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VR Panorama Player comparison

Hi folks,

Just FYI, a collection of Panorama viewers:
http://www.panoramaphotographer.com/comparisons/index.html

What such an overview cannot do is showcase the best quality one can achieve by optimizing the parameters when compiling the output file. It also doesn't demonstrate how adaptable the creation process is (e.g. to optimize for specific content), and how easy the workflow is.

It does demonstrate that the overall quality and (loading) speed can differ when using the default settings.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
Hi Bart

I use KRPano, as it can create and display Multires-panos - this allows to zoom in whithout lack of details - kinda zoomify for spheres...

works fine, and has lots of possibilities, like using different projections

The syntax for coding in xml isn't that easy, though - assuming I'm a photographer and not a coder. In a project where I took the photos and delivered the stitches, I could see how fare a good coder can go....
 

Valentin Arfire

New member
right Michael, for those examples there are people who know coding and can present user-friendly tours so that the internet visitors may experiment rich presentations.

I dn't know coding but use some templates (either offered for free by generous programmers, either payed for specific orders and then reuse them). I too have postponed the decision to learn xml either for FPP or Krpano :).
 
Hi Bart

I use KRPano, as it can create and display Multires-panos - this allows to zoom in whithout lack of details - kinda zoomify for spheres...

works fine, and has lots of possibilities, like using different projections

The syntax for coding in xml isn't that easy, though - assuming I'm a photographer and not a coder. In a project where I took the photos and delivered the stitches, I could see how fare a good coder can go....

I agree, KRpano offers good quality and lots of interesting features, but not really a productivity tool without a very serious additional coding effort. Of course, if the client is willing to pay, then that expertise can be hired, or as Valentin says templates can be reused (if copyright allows).

Pano2VR is amazingly functional and produces stand-alone .swf files, a real productivity tool.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
Yeah Bart

well, they have some sample at the krpano-site, so I managed to run it for my tests quite easely and have adapted some templates. Plus theres's a plugin which shows a palette including the the settings (locally) and with adjustements sliders, while you' re in the pano itself - that helps a lot.


To zoom into a multires-pano is quite astonishing.
We did a little tour as a prototyp (therefore I can't show it) for a guiding system within a big company's site - they quite liked that zooming, resp. the ability to zoom in and keep resolution, a lot...

Having the architecture projection helped a lot to get acceptance for panos in my job.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
What's interesting to note is the difference speeds at which they rotate. Some are fast and smooth and others slow and jerky. I didn't see a panel of controls for zooming in. Is there a standard set of keyboard strokes? and for Mac?

Asher
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
What's interesting to note is the difference speeds at which they rotate. Some are fast and smooth and others slow and jerky. I didn't see a panel of controls for zooming in. Is there a standard set of keyboard strokes? and for Mac?

Asher

Asher
generally spoken, these new flash player allow you to do whatever you like - showing movies within a pano, etc, ..
rotation speed is coded as well - so this is not a player-function. Even good old QT 4.x had that already. The amount of zoom can be limited/opend, as well; the controlpanel is a krpano-specific plugin, and has to be activated in the code as well; not to difficult...
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
So I guess that "Tour" in Autopano Giga is a version of KPano, is that right? Does that allow one to specify all the parameters you mentioned?

Asher
 
So I guess that "Tour" in Autopano Giga is a version of KPano, is that right? Does that allow one to specify all the parameters you mentioned?

Hi Asher,

"Tour" is a GUI for KRPano. It allows to assemble a tour amongst multiple "VR" images, assign the hotspots to travel between them, and set a number of other parameters. Of course one can also limit the effort to a single VR image. KRPano then takes all the input parameters and builds the necessary output files which can be put on a web page for viewing. AFAIK, Tour doesn't cover all the capabilities of KRPano at this time, so for some of the specialist functionality one may still need to do the e.g. XML coding by hand. Of course one can use the Tour output as a basis to bolt on further functionality.

To my enjoyment, I just found on the APTour documentation webpage that multi-resolution is automatically implemented once one exceeds a certain size (only with the additional KRPano licence). However, for download efficiency, one then needs to output the resulting files to a subdirectory/folder which must be uploaded to a Webpage in its entirety. Otherwise a large single file must be downloaded by a viewer before one is able to use it, which defeats the purpose of multiresolution zooming.

Cheers,
Bart
 
Last edited:

Tim Armes

New member
Thanks for the info here.

I've been trying to find a panoramic viewer that'd allow me to include popup images as I move over hotspots, and now I see that KRPano can indeed do this.

Tim
 
Hi Bart_van_der_Wolf,

The player list, I think, need updating, like the player of panorama2flash, the latest one should be Panoweaver and Tourweaver. You could compare the two by viewing http://www.easypano.com/panorama-gallery.html.

