The Image Navigator section of the XML file contains information essential to displaying your virtual tours. This includes specifying the location of image files, viewer type and how your project will be displayed.
<ImageNavigator>
<ImageFile>PHOTOS/inside2-gallery611.jpg</ImageFile>
<ViewerType>Pano</ViewerType>
<panotype>SPHERE</panotype>
<pitchRange>-0.487 0.487</pitchRange>
<vFov>-0.487 0.487</vFov>
</ImageNavigator>
Function: This parameter is required to specify which image file the viewer will load.
Syntax: <ImageFile>afrovase.jpg</ImageFile>
Values: The value is the name of the image file. The image file can only be in jpeg (*.jpg) or Flashpix (*.fpx) format.
Function: This parameter sets the type of viewer that will be used to display the image.
Syntax: <ViewerType>Obj</ViewerType>
Values: When using the Flashpix image format the values are ZoomPano, ZoomObj and Zoom2D. Use ZoomPano when using panoramic images, ZoomObj for Flashpix objects and Zoom2D for displaying 2D images in a Flashpix format.
When using the jpeg image format the values are Pano, Obj, and J2D. Pano when using panoramic images, Obj when using objects in jpeg format and J2D for display 2D or standard jpeg images.
Function: This parameter is required to specify how the panorama will be “wrapped” when the viewer loads.
Syntax: <panotype>SPHERE</panotype>
Values: There are three varieties of panoramas supported by Virtual Tour Maker. Sphere, as the name states, will wrap the panorama image in a globe-like shape. The upper and lower portions (polar regions) of the image are stretched to give it this shape. Cylinder,used by QuickTime VR, wraps the image in a cylinder, having horizontal distortion but none vertically.
Cylinder allows you to export images to QuickTime VR. However, this format is not commonly used with Photovista Virtual Tour Maker. Cube is a six-sided image, which allows you to view a panorama in all directions. The appearance of cubes and spheres are similar, as both can be viewed 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. The only difference between cube and sphere is their image layout.
Function: This parameter sets the value for the pitch angles to which the viewer is constrained.
Syntax: <pitchRange>-0.487 0.487</pitchRange>
Values: This parameter has two values, the minimum pitch and the maximum pitch. Both values are expressed in radians.
Function: This parameter sets the value for the yaw angles to which the viewer is constrained.
Syntax: <yawRange>0.1 4.612</yawRange>
Values: This parameter has two values, the minimum yaw and the maximum yaw. Both values are listed in radians. If both values are 0, then the user has the ability to rotate the panorama a full 360 degrees.
Function: This parameter sets the vertical angle ranges for the panorama within the allowed pitchrange.
Syntax: <vFov>-0.487 0.487</vFov>
Values: This parameter has two values, the minimum value and the maximum value. Both are expressed in radians.
Function: This parameter sets the horizontal angle ranges for the panoramic image within the allowed yawrange.
Syntax: <hFov>0 4.712</hFov>
Values: This parameter has two values, the minimum value and the maximum value. Both are expressed in radians. When both values are 0, the image will be 360 degrees around.
Function: This parameter is the initial viewpoint within an image, panorama or object.
Syntax:
For 2d images:
<initialView>0.280922 0.725367 0.30814 0.686047</initialView>
Values: This parameter represents the “x1, y1, x2, y2” coordinates.
For Panoramas:
<initialView>-0.592979 268.96 96.0835</initialView>
Values: This parameter represents the “yaw, pitch, zoom” coordinates within the panorama.
For Objects:
<initialView>21 0 0.946667 0.1090910.818182</initialView>
Values: This parameter represents the “frame, x1, y1, x2, y2” coordinates. The first value of the object initial view is the frame you want to display when first loading the viewer.
Example of defining the coordinates for a 2d image: If you are not sure of the coordinates to use for hotspots, you can use an image-editing application to obtain image size in pixels and pixel coordinates so you can translate them into relative coordinates.
- In your image editor, take note of the image dimensions (for example, 500 x 300).
- Drag out the area for the hotspot, noting the pixel coordinates of the upper left and lower right corners of the area. For example, 106, 66 (upper left corner) and 346, 196 (lower right corner).
- Divide the horizontal pixel coordinates by the image width, and the vertical pixel coordinates by the image height. The results in the following example are rounded to a single decimal point, but you can specify more precise coordinates if you want.
|
Example: 106 (x1) ÷ 500 = .2, 66 (y1) ÷ 300 = .2 346 (x2) ÷ 500 = .7, 196 (y2) ÷ 300 = .7 |
The relative values for this upper left coordinate are 0.2, 0.2 The relative values for this lower right coordinate are 0.7, 0.7 |
Function: This parameter sets whether the object or panorama rotates automatically and at what speed.
Syntax: <Autospin>-5</Autospin>
Values: There is only one value for Autospin within the valid range of -50 to 50. This is the number of seconds it takes to fully rotate the panorama once. A negative value causes the panorama to rotate in reverse.
