Virtual Tour
Encyclopedia
A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of video images. They also may use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and text.
The phrase "virtual tour" is often used to describe a variety of video and photographic-based media. Panorama
indicates an unbroken view, since a panorama can be either a series of photographs or panning video footage
. However, the phrases "panoramic tour" and "virtual tour" have mostly been associated with virtual tours created using still camera
s. Such virtual tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single vantage point
. The camera and lens are rotated around what is referred to as a nodal point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges).
A video tour is a full motion video of a location. Unlike the virtual tour's static wrap-around feel, a video tour is as if you were walking through a location. Using a video camera, the location is filmed while moving from place to place. Video tours are continuous movement taken at a walking pace.
in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British based engineer Colin Johnson.
One of the first users of a Virtual Tour was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, when she officially opened the visitor centre in June 1994. Because the Queen's officials had requested titles, descriptions and instructions of all activities, the system was named and describes as: "Virtual Tour, being a cross between Virtual Reality and Royal Tour." Details of the original project can be viewed online. The system featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994 and in the subsequent technical paper.
If your camera lens supports a wider view, you could select a detent of say 60° which meant you only need to take 6 shots as opposed to 10 shots to capture the same panoramic view. The combination of a precision rotator and a digital camera allows the photographer to take rectangular "slices" of any scene (indoors or outdoors). With a typical point and shoot digital camera, the photographer will snap 8, 10, 12 or 14 slices of a scene. Using specialized "photo stitching" software such as PT Gui, Autopano or some other program the operator then assembles the "slices" into a rectangular one -- typically 4,500 pixels to 6,000 pixels wide. This technique, while extremely time consuming, has remained popular even through today as the required equipment, rotator heads and software are relatively inexpensive to buy and are easy to learn. This type of stitched panoramic view is also called "cylindrical" -- as the resulting stitched panorama allows panning in a complete 360° but offers a limited look up or down of about 50° degrees above or below the horizon line.
2.) Spherical Stitching. This method requires the use of a "fish eye" lens equipped digital SLR camera
. The 2-shot fish eye camera system was made popular by IPiX in the mid 1990's and a two-shot rotator head that rotated and locked into 0° and 180° positions only. The camera was an Olympus or Nikon CoolPix camera and the lenses used were the Nikon FC-E8 or FC-E9 fish eye lens. The IPiX 360 camera system enabled photographers to capture a full 360 X 360 floor to ceiling view of any scene with just 4 shots as opposed to the more time consuming 8, 10, or 12-shot rectilinear produced panoramas as in technique #1 above. This type of virtual tour required more expensive virtual tour camera equipment including (for example) a Sigma 8mm f/3.5 lens which allowed photographers to set their rotator heads to 90° and capture a complete virtual tour of any scene in just 4 shots (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°).
3.) Cubical Stitching. This technique was one of the first forms of immersive, floor to ceiling virtual tours and Apple Computer pioneered this with the release of Apple's QuickTime VR
in the early 1990's. Free utility software such as Cubic Converter and others allowed photographers to stitch and convert their panoramas into a "cube" like box to achieve a complete 360 X 360 view. Today, this technique is considered rather "old school," and technique #2 (Spherical Stitching) has become more mainstream for producing these types of tours.
While programs such as Adobe Photoshop have new features that allow users to stitch images together, they only support "rectilinear," types of stitching and Photoshop cannot produce them as fast or as accurate as stitching software programs can such as Autodesk Stitcher. This is because there is sophisticated math and camera-lens profiles that are needed to create the desired panorama image which is based on your camera's depth of field (FOV)
and the type of lens you used. Camera's such as the Nikon D3 or D700 have a full full frame digital SLR cameras, whereas the Nikon D90 or Canon T2i (Rebel line of Digital EOS cameras) have a smaller sensor. When full frame digital SLR cameras are used with a fish eye lens such as a Sigma 8mm F/3.5, you will see a full circular image. This allows you to shoot 2 or 3 shots per view to create a 360 X 360 stitched panoramic image. When used with a non full frame digital SLR camera like the Nikon D90 or Canon digital Rebel and similar cameras, typically 4-shots are required and the camera is in the portrait position. You will see the left and right sides cropped off each of the 4 images and in each of the four corners, the image is rounded.
