2019, in Review

2019 proved to be a productive year.

We released Pano2VR 6.1, which brought major features like the support of WebVR, native support for stereo panoramas, and the Panotour Pro import. We also added the ability to convert patches to hotspots so you can create roll-over effects and custom hotspot images for use in WebVR or simply to apply hotspot images without opening the skin editor.

Our WordPress plugin got a major update and is now found on WordPress.org.

We made a lot of video tutorials (16 in total)! We do hope you learned something from them.

Finally, we were fortunate to be part of the Google Maps’ Street View Summit in London and the annual IVRPA conference in Belfast where we got the chance to meet some of you in person!

Pano2VR 6.1.2 Released

Today we released Pano2VR 6.1.2 which fixes a few issues:

• Fix for the new Oculus Browser. Please replace the webvr/three.min.js with the new version on old tours
• The spinning globe hotspots in the WebVR output are no longer missing in WordPress
• Pinned videos are working on iOS again if they are set to auto-start
• Fixed an issue that occurred in Windows Edge where the audio of a popup video file would begin to playback after going to the next node
• Fixed an issue where flat images were getting cropped on small screens
• Fixed sound iPadOS and iOS where sounds would not start on first touch
• Components now use the Logic Block Trigger Has Touch instead of Is Mobile to accommodate iPadOS which no longer reports itself as a mobile device

To update, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and see you in the New Year!

The entire Gnome team.

Some of you may recall that last July, we mentioned that we were planning workshops with Thomas Bredenfeld and asked for your interest. Thanks a lot for your participation!

Thomas has just posted all his planned workshops. Each weekend workshop is designed for both beginner and advanced users of Pano2VR, and they will be held in small groups.

So far, there are five workshops you can sign up for:

• Berlin, April 17-19, 2020
• Hamburg, April 24-26, 2020
• Oberhausen , May 22-24, 2020
• Munich, June 5-7, 2020
• Vienna, June 26-28, 2020
• Zurich, TBA

All workshops will be in German.

If you don’t speak German, don’t worry, we’re still planning on holding workshops in English or your native language. If you’d like, you can still take part in our survey.

Did you know…

…that you can assign colors to tags?

Each tour node in the Tour Browser can have tags. But to make them easier to distinguish, you can add colors to the tags.

Today, we released a new tutorial series focused on building animations. Pano2VR light and pro both feature an Animation Editor. This editor lets you make not only custom animations of your panoramas to export as flat videos, but also to create custom autorotations.

We start the tutorials with an overview of the editor, the animation properties, and the animation output. Then you’ll learn to make a simple video, a custom autorotation and finally, how to animate an entire tour in Pano2VR pro.

• Learn more about animation.

Did you know…

…that you can filter your tour nodes by auto tags. Every image imported into Pano2VR pro is tagged automatically. For instance, if the image has GPS data, it’ll be given the tag, GPS. These tags are found in the User Data. In the Tour Browser, you’ll find these tags in the filter.

There are also other auto tags that can be very useful for filtering your nodes. For instance, if you want to find all the nodes that are missing titles, use the No Title tag.

• Learn more about filtering in the Tour Browser.

The post Animation Tutorials appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Pano2VR 6.0.5

Today we are releasing a small update to Pano2VR. This update fixes a few bugs including an issue where Google Maps were not showing in the Tour Map.

The built-in skins, Silhouette and Simplex have also been updated and so have several components so that tooltips will now hide if no title is being used.

To update Pano2VR, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website and install.

Embedding Videos in a Panorama

In Pano2VR Pano2VR 6.1 beta 2, we improved the workflow for embedding videos in panoramas. And now, we have a tutorial showing you how it’s done. Check it out:

The post Pano2VR 6.0.5 Released and Embedded Video Tutorial appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Workshops Survey

We are in the works of planning workshops within the German-speaking region. If you’re interested to learn Pano2VR in German with Thomas Bredenfeld, then let us know by taking this short survey.

For those living in the rest of the world, don’t worry, we’re thinking of you! But before we start planning, we need to assess interest. If you’d be interested in a workshop in English or another language or in your neck of the woods, then please let us know with this survey.

Thank you!

New WordPress Plugin

Some of you may have already discovered it, but we have published a completely re-written plugin for WordPress. The plugin works with the latest WordPress version and the Gutenberg editor.

