I've recently discovered how much fun it is to use Pano2VR's more advanced features, especially multiresolution and the skin editor. Pano2VR is a wonderful creative tool!
Yesterday I was feeling a slight sense of accomplishment after viewing my semifinal Flash project online using a PC. I then tried viewing it using a Google Nexus 7 and that's when I realized Flash is not supported on it (by default).
So I dove into Pano2VR's HTML5 output capability.
The html5 result failed pretty bad on the Nexus 7. The cube faces are loaded but not connected. I tried some project settings provided by 360Texas and they yielded the same result on the Nexus 7.
On an iPad at least the spherical image is complete and most of the controls work. But the full-screen button adds nothing (the image already fills the browser window BELOW the browser menus, tabs, etc.; pressing the fullscreen control does not completely fill the screen like it does in Flash, which IMHO is what helps make spherical panos truly immersive.)
The bottom line for me is that the HTML5 experience doesn't seem nearly as elegant as with Flash. Am I completely wrong?
Here's a question for anyone familiar with HTML5 and its implementation in Pano2VR:
Referring to this image by Judy Arndt, is it possible to duplicate the user experience on an iPad? I'm referring to sliding graphics with transparency, her animated thumbnail navigation, etc., and if so is this using Pano2VR Skin Editor's built-in tools and capabilities or is some additional coding required?
---
I researched why Flash wasn't included in the Nexus 7. The reviews and reports I found range from "Flash is dead" to "Adobe is not going to support Flash on Android tablets starting with v4.1" (example article). Since I already suspect that PC usage will decline as tablet usage rises, the prospects for Flash don't look promising.
I therefore can't help but think about some of the wonderful spherical work I've seen by forum participants here. I wonder how long their incredible work will be viewable by the general public as tablets grow in dominance. Now, for all I know they may be converting all their galleries to HTML5 as I write this, or maybe I'm wrong about Flash's future, but at the moment I kinda feel like I've started working in a wonderful medium that's about to take a few steps back before it catches up. Meanwhile, the work will suffer -- at least for people who aren't versed in html5, xml, etc.
Feel welcome to correct any of my assertions.
Thank you.
