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HOW TO MAKE A 3D TOUR FOR A SITE?

milaeryomina

A 3D tour is an effective advertising tool that visually demonstrates an object, room or open area from all sides, attracting the attention of clients and inspiring confidence in them. But what if financial opportunities are limited and you can't allocate the necessary amount to create a professional virtual tour? Is it possible, in this case, to make a 3D tour on your own or you still can't do without the help of professionals?

WHAT IS A 3D TOUR AND WHERE CAN I USE IT?
A virtual tour is a combination of panoramic photos (spherical or cylindrical), combined into one, which makes it possible to move from one 360-degree photo to another. At the same time, the transitions between photos remain invisible to the user, the room looks like a single integral space. Such volumetric images, sewn into a 3D tour, can be supplemented with music, video, interesting voiceover, accompanied by captions, flash videos.

The main feature that distinguishes 3D tours from a set of ordinary photos is their interactivity. There is a feeling of complete presence. The user himself moves around the picture and selects a fragment that interests him. He can look up, down, if necessary, zoom in on some detail in order to examine it more closely. The viewer independently controls the picture.

With the help of a virtual tour, the client can get acquainted in detail with the premises, examine the interior, layout and even feel the atmosphere of the institution. Such 3D excursions are widely used in real estate, tourism, museums. Detailed information on how you can use three-dimensional tours and what opportunities open up for business with their use is posted in our section on the professional creation of a 3D tour. The finished virtual presentation is posted on websites, in electronic catalogs, social networks, and various Internet services.

HOW TO MAKE A 3D TOUR FROM A PHOTO
Professional photo studios are engaged in the creation of tours in 3D format, which have modern high-precision equipment and specialists with experience in this field. Their services are used by those who want to get a high-quality three-dimensional presentation, which will interest not only the target audience, but also ordinary users and will strengthen the site's position. However, such projects require considerable financial investments, so often people who are just starting their own business, at the initial stage, themselves undertake the creation of a virtual tour for their website.

The creation process consists of three stages:

1 Photography;
2 Processing of the received photos;

3 Build the tour.


SHOOTING THE OBJECT
This is the most important and responsible part of the process, because the quality of the future tour will depend on how you take the pictures. For photography, you must use a digital SLR camera with an ultra wide angle lens. It must be installed on a stable tripod with a panoramic head. For one 3d panorama, you need to take from 4 to 8 accurate photos. It is unlikely that it will be possible to completely get rid of image distortions, try to minimize them. To do this, use our recommendations:

set the camera in the center of the circle so that all the frames taken are in focus;

it is better to stitch pictures in places in the same colors, for example, gray walls of a room will do, and think over these connection lines in advance, even at the shooting stage;

use a level to fix the camera in space;

the angle of rotation should be 120 °, follow the turn signal scale;

when shooting different series of photos, the camera must be synchronized horizontally and vertically.

TREATMENT
The resulting images are combined into one 3D photo panorama. In the process of joining, distortion is removed, color corrected and sharpness adjusted. You can use filters, apply retouching. All photos taken are collected together manually or with the help of special stitching programs. Sometimes the projection is converted into a hexagonal cube and converted into common formats of 3D panoramas, for example, Flash, HTML5. Also, during processing, active zones are imposed, graphics, inscriptions, pictures, sound and other elements are selected. To view the finished tour, use the reviewers. Depending on the format of 3D panoramas, it is often sufficient to use a regular browser that supports Java script.

ASSEMBLY
The assembly of 3D panoramas for a tour is carried out in special builder applications. It should be borne in mind that each program works with a specific file format and they may differ for the builder and stapler programs. Therefore, it is recommended to use the programs of the same company in order to avoid discrepancies.

To link panoramas in each photo, the program identifies active zones and provides smooth transitions between them. In the same place, inscriptions and other additional elements are placed. Active zones can be interesting interior items, goods, objects that need to be highlighted so that the client would pay attention to them. A navigator can be added to a three-dimensional presentation, then the user will see where he is. Moving around the picture is performed by points, plan or in automatic mode.

DO YOURSELF OR CONTACT PROFESSIONALS?
You can do a virtual 3D tour yourself, but it should be understood that in order to get a high-quality product, you need to use the appropriate material. Photos for panoramas must be perfect, so you need to understand not only the intricacies of design, but also photography. You can invite a professional photographer, but you will have to pay for his services.

In addition, the software for image processing is not free. You will need to buy a license or pay for the creation of panoramas separately. Considering all the nuances, the cost price of a 3d tour will most likely turn out to be more than you expected. Another disadvantage is the lack of experience of a non-professional performer in creating a virtual tour using 3D modeling and other technologies.

A team of specialists will develop a tour that will show your object or premises from the advantageous side, highlight the advantages and hide the disadvantages as much as possible. When planning a presentation, professionals will take into account all the individual features of your project.

Therefore, we can conclude that a do-it-yourself 3D tour is good as a demo version for studying the technology of building such three-dimensional products and understanding the mechanisms of their work. And a high-quality tour without any flaws will be able to impress the visitors of the site, attract attention, surprise and be remembered. So that customers want to return to your page and review the volume tour again.