. Editing digital video requires proficiency with video editing software and has higher computer hardware requirements. Also, displaying video over the internet requires more bandwidth
. Due to these difficulties, the task of creating video-based tours is often left to professionals.
. Additionally web-based software allows users to upload any JPEG spherical image or cylindrical image and create HD (High Definition) virtual tours.
industry. Virtual Tours can allow a user to view an environment whilst on-line. Currently a variety of industries use such technology to help market their services and product. Over the last few years the quality, usability and accessibility of virtual tours has improved considerably, with some websites allowing the user to navigate the tours by clicking on maps or integrated floor plans.
or Adobe Flash
being two examples) or a Web content management system
. Immersive rich, full screen Flash-based tours are becoming very popular today. A study done by the PEW Research Group showed that more than 5 million Americans watched virtual tours online everyday in 2004
PEW's research data which showed that Americans watching virtual tours rose from 54 million people in 2004 to 72 million people by August of 2006. Meaning that in two years -- an increase of 18 million. Assuming the same growth rate of 18 million people every two years, this is 36 million people more than August 2006. Meaning that 108 million Americans are watching virtual tours as of August, 2010.
Thanks in part to the recent explosion of many Internet devices, such as Apple's iPad, iPhone and other tablet computing platforms powered entirely by Google's Android 3 operating systems such as Motorola's Xoom, it can be predicted that consumption of virtual tour content, through the use of Adobe Flash and HTML5/CSS3 driven virtual tours will only increase over time.
industry. Several types of such tours exist, including simple options such as interactive floor plans, and more sophisticated options such as full-service virtual tours. An interactive floor plan shows photographs of a property with the aid of a floor plan and arrows to indicate where each photograph was taken. Clicking on arrows shows the user where the camera was and which way the camera was pointing. Full service virtual tours are usually created by a professional photographer who will visit the property being sold, take several photos, and run them through stitching software. Full service virtual tours are usually more expensive than interactive floor plans because of the expense of the photographer, higher-end equipment used, such as a digital SLR camera, and specialized software. Real estate virtual tours are typically linked to the listing in the Multiple Listing Service. On web sites such as Realtor.com, listings with linked virtual tours receive as much as 40% more views than those without virtual tours.
Slide Shows Disguised as Virtual Tours
Over the past few years, slide shows have become somewhat blurred into being marketed and sold as "virtual tours." Slide shows will slide left and right. Zoom in and out. A virtual tour will allow a user to enter a home and click a mouse to pan up, down and all around and navigate to another hot spot arrow to move onto the next view. This is a true "virtual tour." More advanced forms of virtual tours will include Google maps with 3D radar hot spots on them. This includes custom floor plans which also feature spots, allowing users a wider freedom to explore homes, buildings and other locations around the world in new ways just by clicking their computer's mouse button. Slide shows, by their very nature simply lack these abilities and should never be confused or associated with the term: Virtual Tour.
The phrase "virtual tour" is often used to describe a variety of video and photographic-based media. Panorama
Panorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
indicates an unbroken view, since a panorama can be either a series of photographs or panning video footage
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...
. However, the phrases "panoramic tour" and "virtual tour" have mostly been associated with virtual tours created using still camera
Still camera
A still camera is a type of camera used to take photographs. Traditional cameras capture light onto photographic film. Digital cameras use electronics, usually a charge coupled device to store digital images in computer memory inside the camera...
s. Such virtual tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single vantage point
Vantage point
Vantage point may refer to:* Vantage Point , a 2008 thriller film* Vantage Point , a 2008 rock album by dEUS* The Vantage Point, a magazine* The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969, the memoirs of Lyndon B...
. The camera and lens are rotated around what is referred to as a nodal point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges).
A video tour is a full motion video of a location. Unlike the virtual tour's static wrap-around feel, a video tour is as if you were walking through a location. Using a video camera, the location is filmed while moving from place to place. Video tours are continuous movement taken at a walking pace.
History
The first use of a Virtual Tour and the derivation of the name was in 1994 as a museum visitor interpretation, providing a 'walk-through' of a 3D reconstruction of Dudley CastleDudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British based engineer Colin Johnson.
One of the first users of a Virtual Tour was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, when she officially opened the visitor centre in June 1994. Because the Queen's officials had requested titles, descriptions and instructions of all activities, the system was named and describes as: "Virtual Tour, being a cross between Virtual Reality and Royal Tour." Details of the original project can be viewed online. The system featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994 and in the subsequent technical paper.
