This page describes a Photoshop import-export plugin available for the Windows OS.  This plugin is a tool that takes an image (8, 16, or 32 bit/channel; RGB or Grayscale) open in Photoshop and exports it to a tiled image set, xml manifest and example web page.  The plugin is available from the Microsoft Research download page here.  The same installation package also installs the hdmake tool.  In order to use the plugin you will need to manually copy it to the appropriate folder.  The installation package will place HDView.8be (the plugin) in the folder indicated during the installation.  You will then need to copy it to the Plug-Ins\Import-Export folder for your version of Photoshop, e.g. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Plug-Ins\Import-Export.

Once installed you should see "HDView..." in the Photoshop File:Export menu.  Invoking the HDView... export option will give you the following dialog:

 

The dialog UI is described here:

Folder ...	Use this to choose the folder where the output files will be created.
Base File Name:	The exporter will generate a folder of tiles, an xml manifest needed by HDView and an example web page.  The Base File Name will be used for each of these items.  For example in the above screen shot, the the tiles folder will be named SpaceNeedle, the xml manifest SpaceNeedle.xml and the web page SpaceNeedle.htm
Output Type	The exporter can generate either Silverlight Deep Zoom or HD View output.  Under Deep Zoom the 'Projection' options will be disabled as only flat images are supported.   Also Deep Zoom will not be an option for 16bit/channel or 32bit/channel sources.
Compression Quality	A number from 1 to 100 indicating compression quality.  Larger numbers generate higher quality images but larger file sizes.  Smaller numbers have more compression artifacts but smaller file sizes.  Note that Quality '100' indicates lossless compression.
Projection	Use this to indicate a 'flat' image, 'spherical' (also known as equirectangular) image or 'cylindrical' image.  A flat image is one that hasn't been warped by an image stitching program.  For flat images it is not necessary to supply a horizontal field of view or the horizontal/vertical extents.  Flat images will just result in a simple translation effect when viewed in HD View.  You will not see a surround viewer effect for flat images. Spherical and cylindrical images are produced by image stitching applications, for example Photoshop, PTGui, AutoPano and Windows Live Photo Gallery.  If you select one of these projections then you will also need to supply either a horizontal field of view or horizontal/vertical extent.  Selecting Center Image indicates that the equator is at the center of the image, in this case only a horizontal field of view need be specified.  Most stitching programs produce centered output.  For example see how to take the PTGui UI and fill out this field here.
Browser Options	You can control the generated web page via these options.  Full Screen means that a page that uses most of the page real-estate for your image will be generated.  De-selecting Full Screen lets you indicate the size of the HD View control on the generated page. Selecting Open in Web Browser will launch the system's default web browser on the newly generated page.

 

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