Chuck Spaulding
Posts: 61
Location: Agoura Hils,, United States
Registered: 6 Jul 2010
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Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 29 Aug 2010 at 18:41 GMT
updated: 29 Aug 2010 at 18:48 GMT
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I have about 15 individual Panos of a ranch that I would like to include in a single immersive tour and have a few [more] questions. These Panos were created with Stitcher and Pure Tools on a MAC.
This process yields a folder with six files and is approximately 4-6MBs each, is this to large? Do I need all of these files? How do I "publish" or upload these to the web so I can at least show them here for feedback?
The large file is a .ivp, when I open it it launches Pure Player and works as expected, but what happens if someone trying to view it doesn't have Pure Player on their computer? I'm guessing that is what the other .swf and .html files are for in that folder?
I've been reading a lot of threads about different software packages and the one that appeals to me the most [at the moment] is Pano2VR, but what are the benefits of this over what I'm using?
[the second part of this question didn't appear when I posted it, if this gets doubled up I apologize.]
Two other option I have read a bit about are www.360cities.net/virtual-tour and www.voyager360.com/360-virtual-tours.php. Both claim that after uploading your Pano it is simple to create and immersive tour and they host if for 179 EUR per year or at least $64 per month respecively. Do I need this? What are the alternatives?
Thanks, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 29 Aug 2010 at 18:51 GMT
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Chuck
They don't have to have Pure Player.
Pure Player is a Java based viewer.
Well over 90% of Internet users have the Java Runtime Environment, so few people should have a problem viewing the images.
Just for reference, the Gallery here on Panoguide uses the Pure Player
4-6MB per image is quite large.
The 360° images in this Real Estate Tour (there are still photos too) are all around 500KB
vabq.com/9705DesertMountainNE/TourWeaver_9705DesertMountainNE.html
The 360° images were stiched with PTGui 7.2 and the tour was made with Easypano Tourweaver
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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Pierre Gielen
Posts: 115
Location: Netherlands
Registered: 23 Jan 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 29 Aug 2010 at 20:28 GMT
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Hi Chuck,
I do have experience with the Immervision suite of panorama tools. You can either select Pure Player for Java or Pure Player for Flash as the output. Both will work on most computers. I can't think of anyone who doesn't have Java, Flash or both on their computer.
You can also add the tourcreator from Immervision itself, called Hotspot Creator (a bargain at $44,95), which will allow you to keep using your Pure Player panoramas. To be honest, it is not as versatile as a package like Flashificator, but it is much easier to work with.
Pierre
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 30 Aug 2010 at 4:49 GMT
updated: 14 Mar 2011 at 16:13 GMT
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Pierre Gielen said: To be honest, it is not as versatile as a package like Flashificator, but it is much easier to work with.
Pierre
Hi Pierre.
I used Pure Player before their support (lack of same) got me to move over to FPP... and the rest is of course history in the making.
It was easy to use, in the same way that MS Paint is easier to use than Photoshop, simply because of the lack of features.
Anyway... a 15 pano project can be wrapped up in a couple of minutes... actually in a shorter time if need be... but here it can be seen how "difficult" it can be when using Flashificator...
Here the video:
tinyurl.com/FFC-15PanoProjectVideo
Here the tour for exploration:
tinyurl.com/FFC-15PanoProjectTour
I haven't seen any other software for panorama making, that comes even close to the time saving factor, or on the features available through the GUI. If someone can do a 15 pano tour in a shorter time than the above, starting from scratch (no template used), I would be very interested in seeing proof of it in the form of a video... otherwise I will have to claim Flashificator as the fastest and easiest thing to use for tour creations.
That being said, then yes, there are things that can be difficult to figure out in FFC, other things can take time... but for general and normal use and even into semi complicated projects, we are talking about minutes to make things. Not hours, days, weeks or months.
_______________________________
Trausti
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Chuck Spaulding
Posts: 61
Location: Agoura Hils,, United States
Registered: 6 Jul 2010
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 6:48 GMT
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Thanks for the replies, sorry it took so long to reply.
