A virtual tour is a very fashionable, promising direction for the implementation of creative plans for both amateurs and professionals in photo and video shooting. In it you can get acquainted with objects with the mouse, rotating it in all directions, from floor to ceiling, move from one room to another, enlarge the picture, read information, watch videos and much, much more, without which an online tour will be inferior.
The direction is developing very quickly, since its product is in demand in society, including because of its educational function. Many people use such products for educational purposes, some for advertising, in order to comprehensively present their product, while others dream of how to make a virtual tour about marine life.
Most users find this type of creativity unimaginably difficult, although this is far from the case. After all, in fact, we are only talking about shooting a few photos with a wide-angle lens or a “fish eye”, slightly overlapping, in order to assemble a panorama using special software. To achieve better effects than classic panoramic photography, you need a spherical lens, especially when you need to shoot a whole scene from floor to ceiling.
Choosing a lens to create an excursion
Before making a virtual tour, you need to choose the perfect lens. First, they are determined with the format of optical quality, while other points must be taken into account. Concepts such as the quality and “beauty” of the rays are completely subjective, but others, such as build quality, are “objective.” However, not all goals are equal by this criterion. Here are the best deals on the market:
- 8 and 7.5 mm Fisheye Samyang.
- 8-15 mm Fisheye.
- 10-17 mm Pentax.
- 8-15 mm Canon Fisheye.
Contrary to popular belief, the 14-mm Canon and Nikkor are much more difficult to use correctly for these purposes, as for the Ricoh Theta S and its 0.75 mm F2.0 - they are fully suitable for these purposes. A panoramic photographer tries to stitch together the worst parts of images - their edges. This is the basic principle of panorama by assembly, but it is there that all the defects of the lens are collected:
- vignetting;
- Chromatic
- loss of sharpness compared to the center of the photo.
Distortions to the edges are more complex, they cannot even be fixed with the fisheye function.
Optical quality and distortion
Before making a virtual tour, special attention is paid to the image quality that a good lens can provide. Almost all lenses on the market that are good for mid-range photography can be used for panoramic photography. As for the creation of a virtual tour, it is not so simple. The all-in-one Ricoh Theta SC is right for this shoot.
Google recommends it, for example, to its photographers for the Google Streetview program. In most cases, the user will work with a very closed aperture in order to have maximum depth of field, and will receive a slight loss of it.
Before you make a virtual tour, you need to consider that almost all lenses distort images, with the exception of architectural photography. However, when a user collects photos together, he may be upset because the assembly will turn out to be imperfect. This lens defect materializes due to the imperfect alignment of the two photographs and occurs due to a defect hidden in the lens formula - distortion.
When the lens has a lot of optical distortion, it happens to see the assembly of straight lines present in most panorama programs. Straight lines do not overlap perfectly. They will need to perform editing in Photoshop after assembly.
This is important in creating a virtual tour, because the user collects photographs taken in different directions. The less residual distortion the lens has, the more perfect the assembly will be on the first try, without the need for further changes.
Spherical panoramic heads
Before making a virtual tour, carefully select a panoramic head. Spherical panoramic heads can be divided into two categories: manual and motorized. Manual exist in two subcategories: adjustable and fixed for the fisheye lens. In most cases, use a manual spherical head or a fixed, less expensive and convenient when you need to take several photos. The new motorized panoramic heads are dedicated to the implementation of gigapixel panoramas, have multilingual support, like the project paris-26-gigapixels.com.
Unlike cylindrical heads, a spherical panoramic head tilts the body along the entire axis of the nodal point and thus implements multi-range panoramas and a full sphere. These heads are adjustable and can adapt to all types of cameras / lenses. They mainly consist of the following parts:
- The rotor - not only moves 360 °, but even better, it can cut every xx degrees, depending on needs, between two consecutive photos, which allows you to make a virtual tour yourself, like a first-class pro.
- Horizontal lower guide - moves the center of the lens, providing a front view of the axis of rotation.
- Vertical arm - supports tilt rail.
- Manfrotto 303 SPH, the vertical handle can be folded for transportation. The camera is directly attached to this rail.
- Tilt rail clamping screw - the tilt rail is adjustable by ± 180 ° and allows you to aim at the zenith and nadir.
Panoramic motorized heads are spherical rotation heads whose tilt is motorized. They can have two vertical levers, as is the case with the Gigapan Epic Pro head, perform gigapixel panoramas and virtual tours in very high resolution. They have incredible magnification power, which is useful if the photographer is thinking about how to take a virtual tour of the school.
Lens setting
When a photographer tries to shoot a full sphere, two settings are very important on the lens: focusing and choosing the depth of field. You need to be very careful with focusing in a panoramic photo. Indeed, although it is almost invisible to the naked eye, there is a very slight focal variation when the point is modified. This option provides only a few pixels, but it is fundamental.
