It’s the combination of 360-degree photographs and a User Interface (UI).
Basically, the 360 photos highlight the project' image quality.
And the User Interface (UI) highlights the project' interactions.
A virtual project is an advanced communication and marketing tool, and it is commonly used by high-end hotels, the real estate industry and museums.
Commonly known as virtual reality project, its purpose is to virtually visit a place and to interact with the project’ user interface – its UI.
Technically speaking, a virtual project is like a website: its functionalities/UIs are customizable, it can be updated.
Virtual projects must be hosted on a web server to become available online, used on a business website, shared on social platforms, sent by e-mail, etc.
My professional services offers a range of virtual projects build as virtual tours and virtual exhibitions.
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360 degree photography is the basis for virtual projects.
Professional virtual projects require excellent image quality, this aspect is essential for the outcome of any project.
I’m an expert in shooting 360 degree photos. Discover below the quality of my corporate work, it is pixel-perfect.
The UI refers to the Interactions & Components available on a virtual project.
UIs are created according to the goals of a project.
Below are the common components that my professional virtual projects interfaces can feature.
Navigation to the 360º Photos
Zoom +/-
Full-screen
Text Content
Multiple Languages
2D Floor Plan
Interactive Elements
Sharing Options
Uses of Timers
Uses of Videos
Uses of PDF files
Photo Gallery
Audio Files
VR Mode
Google Maps
Google Analytics
(clicks recording)
Google Fonts
and more
You're not sure which UI components are necessary for your project?
Ask yourself: what do you want your audience to interact with.
My professional UIs are not made from templates, every aspect is bespoke/customizable.
According to the goal of a virtual project and its UI, the project will take the form of a virtual tour or a virtual exhibition.
A virtual tour is typically a property visit.
Here, the UI mainly focuses on to navigate between the 360 photos, the possibility to display a 2D floor plan, to pop up contact details, to share the project on social platforms, uses of a photo gallery, and among other possibilities.
A virtual exhibition project is a tool focused on communication and is usually more interaction-based with its user interface – unlike virtual tours.
Here, the UI takes up most of the project, with for example: interactive elements, texts and descriptions content, multiple languages, view or download of a document, and among other possibilities.
Discover my virtual projects built as virtual tours and virtual exhibitions.
1.
First, I must come to see the shooting space and to confirm how many 360-photos the project will need.
Then it’s time to discuss and validate the user interface of the project, as it’s a very important aspect.
Once the basics are done, it’s on to the next step!
Next, I will need to take the 360º photos.
For the best photo shoot, we need the right weather conditions. Shooting with people around is possible, but in most cases these people should be actors.
After shooting it’s post-production time for me!
When the 360º photos are done I will upload them online for you to approve.
2.
3.
At this stage, you will send me all the resources that will be used on the project, such as: your logo, texts, photos, etc.
If needed, we’ll confirm your brand color codes and your website font to apply these elements to the project.
I will look for to cooperate with your virtual project’ representative to:
・Create all the necessary mock-ups and have them validated for building the preview project.
・Confirm the project’ thumbnail picture, its title and description (as these elements will be used when the project will be shared on the social networks).
For each step I will upload the new content to the online preview project, so you can see how the project is evolving.
After the final project has been agreed, it’s time for you to use it on your website, to share it wherever you want, etc!
Managing a virtual project is like a website: UI, contents and 360-photos can be updated and revamped if required.
Maintenance and support are provided to ensure that our projects are always 100% operational.
4.
It all depends on the number of 360 photos and the complexity to create the user interface.
・Getting the 360 photos is usually quite fast. For reference, 2-3 final images takes me ~2 days.
・Creating the UI can take much longer. For reference, it can takes me anywhere from a few days to a few weeks!
For references, I built this project in few days, and this one and this one within a couple of weeks.
The common way is to use an iFrame.
As a virtual project should not be hosted directly on the page where you want to use it (otherwise it will make your page load very, but very slowly!), a virtual project will be hosted on a web server. Using an iFrame is then the best way to display such projects!
Note: I always recommend my clients to create a ‘virtual project page’ on their website and onto which they will iFrame their actual project.
In fact, most website owners want to write information on this page, such as: when the 360 photos were taken, short introduction about their project, SEO content, etc.
Not too much.
For instance, a full size uncompressed photo will take much longer to load than a virtual project.
Assuming you’re looking for to host your project on a web server: yes that’s a very good start!
Now you want to be sure that your server provides full security regarding potential hacks, bandwidth/overload scenarios and loading speed.
For my clients’ projects, I use my AWS web server for the hosting (server used by Facebook, Netflix, Adobe…).
Do you have another question, even technical, to which you’d like to have a clear answer? Contact me.
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