You’ll find the plugin over at WordPress.

We’ve also updated our tutorial for the plugin. The basic workflow is that you output a Garden Gnome Package and upload it to your self-hosted WordPress site. Then, add the package to the post via a widget in the Gutenberg editor.

Pano2VR 6.0.6 Released

Pano2VR 6.0.6 is now available which fixes a few minor issues, including one where, for some, place ID’s were displayed instead of place names when searching for a place in the Google Street View panel.

To update Pano2VR, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website and install.

Did you know…

…that you can also use the package format to view projects offline using our stand-alone Garden Gnome Package Viewer? Sometimes, a project can’t be uploaded to a server, or there is no internet (like at a kiosk). In these cases, you could use this little app to present the project.

The post Workshops, WordPress, and a Release appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Today we released another beta version of 6.1 that is chock full of features like native stereo support and an importer for Panotour Pro projects. At the IVRPA conference in Belfast, we already gave a sneak peek. Since then we’ve added even more features, and below you’ll find the full list along with issues we’ve fixed.

Custom Hotspot Images

You could always have custom hotspot images, but they needed a hotspot template in the skin. We added now an easy solution to create individual images per hotspot. For any point hotspot, add the image in the hotspot properties. And then you can resize the image or choose to have it 3D distorted without creating or editing a skin.

Convert Patch to Point Hotspot

In the previous beta, we added a feature that converted a patch to a pinned video and image. Converting the patch to a pinned video made the workflow for embedded videos much easier. With this beta, we’ve added the ability to convert the patch to a custom image for a point hotspot. This will make the workflow for 3D distorted hotspot images also easier with fewer steps involved. 3D distorted hotspots images allow us to create perfectly aligned roll-over effects in the panoramas and Hopki explains in the tutorial below how to do this.

Exposed Color in Skin

To make the workflow friendlier you can now change the colors of the built-in skins using the Edit Skin Configuration button. This lets you easily match the colors of your website without opening the Skin Editor.

Panotour Pro Import

We’ve gotten a lot of Panotour Pro users since Kolor closed and wanted to make it easier for them to covert their projects to Pano2VR. With this release, we’ve added the ability to import Panotour projects. Most features like hotspots, categories, floor plans, and lens flares will be converted, but the skin will need to be rebuilt.

Hopki has a great tutorial showing exactly how this works and even rebuilds Katherine Gooding’s skin (Thanks Katherine for the project!).

Stereo Panoramas

Stereo Panoramas are now natively supported. All you need to do is drop in your stereo panoramic image, and you’re good to go. You can even mix stereo and regular panoramas. If you’re working on a tour, you can also make use of the new distance field for hotspots to bring them closer to the viewer. We also updated the patch tool to support stereo panoramas as well.

Accordion Menu Component

Earlier, we introduced some features in the skin editor that would allow you to create menus with categories. With this beta, we added a few more features that will enable an accordion menu. You’ll find the accordion menu component in the Components Toolbox.

More Features

• Integrated web server now includes a secure option (HTTPS)
• Calculate and show the distance between nodes using placeholders
• Tags can now have symbols as a way to visually see the tags in the Tour Browser
• Exclude nodes from autorotation
• Raw CSS: You can mix units for position and size of skin elements
• New skin actions: Set Size and Change Size
• New logic block trigger: Cloner Index
• New skin actions for adding and removing skin elements
• Cloners can now change the size automatically

Fixes

• YouTube videos can now go fullscreen in skin editor video element
• Floor plans will now respond to a logic block used to show them
• Scroll bars no longer cover the cloner element on mobile
• If the input image doesn’t change, Pano2VR will no longer regenerate cube faces for single resolution outputs

Changes

• Pan/Tilt/FoV actions are now grouped under Panorama Movement
• Faster loading of projects
• Significant improvements to the Street View upload

To update Pano2VR, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website and install.

The post Pano2VR 6.1 beta 3 Released appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Welcome to September!

To start this season off, we’ve published two new tutorials for Pano2VR 6.1 beta. We hope you’ll find them helpful!

Adding Custom Hotspot Images

The custom hotspot image feature was added in Pano2VR 6.1 beta 3 and lets you easily create individual images for point hotspots without having to add, create, or edit a skin.

