HELP! Virtual Tours?

manaheim · Jul 25, 2009

Hi all. I'm making an aggressive play to get into residential real estate, only at much higher prices.

Anyway, obviously the RE market is all hubbly-bubbly with virtual tours, but what the heck is a virtual tour? I mean, I can make a panorama easily enough... but in my initial research, it seems like these things range from a single panorama run through SOME kind of tool... all the way up to a 20 point run-through of a house with arrows on doors that you can click and stuff?!

I would really appreciate if anyone could help me understand the options here... what folks charge for these services... what is the more usual/accepted method of doing these, etc.

THANKS!

AlexColeman · Jul 26, 2009

I was about to recommend that the OP asking Manaheim. Oops.
I think it is whatever the realtor wants it to be, as in a walkthrough of the house, such as an exterior pano, and then a walkthrough, similar to Google Streetview, I think there are a few software options, something that needs more research.
Good luck.

Dao · Jul 26, 2009

Will Quick Time VR help?

Apple - QuickTime - Resources - Tools - QuickTime VR

c.cloudwalker · Jul 26, 2009

Well I just googled "real estate walk through photo software" and there are a few things there.

As for rates, sorry, no idea but I'm sure it is area related like a lot of things. Try and find an agent, friend of a friend type thing, who could tell you.

The other way to do that is figure out who does this kind of photo in your area and call them. Just tell them you're going to put your house on the market FSBO and want to know what it would cost... I've used this technique a few times for different things and it works very nicely.

Jon_Are · Jul 26, 2009

Chris,

You need hardware, not just software. have you seen the Panosaurus? It's reasonably priced and gets solid reviews.

Link: The Panosaurus Panoramic Tripod Head Home Page

Jon

manaheim · Jul 26, 2009

Jon_Are said:
Chris,

You need hardware, not just software. have you seen the Panosaurus? It's reasonably priced and gets solid reviews.

Link: The Panosaurus Panoramic Tripod Head Home Page

Jon

Hi Jon. (I was hoping you would chime in here) I do full panoramas with my regular tripod head all the time... I'm not entirely sure how this one is necessarily critical? You probably know something I don't, though.

What software do you use?

Jon_Are · Jul 26, 2009

Hey Chris,

Well, I don't actually do them (yet), so I've not really looked into the software (yet).

Apparently you need the Panosaurus, or something similar, because (lifted from the site):

A standard camera tripod is designed to hold and rotate a camera around the tripod mounting hole of the camera. This hole is located arbitrarily somewhere on the camera body. However, to take accurate panoramic photos it is important that the camera be mounted and then rotated around what is called the optical center (sometimes called the nodal point or entrance pupil) of the camera's lens. This ensures that optical distortion, called parallax distortion, will not be introduced into your pictures before they are then stitched together using computer software. Many people use panoramic tripod heads to not only take wide vista shots, but also to take 360 degree QTVR photos and photo mosaics (multi-row megapixel panoramas).

manaheim · Jul 26, 2009

errmmm...

Or you could just use photoshop which fixes the distortion completely.

Not to mention rotating it around it's optical center shouldnt remove distortion... though it may minimize it.

Honestly sounds like MAJOR bs to me. I might ask for some more opinions on it. What I can say is a good panning head will certainly make life a bit easier, but not by any remarkable level from what I've seen. I could be wrong.

c.cloudwalker · Jul 26, 2009

In my area there are ads on craigslist for photographers to do this kind of work all the time and they all require specific tripod heads.

But we are talking about companies that will probably send anyone in the field who owns a DSLR and the right tripod head, and is willing to sit through their "2-hour-over-the-phone-training-session." The companies do the PP work so it's probably only a question of making their lives easier.

table1349 · Jul 26, 2009

panoguide: Panoramic heads
360 Precision, Panoramic Tripod Heads, Virtual Tours, Stitching Software and Hardware, Precision and adjustable panoramic heads

If you have never used one, can not imagine how useful they can be for this kind of application.

Photo Stitching Digital Panoramas
Panomundo : How to Make QTVR Panoramas

manaheim · Jul 27, 2009

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, all my panoramas have been of far-off scenes. I think I need to do some experimentation at home tonight.

harleyrider · Jul 27, 2009

cant you just take one pic of each room two for big rooms and thats your tour,click a button on a online ad and it takes you though the house room by room.
is this a tour to?

table1349 · Jul 27, 2009

harleyrider said:
cant you just take one pic of each room two for big rooms and thats your tour,click a button on a online ad and it takes you though the house room by room.
is this a tour to?

Dude, you have no idea of what home selling has turned into. The wife and I are in the process of buying a new home. The realator e-mailed us home listing in our price range. You get on line, go to the listing and have a virtual 360 inside and out tour of the home and every room.

You get a good sense of the house before ever wasting the gas to go look at it. We crossed several off our list from that virtual tour because the did not fit what we were looking for.