PanGazer lets you save the current image file. To do this,
you can either:
- select the Image → Save image as ... menu item (or press ‘Ctrl-S’):
this will open the usual Windows file save dialog box for saving
the image
- select the Image → Resize image and save as ... menu item
(or press ‘Ctrl-R’): this will first open a PanGazer dialog box (see
below) that lets you change the size of the image before saving and
also lets you expand a part-spherical panorama to a full sphere (as
required for some sharing platforms – see Sharing Images for more
details).
In either case, the image is written to the selected file as a JFIF
(JPEG File Interchange Format) file with extension .jpg or .jpeg,
including the Exif (Exchangeable image file) metadata, XMP (Extensible
Metadata Platform) metadata, and any other metadata that was loaded
for the current image. The Exif and XMP metadata might be updated
or replaced, as detailed below. Note that if the image being saved
is spherical then new XMP metadata are always written; in this case
the XMP metadata requires a North value (see the Setting North
page) so, if North has not been set explicitly, PanGazer will set
North at the centre of the image in the XMP metadata but will not
assume that value for North on loading the image.
If the original image was not a JPEG image or if the image had to
be re-compressed for any reason then a JPEG Quality of 90% is used.
The PanGazer ‘Save image’ dialog box
Here is a screenshot of the PanGazer Save image dialog for a
part-spherical image (for non-spherical images, or full-sphere images,
the line with the checkbox is replaced by a description of the image
type):

PanGazer screenshot showing save dialog
In detail:
- You can adjust the size of the image by editing either the
X: or Y: values (PanGazer will update the other to maintain
the same aspect ratio, if the new value is valid). You can reset
the X and Y values to those of the current image by clicking the
Reset button.
Note that if the image will be a full-sphere panorama then the X
value must be even (so that the Y value can be exactly half that).
- You can convert the image to a full sphere if it is a part-spherical
panorama (e.g., an image that was created from drone photographs
that had limited coverage above the horizon, such as the PanGazer
‘starter image’). To do this, check the Expand this 360° image
to full sphere before save checkbox (this will be checked by default
for a part-spherical image).
PanGazer will then create a new image and fill in any missing data
above the top edge (and also one column of data if the X dimension
is odd) using deterministic interpolation and smoothing to reduce
sharp edges and generally improve the visual appearance.
This is useful for some applications which require that 360°
images are ‘full spheres’ (that is, the image has data from 90°
below to 90° above the horizon) – see Sharing Images for more
details.
- If you make no changes to the input fields and uncheck the checkbox
then the image will be saved as-is, with updated metadata if you
have changed the view, image geography, etc. (that is, as though
Save image as ... had been used).
Having made any desired changes, click the Save button. This
will create a resized and expanded image, if necessary (this may
take a few seconds), and then ask where it should be saved using
the usual Windows file save dialog.
If any changes to the image size were made:
- The saved image is opened in a new window so you can check it (and,
perhaps, adjust the viewpoint or other information and re-save it).
- PanGazer cannot simply duplicate the original Exif and XMP metadata.
Instead, selected “well-known” values are copied from the current
Exif metadata (see saving views for the list of copied numbers
and strings), and values you have set are included or updated (see
below). If the image is spherical then new XMP metadata matching
the new image are written, also as described below.
Saved data
PanGazer updates the following Exif metadata on saving if the values
are known or changed (e.g., set using the geography dialog):
- latitude and longitude of the image (camera location)
- elevation of the image (altitude of the camera above mean sea level)
- bearing of the centre of the image (relative to True North; 0°
to, but not including, 360°).
- the pitch (tilt) of the centre of the image (0° if at the horizon,
positive above or negative below).
If the image is spherical then new XMP metadata are written, including:
- image geometry (X and Y for equirectangular full sphere, etc.)
- the bearing of the centre of the image (relative to True North;
0° to, but not including, 360°); this requires a valid North
value (see the Setting North page) – if North has not been set
then PanGazer will assume that North is at the centre of the image
so that the initial view angles can be saved (see below); this does
not set the North bearing in the Exif data
- the pitch (tilt) of the centre of the image (0° if at the horizon,
positive above or negative below)
- the view angles (bearing relative to True North and tilt relative
to the horizon) and zoom setting currently in use; these will be
used for the initial view of the image when first loaded – that
is, the current bearing and tilt of the view will appear at the centre
of the initial view window, zoomed as saved, whenever the saved image
is loaded by PanGazer (or other applications that use the XMP initial
values metadata).
Note that the view angles and zoom are also saved as local persistent
data when PanGazer is closed, and those saved values will be used
when PanGazer is next started and will override values from the XMP
metadata. The initial view values from the XMP metadata are, therefore,
only used when the image was not the last image viewed using
PanGazer, or if you select the Reset viewpoint menu item from
the View menu or from the pop-up menu, or you press the ‘r’ key.