Adding Google Fonts

In Pano2VR 6.1, the stylesheets have been moved to the skin rather than the HTML template. So, Hopki shows you how to access the embedded stylesheet and edit it to use Google Fonts.

Did you know…

…that you need a secure server to display a Cardboard project?

The cardboard VR player needs to use the phone’s gyroscope. Earlier this year, both Android and iOS made it a requirement that a secure connection is needed in order to access the gyroscope. That means the project needs to be served from a secure server.

To help you test your projects, Pano2VR 6.1 has an option to use a secure server (HTTPS). Make sure this is enabled (Settings/Preferences > Web Server) for testing cardboard projects.

The post Custom Hotspot Images and Adding Google Fonts appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Pano2VR 6.1 has been released! Version 6.1 has been in beta for about 7 months and in that time, a lot of new features have been added. We’d like to thank all the users who have been testing and using the beta and for reporting issues and requesting features. For those who haven’t been following the beta cycle, check out 6.1’s highlights below.

This update is free for all who own a Pano2VR 6 license.

WebVR

WebVR support was added to the HTML5 output and is added by default. WebVR gives us the ability to view both single and multi-resolution panoramas and tours in VR web browsers (like Oculus Browser and Firefox Reality) and mobile browsers.

To use WebVR in a headset or on Cardboard, you’ll need to add a “Enter VR” button to your skin. Our built-in skins (silhouette and simplex) already have this button and will only be visible when viewing the project in a VR browser or on a mobile phone.

Stereo Panoramas

Pano2VR now natively supports stereo panoramas. Just drag in the stereo images. If you have hotspots, you can also adjust their distance to bring them closer to or further from the viewer.

Import Panotour Pro Projects

Panotour Pro users who are now using Pano2VR will find that they don’t have to completely rebuild their projects from scratch. Rather, they can simply import their projects and the work is done! All elements will be converted except for the skin.

CSS and JavaScript

You can now add CSS and Javascript files to your skin which also gives you the ability to apply CSS to the entire skin or to a single element. This is useful for customizing fonts in the skin.

Accordion Menu

In the Components Toolbox, you’ll find a new menu component that lets you create a menu with categories and that uses an accordion style animation.

Custom Hotspot Images

You can now add custom point hotspot images without editing the skin or working in the Skin Editor.

Convert Patches to Hotspots

Having the ability to create custom images for point hotspots opened another possibility; to convert patches to point hotspots. This is especially useful for creating roll-over effects. In our tutorial below, Hopki shows how to use this feature to show a door open and close.

Exposing Colors in the Skin

In 6.0, we introduced the Edit Skin Configuration button. This tool lets you manage elements within the skin without opening the Skin Editor. So now, not only can you expose skin elements, but you can also expose colors. Just go to the Color Tool, choose the color you want to expose (for example, your tooltip background color) by right-clicking in the New Color column and choose, “Expose Color As”.

Street View Improvements

Uploading to Street View and the Street View Browser have been greatly improved. The Street View Browser also got a new feature that lets you filter tours and panoramas.

Fixes from Pano2VR 6.1 beta 3

For those who have been using the betas, we also fixed a lot of issues. Here are some of them:

• Fixed an issue where the SVG buttons states were not showing the correct state
• Pinned video will now play as expected (without user interaction) on the MS Edge browser
• If you had a very large patch and converted to a point hotspot, it may have “unpinned” itself from the panorama after rotation; this has been fixed
• Fixed an issue where the file paths of imported panoramas were lost after the project was saved to a folder other than the source images
• A fix has been added to allow access to the gyroscope in iOS 13 (update your projects to the latest player)

Download

To update, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates or download directly from our website.

★ This update is free for all users who own a Pano2VR 6 license.

Useful Information

• How to Upgrade Pano2VR
• How to buy Pano2VR
• Pano2VR version 6 Documentation

The post Pano2VR 6.1 Released appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Pano2VR 6.1.1 has been released and fixes a few issues:

• Videos in WebVR are now playing when they should
• Dragging a folder on a droplet now works on macOS Catalina
• You can now enter a negative number for any of the Element Angle skin actions
• WebVR is now working with Android 10

We also changed a few things:

• In the Tour Map, the radar beam line now goes through the entire beam rather than just through the front for easier alignment
• A Point Hotspot can now be locked regardless if it has location data or not
• Toggle the locked state of any element in the Viewer by holding Shift and clicking the element

Download

To update, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website.

