Hawaiian Tour with Google Maps, Animation etc.

[Scott Witte]

In February we went on vacation to Hawaii. It was whirlwind but I grabbed a number of 360s. Tommy's (allSaint's) Google Maps plugin gave me the perfect excuse to package them together. Here is the (nearly) finished results. I would really appreciate any feedback, good, bad or indifferent, especially from more of a client's eye perspective. Certainly report any problems, glitches or awkwardness.

There are two starting points:

Client Entrance (http://www.tourdeforce360.com/hawaii/index.html)

Family Entrance [edit: Closed. Everything now goes to the client entrance which is much nicer. You can still see what was the "family entrance" by going to the "family portrait" pano, if desired.]

(Actually, I wonder if I should remove the family group pano entirely from client access, since it is obviously a personal shot... though with a cool feature or two.)

What kind of performance do you experience, both in full screen (HD) mode and in the smaller window? Does download time seem acceptable or painful? The server is in Atlanta, GA, USA and sits on a primary internet line. I get about 5 seconds between panos in full screen and 3 in a window.

Important features/demonstrations:

Google Maps. (A HUGE shout out to Tommy for his continued development of the marvelous plugin!) Notice how you can zoom way out, seeing all of the islands and their clickable markers or way in so you can see where a shot was taken within a building.

Automatic HD in full screen: The tour automatically switches into HD when you enter full screen and SD in a window. I don't know if this is best but the less challenging we make it to end users the better, I fear.

Ambient sound: Even basic ambient sound lends an enhanced sense of reality. Notice how much emptier the two panos feel that I left without sound just for comparison (Maui Ocean Center and Manele Hotel Room). Or am I wrong?

Animations: Not so complex as others I've produced but check out the day/night switch on the Manele Bay Terrace and especially the Mt. Haleakala Sunrise.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

PS. Everyone kept telling us how unusually awful the weather was, "cold" (70F), terribly windy and overcast, often dreary. But it was heaven compared to what we left in Milwaukee in February!

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Nice locations and good panos!

In the "Manele Bay Terrace Day" you have a hotspot that changes to "Manele Bay Terrace Night" pano... but in the night pano the hotspot is missing... in my opinion it would be good to have it there... and apply leach lock on the panos, so that one will see it transform into the day or night view in the same location.

[Scott Witte]

Trausti,

Thanks! I got caught by the Sun.png <> sun.png on a unix server! Change made. Hope there aren't other embarrassing capitalization mistakes. The panos should be leash locked between day/night and I just tested online to confirm. Is it not working for you?

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Before when testing it, I changed from night view to day view through the drop down menu, due to the missing sun.png... and there the leash is not applied... would be good if it could be there as well.

Works to perfection with the sun/moon hotspot.

[Scott Witte]

Before when testing it, I changed from night view to day view through the drop down menu, due to the missing sun.png... and there the leash is not applied... would be good if it could be there as well.

That would be nice, but I'm not sure it can be easily done. It should be possible with added programing of the listbox plugin, adding XML parameters and AS3 parsing code to keep track of which, if any, panos are leashed to each other, then adding a leash parameter to the command passed to FPP only when one of those leashed pano changes was executed.... a bit complex. At the moment I'm not sure it's worth the time but I agree it could be nice. Something for the todo list, perhaps.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Don't worry, now that the sun/moon are operational, it's more than good.

[Cameleer]

Hi Scott, Your new tour is spectacular!
It has a very clean look and it’s extremely easy to use with your new button layout.
The photos are outstanding and the audio really adds to the feel of being there.
The new gpmap makes it easy for getting around while seeing you exact location, and it looks like a lot less xml code is needed this way.

One thing on my gpmap wish list is the ability to make the map go fullscreen, then when a marker is click on the map goes back to normal sizes as the new pano opens.

Cheers,
Roger Berry
http://IndiaVRtours.com

[360VT.co.uk]

Hi Scott

Don’t know if it’s just me, but when I’m viewing the last pano Tropical Stream and I click the full screen button. The pano changes to the last pano I was viewing, and if I change it back to Tropical Stream and close the full screen it does the same.

But I do agree with the boys, images are grate and I love the sounds.

[Scott Witte]

Thanks for the compliments,

Roger,

The button layout is inspired by Hans Nyberg. Props to him.

I think you can make the gpmap2 expand to the same size as your pano by setting height and width to 100%. You could do that the same way as with the "map size" button in the demo.

