University Lab Virtual tour

[jomla]

Hi all,

this is my first FPP project. I recently completed it for my Faculty and I would like to hear your opinion. Virtual tour is a part of the "micro" site I've built for the Department. Please note site is not in English but it has some interesting features such as animated virtual guides presenting the lab, lab exercises and welcoming the visitors. It is optimized for internet speed of 256k, but it will work
pretty well at lower speed (i.e. 150k).

Link to the virtual tour intro page:
http://www.vrserbia.com/showcase/labVT/index.html

or if you want to jump right away to the tour

Link to the virtual tour:
http://www.vrserbia.com/showcase/labVT/navigation.html


Any comments or critics are more than welcome.


P.S. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Denis for fantastic work and Jaab for excellent compass tutorial. Brilliant work guys, indeed!

[jaaaab]

;) thanks!

well your compass is misaligned while viewing fullscreen, check the salign parameter of fov.

anyway that's a nice interactive work! (a little bit confusing maybe)

++

[jomla]

Thank you Jaaaab,

you said confusing... in terms of what?

[jaaaab]

i had a feeling of too much things on screen, or too big items.

++

[jomla]

Thanks for useful tip on that Jaaaab.

[Scott Witte]

jomla,

While this has obviously been a great learning experience for you I think you can do better from a usability standpoint. For me the interface is much too cluttered. You are covering up too much of the image with your controls, map etc. While you give a method for "hiding" two of them they still intrude too much -- for my taste. Buttons, for instance could be smaller and much more compact, perhaps running at the bottom. The map might be better in the top right corner

I trust you noticed that the panels are anchored incorrectly, which is especially obvious in full screen mode. They seem anchored relative to the center of the image, not their respective edges.

Welcome movie didn't play when I came to the pano from the intro page. It did when I later used the direct link. It disappeared on going to full screen and didn't return on leaving full screen, though you could still hear the audio. I'm not sure what purpose there is just having someone stand there talking, but once done I would have the video go away rather than continue covering you image. BTW, if you want to see this done really nicely, check out the Virgin Blue site elsewhere in this showcase.

I hope that helps.

[jomla]

Dear Scott,

thank you for detailed review. It's really nice to see people putting effort to improve someones work. Yes, I quite agree with you about live presenters issue.
I turned them off in full screen mode because once user enters the full screen, the only thing to be displayed is .flv movie (talking character), not the rest of panorama and panels. As you may noticed, talking characters are actually progressive downloading .flv movies so that is, I think, possible reason of their absence when entering Virtual tour from intro page. However, I've tested the whole thing several times on different machines, and they've been displayed properly every time. Also there was no issue of remaining sound when entering full screen. Anyway, it's a good thing that it happen, so I'll check the code once again.
It's a pity you don't like live presenters, as a matter of fact, I was thinking a few days ago of how it would be nice to have them integrated into your museum tour, really!:)
I heard from other parties the same observation on size and number of panels displayed on the screen and I'll change it ASAP.
Thank you Scott once again. Yes, it really helps!

[Scott Witte]

I turned them off in full screen mode because once user enters the full screen, the only thing to be displayed is .flv movie (talking character), not the rest of panorama and panels.
It shouldn't if I understand you. Check out Denis' "Add some life" demo at his blog.

I have nothing against live presenters if used effectively. In this case I'm not sure it is. The guy really isn't doing anything, is so small you can't even see lips moving. Once he walks across the stage he stands stock still, except for one or two hand gestures at the beginning. Essentially it becomes a still image with a voiceover. And I still would prefer that it automatically unload when done rather than stay on screen.

Check the Virgin Blue site (http://www.virginblue.com.au/getwhatyouwant/) to see what I feel is a more effective live action. (Press the service button several times.)

As for my museum site, we will be adding a voiceover tour guide. I don't feel a "live" presenter will add much and may get in the way. One exception could be a live action welcome message that plays in one of the monitors in the entrance on first visit. On other sites I definitely plan to add integrated action.

[jomla]

Hi,

did you check the other lab (look up for the picture of the lab from the upper right menu labeled "Izaberite laboratoriju") ? I had a larger character that approx. fits the real character in the lab. As for character animation, that was just an simple example of what could be possible done with a character, I mean, particular one presenting the lab does not require much motion. Of course, I could make it much more complex, no doubt about it. After all, it's an university lab:)
My idea is to create characters much more interesting and more animated. For instance, to spin the navigation menu, change motion (never have the same motion for the respective environment) etc.
However, as you said this was a great learning experience and I'll try to post my further projects here.

One exception could be a live action welcome message that plays in one of the monitors in the entrance on first visit

I would like to create a more complex character animation for your welcome message and if you like it, you may use it in your tour. PM me if interested.

Regards

[Scott Witte]

did you check the other lab...? I had a larger character that approx. fits the real character in the lab.

I visited the second lab but definitely did not see that animation on first visit, although I started at the intro page that time instead of the direct link and apparently neither played.

Much more interesting, although personally I would still like a way to get him out of the way and/or have him give his description again.

One problem you might want to consider: I jumped to the second lab pretty quickly and ended up with the first lab's audio playing while the second lab was presenting. That will make it impossible for visitors to understand.

Also, I believe you used a spot object for the animation. Try a box object so the animation distorts along with the background when panning. It will look much more natural.

Play with things like the green book object to find lots of problems such as when you close the display then open right away etc.

Again, this is obviously a great learning exercise. You are pushing limits and doing some interesting work. It could be really good when the rough spots are worked out.

[WideEyes]

Hi,

did you check the other lab (look up for the picture of the lab from the upper right menu labeled "Izaberite laboratoriju") ? I had a larger character that approx. fits the real character in the lab.
Regards

What a great feature. I wonder if it would be possible to make a recording of a real person where you only see the person without a background.......
I am already dreaming about some amazing tours with presenter.

Best regards
Morten

[Scott Witte]

What a great feature. I wonder if it would be possible to make a recording of a real person where you only see the person without a background.......
Absolutely. Check out that Virgin Blue website (http://www.virginblue.com.au/getwhatyouwant/).

"sonicoliver" did an inspiring job on that one.

[jomla]

Yes, it is possible, but you'll face technical difficulties such as right equipment, lights, fluent presenter :), proper background for the studio where you'll be recording in (green background comes as a first choice), software and so on...
I like to draw characters, because then I have full control over the process, and you can change them multiple times while working with real people is totally different. Oh yes, the big advantage of drawn characters is - you don't have to pay them! :)

Once again, thank you guys on your comments. I'll correct the errors and post the tour again.

Cheers