Function: This parameter allows you to add an audio file to your panorama, object or 2d image. However, audio files should be edited to no more than a few seconds in length. Longer audio files could become a distraction for tour visitors.
Syntax: <audioFile>AUDIO/sound.au</audioFile>
Values: The value will be the name of the audio file. They must be in 22 bit mono (*.au) audio format at 8 MHz.
Function: Quantization refers to the amount of images used to create one dimension of an object.
Syntax: <quantization>1 36</quantization>
Values: This parameter has three values latitude, longitude, and time.
For example, the syntax above has a time value of 1, a longitude value of 36 and no latitude value. Therefore, the object has no animation and is 36 frames horizontally. It also does not have any vertical frames.
Function: Dimensions have limitation values know as Range.
Syntax: <Range>-90 90 0 360</Range>
Values: This parameter has a minimum value and a maximum value for each quantization dimension. The syntax has a range of –90,90,0,360. For this reason, the object can be rotated 360 degrees on its horizontal axis but cannot be rotated vertically.
Function: This parameter represents the display size of the viewer.
Syntax: <frameSize>333 250</frameSize>
Values: Framesize has two values, height and width. Both values are expressed in pixels.
Function: Padding refers to adding extra pixels to FPX images so that the image dimensions equal a power of two (256, 512, 1024, and so on). In other situations, padding is probably unnecessary as it increases the size of the FPX images.
Syntax: <Padded>false</Padded>
Values: This parameter is a Boolean value and can be either true or false.
Hotspots allow you to define areas within your virtual tour, which can be used as hyperlinks to cause other actions. You can use hotspots to link panoramas, objects and 2d images. They can also load new HTML pages. There are a number of different parameters you can use to customize your hotspots.
Hotspot Syntax:
<Hotspot>
<XMLSource>XML/your.xml</XMLSource>
<Position>0.72 0.486 0.7253 0.5016</Position>
<entryPointPano>1.55118 52.7309 84.3166</entryPointPano>
<hotspotImage>CUSTOMGRAPHICS/custom.gif</hotspotImage>
<Tip>Click Me</Tip>
</Hotspot>
Function: This parameter is required to specify which xml file the viewer will load.
Syntax:<XMLSource>XML/your.xml</XMLSource>
Values: The value will be the name and path of the xml file.
Function: This parameter is required if you want to hyperlink to an html page.
Syntax:<URLSource>http://www.mgisoft.com</URLSource>
Values: The value will be the name and path of the html file.
Note: The VTM applet at time of this documents creation does not support non relative path names, i.e. there must be an "http://" at the beginning of the URLSource.
Function: This parameter specifies the upper and lower coordinates for the hotspots.
Syntax:<Position>0.72 0.486 0.7253 0.5016</Position>
Values: The values that represent the position will be “x1, y1, x2, y2” Review the Defining the coordinates section to determine these values.
Function: This parameter determines the entry point of the next panorama, object, or image when a hotspot is activated.
Syntax:
For 2d images:
<entryPoint2D>0.280922 0.725367 0.30814 0.686047</entryPoint2D>
For Panoramas:
<entryPointPano>-0.592979 268.96 96.0835</entryPointPano>
For Objects:
<entryPointObj>21 0 0.946667 0.109091 0.818182</entryPointObj>
Values: The values that represent the position will be “x1, y1, x2, y2” Review the Defining the coordinates section to determine these values.
Note: Ensure that your Entry Points and Exit Points coincide with Hotspots in order to create the most logical progression throughout the virtual tour.
Function: This parameter will allow any text typed into this field to pop-up when visitors move their mouse over the Location. There is a 50-character limit.
Syntax: <Tip>Go to position 3</Tip>
Values: The value will be the text of the tooltip label.
Function: This parameter will decide if a URL will open in the current browser window or a new browser window.
Syntax: <NewWindow>True</NewWindow>
Values: This parameter is a Boolean value and can be either true or false.
Function: This parameter will decide what image will be used for the hotspot graphic. The image can be jpeg, or plain or transparent gif. The maximum size of the image is 100 x 100 pixels. However, images at 32 x 32 pixels in size will display better and are recommended.
Note: Animated gifs will display, but only the first frame in the animation will be seen.
Syntax: <hotspotImage>henry.gif</hotspotImage>
Values: The value will be the name and path of the image file.
Function: Objects are a series of images connected to each other to create fluid animation. These images are called frames of the object. The Frame parameter will decide which frame the hotspot will appear in.
Syntax:<Frame>2</Frame>
Values: The value will be the frame number of the object.
Function: When using frames in your page, this parameter will allow you to choose which window will launch the source hyperlink.
Syntax: <FrameName>frame2</FrameName>
Values: The value will be the name of the frame determined in the frameset.
For example:
<frameset cols="66%,34%">
<frame src="frame1.html" name="frame1">
<frameset rows="100%,*">
<frame src="frame2.html" name="frame2">
</frameset>
</frameset>