Stitching photographs
There are three popular ways of "stitching" virtual tours together. 1.) Rectilinear Stitching. This involves the rotation of a digital camera, typically in the portrait (up and down) position and centered directly over the tripod. As the operator manually rotates the camera clockwise, the camera stops or clicks into a detent such as every 30°. The rotator can be adjusted by changing the position of "detent ring or bolt," into another slot like; 40°, 60°, 90° etc.If your camera lens supports a wider view, you could select a detent of say 60° which meant you only need to take 6 shots as opposed to 10 shots to capture the same panoramic view. The combination of a precision rotator and a digital camera allows the photographer to take rectangular "slices" of any scene (indoors or outdoors). With a typical point and shoot digital camera, the photographer will snap 8, 10, 12 or 14 slices of a scene. Using specialized "photo stitching" software such as PT Gui, Autopano or some other program the operator then assembles the "slices" into a rectangular one -- typically 4,500 pixels to 6,000 pixels wide. This technique, while extremely time consuming, has remained popular even through today as the required equipment, rotator heads and software are relatively inexpensive to buy and are easy to learn. This type of stitched panoramic view is also called "cylindrical" -- as the resulting stitched panorama allows panning in a complete 360° but offers a limited look up or down of about 50° degrees above or below the horizon line.
2.) Spherical Stitching. This method requires the use of a "fish eye" lens equipped digital SLR camera
Fisheye lens
In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted...
. The 2-shot fish eye camera system was made popular by IPiX in the mid 1990's and a two-shot rotator head that rotated and locked into 0° and 180° positions only. The camera was an Olympus or Nikon CoolPix camera and the lenses used were the Nikon FC-E8 or FC-E9 fish eye lens. The IPiX 360 camera system enabled photographers to capture a full 360 X 360 floor to ceiling view of any scene with just 4 shots as opposed to the more time consuming 8, 10, or 12-shot rectilinear produced panoramas as in technique #1 above. This type of virtual tour required more expensive virtual tour camera equipment including (for example) a Sigma 8mm f/3.5 lens which allowed photographers to set their rotator heads to 90° and capture a complete virtual tour of any scene in just 4 shots (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°).
3.) Cubical Stitching. This technique was one of the first forms of immersive, floor to ceiling virtual tours and Apple Computer pioneered this with the release of Apple's QuickTime VR
QuickTime VR
QuickTime VR is a type of image file format developed by Apple Inc. for QuickTime. It allows the creation and viewing of photographically-captured panoramas and the exploration of objects through images taken at multiple viewing angles...
in the early 1990's. Free utility software such as Cubic Converter and others allowed photographers to stitch and convert their panoramas into a "cube" like box to achieve a complete 360 X 360 view. Today, this technique is considered rather "old school," and technique #2 (Spherical Stitching) has become more mainstream for producing these types of tours.
While programs such as Adobe Photoshop have new features that allow users to stitch images together, they only support "rectilinear," types of stitching and Photoshop cannot produce them as fast or as accurate as stitching software programs can such as Autodesk Stitcher. This is because there is sophisticated math and camera-lens profiles that are needed to create the desired panorama image which is based on your camera's depth of field (FOV)
Field of view
The field of view is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment....
and the type of lens you used. Camera's such as the Nikon D3 or D700 have a full full frame digital SLR cameras, whereas the Nikon D90 or Canon T2i (Rebel line of Digital EOS cameras) have a smaller sensor. When full frame digital SLR cameras are used with a fish eye lens such as a Sigma 8mm F/3.5, you will see a full circular image. This allows you to shoot 2 or 3 shots per view to create a 360 X 360 stitched panoramic image. When used with a non full frame digital SLR camera like the Nikon D90 or Canon digital Rebel and similar cameras, typically 4-shots are required and the camera is in the portrait position. You will see the left and right sides cropped off each of the 4 images and in each of the four corners, the image is rounded.
