It's easy to create and use scrolling panoramic images in
your VisualTour Marketing System!

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Panoramic images are created by taking multiple individual still photos with your digital camera and stitching them together using the VisualTour Studio software which will be installed on your local computer. We have designed our stitching application to work with photos taken by amateur photographers (REALTORS like you!). A tripod isn't required to create a seamless panorama, however using one may work better for some people.

To get the best results in the least amount of time and effort, follow these 3 steps:

Step 1 - Take your individual photos from left to right, overlapping each image by about 20%. Notice the overlap in the images below. Just turn your body, don't step from in front of one photo to the next.
 
     


Step 2 - After your photos are downloaded into VisualTour, select which images you'd like to stitch together, and click Create Panoramic.

Step 3 - Click the Next button, and the images will be merged automatically. All of the aligning, brightness and contrast adjustments, and even color adjustments are done automatically in seconds. No manual intervention is required for the stitching operation!

The fully stitched image will look like this:

When displayed in the VisualTour viewer, the image will automatically scroll back and forth from side to side like this:

The VisualTour Studio stitching software can also create a seamless, full 360° image like the one shown below. Since the stitched image counts as only 1 scene in your tour's image count, and each VisualTour can contain up to 50 scenes, you can have up to 50 full 360° images in one VisualTour!

Sample Full 360° Image

Notice how the full 360° image scrolls completely around 360° instead of moving back and forth like the partial panoramic image. VisualTour automatically determines the image type and displays it properly. For either scene type, you can use your mouse pointer to "drag" the image from side to side or to scroll faster.

To create a complete 360° image, you simply take more photos until you have rotated in a complete circle. We recommend that for full 360 ° scenes that you take the overlapped still photos in "Portrait" mode. To do this, simply turn your camera 90 ° (either right or left). For these types of scenes, a standard tripod is recommended (but not required). Standard tripods can be purchased for under $20 and are available at most camera stores and department stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Best Buy, etc.

Note how the 4 photos below were taking in Portrait mode (taller rather than wider). This technique also works well when you want to create a partial panorama of a smaller room such as a secondary bedroom.


Sample Vertical Panoramic Image

Another great feature you have with VisualTour is to create vertically scrolling panoramic scenes. You would use this feature to showcase a two story foyer / entry hall / living room, the front of a multiple story condominium or anything else that helps you to market a specific property. To accomplish this, just take multiple still photos from top to bottom. Select them as you would for multiple horizontal (landscape mode) photos for the VisualTour Studio stitching application as shown below:

And remember with up to 50 scenes in each of your VisualTours, you have plenty of flexibility in how you choose to showcase each property! The choice is yours... you can use any combination of individual still images, wide angle panoramic images, or full 360° images in your VisualTours. To see a sample VisualTour with a combination of all of these types of images, please visit our Sample Tours page.