360 degree Virtual Tour Panoramas

HDR Imaging in Virtual Tours

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:07:02 +0000

High dynamic range (HDR) images record a much greater range of tonal detail than even our professional series Canon cameras can usually capture in just one photograph. HDR techniques open up a whole new set of lighting possibilities which have, until now, been largely avoided. Thanks to some clever technology we now have the capability to efficiently and quickly record multiple exposures (called “bracketing”) of the same scene and fuse these images together. This results in a single image which encompasses the tonal detail of the entire series of images. At Vision360 we are now recording multiple exposures of the same scene in all of our virtual tour panorama photography, therefore allowing the greatest flexibility to deliver the type of image that you prefer. Our aim is to closely replicate what the human eye has observed.

High Dynamic Range image (in this example 5 separate exposures are fused together) -

This is the same image captured with just one exposure -

Virtual Tour QR Codes

admin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:07:15 +0000

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of that industry due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data (e.g. binary, alphanumeric, or Kanji symbols). Created by Toyoto subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The technology has had frequent use in Japan and South Korea for a number of years, and is now rapidly spreading throughout the world.

Why should I use a QR Code with my Virtual Tour?

The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed and for this reason your cellphone or other mobile device is well suited to reading and translating the information contained in the code. It is then a very simple matter to store it for later reference, or share it by email or text message with your network of friends and colleagues.

We provide a separate QR code with each of our Virtual Tours because the code is specific to the tour. Feel free to scan it off your screen and share it!

Virtual Tour Special Features

admin — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:07:10 +0000

A Virtual Tour can include as many special features as you desire. When you engage Vision360 to create your virtual tour we will discuss with you as many of these features as necessary in order to help achieve your desired marketing outcome -

Custom front end design
Full screen HD option
HDR imaging
Your company branding
Information boxes
mp3 audio clips
mp4 video clips
Social networking enabling
Clickable links to product information
Interactive navigation
Thumbnails
iPhone and iPad enabling
Gyro navigation for iPhone 4 and iPad 2
Click through to e-Commerce
Geographic maps
Local area mapp
Floorplans
pdf Information sheet downloads

Linking to a Virtual Tour on our Website

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:38:50 +0000

Would you like to place a link to one of our Virtual Tours on your website or blog? Provided that you acknowledge us in the method described below we are happy for you to link to our Tours, particularly when the contents of the website being linked is relevant to our Virtual Tour or panorama.

Insert a text link to our Vision360 website by cutting and pasting this HTML into your web page code:

View a page address” >Virtual Tour at Vision360

The link on your web page should then look like this: ‘View a virtual tour at Vision360’

When linking to our page which contains the tour thumbnail you will need to replace the ‘page address’ with the url of our page you are linking to. As an example, the HTML for your link to our Virtual Tour of the Old Government Buildings in Wellington would look like this:

View a http://www.vision360.co.nz/virtual-tour-portfolio/360-tour-old-government-building/“>Virtual Tour at Vision360

When you link to our site we may also be interested in reciprocating the link. Please tell us that you have created a link. For more information or assistance please contact us via the form on our contact us page.

Virtual Tour “Hot Spots and “Pop Up Labels”

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:24:34 +0000

Virtual tours are particularly well suited to convey a lot of information in a relatively short time. Through the use of tailored graphics (we call these features “Hot Spots” and “Pop Up Labels” we guide the viewer through the tour and towards products or areas of special interest within your virtual tour space. Hot spots are also used to assist navigation and may include a label such as “follow me”, or a link.

Virtual Tour pop up information labels can be implemented to convey additional information (text, close-up images, other graphics or web links) in a separate pop up window either within the tour, or inside a separate browser window. They can also be used to open a new panorama within the sequence.

Links

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:04:24 +0000

Heres a link to our favourite Christchurch based photography retailer -

Here are some commonly used New Zealand based search engines -

http://www.accessnz.co.nz/ WebMasters Ltd

http://www.nzexplorer.co.nz/ For home owners and the building industry

http://www.nzpages.co.nz/ Hosted by NZpages Ltd

http://www.searchnz.co.nz/ A fault-tolerant (“fuzzy”) search engine

http://www.nzsearch.co.nz/ NZ Search

http://www.yahoo.co.nz/ A New Zealand version of the popular Yahoo site

http://www.yellowpages.co.nz/ Telecom Yellow Pages

http://www.webdirectory.co.nz/

http://www.websearch.co.nz/ Can also be used to search Australia, Hong Kong and the UK

http://www.anzwers.co.nz/ Australian and New Zealand search engine

http://www.nzs.com/ Search engine

http://www.mkiwi.com/ The latest NZ search engine

http://www.indexnz.com/ Search engine organised by subject

Virtual Tour – Industry Training and e-Learning Applications

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:56:36 +0000

Virtual Tours as an industry training tool.

E-learning is a well established training mechanism in many industries today. With our help you can add realism to your training material, increase efficiency and potentially further reduce your costs of training. Your trainees can gain and retain more information in less time, leading to increased quality of training and flowing on to direct benefits for your organisation.

Virtual tours are fully interactive and can enhance critical aspects of your training such as –

your mandatory OSH training programme
contents knowledge of Operations Manuals and subsequent changes

We have years of experience in aviation industry training which is both exacting and safety critical. If you wish to speed up or improve aspects of your training delivery through inclusion of a fully interactive and immersive virtual tour talk to us today!

360 Tours For The Tourism And Hospitality Sector

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 08:59:33 +0000

360 Tour photography is used in numerous and varied markets with great results. A Vision360 Tour can provide viewers with a huge amount of information complete with amazing detail captured from many varying angles and positions. There is no other on line sales tool as compelling or immersive when your potential customer is not actually there in person to see what you have to offer.