Doug I took a look at Tourweaver [EasyPano's] website and it seems to me to be fairly pricey compared to Pano2VR. I'm using Stitcher and after calibrating my lens [8 MM Rokinon] it works well enough for the moment. I do have more questions that might lead me to take a closer look at PTGui.
Pierre, thanks for the suggestions, turns out I have Hot Spot Creator and its just as you said, very easy to use but I didn't think it would provide the kind user experience I'm hoping to create.
Trausti, at the moment I'm not as concerned about how long it takes to create an immersive tour as I am creating a tour with very high quality and a good overall user experience, which I think will be a combination of good design and ease of use. I kind of see the intrinsic value in Flashificator but I'm not sure all that I need or how I would accomplish what I'd like to do with it?
I've just completed shoot the stills, Panoramas and shooting and editing the video. Here's a link to the video for anyone who's interested in what I'm trying to accomplish: www.vimeo.com/14686829
All that I have left to do is to figure out how to create a great Immersive tour and integrate the whole package into a website.
I appreciate everyones patience and continued support. I don't know why but when it comes to the virtual tour aspect of this I feel like a fish out of water?
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mediavets
Posts: 1948
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:09 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:23 GMT
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Chuck Spaulding said: I don't know why but when it comes to the virtual tour aspect of this I feel like a fish out of water?
Could it be because you appear to have chosen to ignore, or dismiss out of hand, all the advice you have been given? 
The video looks very good.
I'm not sure what you feel the panos and stills will add to it?
Anyway FWIW I think I would create a virtual tour (VT) from the stills and panos and leave that quite separate from the video.
How did you envisage the video being integrated in to a VT?
Andrew
Andrew
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Chuck Spaulding
Posts: 61
Location: Agoura Hils,, United States
Registered: 6 Jul 2010
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:19 GMT
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I may not have understood some of it but I have certainly not ignored any advice.
Was there something I missed?
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mediavets
Posts: 1948
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:27 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:57 GMT
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Chuck Spaulding said: I may not have understood some of it but I have certainly not ignored any advice.
Was there something I missed?
Various people proposed various VT authoring tools - Hotspot Creator for PurePlayer, Flashificator+Flash Panorama Player, Panoweaver, and you yourself mentioned Pano2VR. The only mainstream VT authoring tools that didn't get a mention were Autopano Tour+krpano.
You appear to have dismissed all the suggested tools. If none of these VT authoring tools looks as if it can/will do what you have in mind then you are most likely looking at a custom scripting/programming job and that's probably outside the scope of this forum.
I'm not sure any of these would be able to integrate your fine video alongside 15 x 4-6MB panos, plus stills, into a viable VT; but no doubt someone the forum will be able to offer a better informed opinion than mine.
Your orginal post made no mention of video. Very few panoramic VTs incorporate video - certainly not on this 'scale'.
How did you see the video fitting into a VT alongside panos and stills?
Andrew
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DorinDXN
Posts: 2802
Location: Timisoara, Romania
Registered: 14 Nov 2006
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:41 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 7:54 GMT
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I can see three kind of waters here
1) the viedo way, good knowledges of the advanced virtual tour producing sofware allows you to export the tours into a video using a scenario with zoom in zoom out, pann so on, the tour then has no user interactivity (except, play/pause jump to time ..)
2) the VT way, VT authoring software allows you to incorporate videos in a VTour, the tour has interactivity but you cannot use the tour on a DVD player, unless you export it as Video using the way 1)
3) the flash/html way, incorporating both tours (or just flash panos) and videos into a webpage or a single flash application, again will require a computer for displaying.
cheers,
Dorin
www.livepanoramas.com
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 9:12 GMT
updated: 14 Mar 2011 at 16:13 GMT
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Of course it *doesn't matter* how fast one can do a thing or two, if there are limits on how much there can be done. The reason I emphasized how fast it could be done, was more to give an indication of how simple/easy it is to use. On the issue of what can be done with Flashificator.... well, to answer that I will simply direct you towards the works of Terry, who does his works with it:
www.regal360.com/clients/million/index.html
... and many of his other works can be accessed here:
www.regal360.com/
And more user examples can be found here:
flashificator.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5
Insertion of video/mp3's or images in tours can of course be done... and easier to do than with any other tour-ware.
