Rustam K. Lead Designer

Virtual tours and spherical panoramas

A spherical panorama is a projection of the environment on the inner surface of the sphere and the viewer has the feeling that he is looking at the surface of the sphere from the inside. Viewing angle of such a panorama is 360x180 °.

Cylindrical panorama is an image with an angular coverage of 360 ° horizontally and less than 180 ° vertically. In such virtual panoramas you cannot look down under your feet or up above your head.

Spherical 3D panoramas

An ordinary picture allows you to evaluate only a small fragment of space and to explore the entire space (the interior of the room, car, etc.), you need a lot of pictures and sometimes they still do not fit into a coherent picture in your head.

Panoramas give you a 360 degree view, both horizontally and vertically. A panorama is completely interactive. It is as if you are turning your head around to look around. You will be able to examine all the objects around you in detail by zooming in on each of them - see the chandelier on the ceiling or the blue sky, the beautiful carpet you are standing on, or the sand under your feet. We can add the necessary sounds or music to enhance the "here and now" effect.

Spherical panorama has a size from 300 kb to 30 mb at the resolution from 640x480 to 3200x2400 points (and higher) respectively, which gives flexibility for placing this type of advertising content on your website or presentation.

Virtual tours for your website

Further development of the idea of virtual panoramas leads to the concept of virtual tours - a linking of several virtual panoramas to move between them.

A virtual tour allows you to organize a virtual journey through the simulated object. For example, the viewer can start with a panorama at the hotel entrance then move to the lobby then to the elevator, up to the floor, to the room, and finish at the balcony.

Advantages and opportunities

Interactivity. The viewer himself controls the process of viewing. You can "look around", "look up/down", zoom in on the object of interest for a detailed view.

Viewing the panoramas combined in a virtual tour turns into a fascinating journey. Photos and videos don't provide that. The viewer sees only what the photographer or cameraman sees fit to show. In addition, full-screen video takes up a fairly large volume, which currently imposes certain restrictions on broadcasting on publicly available Internet channels.

Only 3D modeling can compete with virtual spherical panoramas, but the 3D model does not look realistic. In addition, labor costs for 3D modeling (and therefore prices) are incommensurably high compared with the creation of virtual spherical panoramas.

Panoramas and panoramic tours can be easily built into your corporate website.The spherical panorama does not require any additional programs for viewing - it is enough to load it in any Internet browser, which makes it available to every PC user.

You give the potential customer a good opportunity to get visually acquainted with your company (unlike, for example, those of your competitors, who do not give such an opportunity).

Areas of application

Such advantages are invaluable first of all for businesses dealing with interior designs and appearance:

- Hospitality business - demonstrates the hotel or hotel environment to immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of a unique style;

- Restaurant business - the interior of the cafe, bar or restaurant, where you want to emphasize the uniqueness of the institution, the colorful lighting solutions etc;

- Construction and real estate - for those potential customers who value their time and can not travel endlessly for the inspection of objects. Panorama is the best way to present the layout of an apartment or house, emphasize the volume of rooms, create a holistic view of the property;

- Interior design - transfer the overall picture of the interior, showing the combination of individual elements, fitting them into the volume of the room;

- Tourism and sightseeing business - panoramas of tourist routes, city sights, museums;

- Cars for sale - interior of a car or a showroom;

- Medical services - panoramas of the lobby, medical offices, presentation of technologies;

- Production - panoramas of workshops, production facilities, showrooms of finished products, individual product samples, metalwork, etc.

Conclusion

So if you want to distinguish yourself from the competitors and make your potential customers remember your approach and admire that realistic view of the projects on your website, a spherical panorama or a virtual tour will be the best solution for your website. The surprise of presenting information for the first time in this way makes the customers remember your company once and for all, trust it and recommend it to the other people.