Michael Jarrett
Posts: 2
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 1 Oct 2007
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How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 1 Oct 2007 at 12:41 GMT
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Hi,
Im looking to begin creating virtual tours but not sure where to start. I have seen a great example at: picasaweb.google.co.uk/LaudervilleGuesthouse/Laud...
What type of camera would I need to produce the above? Can I use a simple digital camera or do I need an SLR? Also are there any speacial lens I need?
Thanks for the help.
Michael Jarrett
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Michael Jarrett
Posts: 2
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 1 Oct 2007
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roadkillron
Posts: 53
Location: Lake Charles, United States
Registered: 29 Dec 2006
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Peter Stark
Posts: 101
Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Registered: 12 Sep 2007
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 4 Oct 2007 at 9:14 GMT
updated: 4 Oct 2007 at 9:21 GMT
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I don't think that tour looks any different really than what you can do with HTML  I would think twice before spending the money they are asking for if that is the best it can produce.
I am no expert web builder (or pano maker for that matter) but I had a go at making a tour a while ago and is basically the same thing, click the photos to view the pano files. I am not saying mine is a good tour, just that I don't see the expensively produced one as being any better than my home grown effort. It is just ordinary web pages linked by images.
My tour effort: panocorner.com/vrtour/gc_tour/index.html
Ped
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roadkillron
Posts: 53
Location: Lake Charles, United States
Registered: 29 Dec 2006
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 4 Oct 2007 at 16:15 GMT
updated: 4 Oct 2007 at 16:16 GMT
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I agree Peter, the tour Michael pointed us to is a bad representation of the EasyPano product. It uses a generic skin and doesn't use nearly all the features available.
I did one with Tourweaver and made my own custom skin, using most of the features, in 2.0. You can get way better than the example he showed us.
www.cajunpalms.com/multimedia.html
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Peter Stark
Posts: 101
Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Registered: 12 Sep 2007
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 4 Oct 2007 at 21:20 GMT
updated: 4 Oct 2007 at 21:20 GMT
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Now that is more like how I would expect a VR tour to look when produced by tour software (I would have a nightmare of a time trying to emulate that with HTML) 
I might have a poke around a trial version, see if I like it 
Ped
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johnfromnotts
Posts: 8
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Registered: 6 Oct 2007
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 6 Oct 2007 at 11:13 GMT
updated: 6 Oct 2007 at 11:16 GMT
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Peter,
You might like to look at PMVR, an offering from
www.duckware.com which I have found very easy to use, cheap, flexible and reliable. You can use a trial version for starters. If, like me you are using it non profit-making purposes and just for fun you might be able to get an unrestricted licence for free or just £15.
PLUSSES-
Interacive with hotspots of any shape or size, Full screen facility, VERY EASY to set up or edit your presentation. Uses plain old JPG image files, etc. All the HTML code is available and can be altered to change the structure of your presentation. The execution of your presentation is controlled by a simple TXT file which is easy to change. Nice 'floor plan' facility which doesn't have to be an architect's drawing - as you can see from my humble effort where I have used the floorpan area to give the user operating instructions.
MINUSES- no spherical capacity. 
I use Panorama Factory software
www.panoramafactory.com/index.html to do the stitching. It will stitch hand held (i.e. no tripo or mono pod) panos as well as full sphericals. Have a look at my fun-website at www.members.aol.com/johnpanoramas/index.htm
to see some of my efforts and a Virtual Tour of my home village in Notts. I apologige for some of the rather poor panos on the Burton Joyce Tour but, like you, I am just a novice but find panoramics an interesting challenge.
PS - Exactly what do people mean by INTERACTIVE tours. Just clicking on a few pano thumbnails is hardly interactive? 
Good Luck
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rudders
Posts: 391
Location: North Yorkshire & Northern England, United Kingdom
Registered: 21 Aug 2005
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 6 Oct 2007 at 16:54 GMT
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Hi Micheal, Welcome to the forum. First question, do you want to do this for a hobby or professionally? That way i can advise you on whats best for you. Budget software can mean budget quality. With PTgui being the complete exeption.
Do you want to take panoramic images (the ones you can't look up or down) or virtual images (the fully immersive ones)The tour example you linked to is made with tourweaver, IMHO its a poor example of what tourweaver can do with poor quality images used. (no offence to the photographer) Tourweaver can not make Virtual images, only virtual tours.
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Peter Stark
Posts: 101
Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Registered: 12 Sep 2007
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 6 Oct 2007 at 18:31 GMT
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Peter,
You might like to look at PMVR, an offering from
www.duckware.com which I have found very easy to use, cheap, flexible and reliable. You can use a trial version for starters. If, like me you are using it non profit-making purposes and just for fun you might be able to get an unrestricted licence for free or just £15.
I think that I will give that one a miss thanks
Looking around at the samples on the site they all show just what I dislike about a lot of vr tours I see on the web. I mean, it would be fine if a house really did have all the walls and furnishings curved, but I don't really think that walls or furnishings generally are. In all honesty, I would rather plug away with my HTML image link pseudo tours, at least then I am combining my hobbies and building on my knowledge.
I am as you correctly spotted merely a hobbyist with no real pretensions for loftiness or greatness, though I would like to learn to produce reasonably good quality pano's and tours. I don't see that happening by using the current PMVR software as it stands just now. I like the map thing up to a point, but I think they are over used really, nice in their place, but not the be all and end all. The images must in my view reflect some sort of believability and if that means having seemingly straight walls, then thats what I would like to produce.
Thanks for the thought, but it is not my cup of tea.
Ped
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rudders
Posts: 391
Location: North Yorkshire & Northern England, United Kingdom
Registered: 21 Aug 2005
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Re: How to start virtual tours?
Posted: 7 Oct 2007 at 21:35 GMT
updated: 7 Oct 2007 at 21:35 GMT
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Viewers like that duckware one really wind me up. To think customers are getting that sort of viewer. Yes i have seen a few like that where someone has actually paid for it! And they had the cheek to call it a virtual tour! If a jobs worth doing, it worth doing properly. Im not a perfectionist but I believe in some sort of standards.
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