Installing Hugin and Panotools on Windows

How To, Photography, Posts, VR Photography

Hugin and Panotools are two hugely useful tools for image stitching and panorama processing in general.

Unfortunately getting them installed and configured on Windows is a bit fiddly. Here’s how.

Step 1. Install ActiveState Perl

Available either as .exe (guided install) or zipfile, you can always find the latest version of ActiveState Perl here.

Whichever format you choose, ensure both the perl\bin and perl\site\bin directories are in your PATH post-install:

Perl bin directories are in the Path

Step 2. Test Perl is installed correctly

Open a command prompt type perl -v. You should see something similar to the following:

A successful Perl test

Step 3. Install Panotools Script

Back in the command prompt, type ppm install Panotools::Script. Perl Package Manager should download and Install Panotools Script:

Installing Panotools Script

Step 4. Test Panotools Script is installed correctly

Still in the command prompt, type panostart. The following help text should be displayed:

Panotools Script is installed correctly

Step 5. Install and configure Hugin

Hugin is available as an .msi. You can download the latest version here. Download the version appropriate for your platform and double-click to install.

Once installation completes, add the Hugin bin directory to your PATH:

Hugin bin directory is in the Path

Step 6. Test Hugin command line is working correctly

Open a command prompt and type nona. You should see the following help text:

Hugin bin directory is in the Path

That’s it!

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