To make the map go back to normal size when you click on a marker include the code to set height and width with the code to change panos.

360VT (sorry, forgot your real name),

Actually, what you describe happens with any pano from the big island. (Good catch. Thanks!) I am missing something very obvious, probably with a panoName, in my code, but I can't figure out what as tired as I am right now. Check back in 24 hours.


I'm curious how people react to the new soundtrack for the Garden of the Gods panos. I'll be changing out all or most of the wind background sound in the next few days. Some have complained that the wind is too irritating/depressing.

[Scott Witte]

Big Island switch to full screen should be fine, now. Thanks for catching the problem.

[myriamax]

Hi Scott
You did a really really good Job BRAVO!
i would like to point out a very huge step forward in this special feature you included<

"Automatic HD in full screen: The tour automatically switches into HD when you enter full screen and SD in a window. I don't know if this is best but the less challenging we make it to end users the better":) :) :)

My first impression was Woooh ! the speed in incredibely fast! and that's a very GOOD POINT!

The end user experience is enhance from far and is very usefull when your tour got a lot of pano to be seen

Ps> my favorite is Haleakal volcano sunrise 3 (great animation)

BRAVO

[Scott Witte]

myriamax,

Thanks for your comments.

The automatic HD has mixed benefits that have kept me from making this standard. Somebody with a small screen and slower connection may prefer to go full screen in SD, for instance. That may be a diminishing audience, however, so not that big a deal.

User interface is something I have to do lots more research on. For instance, I am shocked at how many people come to the launch page and despite everything there still don't realize there is anything more than the initial pano to view. Should probably be the subject of a different thread, however.

Actually, I was planning to mention how inspired I am by your use of music in your panos. I'm not nearly as adept at that but made the attempt in the Haleakala Sunrise, Lava Fields (needs work...) and especially Garden of the Gods. I'm unsure about mixing music and ambient background sound, however. I'd be interested in others' opinions.

[discocandy]

User interface is something I have to do lots more research on. For instance, I am shocked at how many people come to the launch page and despite everything there still don't realize there is anything more than the initial pano to view. Should probably be the subject of a different thread, however.



Same here..
it is extremly difficult to do a good interface wich people understand..
I always remember that people are afraid to push buttons, don't read, and are impatient.
I know a topic about this was on panotoolsNG forum not long ago.
Erik Leeman was trying to do a good interface in pano2vr and there was a lot of discussion about his ideas.
personally i like the way Henry stuart of www.sphericalimages.com is using his interface except for the zooming part in the middle.
I've done something like that in the past too. and it works perfectly.
I also think a interface has to look a bit like a remotecontrol like people hold everyday.
like this one (http://www.virtualnorge.com/christian_radich/)
so they know how to use it already.

just some thoughts I had reading your part of the topic.

[carel]

The sunrise animation is great, also with the people fading in. Regarding the interface: A lot of people are going to ignore the collapsed menu at the center top. I have been experimenting with mouse-over interfaces, which may or may not be even more obscure to the average viewer.
http://www.sphericalpanoramas.com/blog/places/catalina-island/avalon-theatre

Hans did a complete tour using something similar:
http://www.panoramas.dk/kalkmalerier/hyllested2.html

Carel Struycken

[HansNyberg]

I have also ben looking at Henry's navigation. I just wonder if people understands that it also works when they go unvisible.
On my old Mac G5 here it takes some time in Fullscreen at least 10 sec but I assume that it is much faster on a fast machine.

Hans

[Scott Witte]

I've looked at Henry's navigation a couple times and have very mixed feelings. Put aside that it is an excellent programing job. When I use it I find it only get in the way, for me. I much prefer to just click and drag and use my mouse wheel to zoom in/out. That gives me more precise and quicker control with no irritatingly unexpected behavior. Does anyone here prefer using this interface for themselves?

In my experience I find many, maybe most people viewing a VR tour the first time have no idea what they are looking at or how to interact with it. But, once they understand "click and drag the view," how to zoom and how to move between nodes in a tour, they are quite happy and enthralled. It only takes a minute to show them this (at least in person or in direct discussion). It seems to me that most interface aids are designed to be very helpful in that first minute. After that they just get in the way or people depend on their less efficient usage because they haven't learned how better to navigate a tour.

This is the dilemma I face when introducing prospective clients to VR tours. And it is what I notice from neophyte users. I'm not convinced Henry's interface is the better solution, though I am impressed with it technically.