In Stitcher 4.0, the auto crop feature has been added that automatically crops the image based on the black areas and generates a perfect picture.  This feature alone makes 4.0 a worth upgrade.  It is such a simple task; I’m surprised it wasn’t added earlier. 

If you don’t want Stitcher to perform the crop automatically, you can also define the area to render yourself.  This is helpful if you are creating a cylindrical panorama for use in a 3D application and you don’t want the black areas rendered, while at the same time maximize the image area itself.

Stitcher 4.0 also has the ability to automatically render the panorama to the largest size possible based on the original image size.  No longer to do you have to guestimate the size of your final output.  If you have 5 images that are 2300 pixels wide, Stitcher will generate the final output of 11500 pixels for you.

The first tool, is actually a tool not specifically for QuickTime VRs, but is a tool that can be used for any type of output.  Often when stitching images together you will end up with “ghosts”.  These artifacts or distortions resulting in multiple instances of an element appearing in the final render can ruin an otherwise perfect shot. 

Stitcher 4.0 addresses this issue by adding the Stencil Tool.  This tool allows you to define and essentially remove unwanted portions of images that cause this problem.  A good example of when you would use this tool is if you are working with a sky filled with slow moving puffy clouds.  In one image the cloud might be present, but in the overlap, the cloud is gone.  This results in a cloud that is cut in half at the stitch point, or has changed in size.  The stencil tool can be used to correct this mistake to generate a seamless image.