Showcase: Customized Feather Orb Skin with Intro

[studio360.com.ua]

Hi everyone,

I’ve decided to share one of my recent projects with the community.

Link to the tour: https://electri4ka.ua/tour/premium/

While the panoramas themselves are straightforward, I’d like to draw your attention to the skin. It is based on the standard feather_orb.ggsk, but I have heavily customized it and added a custom Intro sequence.

The project is still a work in progress, particularly regarding fully responsive adjustments, but otherwise, it is about 99% complete.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any suggestions you might have!

[Hopki]

Hi,
Very nice images, and nice intro.
I would look at optimising the video, TV.mp4, running this through HandBrake and web optimising it, the file size goes down to 1.9MB from 5.1MB with very little visual difference.
Also I know this may be being picky but when you enter a car, the window images are generally the same.
So if you enter cars at different locations, when in the car and looking out of the windows you are looking at the entrance door.
Turn to the left and you see the car with the bow on the bonnet.

Also I may be inclined to use Morph transition to move around the showroom, but use cross Dissolve to enter and exit the cars.
Hope this helps,

[studio360.com.ua]

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your feedback and for taking the time to look at my project!

I haven't heard of HandBrake before, but I will definitely look into it—thanks for the tip! Honestly, I don't remember which software I used for that specific video. My usual "lifehack" for maximum compression with minimal quality loss is to upload the video to YouTube, wait for it to process all formats, and then download the optimized version back using an online service. But I'll give HandBrake a try to see if it yields better results.

Regarding the view from the car windows: the idea was that all cars are supposedly parked in the middle of the showroom. However, I agree that taking a unique exterior panorama for each car would look much more realistic. I'll keep that in mind for future updates.

As for the transitions, I’m very interested in your suggestion! I actually didn't know it was possible to use different transition types (like Morph for the showroom and Cross Dissolve for entering the cars) within a single tour. I haven't noticed transition settings that can be applied to individual nodes.

Could you please explain how to achieve this or perhaps provide a link to the documentation/webinar where this is covered?

[Hopki]

Hi,
In the attached project, node three would be the internal image which uses cross dissolve.
In the skin there are two Hotspot Templates, each has the action that selects the transition type before changing nodes.

So you need to cross dissolve going in and coming back out.
Regards,

[studio360.com.ua]

So you need to cross dissolve going in and coming back out.

Hi Martin,

I’ve looked at your project—it’s brilliant! Thank you for sharing such a clear example. I never realized that transition settings could be controlled directly within the skin's actions. I’ve definitely had projects where I wanted to use different transitions, and now I know exactly how to do it.

While we're on the subject, I’d like to ask for your thoughts on a slight modification to your approach.

Usually, instead of creating multiple Hotspot Templates for different icons, I use Logic Blocks/Conditions within a single template. I haven't seen this technique used in your projects very often. Is there a specific reason for that? Is my method less optimized than using separate templates, or is it just a matter of preference?

I’d love to hear your perspective on this.

project_v2.zip

(311.03 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

[Hopki]

Hi,
The reason why we use separate Hotspot Templates with their own icon is be cause the Hotspot Template gets cloned for every hotspot.
Looking at your example, your Hotspot Template has two icons, and actions for each icon using an action filter.
So this means that every point hotspot that will use this Hotspot Template will have both icons and all the actions.

If you had six point hotspots that would use the temple, so three using one icon and three using the other, you are downloading twelve images, and all the actions.
So not very efficient and resource hungry for say mobile devices.

If you have separate Hotspot Templates, then you only download exactly what you need.

Remember, it is what people download to see the output, so the skin can have 100 Hotspot Templates, but the person viewing will only need to download what they need for the node that are looking at, in your project that have to download twice as many icons and more actions.

It is more efficient to have one Hotspot Template for each Point Hotspot type.
Regards,

[studio360.com.ua]

Hi Martin,

Thank you for taking the time to explain the underlying logic. It’s clear now that your method is much more optimized, and as a skin creator, the responsibility for performance lies with me.
To be honest, that’s a bit disappointing to hear. I had an idea to create a highly versatile, "all-in-one" customizable skin, but based on what you’ve described, it makes that task much more complex.
I previously assumed that during the export process, the software would only include assets that meet specific static conditions. I understand why this doesn't work for Variables, as they can change during runtime, so all associated conditions and icons must be exported.

However, Hotspot IDs are unique and static; they cannot be changed once the tour is exported. So, if I have a logic block that says:

• If ID contains "icon1" -> show Icon A

• If ID contains "icon2" -> show Icon B

• If ID contains "icon3" -> show Icon C

If a specific hotspot only has "icon2" in its ID, why does the player still need to export and load all three icons for that instance? It seems like it would be more efficient if the compiler only included the asset matching that specific ID.
I suppose this is tied to the internal programming logic of how the skin is parsed, but it would be a powerful feature if Pano2VR could "strip out" unused conditional assets during export for static identifiers!

Best regards, Stas