Did you know…

…that Pano2VR has a feature that consolidates all project media? When you’re finished with a project or need to duplicate it, you can use Save with Assets in the File menu. This will consolidate all associated assets (images, patches, pinned elements, etc.) to a different folder than the original project.

The post Pano2VR 6.1.1 Released appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

2019, in Review

2019 proved to be a productive year.

We released Pano2VR 6.1, which brought major features like the support of WebVR, native support for stereo panoramas, and the Panotour Pro import. We also added the ability to convert patches to hotspots so you can create roll-over effects and custom hotspot images for use in WebVR or simply to apply hotspot images without opening the skin editor.

Our WordPress plugin got a major update and is now found on WordPress.org.

We made a lot of video tutorials (16 in total)! We do hope you learned something from them.

Finally, we were fortunate to be part of the Google Maps’ Street View Summit in London and the annual IVRPA conference in Belfast where we got the chance to meet some of you in person!

Pano2VR 6.1.2 Released

Today we released Pano2VR 6.1.2 which fixes a few issues:

• Fix for the new Oculus Browser. Please replace the webvr/three.min.js with the new version on old tours
• The spinning globe hotspots in the WebVR output are no longer missing in WordPress
• Pinned videos are working on iOS again if they are set to auto-start
• Fixed an issue that occurred in Windows Edge where the audio of a popup video file would begin to playback after going to the next node
• Fixed an issue where flat images were getting cropped on small screens
• Fixed sound iPadOS and iOS where sounds would not start on first touch
• Components now use the Logic Block Trigger Has Touch instead of Is Mobile to accommodate iPadOS which no longer reports itself as a mobile device

To update, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and see you in the New Year!

The entire Gnome team.

The post Happy Holidays and an Update appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Some of you may recall that last July, we mentioned that we were planning workshops with Thomas Bredenfeld and asked for your interest. Thanks a lot for your participation!

Thomas has just posted all his planned workshops. Each weekend workshop is designed for both beginner and advanced users of Pano2VR, and they will be held in small groups.

So far, there are five workshops you can sign up for:

• Berlin, April 17-19, 2020
• Hamburg, April 24-26, 2020
• Oberhausen , May 22-24, 2020
• Munich, June 5-7, 2020
• Vienna, June 26-28, 2020
• Zurich, TBA

All workshops will be in German.

If you don’t speak German, don’t worry, we’re still planning on holding workshops in English or your native language. If you’d like, you can still take part in our survey.

Did you know…

…that you can assign colors to tags?

Each tour node in the Tour Browser can have tags. But to make them easier to distinguish, you can add colors to the tags.

The post Pano2VR Workshops with Thomas Bredenfeld appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Today we aren’t releasing any software updates, but we are launching a new website and flaunting a new logo. 

You’ll find everything on our new site that was on the previous site. Documentation, articles, and the forum can be found at the top of the page . You’ll also find access to your account in the top header. To access your account, please reset your password by clicking Lost your password? in the login page.

Once you access your account, you’ll be able to add users, upgrade your licenses, and access your invoices. Please note that past orders have not been transferred over. If you need an older invoice, please contact us.

Take a look around!

The post A Fresh New Look appeared first on Garden Gnome Software.

Hello! We are working from our home offices amid the Covid-19 pandemic and are happy to announce our release of Pano2VR 6.1.3. We’ve added a few features and made a lot of fixes.

More Placeholders

We’ve added new User Data placeholders, which can be placed in skin elements like the Text Field.

• $(alt) for Altitude
• $(hdg) for Heading (North)

We also added a placeholder for Google Street View panoramas:

• $(svl) for Street View link. This is the URL Pano2VR receives from Google Street View once the panorama is uploaded and accepted. You can then, for example, use this URL in a skin element to open the panorama in Street View.

These new placeholders can also be used as triggers in logic blocks.

Learn more about Placeholders.

javascript:"";
player.setSuperCookie("mySuperCookie", { cookieExpireDays:100 });
player.setVariableOptions("var1", {keep: true });
player.setVariableOptions("var2", {keep: true });
....

Use the Shift Key

Hold down the Shift Key in the Viewer to lock dragging horizontally or vertically.