Video-Based Virtual Tours
With the expansion of video on the internet, video-based virtual tours are growing in popularity. Video cameras are used to pan and walk-through subject properties. The benefit of this method is that the point of view is constantly changing throughout a pan. However, capturing high-quality video requires significantly more technical skill and equipment than taking digital still pictures. Video also eliminates viewer control of the tour. Therefore the tour is the same for all viewers and subject matter is chosen by the videographerVideographer
Strictly speaking, a videographer is a person who works in the field of videography, video production — recording moving images and sound on video tape, disk, other electro-mechanical device. News broadcasting relies heavily on live television where videographers engage in electronic news...
. Editing digital video requires proficiency with video editing software and has higher computer hardware requirements. Also, displaying video over the internet requires more bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
. Due to these difficulties, the task of creating video-based tours is often left to professionals.
Specialized Software
Various software products can be used to create media rich virtual tours, and some examples include methods developed by MOVES Institute at the Naval Postgraduate SchoolNaval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is an accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, Engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees...
. Additionally web-based software allows users to upload any JPEG spherical image or cylindrical image and create HD (High Definition) virtual tours.
Applications
Virtual tours are used extensively for universities and in the real estateReal estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
industry. Virtual Tours can allow a user to view an environment whilst on-line. Currently a variety of industries use such technology to help market their services and product. Over the last few years the quality, usability and accessibility of virtual tours has improved considerably, with some websites allowing the user to navigate the tours by clicking on maps or integrated floor plans.
Web-based
For most business purposes, a virtual tour must be accessible from everywhere. The major solution is a web-based virtual tour. In addition, a rich and useful virtual tour is not just a series of panoramic pictures. A better experience can be obtained by viewing a variety of materials such as that obtained from videos, texts, and still pictures in an interactive web content. There are many ways to gather data in a mixed web content, such as using rich content builders (Java appletJava applet
A Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
or Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
being two examples) or a Web content management system
Web content management system
A web content management system is a software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage website content with relative ease...
. Immersive rich, full screen Flash-based tours are becoming very popular today. A study done by the PEW Research Group showed that more than 5 million Americans watched virtual tours online everyday in 2004
PEW's research data which showed that Americans watching virtual tours rose from 54 million people in 2004 to 72 million people by August of 2006. Meaning that in two years -- an increase of 18 million. Assuming the same growth rate of 18 million people every two years, this is 36 million people more than August 2006. Meaning that 108 million Americans are watching virtual tours as of August, 2010.
Thanks in part to the recent explosion of many Internet devices, such as Apple's iPad, iPhone and other tablet computing platforms powered entirely by Google's Android 3 operating systems such as Motorola's Xoom, it can be predicted that consumption of virtual tour content, through the use of Adobe Flash and HTML5/CSS3 driven virtual tours will only increase over time.
Real estate
Virtual tours are very popular in the real estateReal estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
industry. Several types of such tours exist, including simple options such as interactive floor plans, and more sophisticated options such as full-service virtual tours. An interactive floor plan shows photographs of a property with the aid of a floor plan and arrows to indicate where each photograph was taken. Clicking on arrows shows the user where the camera was and which way the camera was pointing. Full service virtual tours are usually created by a professional photographer who will visit the property being sold, take several photos, and run them through stitching software. Full service virtual tours are usually more expensive than interactive floor plans because of the expense of the photographer, higher-end equipment used, such as a digital SLR camera, and specialized software. Real estate virtual tours are typically linked to the listing in the Multiple Listing Service. On web sites such as Realtor.com, listings with linked virtual tours receive as much as 40% more views than those without virtual tours.
Slide Shows Disguised as Virtual Tours
Over the past few years, slide shows have become somewhat blurred into being marketed and sold as "virtual tours." Slide shows will slide left and right. Zoom in and out. A virtual tour will allow a user to enter a home and click a mouse to pan up, down and all around and navigate to another hot spot arrow to move onto the next view. This is a true "virtual tour." More advanced forms of virtual tours will include Google maps with 3D radar hot spots on them. This includes custom floor plans which also feature spots, allowing users a wider freedom to explore homes, buildings and other locations around the world in new ways just by clicking their computer's mouse button. Slide shows, by their very nature simply lack these abilities and should never be confused or associated with the term: Virtual Tour.
See also
- Travel technology applications
- VRMLVRMLVRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...
- VR PhotographyVR photographyVR photography, or virtual reality photography, is the interactive viewing of wide angle panoramic photographs, generally encompassing a 360 degree circle or a spherical view....