I had to have my logic board replaced because my graphics card went kaput.  The day after getting my computer out of the shop, I started batch rendering.  I walked back to check on things only to discover a pop-up window saying I had 7 minutes to activate Stitcher because the trial version would expire.  Unfortunately, by the time I saw this, 7 minutes had passed and I could not even attempt to activate it.

In order to reactivate Stitcher, I need to supply my hardware ID.  None of the options are active for me to do this.  The opening pop-up that says Stitcher will not move and go away.  It opens and stays that way.  I thought I could try to download a trial version and then activate my old version using my old keys, but that did not work.

I have been using a fully-functional version of 5.6 since 2007.  I have multiple projects in the works and deadlines that have now passed.  The only menu button that works is the Stitcher Unlimited button where I can click on About and get the information displayed on the screen.  None of the others are active.  I can’t look at help, activate or even quit.  It says the DS option is Activated but does not have a check mark by the 5.6 option.  I have to force quit to make it close Stitcher.

I can’t find the original CD.  I have the activation codes, but I can’t use them because the option is not available.  On the advice from Autodesk tech support, I contacted Apple to see what configuration changes were made.  They said there were none because nothing else was wrong.  They only had to replace the board.  Nothing had to be configured. 

I found an old version of 5.5 so I started using that.  I sat right in front of it while I had to batch rendering.  Sure enough, the same window appeared.  This time, I clicked activate and used the keys that were already in there.  It worked, but it is as slow as Christmas.  It takes an hour to render one panorama into tiff format even when I show 20g of space available on my computer.  It used to take a few minutes.  What is going on?

Someone please tell me you know how to fix this!

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I don’t want to give the impression that I have had no response from Autodesk.  Support has tried to help me.  They have been good about returning email, but the process is just too slow.  I don’t have that kind of time to wait to get it fixed.

You could batch render in 5.5 and 5.6.  I cleared up 14 GB of space last night.  I had 28GB of space when I opened 5.5, loaded several rzs files and clicked Run All!  I thought I would get up in a couple of hours and have tiff images waiting for me.  I got up in a couple of hours only to discover that there was an error message about quick time.  Quick time was not open and these images were to be spherical tiffs.  I have no idea what is going on there.  I attached a pic.  Notice the amount of time that had elapsed and the amount yet to go.

I am now attempting to use the trial version of 09.  I will let you know how it goes.

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hi stephi -

yes, it was the 1st autodesk version, 5.7 that removed batch render if i recall correctly, & just as i was returning from indonesia with dozens of panos, and little desire to render them one by one :(

stitcher unlimited did not restore that feature, and numerous questions about it here were completely ignored by autodesk - i kind of felt like a sucker, paying for an “upgrade” that removed existing features

i got up to speed w/ PTGUI in a few days, certainly less time than i was wasting w/ SU, plus the PTGUI community is amazingly helpful, the developer responds right away to all questions, and no hardware activation nonsense

check out the panoguide forums here, far more lively than this site - http://www.panoguide.com/forums/

sam

Sam Rohn :: Panoramic Photography :: http://www.samrohn.com :: Location Scout :: http://www.nylocations.com :: New York City