Delivering a 360 pano to a website for them to embed

[JHG]

I do my stitching in PTGui (I have 9.1.3). But I use Tourbuzz as my
"viewer" for my real estate pics and virtual tours and 360s.

Let's be real basic here: how to proceed to deliver a 360 (like of
the pool area of the apartments I live at) to the apartment's website
(I guess to their website designer) without going through Tourbuzz.
Just deliver "whatever" and they say, yeah, this looks nice, then they
can embed it on their website themselves. I just deliver the
embeddable code they that they're able to preview first.

What questions do I ask the website (designer)? Can I just deliver
something to the computer clueless main person at the website (who is
not the designer) for them to simply view my 360? Without asking them
if their website would use HTML5 or Flash?

What would I output from "Publish to Website" to easily have multiple
would-be clients actually be able to see my panos? I've already
outputted one to HTML, I got an icon in my output folder (named
"Firefox HTML Document (.htm) but when I tried to open it I got the
"Panorama" screen and:

"You are trying to view a panorama stored on your computer, but the
default Flash security settings do not permit accessing content stored
on the local computer. To override this you need to add this Flash
applet to the list with trusted content as follows:

1. Open the Flash Settings manager in your browser:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html

2. Click on Edit locations, and choose Add location

3. Add the following location and click Confirm:
file:///C:/Users/JohnGee/Desktop/Desktop/PTGuiViewer.swf

4. Try again by reloading this web page."

I might have my Flash settings set weirdly but if my would-be clients
have to go through all of this it's a non-starter immediately. Thanks
for your help.

[mcz...@gmail.com]

Your only getting those flash messages because your viewing it on your
computer. Once it was loaded onto the server and viewed with a browser
via an internet connect, that message would not arise.

The easiest way, involving the smallest muss and fuss, is for you to
create the 360 in a single flash (swf) file format. Software such as
Pano2VR and KRPano will serve you well here. (Both are also very useful
tools for presenting your content in other ways as well)

You give the SWF file to whoever does the web site. They put the file
where ever they wish, and just reference it with a link. To dress it up,
you can make a thumbnail of the equirectangular, or perhaps use a
graphics icon indicating a 360 View.

Additionally, you could use that HTML5 page you created from PtGui, and
give that full little set of files to the webmaster and they could
simply reference that Html page via a link as well. Its therefore not
any more complicated than the single swf file really. Plus the Html5
will have the advantage of being able to display on Iphones and Ipads.

Another option I give clients, is that I keep all the files on my
server, and they simply have to put a link on their web page. This kind
of solution often appeals to clients with really bare bones pages that
they made themselves using the tools avail on Godaddy and services like
that.

Ray Setzer
Wivirtual

[JHG]

Thanks for your reply. I got this idea from looking at the website of
a local business who had a box in the middle of their page with an
embedded 360 by iPIX. You just click on the box and away you go.
They had the same style box only with different rooms, so maybe 8
different 360s. It didn't appear to be linking back to anywhere, the
still was right there on the page. IOW, totally brainless for a
viewer of that website to check out panos of the rooms (it is a Bed
and Breakfast). Only thing was, the pano revolved too quick and the
pics were crap. I'd want to offer a superior product only with the
same useability as the iPIX offering. My website isn't really set up
for linking back and forth.

Am I correct in assuming I only need PTGui for this or is PTGui just
the start? And, having a client be able to preview my offering before
they even decided to put it on their website is key.

> >http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/s...

[mcz...@gmail.com]

On 5/4/2012 3:10 PM, JHG wrote:
> Thanks for your reply. I got this idea from looking at the website of
> a local business who had a box in the middle of their page with an
> embedded 360 by iPIX. You just click on the box and away you go.
> They had the same style box only with different rooms, so maybe 8
> different 360s. It didn't appear to be linking back to anywhere, the
> still was right there on the page. IOW, totally brainless for a
> viewer of that website to check out panos of the rooms (it is a Bed
> and Breakfast). Only thing was, the pano revolved too quick and the
> pics were crap. I'd want to offer a superior product only with the
> same useability as the iPIX offering. My website isn't really set up
> for linking back and forth.

Ipix panos are pretty old. And yes, one of the more noticeable aspects
of it was that the pano's were tiny, of poor quality and offered little
viewer control.

>
> Am I correct in assuming I only need PTGui for this or is PTGui just
> the start? And, having a client be able to preview my offering before
> they even decided to put it on their website is key.

You 'can' do everything with Ptgui. The publish to website function
basically pops out everything. opening the Html file created should
allow you or, anyone else with the full file set to examine the pano.

That said, if you want to offer the kind product that you mention in the
ipix example, you will want to get software like Krpano which is
specifically designed to assist you in creating this kind of
presentation. (Other software can do all this as well and I make no
intended slight towards them, it just sounded like at this point it was
beneficial not to confuse the issue by attempting any pros and cons
between various products.) Go and get the demo, look over the help files
and documentation. Looking and trying will likely do a far better job
showing you what is possible and what it takes to do it than my trying
to describe it.

Ray Setzer
WiVirtual

[J G]

I finally was able to get the Flash Player in my browser (Firefox) to allow the .htm file to play (something nobody I would have sent this to would ever be able to do, trust me).  There was a lot of copy/pasting to be done (Edit/Add Locations).  Finally I was able to see my great looking pano (!).  And once it started playing, I clicked on "Full Screen" and it stopped playing.  I could drag it back and forth and up and down but it would not autostart nor were there any controls.

So...do the .htm files I can create with PTGui need to be "run" with another program (like KRPano)?  I guess you touched on that with your last reply but I was under the impression PTGui would do this (embed controls).  It almost looks like I won't be able to just upload an .htm file to a client, they open it up from their email inbox and can decide whether they like it or not.  Or I'll have to send them a link to a Tourbuzz tour I've created which is no big deal, I'm just trying to do this another way. 

It's getting a client to OK my working with their website designer is the first hurdle I'm having to overcome and it has to be easy for them to see the "finished product".  John

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[J G]

edit:  in fact, once the pano stops, if I wait for maybe 10 seconds it starts up again.  Great, but having a control panel at the bottom of the screen for the client to work with is what I need.   They would never wait for ten seconds, they'd just give up.  Thanks for your help.  John

[PTGui Support]

Hi John,

The 10 seconds delay is configurable in the Publish to Website window.

The PTGui viewer is intended as a basic means to publish a panorama on a
website. It doesn't have control buttons and it doesn't support hotspots
etc. If you need these or more there are several dedicated third party
panorama viewers available. See 5.17:

http://www.ptgui.com/support.html#5_17

Joost

> <mailto:mcz...@gmail.com> <mcz...@gmail.com

> <mailto:mcze...@gmail.com>"<mcze...@__gmail.com

> http://www.macromedia.com/__support/documentation/en/__flashplayer/help/s.
> <http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/s.>..

>
>
> 2. Click on Edit locations, and choose Add location
>
>
> 3. Add the following location and click Confirm:

> file:///C:/Users/JohnGee/__Desktop/Desktop/PTGuiViewer.__swf

>
>
> 4. Try again by reloading this web page."
>
>
> I might have my Flash settings set weirdly but if my
> would-be clients
> have to go through all of this it's a non-starter
> immediately. Thanks
> for your help.
>
>
>
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