What is The Difference Between a 360 Tour and a 360 Degree Virtual Tour?

360 Tour Apples and Oranges

Although the techniques vary, most traditional 360 tours do not allow the viewer to actually move around within the space. At the very most, traditional tours offer 10 or so individual locations to view a space. Traditional photographers create these tours by using DSLR cameras to capture a space with multiple photos that are then hand stitched to form a panorama which is viewed from a player. The end result is something similar to a Google Maps tour. The panorama tours are great for showing the interior view of one area, and one area alone, but lack in viewing options. There are only limited abilities to change your viewpoint, and little is done to allow the user to focus on something other than what the camera itself originally focused on. Written text and fine details are lost with typical 360 tours.

360 Degree Virtual Tours

A 360 degree virtual tour stands out by offering up to 200 unique view points throughout the tour, on top of allowing multiple viewpoints of the scanned location. Within these 360 virtual tours the users can navigate the premise of the scanned area using a keyboard or even a controller, and are given relatively free reign. If you would like to see what is behind a pillar, you can navigate around the pillar via one of the many control and view options, instead of being stuck with only one rendered photo. Our showcase provides the ability to navigate intuitively via several viewpoints: first person, birds eye (floor plan) and isometric (the “doll house”. You can even highlight certain “clickable” features with our annotation tool!Meaning that you can provide a further in depth tour that is almost guided. Our software is also supported by Zillow and Facebook , so now you can easily place your Looking Glass 3D Virtual Tour in your MLS listing or Facebook page for even more viewers to explore and enjoy.

Depth Perception

By making our scans so in depth and with as many “clickable” access points, we have added an extra level of depth perception. The items and architecture of the site are incorporated and give a more realistic feel when navigated through. As the laser scanning process occurs we are able to register the distance between objects, walls, and create a full 3D mesh of the property. The laser scans are so accurate that hand measuring rooms and dimensions is now becoming obsolete.

How long does this a 360 Tour take?

On average a typical 360 tour will take weeks to hand stitch the images together and upload online. With each image taken by one of panoramic cameras having to be carefully inlaid and overlaid to ensure no blur lines. Our tours take only a matter of hours from the time we set up our equipment to finalized upload. How? With our cutting edge placement tools and the integration between our cameras and our scanning software being so strong, most of the “stitching” occurs while the scan is taking place. The advantage is the difference between having to wait a few weeks, to only having to wait about 5 hours between the time we scan the property to the time it is ready for online view.

What Else Can I Do With The Completed Scan?

We allow all of our clients to have access to the upload and CAD files upon completion of the product. CAD files are typically used with 3D printing, meaning that if you wanted to you could have a 3D model of the property in perfect scaled measurements created. Our scans are one of the few that are fully supported by mobile devices without having to download a 3D party software or app. Meaning that you can send the URL link to your uploaded scan around the world, and anyone with a mobile device can view it. Within the next 6 months the full virtual reality initiative will be released from Beta and to the general public, meaning that devices such as the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard could be used to view and navigate the scans.