Fixed

• Low-resolution floor plans used within the Map Element in Simple Floor Plan mode will no longer show as a broken image
• A floor plan added to the Tour Map before adding nodes will no longer disappear
• Distance placeholders are now working in logic blocks

Download

To update, go to Help in the menu bar and choose Check for Updates. Or download directly from our website.

Did you know…

…that you can use Polygon Hotspots with Point Hotspot components?

Hopki has written a few tutorials on how to connect Polygon Hotspots to skin components so you can use them to pop-up images and videos. Each tutorial also comes with project files so you can test it out.

• Using Point Hotspot pop-up components with Polygon Hotspots
• Using the Image pop-up component with Polygon Hotspots

The post Pano2VR 6.1.3 Released appeared first on Garden Gnome.

Considering that many in the world are self-isolating, social-distancing, or in quarantine, we thought that sharing VR tours and images may help the isolation.

VR tours are a wonderful way to travel without walking out the door. You can learn and discover as if you are there. 

If you have a VR headset like an Oculus Go or Quest, Playstation VR, etc., then load this page up in a browser and find the tours that use WebVR for an even more immersive experience.

Wrocław, Poland

Have you ever been to Wrocław? If not, this tour will take you to Wrocław’s squares, churches, and museums.

By Ivan Tsyrkunovich at hi360v

The Diplomat Beach Resort

Maybe you’re planning summer holidays, and perhaps this beach resort in Florida is perfect for you and your family. Or maybe you’d like to see the ocean. WebVR enabled.

By Andrea Nova at b360vr.com

BonSom District

Or how about taking a cruise through the BonSom Historic District of Atlanta, Georgia, USA?  This tour features a built-in time machine.

By Chris Tilley at www.gnoggin.com

Bergamo, Italy

Take a virtual stroll through Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime in Treviglio, Italy.

Bergamo is, unfortunately, one of the hardest-hit areas with the virus. But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate it from afar and support the town.

By Gianluca Colombi at Realizzazione Tour Virtuali Google Street View – Milano Bergamo Brescia Varese

Art Exhibition using UV Light

This wild art exhibition is a 2-in-1 piece. Use the on/off button at the bottom of the screen to turn the UV lights on and off.

By Ivan Tsyrkunovich at hi360v

Historical Museum in Marshall, Texas

The Harrison County Historical Museum in Marshall, Texas, has an online exhibition as a VR Tour called Service & Sacrifice: Harrison County At War.

By Tony Juays, CPP at Juays Photography

USA National Parks

Check out this collection of VR tours from many US national parks.

By Hugh Anderson at 360hugh.co.uk

Train Collection

We know there are locomotive fans out there. Check out this tour on Google Maps at the Crewe Heritage Centre in the United Kingdom.

By Ian Tresman

Thien Hau Temple, California

This single panorama will take yo to the Thein Hau Temple located in Los Angeles, California’s Chinatown.

By Jim Newberry at PanoramicEye

Church of the Abbey of Saint Agatha

Back to Italy and another tour of the beautiful Chiesa della Badia di Sant’Agata located in Catania, Italy. 

By Luca Mangano at you360.it

Many thanks to all the photographers for sharing their projects!

All tours were created with Pano2VR by Garden Gnome Software.

Correction: An earlier version stated Warsaw instead of Wrocław.

The post Travel during Isolation with VR Tours appeared first on Garden Gnome.

Last week, we trialed our first Pano2VR webinar and quickly learned we couldn’t wait to do another one.

Our next webinar will be this week, Wednesday, March 25th, at 16:00 GMT.

We will continue to have a webinar every Wednesday at 16:00 GMT. We hope that most people can make this time, but we do realize it’s not ideal for some. If you can’t make it, you can catch the webinar later, as we will be posting the videos to our website.

If you’d like to be alerted about upcoming webinars, keep an eye out for an announcement on our website, social networks, and the forum.

The webinar on March 25th will go over Polygon Hotspots and linking them to skin elements:

• Adding Polygon Hotspots and linking them to nodes
• Activating and deactivating polygon hotspots
• Changing colors
• Connecting to skin elements using Hotspot Proxy IDs (not as scary as it sounds)

Register here!

Thanks to everyone who registered and participated in last week’s webinar!