Hi Tacy,

I perhaps wasn't clear enough about it, but it's not my site, just a site I came across when looking for comparisons myself. Tourweaver seems to be a competent (Windows only) tool as well, but I'd have to try it first to see how much (or little) work it takes to setup such a tour. Also the quality of the resampling is important, I don't know if there is any choice of algorithms. I did notice it's extremely expensive.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Bart_van_der_Wolf,

The player list, I think, need updating, like the player of panorama2flash, the latest one should be Panoweaver and Tourweaver. You could compare the two by viewing http://www.easypano.com/panorama-gallery.html.
Glad for that link; thanks Tacy!

We love to learn about new tools. If you have any experience of them, that would be a treat. I'm looking for the best solutions to embed in a website. We want something easy to standardize.

Asher
 

Tacy Watson

New member
Re: include images as moving over hotspots

Thanks for the info here.

I've been trying to find a panoramic viewer that'd allow me to include popup images as I move over hotspots, and now I see that KRPano can indeed do this.

Tim

KRPano could do this. Just FYI, I'm using Tourweaver, it also supports including popup images as I move over hotspots. Have a try and compare!
 

Tacy Watson

New member
Embed Panorama in a Website

Glad for that link; thanks Tacy!

We love to learn about new tools. If you have any experience of them, that would be a treat. I'm looking for the best solutions to embed in a website. We want something easy to standardize.

Asher

Through my experience, panorama created with Panoweaver could be embeded in a website easily, see the samples at http://www.easypano.com/panorama-gallery.html that I like. When I publish a panorama with Panoweaver, I could select output format, upload the published html to FTP, then you'll see panorama online. Just give it a try!
 

Valentin Arfire

New member
hello friends,

I believe for now the flash technology is the only functional solution in presenting panoramas.
The best player was nevertheless DevalVR, unfortunately it can run only on Windows - so isn't acceptable; moreover the average visitor should trust and load a patch for the browser he's using and only after that can actually see the panorama.

Given the iPad and iPhone "anti flash" attitude and the html5 directions, I wonder what the future will be; I hear the html5 technology has animation instructions implemented in the page so there will be an html page with some xml file in order to show the panorama on the internet... I look forward in the technology proposed for the Chrome OS and maybe there is a true winner in this field
 
I believe for now the flash technology is the only functional solution in presenting panoramas.

Hi Valentin,

I agree. Flash is the most universal presentation format at the moment, although not without 'risk' for the photographer. The images, or parts of it, can still be stolen and repurposed without proper compensation. For controlled use however, it offers a plethora of possibilities and opportunities.

Given the iPad and iPhone "anti flash" attitude and the html5 directions, I wonder what the future will be; I hear the html5 technology has animation instructions implemented in the page so there will be an html page with some xml file in order to show the panorama on the internet... I look forward in the technology proposed for the Chrome OS and maybe there is a true winner in this field

Yes, one has to wonder about the anti-Flash attitude of some manufacturers, are they going to try and force yet another proprietary standard onto the marketplace?

I'm sure something new will evolve over time, but for now I'm happy with Flash for specific projects. I would be hesitant to put my general photography up on a webpage in a large size though.

BTW Since March 2010 Pano2VR has added the capability to display regular (rectilinear projection) images, not necessarily panorama projections, in flash format without distortion automatically. That includes the controls to zoom in and pan around. You can even add an ambient background sound or define directional sound sources within the 2D or 3D space, relatively easily.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Valentin Arfire

New member
Thank you Bart - you are definitely right; I know Thomas Rauscher from Vienna and he's doing a really good work - his pano2vr may be the real winner in terms of operationality and compatibility.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I like the patch tool in Pano2VR and together with CS5 context aware feature, one could have an easier time of erasing unwanted features on a panorama by exporting a portion to CS5, editing it to remove the object using the context aware eraser and then rebuilding the pano with the altered patch. One could also add features this way too. I'd like to add people to panos so it seems to have great potential. i haven't seen this patch capability in auto Pano Giga or PTGUI but no doubt it can be done! I just don;t see how, as yet.

Asher
 

Valentin Arfire

New member
first the iphone :)

Hello friends, here is a good news

the spherical panoramas are available on the iphone - actually there are applications for a while already :
Cube world
Pangea VR
Arounder

but recently the 360cities.net panoramas with its tens of thousands of panoramas all over the world can be explored and experienced with no plug in directly on the browser (safari) on the beta player for the iphone.

The drawback is the panoramas have no zoom, no interactivity and the full screen is a minus for now... But it works :)

http://blog.360cities.net/360cities-iphone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+360-cities-blog+%28360+Cities+Official+Blog%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

So the steps to put it full screen and to browse the panoramas offline - that I see as necessary steps - will have to pass - but probably will be fully compatible with the requirements of todays browsers.
 
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