if you need edits you can use VR Comp editor.