Lat Long Patcher Node

An equirectangular panorama is massively stretched at the poles: painting directly on the north pole with a Paint node gives absurd results (the pixels are projected in an arc). The Lat Long Patcher extracts a flat rectangle equivalent to a "gnomonic projection" centered on the angle you want (lat/long), so you can work on it like a normal image.

A second Lat Long Patcher with the same parameters but in "Patch back into Lat Long" mode reinjects the result into the panorama, handling the inverse distortion. A non-destructive round-trip workflow.

• Effects Library: Tools > VR > Lat Long Patcher
• Quick add: right-click in the Node Editor → Add Tool > VR > Lat Long Patcher

The dominant format in 360° video: the sphere is "unfolded" into a 2:1 image where each pixel matches a latitude/longitude combination.

Distortion

The poles (top and bottom of the image) are massively stretched horizontally. Editing these areas directly is nearly impossible without a patcher.

Center

The horizontal center line (equator) is not distorted. The areas around the equator can be edited without a patcher, within limits.

Horizontal wrap

The left column connects to the right column (360° continuity). The patcher handles this wrap automatically.

• Input (orange) - a 2:1 equirectangular image.
• Patch (green) - in Reinject mode, the edited patch image to reinject.
• Effect Mask (blue) - optional.

Round-trip tripod cleanup workflow:
Equirect → Lat Long Patcher (Extract, Latitude = -90°, Longitude = 0)
        →   [Paint to erase the tripod on the flat image]
        → Lat Long Patcher (Reinject, same Lat/Long)
        → Clean equirect

Painting a face in a panorama:
Equirect → Lat Long Patcher (Extract centered on the subject)
        →   [Color Corrector / Paint]
        → Lat Long Patcher (Reinject)
        → Retouched equirect

Multi-area (two patches in a row):
Equirect → LLP1 (Extract area A) → Edit A → LLP1 (Reinject)
        → LLP2 (Extract area B) → Edit B → LLP2 (Reinject)
        → MediaOut

Mode (default: Extract)

Extract: takes a flat patch from the panorama. Reinject: reinjects an edited patch into the original panorama.

Latitude (default: 0°)

Vertical position of the patch center. 0 = equator, +90 = north pole (top), -90 = south pole (bottom, typically the ground / tripod).

Longitude (default: 0°)

Horizontal position of the patch center (in degrees, -180 to 180). Lets you aim anywhere around the panorama.

Field of View (default: 90°)

Angle of view of the extracted patch. Small FOV = a tight zoom on an area, large FOV = a wide view but with more distortion.

Patch Width / Height (defaults: auto)

Resolution of the extracted patch. Raise it for higher quality (more information) at the cost of performance.

Edge Smooth (Reinject) (default: 0.1)

Smooths the edges on reinjection to avoid visible transitions between the patch and the original panorama.

• Tripod removal - Lat Long Patcher (Lat = -90°) to extract the ground under the camera, paint to fill it, reinject = the tripod cleanly erased.
• Operator removal (top) - some 360° rigs see the operator at the top of the image. Patch at the north pole (Lat = 90°) for cleanup.
• Stitch line cleanup - multi-camera rigs sometimes have visible seam lines. Patch the area involved + paint = an invisible seam.
• Title / text anchored to the panorama - extract an area, add a flat Text+, reinject = text that follows the sphere without weird distortion.
• Local color correction - grading a precise area of the 360° (e.g. balancing a dominant window) without touching the rest.
• Painting on a specific subject - retouching a face or a logo is much simpler flat than on the distorted equirectangular image.
• Fixing specific defects - hot pixels, dust, stray lens flares in precise areas of the 360°.

• Same Lat/Long/FOV in Extract and Reinject - absolutely critical. Any mismatch => a badly reinjected patch, a visible halo. Copy-paste the parameters between the two nodes.
• Patch Resolution = quality - for areas with detail (faces, text), raise the patch resolution (2K, 4K) so you do not lose information in the round trip.
• FOV 60-90° = the sweet spot - wide enough to give context, not so wide that the residual distortion at the edges becomes a problem.
• Edge Smooth to hide the seam - on reinjection, raise the edge smoothing so the outline of the patch does not show.
• Special north or south pole - Lat = ±90° = zenith / nadir view, the standard for tripod removal. Always start there for rig cleanup.
• Cache the Patcher in Extract - if the editing takes many iterations, cache the output to speed things up.
• Several areas in a row - to patch several areas, chain several Extract / Reinject pairs - do not chain two Extracts without a Reinject between them.
• For complex workflows, Resolve also has the Spherical Camera, which can sometimes replace the Patcher for 3D cases.