New features - tour creator and flare effect

[Hrvoje]

Hi

I've just downloaded trial version of new Autopano Giga (APG) software:
http://www.autopano.net/en/photo-stitch ... -giga.html
APG also features tour editor

Will Pano2VR also have something similar in near future?
Any rough ETA?

I also spotted neat thing: flare editor.
Yeah, it is corny, but visitors likes it, especially on outdoor sunny day
panos. Same question like before.

Cheers

[Mdholl]

I think you do not understand the might of this software yet.
There is the tools for tour creatoin. And these tools are much more impressive, than those in Giga.

Read Documentation part of the site for details.

[Hrvoje]

Can Pano2VR create multiple panos at once? (Not batch editor)
If we have tour with +10 panos with multiple hotspots in each pano,
(where one pano may link to 3-5 others)
than we need to edit pano by pano (open file, add/edit hotspots, publish, close file)
It takes some time.

In APG I can visually see which pano links to which pano,
and switch easily between different panos for hotspot editing corrections,
and click only once to publish all of them.

That's IMO best feature for APG tour creator.

I'm not saying that Pano2VR has poor tour creator, but why not improve it even more with above feature as well?

And add flare effect too

[thomas]

The lens flares may come sooner, sometime in the 2.x branch. The feature to manage tours as a whole is planed for Pano2VR 3.x.

[Hrvoje]

Thanks for the info.

/me starts to jump from feet to feet, nervously, and peek to his watch in order not to miss arrival time of P2VR v3
Who knows maybe you make mistake and swap flare ETA with tour creator, hehe

Regards

[mhc1]

By far the easiest way to create a tour is Tourweaver.
There are other issues in this program, but you can really create good looking tours already
with the "Standard Version".
2 examples of a quick creation:

http://www.netzserver1.de/vtgardels/
http://www.netzserver1.de/vtparlament/


For more individal tours TW Pro is too expensive, but as long as you can live with the
loading screen it will help you at least over the time until Thomas is ready with similar
tour creation tools.

[Hrvoje]

Hi mhc1

I saw Easypano and Autopano before purchase PTVR, but after testing all I decided to purchase PTVR (and PTGui) due to quality, features, and price factors.
For now, I'm sticking with PTgui and Pano2VR.
Who knows, maybe in some future Pano2VR will evolve into full "CameraTo360" solution

Anyway, ty for your suggestions.

[AntiochInteractive]

Honestly, one of the reasons I've been most attracted to Pano2VR is that Thomas created a masterfully flexible environment for creating tour maps through the skin editor.

I'm excited that Thomas is adding full tour creation in v3.0 ...

What I would love to see is a preview of linked tours under the 'Add Hotspot' editor with the ability to visually set Pan/FOV for the linked tour. This would certainly make things easier!

I recognize that the way that Thomas has implemented hotspot linking via Proxies makes this request / thought a little bit harder...

But it all comes back, in my mind, to the fact that Thomas has created a masterful Virtual Tour Assembly Kit. If you know how to use it, the flexibility is unmatched!

It's like comparing Adobe Photoshop Elements to Photoshop itself. Too much hand-holding makes an application tedious and less useful.

[PMtv2000]

I totally agree about the Tourweaving Easypano debate... no contest as far as I'm concerned.
I've gone from Ulead 360, EasyPano, 360Pano, Immervision, FlashPanoPlayer and now I'm doing it right at last with Pano2VR.. long may it reign.
Back to the point the lens flare idea is a sometimes needed gizmo tho' I can live without the tour bit unless it really makes my life easier.

[360Texas]

From where we sit.. the better we let the visitor/customer see our clients product the better. embedded objects like nav buttons obstruct and distract the visitor from seeing the clients product. Nav buttons at 50% opacity stay out of the visual way until needed then they turn 100% so the visitor can use them.. then quietly they return near out of sight until next needed event. It is necessary to let the panorama technique display the clients product because it is a promise of a sale which inturn improves the clients bottom financial profit margin and sales revenue. Certain popup/mouse over lables are good because they help promote transfer of added information about the product = 'This is a vase made in circ 1800'.

Certainly rotating beacons, suns rays, artifical rain, snow are technically useful for NON-commercial panoramas. They provide a certain distraction demonstrating "Look at me not the panorama content".

I had better stop before I get hollared at for ranting.

[DemonDuck]

From where we sit.. [stuff deleted]

Certainly rotating beacons, suns rays, artifical rain, snow are technically useful for NON-commercial panoramas. They provide a certain distraction demonstrating "Look at me not the panorama content".

I had better stop before I get hollared at for ranting.

Not at all. You are absolutely right! Glitz is for fun -- real information doesn't need glitz. In fact I would even go further and eliminate all buttons (lots of different opinions about that) and anything else that takes up image space. And hotspots should be reduced to the visual minimum.

It depends on your purpose...

[mhc1]

Yes - you are so right!

But as mentioned before: I saw a lot of users not capable handling an interactive
image.
I personally like a real fullscreen with nothing inside the image.
But you have to think about helping users to control the stuff comfortable.

I don´t know if there is the feature of "Fulscreen" using the right mouse key in Pano2VR,
just like in KRPano (don´t know about FPP) - that would eliminate all buttons inside the image.

Another option would be to have 2 controllers:

- one for normal display with help etc.
- one for fullscreen - only "Close Fullscreen" or if available by right mouse key even no button at all.

But I guess 2 controllers would only be a future option.

Tourweaver goes this way- but you can´t individualize the controllers though.

[DemonDuck]

Yes - you are so right!

But as mentioned before: I saw a lot of users not capable handling an interactive
image.

Yes, the problem of the first time viewer of an interactive pano is a difficult one. But a person is a first time viewer only once. And as panos go main stream and the user interaction becomes more or less standardized, why would you want to keep looking at those stupid buttons?

My own viewpoint is that there are fewer and fewer people who are so unfamiliar with using computers of various sorts that the idea of the "novice" user is fading rapidly.

[Hrvoje]

This thread is going wrong direction.
I was just expressing my opinion what I would like to see in new P2VR releases.
If some of you don't like buttons, (or flare effects) simply don't use them.
But please don't be against us who would like to see those in panos, it's just your personal choice.

If pano is made for some professional architect, make it clean, without buttons or other visual "interference".
But if target population are tourists or kids, why not add extra stuff in?

Personally I don't like both buttons and flare. I like to make stuff clean and simple for use.
But some of my clients saw flares on other panos, and they asked if I can add something similar for them as well.

Same goes to buttons and other extra stuff on panos.
Someone likes it, someone not. Fine, lets have option to turn extra stuff off or on.

Flash have nice feature - local variables.
There could be an right click option to hide extra screen stuff for every new loaded pano produced by same person.

So please don't "rabble" against possibility to add extra stuff at all.

Btw, my main suggestion was for having enhanced tour editor, and flares was just "great if we will have it, but no biggie if not".

[mhc1]

Sorry for any misunderstandings

I did not want to "rabble" against anything at all and really see the implementations in
various panos - just like mentioned.
Flares and other features are means to make panos more interesting - true.

We were talking about a special customer group - another clientel group may surely be
interesting in featured mentioned.