I cannot remember now exactly what I did, but I know that the first batch of files that I output from Qtpfsgui could not be opened by Hugin, so I had to pick the other hdr-format output file.  And then at one point Hugin actually locked up and I couldn't kill it until I rebooted my PC.  If I can get back to the original instructions that I was trying to follow, I'll run through it all again and take notes this time.

I would love input from anybody who has created HDR panoramas.

I have captured a 7x7 series (7 bracketed exposures at 7 panning positions) of the Atlanta skyline at night.
The wide view from the same location can be seen in my flickr stream here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottcoulter/3062197851/

I googled and attempted to follow the instructions that I have found for using Hugin,
but so far have had bad outputs and/or crashes.  I should note that I'm strictly a free/open source
software user as far as photo post-pro: GIMP, Qtpfsgui, Hugin, etc., so anything related to PS or
Photomatix won't help me right at the moment.

What I initially attempted to do (following some directions that I have bookmarked on my other
computer) is to use Qtpfsgui to combine the exposures at each position and save them out as
an HDR file (i.e., no tonemapping, just combine the exposures), then read those 7 HDR files into
Hugin to do the panorama splicing, then save that back out (still HDR) and bring it back into
Qtpfsgui to tonemap.  So far, all my attempts at doing this with various file types have failed
at some point along the way.

Would love to share ideas and experiences with anybody else who is interested in this topic.
In fact, if you're successfully using Hugin for anything, I'd be interested in your experiences.
Seems like there aren't many tutorials out there for Hugin workflow yet.

--sdc

Just for fun, I'll share an old image that isn't qualified for the competition, since you have wisely specified that folks must shoot something new:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottcoulter/2886877282/

Thanks for reminding me that I meant to capture some more images with the technique I used there and write it up for my blog.  Hope I can get to it soon.

--sdc

P.S. Is there a way to get a flickr image to show up here in small or medium size?  I tried but it gave the "this image not available" flickr graphic, even though I'm pretty sure my image should be fully viewable.

Neil,
I'm also looking forward to great things from this forum.

One administrivia note--you might see if you can add to the "profile settings" page
a note about size/aspect ratio for profile pics.  I used the static link to my one
"self portrait" on flickr in small size, and it accepted it OK but then displayed it squished.
When I switched to the flickr URL for the square version, it looks correct.

--sdc