Panoramic software cannot find the same details that belong to two consecutive photographs, and cannot stitch them perfectly, and this must be taken into account before you make a virtual tour yourself.
Therefore, as soon as the focus is made, no other settings are already performed, with the exception of certain art projects. The only exception is the implementation of projects using gigapixels. Here you need to slightly change the point between the two ranges of photographs, because the more the head tilts, the closer the object, especially with a focus of 300 or 600 mm, and this also needs to be taken into account before making a virtual tour about marine life.
Since all the images will need to be done with the same focus, it will not be possible to change the depth of field in one photograph. To select a zone, you need to use the depth of field of the lenses, and sometimes hyperfocal, in order to get the maximum depth of field. You will have to tinker with the fisheye lens before making a virtual tour of the city, setting a hyperfocal value with a focal length of about 8 m in F11.0 / F16.0.
Thanks to the fisheye lens, the problem of focusing and depth of field will be quickly resolved. You can almost always use the same focus and aperture, which is convenient, even if it could mean a loss of sharpness due to diffraction. When a virtual tour of the museum is carried out, all photographs should receive the same exposure time, because all vertical photographs are common to zeniths and nadirs.
Tour software
A variety of tools can create a virtual environment with which the user can easily navigate through the pages. If you need such a tool for a PC with Windows 7, 8, 10 - the market is full of similar offers, both paid and free options. Quite a lot of users have already tried them in the shooting and made up their minds about their work, indicating the best software.
The greatest number of photographers chose the optimal program - Tourweaver. This is professional software that allows you to create realistic 360-degree presentations, a virtual tour in Flash or in HTML5 format. Which is especially promising for creating virtual excursions for preschoolers, since a Google / Bing map is available, which will show the location and routes while viewing. It should be noted that the Bing map only works with flash tours, while Google Maps works with HTML5 tours. The application allows you to add multimedia elements such as voice narration and text to all tours. Tourweaver also supports interactivity and can add buttons and hotspots.
The application also supports multiple scenes, and each is represented by a miniature. As a result, you can easily go to the desired scene. If you need to show more information during the tour, the application also supports pop-ups that display additional information. For pop-up content, you can add images, text, and links. Tourweaver also supports 3D models; they can be easily added to virtuality.
There are several limitations - you can use only models in 3ds format. In addition, 3D models are only available on Flash tours. As for virtual guided tours in galleries, they can be posted on the Internet and shared on Facebook. In addition, you can save the tour locally as an .exe file and send it to anyone you need. And you can also save the tour in HTML5 format, which will work on any mobile device. If necessary, you can create a local application and go to Android or iOS devices.
3DVista Professional Tour
If a photographer is looking for professional tour software, many recommend 3DVista. This application allows you to create interactive tours, simply using a set of images, offers excellent compatibility with any computers, tablets and Android or iOS devices. Two versions of this tool are available. The standard version is ideal for amateurs or users for the first time. For advanced users or professionals, you will need to use the Pro version.
The tool allows you to create tours that can be easily implemented on existing websites, which is very useful. It is worth noting that the created projects do not require any additional plug-ins or software for work, which must be taken into account, for example, before making a virtual tour about marine life. In addition, you can export your tour to a local hard drive. This allows you to copy it to a USB drive or send it by email.
This application is easy to use, and the photographer does not need to have programming skills to create impressive layouts. The program has a simple user interface, so it is ideal for beginners. It is worth noting that 3DVista Virtual Tour can also optimize tours for mobile devices. Using this function creates a smaller version of the project, which will save the bandwidth of mobile users.
The application works with all types of cameras and lenses, which is also a major plus. However, if you want to achieve the best results, it is recommended that you use a wide-angle lens and a fisheye lens. To create interactive tours, the application will use the automatic detection of control points. This feature will easily show how to make a virtual tour of the photos and combine them automatically. In addition, you can edit and create your own control points to get optimal results. The application also supports HDR stitching, you can combine several HDR images and create panoramas with one click.
Cross Platform Panotour
If a photographer is looking for cross-platform virtual tour software, Panotour can be recommended. This application creates projects that are fully compatible with any platform or devices. Pantour has 6 different presets, but you can also create your own unique presets and save them for later use. Changing the preset is simple and one click away.
Interactivity is an important part of any layout, and this software also allows you to create hot spots. There is an advanced hotspot editor for this application. As for hot spots, you can use them to easily jump to different scenes or show additional information. The application has a clean and simple user interface, so the photographer will not have problems with its application. It fully supports the drag and drop method, and you can customize it to your liking.