There is a lot that can be done with the right tools, and Flashificator has more tools than any other GUI. And if you would go into hand coding, FPP (the engine under the FFC hood) has more plugins available than any other panorama viewer on the market.
If not for anything else, I hope you will be inspired by what you see, and I wish you the best of luck with your project.
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Trausti
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mediavets
Posts: 1948
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 9:18 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 9:21 GMT
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Trausti said: I will simply direct you towards the works of Terry Montague, who does his works with it:
www.regal360.com/clients/million/index.html
... and many of his other works can be accessed here:
www.regal360.com/
His site appears to be down - at least for me.
Andrew
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 9:35 GMT
updated: 14 Mar 2011 at 16:13 GMT
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I just checked and his site works for me. Maybe there was a server glitch?
And Andrew. On the issue of the very nice video Chuck has from the ranch, it would be a nice intro video for a virtual tour. It could run fullscreen - or windowed, and the 15 panos could be linked together to run as an auto tour, with background music and/or speaker describing the scenes.
The only limitation is ... as always... our own imagination.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 14:51 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 14:53 GMT
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Chuck
As you combine more media types, finding an adequate "tour authoring" program becomes harder
I recall Tourweaver 5.0 Profesional can use video, but I don't recall which formats. Its too bad they seem to have stopped offering the more affordable 5.0 Standard, it was only $200 but didn't support video
But I don't think it would be enirely what you want
I think you may be looking at buying something like Adobe Dreamweaver, learning how to use it and building your tours from the ground up rather than using a "packaged" tour authoring program.
My first webmaster wrote code and made these tours back in 2004
www.VirtualGolfCourseTour.com
and 2005
www.VirtualSkiAreaTour.com
The video is a little crude by todays standards, but the tours didn't use "tour authoring" software, he just took the time to learn how to write the code to support iPIX images and Windows Media Video
I depends on how quickly you want to be producing the tours
Later
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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Chuck Spaulding
Posts: 61
Location: Agoura Hils,, United States
Registered: 6 Jul 2010
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 17:17 GMT
updated: 6 Sep 2010 at 17:18 GMT
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"Various people proposed various VT authoring tools - Hotspot Creator for PurePlayer, Flashificator+Flash Panorama Player, Panoweaver, and you yourself mentioned Pano2VR. The only mainstream VT authoring tools that didn't get a mention were Autopano Tour+krpano."
Maybe you didn't understand my reply. I thought Tourweaver was too expensive, compared to the others, I got and tried Hot Spot Creators and agreed with Pierre that although it worked well and easy to use probably a little limited for what I want to do, I'm currently trying to learn Pano2VR and finally the only reply that I think could be interpreted as dismissive was regarding Flashification, which certainly wasn't my intention I just haven't tried it yet. It's s little overwhelming, but I will try it.
So I guess it depends on how you turn the phrase dismissed out of hand. All of these take a bit of time to figure out.
You do bring up a great point that I now realize I miss communicated, all these elements will be integrated together in the website, NOT the virtual tour. The virttual tour, video and stills do not have to interact with each other. In fact I hadn't even thought of that or thought it was possible.
Sorry for any misunderstanding.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Building Immersive Tours
Posted: 6 Sep 2010 at 17:30 GMT
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Chuck
If you're not trying to put the different media together in one tour yourself, then Pano2VR will serve you pretty well for the 360° Images
Pano2VR can output a simple webpages with the Javascript file and html file along with the Flash (.swf) file. They can then be imported into the web site authoring program and editing to match the rest of the site
This was 14 Flash files, 14 html pages and one Javascript file from Pano2VR that I imported into an old version of FrontPage and created the Index Page for
www.vabq.com/mcmbeaumonttx/index.htm
Its exactly what I deliver to the hotel's webmaster, who takes it and modifies it to match the rest of the site.
I'm not sure how you'll be creating the rest of the website, but still photos are pretty simple in programs like Dreamweaver and even FrontPage.
All you need to figure out is how to play your videos.
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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