The post Introducing Webinars appeared first on Garden Gnome.

It’s been far, far too long that we’ve gone without a post in our in the wild series. So long that some of you may not even know we have such a series. Let’s fix that. 

To bring our series back into the wild, we’re throwing the spotlight on Tony Redhead.

If you’ve visited our forums or Pano2VR Facebook group, chances are you’ve seen a post or reply from Tony. Perhaps he even helped you with your project. 

Tony’s extraordinary experience in entrepreneurship, computer graphics, and digital imaging shows through, not only in his tutorials but also in his photography. We’re happy and grateful he’s part of our community.

Pano2VR Tutorials

Tony has written quite a few tutorials that we all found helpful. One tutorial, which was written over a year ago but is still relevant, is his tutorial on Circular Hotspot Buttons that uses images and text within them.

If you’re starting to learn the Skin Editor, this would be a great beginner’s tutorial. You will learn essential skills in building skins, like understanding the parent/child relationship in the tree, adding actions, and aligning elements.

A recent tip (Little Bits) that Tony published is one that uses polygon hotspots to play a sound when a mouse rolls over the hotspot. Hidden in this tip is another tip that explains how to add custom fonts using the Embedded Stylesheet and styling a text box.

His latest tutorial (as of this writing) shows us how we can blur the background (the panorama) behind a pop-up image.

There are a ton of useful skills you’ll learn in this tutorial. Like, applying CSS filters, implementing a permeable element (an element that allows a click-through event), and logic blocks.

There are a lot more tutorials on his site. Most have a sample image of his to use along with project assets to help you throughout the tutorial. If you’re trying to figure out how to achieve something, you might want to keep Tony’s site bookmarked as a resource.

Part of what I like about Tony’s tutorials is getting to experience his fantastic photography and adventures. He has traveled the world and has captured some inspiring panoramas. Don’t forget to check out his Places page for beautiful imagery and visiting his site redsquare for an overview of the work Tony has done, like his Google Street View tour for cruise agency, Ponant, custom apps, and more.

Projects built with Pano2VR

Finally, I’d like to highlight a few of Tony’s projects created with Pano2VR. One outstanding project of Tony’s, built in 2013 with Pano2VR 3.1.4, is the project for the Australian supermarket, Coles. It was a two-day shoot with six actors, and it has over 40 interactive elements showcasing products.

Another project Tony built was created for the business complex Dexus Gateway in Sydney. This is a big tour with a great-looking interface that also showcases some nice animations.

Thanks, Tony, for your help and constant inspiration!

Previous Highlights:

• 360imagery
• Boštjan Burger

The post In the Wild — Tony Redhead appeared first on Garden Gnome.

Webinars

In case you didn’t know, we have been holding weekly webinars for the last month. These are free tutorial sessions that you can watch live and submit questions. Martin Hopkins (Hopki) has so far covered Point and Polygon Hotspots, and skin properties like size and position.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 15th), join us live with Martin as he builds off the concepts we learned last week to create a responsive skin. Next week’s webinar will be all about maps and floor plans. We hope you’ll join us!

A few days after the webinar, we will post the recording. If you can’t make it, you can watch it later on your time.

Pano2VR 6.1.5

In other news, we released Pano2VR 6.1.5, which is mostly a bug fix release but also includes a new feature. 

We fixed a few minor issues and one big issue that was caused by a recent update to iOS (13.4) which broke the support for the gyroscope in WebVR. We implemented a fix to solve this issue.

In Pano2VR 6.1.5, you can now import cubic and flat images from Panotour Pro projects.

To update, in Pano2VR, go to Help > Check for Updates. Or download the update directly and install manually.

Wishing everyone well!

The post Upcoming Webinars and Pano2VR 6.1.5 appeared first on Garden Gnome.

A while back, a project by Dennis Van Duijn caught our attention. It was a tour of Erasmus University College in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Not only is this an informative tour, but it’s fun to check each node because each scene expresses something different, has easter eggs, and has an excellent skin design. Even for someone not canvassing colleges, this tour is a treat to explore.

Of course, this isn’t Dennis’s only tour. There are many tours on okijk.nl and all of them of excellent quality. Take the time to visit the site and be prepared to be inspired!

Erasmus University College

Start with a Quiz

The tour starts with a splash page, urging potential students to answer quiz questions in each room. It’s a great way to keep interest and encourage exploration.

