darek
Posts: 9
Location: Canada
Registered: 22 Feb 2013
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Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 22 Feb 2013 at 3:45 GMT
updated: 22 Feb 2013 at 3:54 GMT
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Hello all,
I am new on this forum. I like this place. I have read planty of posts and I can tell people here know what they are talking about.
I am writing this post strongly hoping that it will find your attention. I need your input on which panorama and VT software is your favourite and why. When I started researching the panorama photography, the first program that popped up was Panoweaver and Tourweaver from Easypano. When I tried it first hand for some reason I just did not feel it. They are on the market for a long time and I am sure they know what they are doing. Later I discovered Autopano Giga and Panotour Pro from Kolor. I have tried to contact them twice in the past week using their contact form on their website, but they never replied. Only after sending them a direct email, I finally made a contact. I wonder if their support is good. I hope so because after installing their latest software I can say that I like their GUI. They say that Autopano Giga is the only professional panorama software based on SIFT technology, recognized as the best technology for the recognition of similar points between images. They also say that Panotour Pro is based on KrPano technology, which is the most advanced and versatile technology for the virtual tour creation and publishing. I know that most of you guys are using PTGui and Pano2VR? I have not tried them yet. I have a problem that these two are not run by the same people. I don't even know who is Gnom Garden Software. There is no information about them on their website.
Well the bottom line is that I want to invest my time and money into quality software that I can depend on and that it will stick around for a long time. Now when support for Flash technology fades away more and more every day, I am wondering which aforementioned solution supports HTML5 the most. I know that panorama software relayed havily on Flash technology. Now it seems that programmers need to rewrite everything from scratch for HTML5. I am wondering how this transition has been handled so far.
I want to make virtual tours for real estate market first and commercial later, and landscape panos in between. I would appreciate if you could share your fist hand experience with using the aforementioned software. Any help and/or suggestion would be very much appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
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hindenhaag
Posts: 844
Location: Netherlands
Registered: 7 Mar 2010
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 22 Feb 2013 at 5:32 GMT
updated: 22 Feb 2013 at 5:33 GMT
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Hi Darek,
I got learned to use PTGuiPro and Pano2VR_4.
At the same time I use AutopanoGiga3.0 and Panotour for Gigapixels for example..
PTGuiPro let's you control most everything of the stitching program. Inside the program you can mask your tripod or ghosts. It is a program you can rely on once you have learned about it.
Same with Garden Gnome Software. They do not have a website to explain to people what they are working about, because they are well known in Europe.
You can download trial versions of both software versions.
Heinz
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mediavets
Posts: 2114
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 22 Feb 2013 at 9:39 GMT
updated: 22 Feb 2013 at 9:45 GMT
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darek said: I need your input on which panorama and VT software is your favourite and why.
I use Autopano Giga and Panotour Pro. I foujd APP/APG easier to get to grips with years ago when I started with pnos. Initially I used Pano2VR (and I still have an up to date license) to convert pano images to Flash for online display; but I switched to Autopano Tour, which evolved into Panotour and Panotour Pro, because I found it so much easier to use to link panos to create tours than trying to get to grips with the Pano2VR Skin Editor.
Someone once characterised PTGUI as stitcher for engineers and Autopano Pro/Giga as a stitcher for photographers.
Autopano Pro/Giga were also the first of the stitching programs to explicitly offer support for robotic pano heads enabling the placement and stitching of 'featureless' images ( such as plain blue sky)commonly produced when shooting h-res panos with longer focal length lenses, which otherwise tend to be ommitted from stitches.
Later I discovered Autopano Giga and Panotour Pro from Kolor. I have tried to contact them twice in the past week using their contact form on their website, but they never replied. Only after sending them a direct email, I finally made a contact. I wonder if their support is good.
The main 'vehicle' for support of Kolor products and recommended first port of call is the Forum where typically you will get prompt assistance from both experienced users and Kolor staff.
They also say that Panotour Pro is based on KrPano technology, which is the most advanced and versatile technology for the virtual tour creation and publishing.
Yes, Panotour/Panotour Pro are GUI front-end command code generators for the Flash and HTML/javascript (HTML5) krpano Panorama Viewers. krpano is very powerful and versatile but unless you are a highly skilled programmer you will find hand coding command files very challenging. Panotour and Panotour pro are designed to make key krpano functionality veru accessible to 'the rest of us'.
I know that most of you guys are using PTGui and Pano2VR? I have not tried them yet. I have a problem that these two are not run by the same people.
Kolor and krpano are also separate entities, although there appears to be an increasingly effective working relationship between the two concerning the ongoing development of Panotour and Panotour Pro.
Now when support for Flash technology fades away more and more every day, I am wondering which aforementioned solution supports HTML5 the most. I know that panorama software relayed havily on Flash technology. Now it seems that programmers need to rewrite everything from scratch for HTML5. I am wondering how this transition has been handled so far.
Kolor/krpano and pano2VR are both leaders in the transition from Flash to HTML5 for the creation/display of virtual tours. I am sure that both will continue to do as much as they can to provide first class solutions to the development of HTML 5 virtual tours, whilst continuing to support Flash.
The current limitations and frustrations experienced with HTML5 by virtual tour creators are entirely the 'fault' of Apple/iOS and Google/Android operating systems and the current generations of hardware.
I should point out that there a third 'player' in the virtual tour creation software field. That is Flashificator/Flash Panorama Player for which there is an HTML5 player in development.
