The Reprojection Concept
Applying changes back to the panorama is the culminating phase of a PanoView Editor retouching session. While Edit This View simplifies spherical curvature into a flat perspective rectangle, Apply View Edits reverses that transformation with mathematical precision.
The inverse projection process never flattens or overwrites your source panorama background pixels. Instead, PanoView Editor maps your retouched strokes onto a distinct, non-destructive managed projection layer. This preserves complete historical flexibility, enabling you to inspect, toggle, mask, or re-edit individual view patches at any time.
The 5-Stage Reprojection Pipeline
When you initiate the apply action, PanoView executes a structured five-stage pixel pipeline:
Edit Document Readout
PanoView accesses the saved PSB Smart Object contents containing the retouched 360 Edit layer and untouched Background/Reference layer.
Change Detection (Pixel Diffing)
The plugin runs a pixel-by-pixel mathematical comparison between the two layers. Only pixels where color values deviate from the baseline reference are tagged for reprojection.
Inverse Spherical Remapping
The isolated changed pixels are transformed through inverse camera raycasting (tangent space back into spherical azimuth and elevation coordinates) using the view Heading, Pitch, and FOV.
Managed Projection Layer Creation
The warped pixels are deposited into the main Photoshop panorama document on a dedicated managed projection layer with exact positioning and transparency.
Panorama Composite Result
Your retouching seamlessly composites over the original 2:1 equirectangular scene, updating the visual result in both Photoshop and the PanoView viewer.
Photoshop panorama document showing an applied managed projection layer returned from a perspective edit session.
Managed Projection Layers in the Panorama
Upon completion of an apply operation, inspect your Photoshop Layers panel in the main panorama document. You will observe how PanoView structures the applied content:
Zero Pixel Overwrite
Only regions you physically retouched contain opacity. Unedited areas are completely transparent, leaving underlying panorama pixels pristine.
System Identification
Projection layers are tracked by PanoView internal session metadata, linking the layer directly to the corresponding view card in the 360 Edit Sessions panel.
Seamless Transitions
Careful inverse projection helps retouched brush edges integrate smoothly with the underlying panorama scene.
Multi-View Accumulation
Complex 360° retouching often involves multiple perspectives across the same scene:
Sequential Non-Destructive Layering
Applying edits from View 01 produces a projection layer. If you subsequently extract View 02 (e.g. looking straight down at the nadir tripod) and apply its edits, PanoView creates a second managed projection layer. Each view result accumulates cleanly in the layer stack, allowing you to re-open, re-edit, or re-apply individual perspectives independently.
Post-Apply Inspection Workflow
After committing edits back to the panorama, always verify visual quality using these inspection steps: