Notes from a Gnome

Pano2VR 2.1 and large images

thomas — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:48:34 +0000

As I am back from Prague I have a little time to write about another nice new feature of the Pano2VR 2.1 beta. Pano2VR 2.0 used (for the most part) the Qt images library. This library required the whole image to be stored in the main memory. While remapping this means that also a second copy is completely in the memory and for loading and saving it needed another one.

With Pano2VR 2.1 the whole image library has been rewritten and replaced so now the image processing is tile base and those tiles can be stored on the hard disk while they are not needed. This allows much larger images to be processed. Now the maximal processable image size results from the used file formats. The maximum file size of TIFF files is 2 GB (no limits on dimensions), PNG is limited to 32.000 x 32.000 pixels and JPEG to 25.000 x 25.000.

I hope you find this new feature (in association with the patch tool) useful. Please use the forum to leave your comments.

Now with Patch

karyn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:45:44 +0000

As announced at this year’s PanoTools meeting in Prague, Pano2VR 2.1 Beta is now available. The latest feature addition is the Patch Tool.

The patch tool lets you non-destructively extract a portion of your image (for instance, removing the tripod and/or photographer from the image) to be retouched in an image editing software and then import the retouched image back into to Pano2VR to patch over the existing image’s problem area. A very handy tool!

Download Pano2VR 2.1 Beta.

Familiarize yourself of the handiness of the new Patch Tool (tutorial).

Additional Skin Tutorial

karyn — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:11:43 +0000

Hi there!

For anyone looking to build their loading bars from scratch, check out the latest tutorial on how to do just exactly that.

Building a Loading Bar

Pano2VR 2.0 released

thomas — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:30:00 +0000

After 9 months in beta we are proud to announce the final version of Pano2VR 2.0.

Pano2VR is a converter to create Flash 8 & 9, QuickTime VR and thumbnail files from panoramic images.

The built-in hotspot and skin editors allow you to add interactive elements to the panoramas. The automatically created, fully customizable HTML files simplify the publishing. Pano2VR can also convert between 8, 16 and 32 bit TIFF equirectangular and cubic formats to allow retouching.

Pano2VR runs on Windows (>=2000), Mac OS X (>=10.3.9) and Linux.
The user interface is translated into German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian and Chinese with more languages to come.

To get an idea about Pano2VR you can watch the getting started video.

For further information, feedback, rants and raves please visit the forum.

To download the latest version go to the Pano2VR download page.

Pano2VR 2.0 beta7 released

thomas — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:30:00 +0000

The new features:

Improved skins and skin editor with new elements, actions, modifiers, and loading elements
Subtiles for Flash 9 export
User interface in German and Simplified Chinese
Many bug fixes

Click here to find out more.

Pano2VR 2.0 beta6 released

thomas — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:30:00 +0000

I just released Pano2VR beta6. The new features are:

16bit/float(32bit) TIFF support for remapping
Save deflate compressed TIFFs (option in settings)
Flash 9: custom mouse cursors
Flash 9: changeable text & background color for hotspot lables
Flash 9: option to disable mouse/keyboard

You can download the new version from Pano2VR download page.

Click here to find out more.

HTML export tutorial available

admin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:30:00 +0000

A new tutorial for HTML export is now available.

New skin editor tutorials

admin — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:11:00 +0000

Two skin editor tutorial are now available: The basics are covert in Part 1 and the little more advanced stuff in Part 2.

Pano2VR 2.0 beta5 released

thomas — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:10:00 +0000

I am happy to announce the new beta5. The main new feature is the HTML export tab. Instead of a simple text replacement engine as in Pano2QTVR I created a much more powerful tool for HTML export. The engine works similar to PHP with embed code in the document, but you can also create your own input fields within Pano2VR. The engine uses Javascript as the underlying scripting language. Some examples for the HTML export are included with the standard installer. Particularly the example for SPi-V demonstrate the power and the possibilities of this approach. It should be easy to adapt this template for other players like the Flashpanoramas player.
The QTVR and Flash templates allow to change the different colors within the HTML file, show or hide the user data table, and include the option to embed background sound.

Other changes with beta5:

new “anchor” control
option to disable anti aliasing for remapping
option to edit each separate cube face in the hotspot editor to save memory
cube face export in the “remapping” output with different naming schemes and quality settings per cube face
many bugs fixes

The new version can be downloaded from here.

Click here to find out more.

Pano2VR 2.0 beta4 released

thomas — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:10:00 +0000

Just before the end of the year I changed my plan for beta 4 and added panoramic video support. You can now “inject” a video stream as the panoramic image. You can see a demo of the functionality here and here. Thx to Andras Frenyo for the new timelapse example! The instructions to create and inject the video can be found here here.

Other changes in beta4:
* fixed partial cylinders in Flash 8/9
* fixed bug in the skin editor tree view
* Drag & Drop in the skin editor is now working in Mac OS 10.5/Leopard
* Droplets are now accepting folders
* fixed error reading some QTVRs
* new batch mode in “Tools/Batch Processing” as a workaround for limited Windows (Vista) Drag & Drop
* fixed bug for HTML in hotspot text
* additional actions in skin editor (default view, video functions)
* with a company license you can now disable the “About Pano2VR Player” in the context menu.

Finally I like to thank you all for your support in 2007 and I wish you a happy new year!

Visit also the forum post.