Andrew
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darek
Posts: 9
Location: Canada
Registered: 22 Feb 2013
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 0:16 GMT
updated: 23 Feb 2013 at 0:18 GMT
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Thank you guys for sharing with me your thoughts. I have read many times that PTGui is great and that it allows you to control pretty much every aspect of the panorama stitching process. It is great but I am looking for a solution that is user friendly and does many things automatically but still giving me enough control. At the end of the day when I have to put together 5 or 10 virtual tours I need to have them done as quckly and efficiently as possible with keeping a good degree of quality. I am leaning towards Autopano Giga and Panotour Pro from Kolor. I wonder if there are any weaknesses that these programs have and that I should be aware of. Also, I would like to know if Panotour Pro allows to create tours with mixture of panoramas and photos for real estate market. I would like to be able to create a skin that allows me to easily switch between a photo slideshow and a panorama tour. Does any of you have any experience in virtual tours for real estate market?
Thank you again for all your help.
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mediavets
Posts: 2114
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 9:37 GMT
updated: 23 Feb 2013 at 9:41 GMT
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darek said: Thank you guys for sharing with me your thoughts. I have read many times that PTGui is great and that it allows you to control pretty much every aspect of the panorama stitching process. It is great but I am looking for a solution that is user friendly and does many things automatically but still giving me enough control. At the end of the day when I have to put together 5 or 10 virtual tours I need to have them done as quckly and efficiently as possible with keeping a good degree of quality.
I use Autopano Giga (APG) but most users on this forum use PTGui Pro. I know they will tell you that once you learn how to use the software properly that using PTGui Pro will be as quiock as any alternative.
I am leaning towards Autopano Giga and Panotour Pro from Kolor.
There is no reason why you should not use, say, PTGui Pro to stitch and render your panos and then Panotour Pro (PTP) to build your virtual tours.
There is one advantage to using APG to stitch with PTP to build tours if you include partial panos (panos with a pano FOV of less than 360 x180 degrees) because APP/APG write a custom EXIF tag that amongst other things describes the pano FOV which is read by PTP to set FOV parameters appropriately, but they can be set manually too.
I wonder if there are any weaknesses that these programs have and that I should be aware of.
All programs have weaknesses; no software is perfect.
Also, I would like to know if Panotour Pro allows to create tours with mixture of panoramas and photos for real estate market.
Panotour and Panotour Pro are not particularly orientated to the real estate market - unlike Tourweaver.
You can mix pano scenes with conventional still image scenes in a tour, and of course you can link a hotspot in a pano scenesto a still image.
I would like to be able to create a skin that the current version of Panotour Pro (v1.8); version 2.x is expceted to offer more functionality in the area. allows me to easily switch between a photo slideshow and a panorama tour.
It is not easy to create custom 'skins' for the current version of Panotour Pro (v1.8); version 2.x is expected to offer more functionality in this area.
Slideshows cannot easily be 'embedded' in a tour using the current version of Panotour Pro (v1.8); version 2.x is expected to offer more functionality in this area.
As I recall Tourweaver and Flashificator/Flash Panorama Player offer this functionality now.
Does any of you have any experience in virtual tours for real estate market?
I don't; but I read frequenetly that it is very difficult to make a living doing this. A few seem to do well in upmarket niches (luxury villas and the like) but the 'mass market' seems to be cut throat.
Andrew
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darek
Posts: 9
Location: Canada
Registered: 22 Feb 2013
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 24 Feb 2013 at 6:44 GMT
updated: 24 Feb 2013 at 6:45 GMT
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Thank you, Andrew. I appreciate your help but I was hoping that more people will get involved in this discussion so I can learn more from other's first hand experiences. It seems that there is no application that does all. Does anyone use Panoweaver and/or Tourweaver from Easypano? Like I mentioned earlier, I tried it but I don't feel it. It is also very expensive. I don't know. I guess I will keep researching. Below is a good example of what I would need in terms of the skin design (photo gallery and thumbnails of the panoramas). I found it on the Kolor forum:
www.passojadesign.com/wp-content/uploads/panorama...
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mediavets
Posts: 2114
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Panorama and VT software update
Posted: 24 Feb 2013 at 8:00 GMT
updated: 24 Feb 2013 at 8:04 GMT
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darek said: Thank you, Andrew. I appreciate your help but I was hoping that more people will get involved in this discussion so I can learn more from other's first hand experiences.
You wll not find many on this forum who don't use PTGui for stitching.
And I expect more on this forum use pano2VR and Flashificator/Flash Panorama Player than Panotour Pro for building virtual tours.
It seems that there is no application that does all.
If you are willing to put in the effort I think you could 'do it all' with Pano2VR, or krpano/Panotour Pro, but you will have to learn how to program Pano2VR's Skin Editor, or to hand code the XML format comamnd files for krpano.
You also need to consider whther you will need to build tours that can be viewed using iDevices (and possibly other mobile platforms that don't support Flash) as well as Flash-enabled platforms.
Does anyone use Panoweaver and/or Tourweaver from Easypano? Like I mentioned earlier, I tried it but I don't feel it. It is also very expensive.
It has been said before but i'll say it again, how much is your time worth? If you are doing this as a commercial activity (and not as a hobby) and a program does the job well and quickly it is not expensive.
I don't know. I guess I will keep researching.
As far as stitching goes there's no point IMO of looking at anything other than PTGui Pro and Autopano Pro/Giga.
AS far as tour building goes there's no point in looking at anything other than Pano2VR, Panotour Pro/krpano, Flashificator/Flash Panorama Player and Tourweaver.
Most are available as trial downlaods so you can try them before you decide to buy.
Below is a good example of what I would need in terms of the skin design (photo gallery and thumbnails of the panoramas). I found it on the Kolor forum:
www.passojadesign.com/wp-content/uploads/panorama...
Aspects of the 'skin'/UI and the integration of the slideshow is done with some hand coding of the the krpano XML format command files.
You cannot recreate this via the Panotour Pro GUI alone with the current version of Panotour Pro.
Andrew
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