You can export your project locally to check it out or share it with others. All virtual tours are saved in .ptv format on a PC. The application also supports maps, floor plans, a compass, support for GPS data in images and Google maps, Bing Maps and OpenStreetMap, which is very necessary for creating, for example, large-scale virtual tours of the Hermitage. If you need to create impressive tours, you can do it thanks to the Livepano plugin. With this plugin, video zones are added to projects and amazing results are created.
As for the supported formats, this application works with the formats JPG, PNG, PSD / PSB, KRO, TIFF, MP4, M4V, OGG and WEBM. There is no limit to the number of scenes you can have on your virtual tour. Full spherical layouts or partial panoramas are available for panoramas. In addition, this application fully supports stereoscopic video, giant panoramas and panorama groups.
Panotour lets you add global sound to your layout. And you can also add it for each panorama. The application also supports customization, and you can improve its capabilities by adding third-party plugins. It should also be mentioned that this application has 124 different hot spots.
It also supports automatic rotation and auto-tour. If necessary, you can even set up arbitrary automatic rotation for each panorama. It is worth noting that you can export projects in HTML5 format and add support for Adobe Flash. If the photographer is a fan of virtual reality, he can export the layout in VR mode. The application also supports FTP servers, which allows you to download tours online with ease.
Pantour is an amazing virtual travel software and ideal for professionals. Regarding accessibility, you can download a free trial version, if you need access to all advanced features, it is recommended to download the Pro version.
Panorama Pano2VR
If you need to create virtual tours and panoramas, Pano2VR may be of interest. This application comes with a special patch mode that allows you to fix images. For example, if a photographer uses a tripod to create a panorama, you can use this tool to remove a tripod or any other object from the panorama. To do this, simply select the area that needs to be removed in order to extract it. After that, open in the image editor and make the necessary changes. The application also has an alignment tool that makes it easy to align the panorama horizon.
Pano2VR makes creating virtual tours easy thanks to the auto-link feature. If you need to change the link or location, you can do this using the “Tour Map” function. You can filter your images using tags. The application has a function "Master node", which allows you to add information or patches to all nodes. The software also supports interactivity, and you can add hotspots to the panorama.In addition, it is possible to add directional sound, video, text or image. There is also a screenshot editor that creates custom buttons and controllers for presentations.
Pano2VR supports automatic virtual tours. This is ideal if you do not want users to interact or interfere with the presentation, you can stop the automatic tour at any time and move freely. It is possible to export an automatic tour in the form of a video file and share it with others.
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Vtility is a decent virtual travel web application and a more affordable solution compared to other software. Since this is a web application, it lacks some additional features, but it is ideal for many users.
Spherical Cylinder Web Lock MakeVT
This is another web application for virtual tours of the world. Like any other software, it performs spherical or cylindrical panoramas. This application only works with panoramas in .jpg format. After loading a panorama, you can edit it and easily switch between panoramas using hot spots. In addition, they add pop-up images, text and external links. MakeVT also supports sharing what you need to consider before making a virtual tour for preschoolers. Educators will be able to easily publish their tours online or share them on social networks, embed on any site, after which it will be easy to share the link with students or parents.
This service comes with several paid packages. If you want the tours to work on mobile devices and use custom styles or icons, you will need an Ultimate plan. Each plan offers different functions, so it is recommended that you first study the list of available functions before choosing a specific one. MakeVT looks like a decent virtual travel web application, and you can try it for free.
Project implementation example
For example, the creation of a project of a virtual tour of Moscow will be carried out in the structure of ReactJS. Technical requirements for the project:
- To create a React VR application, you must first install Node.js. This JavaScript environment provides compilation of code and the launch of a local server. Also needed is NPM, a Node.js package manager with lots of libraries and reusable code.
- Before making a virtual tour of the museum, you need an additional 3D-library Three.js.
- Using WebVR and the WebGL API, 3D images are displayed in a web browser.
- To create or view VR applications, you do not need special VR devices or headsets of a PC or laptop in Win.
- You will also need a compatible browser, the latest version of Node.js, a VR headset (optional).
Before making a virtual tour of the museum, impose a framework as follows: React VR> React runtime> OVRUI> Three.js> WebVR and a browser.
OVRUI is a library that helps geometric types and objects create user interfaces for applications.
To make the application work, a little customization is done using the tools provided by Oculus. To get started, install the REAL VR CLI tool using NPM.
Then, after all this, open the following URL in your web browser: // localhost: 8081 / vr. They wait a few minutes to initialize the application, after which an animated VR environment should appear. Now the user will be able to create their own virtual reality applications React VR.
A simple amateur, teacher, student, schoolboy, real estate agent or just a traveler can show the world what any place looks like using virtual tour software. These tools create an environment with which the viewer can easily move in virtual space, both in the present and in the past tense.