For the tourism sector it is usually not possible to show your potential clients the surroundings or accommodation they will enjoy in any great detail during your sales or marketing processes. A photograph or two in a brochure or on a website is no match for the wow factor created by a well photographed and implemented on line 360 Tour.

Using our 360 Tour photography, you will be able to engage your customers in an interactive immersive experience like no other. They can explore places thoroughly from many angles. Hotel rooms, restaurants and cafes, swimming pools, beaches, local attractions and anything else of interest and relevance to the experience can be captured by our photographers and then explored in an on line 360 Tour. If it can be photographed then it can be turned into a 360 Tour!

Make your travel offering or other tourism experience stand out from your competition by including an on line 360 Tour. The vast majority of holiday planners today use the internet to check out their destination, so why not use this opportunity to help secure their business? Contact us today for a no obligation consultation about how we would photograph a 360 Tour to promote your tourism or hospitality experience.

360 Tours – How To Make Your Property Look Its Very Best

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:10:23 +0000

Generally the 360 Tour photo shoot of your property should take no longer than 90 minutes to 2 hours. The actual time required is somewhat dependant upon the number of areas to be included in the finished tour. We will take a series of photographs inside and outside the property and will stitch these images together to create several “spherical panoramas” which will include navigation links between each. The 360 tour will be a completely immersive experience for the viewer who will easily navigate their way through your property without actually being there! We can also add informational, audio and video “hotspots”, maps and other links at various places within your 360 virtual tour should these be required.

A 360 Tour is designed to show off the very best features of your property so prospective buyers will gain an early interest in doing business and will want to visit in person. For this reason it is important that you have everything looking its very best when the panoramic 360 images are captured. To assist you in achieving this for your Virtual Reality photo-shoot we have prepared the following checklist.

The Garden and Outside

Mow the lawns and tidy any scruffy edges
Trim any shrubs and trees which might be a little overgrown
Sweep paths and driveways especially around main entrances
Weed prominent garden areas and take away fallen leaves etc
Collect up and put away any toys, bikes etc
If the photo-shoot is planned for late afternoon or if it is an evening shoot ensure outside lights are all in working order
Remove recycling, rubbish bins and other utility items etc out of sight

Living Areas

Turn on all lights and table lamps
Put away books, magazines CD’s from tables etc
Hide any obvious cables, leads from computers, TV or other equipment
Tidy up any general clutter on shelves etc

Kitchen

Clear benchtops of all clutter (eg jugs and toasters etc)
Clean all benchtops and all joinery surfaces, also clean the oven and dishwasher doors
Remove any items from on the fridge door eg fridge magnets etc
Clean cooking hobs
Ensure all lights work

Dining Rooms

Ensure the area is free of any and all clutter
If you can, add an attractive centre piece such as candles or flowers
Ensure all lights work

Bedrooms

Ensure all floors are tidy, beds made etc
Remove any clutter from horizontal surfaces including items such as alarm clocks, books etc
Ensure all lights work

Bathrooms, Ensuites

Remove shampoo bottles and any other personal items from view
Clear the top of vanity units
Clean all mirrors, shower screens and benchtops
Place matching towel sets neatly over towel rails (or remove completely)
Ensure all lights work

How A 360 Virtual Tour Benefits Your Marketing Program

admin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:26:58 +0000

We found the following statistics from several North American studies interesting.
Home Buyers who used 360 virtual tours as a significant portion of their home-buying experience spent an average of two weeks with an agent looking at homes, compared to those who did not use the internet, who spent an average of seven weeks looking for their home. (2008)
As of August 2006, over half of American adult internet users (61%) have taken 360 virtual tours of another location online and on a typical day, more than six million people are taking virtual tours in cyberspace. (2006)
According to a 2007 study, for the first time ever the Internet has tied with the agent for most important information sources used in the home search (84%).
79% of repeat buyers & 84% of first time buyers use the internet to search for a home.
Images are one of the biggest reasons Internet marketing has become so popular.
54% of home buyers who are searching for their next home will not even look at a home unless there is a featured tour.
The median income of Internet searchers is much higher compared with those who did not use the internet to search for a home. 2007
96.2% of travelers use the Internet as a source of information when planning a trip.
84% of all buyers and 87% of first time buyers use the internet as an information resource during their search for a home. In the 25-44 age group this number jumped to 91% of all home buyers.
Home buyers use the internet slightly more frequently (66%) than real estate agents (64%) and much more frequently than newspapers (17%), home magazines (10%) or television (2%).
Only 1% of homebuyers did not find the internet useful and 100% of those that use a real estate agent take two weeks to search on their own before contacting their real estate agent. 64% of all home buyers used the FIRST agent they contacted.
33% of all buyers are now using social networking sites with 19% using them at least a few times per week.
80% of internet shoppers say images are imperative when deciding to buy or use a company’s product or services.
A compelling use of 360 virtual tour technology will keep visitors on your site, and will also keep them coming back.
In cyberspace, a site with a 360 virtual tour and interactive media will receive 38% more views than a competitor’s site that is lacking media. (2006 Pew Internet Life Study)
80% of consumers search for information online. That means at least 60% of your marketing dollars should be spent optimizing your company online.
The cost for print advertising can be several hundred dollars per week and has a shelf life of about 30 days if you are lucky. Print advertising has a limited market penetration based on your distribution and does not allow the consumer to interact or engage with your product. The cost of an online interactive 360 virtual tour is from as little as $1.70 per day and has a shelf life of 365 days with WORLDWIDE penetration. The cost to interact with your client is MUCH less when you use online interactive media.