Zoom bug and hotspot problem

[spwhite]

Hi... Just bought FlashPanoramas and have run into two problems. The first problem is minor, the second one stops me from using FlashPanoramas for my project.

The first is borders.swf - zooming changes the visible area, so the black area at the top is visible after zooming out, even when I use tilt to prevent it from being visible at the default zoom.

The second problem is hotspots... using linked works for 10 panoramas, but it is prohibitive to list all the locations of all the hotspots for 100 panoramas. Is there any way for each panorama to have its own listing of hotspots?

It would be ideal if I could specify the XML file, and hotspots would read and load the hotspots section. At the moment, I'm having to do openUrl instead, and that doesn't work very well.

[Denis]

Yes. You should set limits for Borders plugin using minimal zoom settings. Borders plugins restricts camera pan/tilt and dosn't depend on zoom factor. You can reduce zoom interval as well using zoomMin and zoomMax.

About 100 panoramas hotspots. I think Hotspots XML file is still the best way to organize this functionality (not linked hotspots doesn't take any resources). But you need some automation to create this long text (possible you can write some solution using .bat or .vb script). Any "find and replace" editor also can help.
Another way is to create a Flash application to change hotspots set dynamically (using LocalConnection or ExternalInterface API).

[mit2m]

Hi... Just bought FlashPanoramas and have run into two problems.
[...]
The first is borders.swf - zooming changes the visible area, so the black area at the top is visible after zooming out, even when I use tilt to prevent it from being visible at the default zoom.

Similar problem here.
Since I dislike the distortion of zoom levels <1, setting of zoomMin=1 is a solution for me in your special case.

But for the same reason you described I encounter problems with zoom levels > 1: Tilt movements are also restricted to the numerical values of borders.tilt_min and borders.tilt_max. Practically this does not allow me to zoom into the upper and lower border regions of my cylindrical panorama.

So in general the "borders"-problem seems to apply to all zoom levels that are not equal to the default zoom level of 1: Independent from the actual zoom level chosen, tilt is restricted (or allowed to grow) to the numerical values of borders.tilt_min and borders.tilt_max.

I thought it would be possible to solve this problem by disabling the mouse wheel and offering Zoom In- and Zoom Out-buttons, which restrict borders.tilt_min and borders.tilt_max to a value appropriate for the zoom level chosen, e.g.:
<spot id="zoom_in" url="./zoom_in.png" static="1" staticAlign="BC" staticY="-100" staticX="-100" onPress="pano.zoomKey=+2; external.borders.tilt_max=+2; external.borders.tilt_min-=2;" onRelease="pano.zoomKey=0"/>
<spot id="zoom_out" url="./zoom_out.png" static="1" staticAlign="BC" staticY="-100" staticX="+100" onPress="pano.zoomKey=-2; external.borders.tilt_max-=2; external.borders.tilt_min+=2;" onRelease="pano.zoomKey=0"/>
(Note: I've used more or less random values for external.borders.tilt_m*, but I think they can be calculated if the initial values for default zoom level are known)
The only problem: This code snippet does not work. Any suggestions or other workarounds?

If not, I'd like to add a function to the list of feature requests, that calculates new tilt_min- and tilt_max-values at any zoom level corresponding to the initial tilt-restrictions at default zoom level.

Comments are welcome.

EDIT: I just discovered the thread "setting view limits with borders.swf" from 26 Mar 07 and Denis' answer to it. So forget about the feature request... :-)
But if someone finds a workaround in the meantime: Please let me know!

[spwhite]

Yes. You should set limits for Borders plugin using minimal zoom settings.

The way Quicktime does it seems the best solution, as it sets the upper and lower bounds of the view rather than the tilt and pan of the camera.

About 100 panoramas hotspots. I think Hotspots XML file is still the best way to organize this functionality

My problem is that I have another 100 panoramas to go in next, then another 100 after that. So at what point does listing every panorama start consuming inordinate resources?

Another way is to create a Flash application to change hotspots set dynamically (using LocalConnection or ExternalInterface API).

That sounds interesting. I could have 36 hotspots around the panorama and change visibility and function on a per-panorama basis?

I don't know Flash programming yet, so could you indicate an approach? I do program in other languages so the automation aspect is not a problem.

Thanks,
Steve.

[clodomi]

Yes. You should set limits for Borders plugin using minimal zoom settings. Borders plugins restricts camera pan/tilt and dosn't depend on zoom factor. You can reduce zoom interval as well using zoomMin and zoomMax.
Hello Denis, Thanks for help and your Panorama Flash Player (realy great).
I have a question: is there a way to change the tilt's limits with the zoom factor?

[Denis]

Hello Denis, Thanks for help and your Panorama Flash Player (realy great).
I have a question: is there a way to change the tilt's limits with the zoom factor?

You can write your own plugin to control zoom factor dynamically. :)

[clodomi]

Maybe one day I will be able to. I plan to upgrade my Flash licence. Now I only have Flash MX 2004...