Pop-up Videos and Images

One can start the tour by watching the Dean in a video as he introduces the college. Before you enter the college doors, you can also flip through images of the university building in an image gallery.

Audio Introductions

As you move through the tour, you’ll find that you will “meet” students and staff. Some introductions are audio-only, some are information cards, and some have both.

Visits

In addition to the quiz, pop-ups, and other interactive elements, there’s one small feature of the tour that can be very useful for the user. There is a graphic in the top right corner that indicates how many nodes are left to visit. In the screenshot below, you can see that I have yet 4 nodes to visit which means, I still have four questions to answer for the quiz. Clicking on the button will show all the nodes and if they’ve been visited or not. 

Desuite

Another project we enjoyed was the mini-tour called “Desuite.” In this tour, not only are the graphics clean and minimal, but there are also a lot of features to show off!

Daytime and Nighttime 

Dennis does a great job of showing the property in daylight and at nighttime using simple buttons to switch between the two panoramas.

3D Distorted Hotspot Images

Using a patch image converted to a point hotspot, Dennis can show off the inside of the closets, which is a great example of use.

Pinned video

Black or blank screens are a perfect opportunity to pin video! Click on the computer, and the panorama will zoom in and begin to play a video.

Using videos and images to add more information

Sometimes a scene or node requires more information than the panoarama itself. This is where pop-up videos and images galleries can be used. Here, Dennis uses images and videos to show room details.

Animated text boxes

When designing skins, think about how effective each element can be. For instance, the information text boxes in this tour fold open and then fold closed. It’s these seemingly minor details that add a lot of interest to the tour.

(Dennis’s company, “O kijk” translates to Oh, look! in English.)

Be sure to check out Dennis’s complete work and be inspired with his skin designs and unique way of guiding you through the tours.

The post In the Wild — O Kijk! appeared first on Garden Gnome.

We’ve been holding weekly webinars now since March, and the response has been more positive and successful then we could foresee. 

Therefore, we’re happy to bring in Thomas Bredenfeld to host a 2-part webinar for those who are or planning to switch from Pantour Pro to Pano2VR pro. His webinars will take place on May 7th and May 14th.

Continuing in our new tradition, Martin Hopkins, our in-house support guru, will be presenting part 3 of his Maps and Floor Plans webinars on Wednesday, May 6th. Part 3 will dive into Google Maps and Custom Maps. Then he’ll show you how to add custom map pins per node and how the interactivity between hotspots and map pins work. 

On Wednesday, May 13th,  Martin will start another series that will cover Variables and Logic Blocks. 

Register for the webinars here.

Finally, we’ve set up a separate mailing list for those who’d like to be notified every time we post a new webinar. 

Sign up for the mailing list here.

The post More Webinars appeared first on Garden Gnome.

Pano2VR 6.1.6

Today, we’ve released Pano2VR 6.1.6 which fixes a few bugs, adds a new feature.

This update replaces WebVR with WebXR for viewing projects in VR. To make sure your projects work in Oculus Browser, please update your projects by re-outputting them or updating the player and HTML file.

We fixed an issue where YouTube and Vimeo links were disappearing in the  video-type point hotspot properties. We also fixed an issue where a video file added in the skin would not start muted even if “muted” was selected in the properties.

To update, in Pano2VR go to Help > Check for Updates. Or download the update directly and install manually.

Pano Awards 2020

We’re always excited this time of the year when The EPSON International Pano Awards call for entries is announced. We are proud sponsors. Here are some details:

• The pano awards are dedicated to the craft and art of panoramic photography, and is the world’s largest competition devoted to the genre
• Early-bird entries are now open until July 20th, 2020
• It’s open to all professional and amateur photographers 
• US $40,000 prize pool, including $10,000 cash
• Submit during the early-bird time and get a 25% discount off your submission (up to 4 images)

Head over to the Pano Awards to submit your best work or simply for inspiration. 

Webinars

Don’t forget to check our Webinars page for upcoming and past webinars. This week we will dive into logic blocks and variables and Thomas Bredenfeld will continue with his second part of transitioning from Panotour Pro to Pano2VR.

The post Pano2VR 6.1.6 and the 2020 Pano Awards appeared first on Garden Gnome.