360 virtual tour

donkeymusic

donkeymusic

Messages
2,524
Name
Carlo
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello,

Been asked to create a 360 virtual tour a work and done some research, just wondered of anyone had any experience of doing these 360 tours?

thanks
 
I used to do these. Pretty simple to do. Best thing is have your camera in manual mode as the light will change as you rotate the camera. Then run the pics through pano maker. Cheap software. Oh and use a tripod. There are adaptors that you will need that mounts to your tripod which will keep the lens central when rotating, these are cheap to expensive. Or you can just buy a one shot lens and it's all done in 60 seconds. Then just send it as a media file.
I do have a manfrotto adaptor for £20 if you want it.
 
have tried that but looking at the more advanced style with where you can scroll up and down as well as the 360, have looked at a lens attachment that is like a semi circle, not sure what its correctly called
 
PTGui and Pano2VR is my choice for a true 360° pano file > to QuickTime or flash (Pano2VR) for web viewing.

You've got a crop body, so a Sigma 8mm lens and a Nodal Ninja Bracket set to 8 shots will give you perfect results.


If its just a set of photos covering a 360° rotation without moving up and down, put your camera in portrait, wide as you can, fire off shots until you cover a complete revolution and blend in Ps or PTGui.


Metering off the brightest area and setting that in Manual mode will provide best results, along with shooting in a custom WB and RAW for exposure adjustments in PP.


To do the real 360° panos it gets quite expensive (fisheye lens, good tripod, pano bracket, software etc...) for a one off job I'd rent as much as you can.

Hope that helps.
 
martyp said:
PTGui and Pano2VR is my choice for a true 360° pano file > to QuickTime or flash (Pano2VR) for web viewing.

You've got a crop body, so a Sigma 8mm lens and a Nodal Ninja Bracket set to 8 shots will give you perfect results.


If its just a set of photos covering a 360° rotation without moving up and down, put your camera in portrait, wide as you can, fire off shots until you cover a complete revolution and blend in Ps or PTGui.


Metering off the brightest area and setting that in Manual mode will provide best results, along with shooting in a custom WB and RAW for exposure adjustments in PP.


To do the real 360° panos it gets quite expensive (fisheye lens, good tripod, pano bracket, software etc...) for a one off job I'd rent as much as you can.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Good Morning, Marty,

Thanks for the reply, i will have a look at your suggestions today

cheers
 
PTGui and Pano2VR is my choice for a true 360° pano file > to QuickTime or flash (Pano2VR) for web viewing.

You've got a crop body, so a Sigma 8mm lens and a Nodal Ninja Bracket set to 8 shots will give you perfect results.
Click to expand...
:plusone: (although I try to use 4 around + 1up & 1 down)

PTGui will also support RAW and HDR shots as well.
Beware that PTGui has a bit of a learning curve, especially if you want to include Zenith & Nadir shots as well.
There are loads of tutorials about, but be prepared for some head scratching.

I love DevalVR as a viewer, but it can be a bit much asking people to download another plugin, I think most people are outputting in flash these days. I beleive Pano2VR has options for those folk handicapped with a Ipad :lol:

The camera should be set up in manual, that's exposure, white balance, focus and ISO to avoid any variation between shots. But for interior shots this can give rise to some serious exposure problems between windows and darker interior areas. This is where HDR can come in handy.

Have a look at http://www.panoguide.com/ the forum users can be a bit precious, but many of them have immense experience and talent.
 
Last edited:
whats the best lens for using this, at the moment i have 18-55mm lens.

have tried stitching the photos in photoshop but the overlaps are not very good and disjointed, would some of the recommened software above do a better job?
 
I say 4 with a Sigma 8mm this has a 180deg field of view, so theoretically you could get away with 3 around, but I like the additional overlap.

Up and down are the Zenith (up) and Nadir (down) shots which need to be patched in separately (I still struggle with this bit.)

There are methods of dealing with these without patching, but somehow you've got to 'lose' the tripod.
Some people for example tilt the camera up so a up shot is not required and then patch the tripod out with a mirror ball and/or logo.

My first ever pano was taken without a tripod or pano head, just a weight on a string http://www.john-marshall.co.uk/panos/viaduct.html
You can see the dodgy stitching though.

I'm happier with this one, taken with a tripod and Nodal Ninja head.
http://www.john-marshall.co.uk/PS_Panos/PS_Pico_Castelo.html

They are best viewed with DevalVR and using the pop-out menu (bottom left) select full screen mode.

Have a look here http://www.johnhpanos.com/
John Houghton is a sort of PTGui God.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top