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Pano2VR beta4 release

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:46 pm
by thomas
Just before the end of the year I changed my plan for beta 4 and added panoramic video support. You can now "inject" a video stream as the panoramic image.
You can see a demo of the functionality here:
http://gg-sw.com/pano2vr_sample.php?demo=video
and
http://gg-sw.com/pano2vr_sample.php?demo=timelapse
(thx to Andras Frenyo for the new timelapse example!)
The instructions to create and inject the video can be found here http://gardengnomesoftware.com/wiki/Pano2VR_-_Video

Other changes in beta4:
* fixed partial cylinders in Flash 8/9
* fixed bug in the skin editor tree view
* Drag & Drop in the skin editor is now working in Mac OS 10.5/Leopard
* Droplets are now accepting folders
* fixed error reading some QTVRs
* new batch mode in "Tools/Batch Processing" as a workaround for limited Windows (Vista) Drag & Drop
* fixed bug for HTML in hotspot text
* additional actions in skin editor (default view, video functions)
* with a company license you can now disable the "About Pano2VR Player" in the context menu.

Finally I like to thank you all for your support in 2007 and I wish you a happy new year!

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:59 pm
by 360Texas
Thank you Thomas.

Happy New Year 2008 for you too

Dave and Patricia Albright
Fort Worth, Texas USA

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:49 pm
by aaronspence
G'day Thomas,

I'm just testing the new batch functions and they are BRILLIANT.

I opened Tools/batch, dropped 180 10,600x5,300 equirects into the dialogue box, and away they go. My main workflow outputs about 14 files per pano.

Thanks for such a useful update to me & I suspect many others.

Now, I just need to buy some video pano hardware, 'cause I love your new video functions....let's see where did I put that $11,000 for a Ladybug ;)

Thanks again, and happy new year to you. I'm already in 2008 and it's a fantastic year...just wait until you get here ;)

Aaron
http://www.panedia.com

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:34 am
by smooth
Happy New Year

Hmm, Company License.....
No upgrade price from Single license and little incentive for loyal customers. I hope you put some thought into this Thomas.

Is the only benefit between licenses the removal of your advertisement from the right click menu?

Regards, Smooth 8)

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:47 am
by megaron
Hi and happy new year!

I found a bug in Beta 4:
now it is no more possible to control the exported panorama via keyboard.
Shift / STRG / -> / <- and so on are not working anymore... :(

So we need a Beta 4a-Version :P

edit: strange... sometimes it works, sometimes not... and sometimes it hangs on the mousecursorm i clicked, drag the movie and although i released mousebutton, the movie is still following my mousecursor.. :shock:

Greetings, Megaron

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:54 pm
by thomas
smooth wrote:Hmm, Company License.....
No upgrade price from Single license and little incentive for loyal customers. I hope you put some thought into this Thomas.

Is the only benefit between licenses the removal of your advertisement from the right click menu?
I don't see this as an advertisement, it is more giving credit. An advertisement would be a Pano2VR logo in a corner of the player or a start screen like in the SPi-V & ImmerVision player. I don't think that a normal user right clicks on a panorama, and if so at least I would expect an information about "how was this done". Every other player I know uses the same thing (FPP, Immervision, Easypano, SPi-V, PT-Viewer, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, ...) to show the technology behind it.
Because several people wrote to me that they don't want to give credit and would pay so that they don't need to, I decided to make this a "company only" option.
If you think that asking for credit from a single user license is asking for to much I am, as always, open for discussion.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:09 pm
by thomas
megaron wrote:Hi and happy new year!

I found a bug in Beta 4:
now it is no more possible to control the exported panorama via keyboard.
Shift / STRG / -> / <- and so on are not working anymore... :(

So we need a Beta 4a-Version :P

edit: strange... sometimes it works, sometimes not... and sometimes it hangs on the mousecursorm i clicked, drag the movie and although i released mousebutton, the movie is still following my mousecursor.. :shock:

Greetings, Megaron
Ohh...... Maybe this is a side effect of me trying to remove the dependencies on the stage object (see http://gardengnomesoftware.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=865). Which browser/operating system do you use?

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:16 pm
by smooth
thomas wrote:
smooth wrote:Hmm, Company License.....
No upgrade price from Single license and little incentive for loyal customers. I hope you put some thought into this Thomas.

Is the only benefit between licenses the removal of your advertisement from the right click menu?
I don't see this as an advertisement, it is more giving credit. An advertisement would be a Pano2VR logo in a corner of the player or a start screen like in the SPi-V & ImmerVision player. I don't think that a normal user right clicks on a panorama, and if so at least I would expect an information about "how was this done". Every other player I know uses the same thing (FPP, Immervision, Easypano, SPi-V, PT-Viewer, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, ...) to show the technology behind it.
Because several people wrote to me that they don't want to give credit and would pay so that they don't need to, I decided to make this a "company only" option.
If you think that asking for credit from a single user license is asking for to much I am, as always, open for discussion.
Thomas,

Let me draw your attention to a thread I was involved in only recently (before the release of your company license) on Panoguide.

I'm not going to argue the toss over whether it is a advert or not or about whatever price you charge. I have supported you and your programs for a very long time. What is annoying is that when you buy a license to software and the developer thinks "hey!, here's a lurk" if I add this or remove that I can charge "X" without any thought for previous customers who in good faith have supported the software by buying a (at the time at least) the "top of the line license" only to be followed up with no information on how these people would upgrade (showing clearly that they were not even under consideration).

This is not limited to you by any means. It has happened with other software I have licenses for. One day top of the line is called "Pro" the next day top of the range is some new version called "extreme"!

Anyway, I would like to remove the link/about info/ad or whatever we are calling it. I don't want a company license (I don't run a company) I'm a sole trader in business for myself and require one license for one computer and that is all.

I'll take it that the ONLY difference is the removal of the right click link/about info/ad ?

Regards, Smooth 8)

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:17 pm
by megaron
thomas wrote:Ohh...... Maybe this is a side effect of me trying to remove the dependencies on the stage object (see http://gardengnomesoftware.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=865). Which browser/operating system do you use?
I use Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 / Firefox.
But... this bug also appears in the flash standalone-player.
In beta 3 everything was ok.

edit: i testet my movie on xp... same problem. And i only use pano2vr... no API or other software.

Greetings, Megaron

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:56 pm
by thomas
Ok, I was able to track down the source of the problem (it was the stage thing) and a beta4a is on its way.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 5:50 pm
by megaron
thomas wrote:Ok, I was able to track down the source of the problem (it was the stage thing) and a beta4a is on its way.
Thanks a lot!!! :D
What a service! Now it works perfect!

Greetings, Megaron

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:14 pm
by thomas
Beta4a is ready fro download. The only difference is the fix for the problem with Flash loosing the focus if you move outside of the panorama.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:05 pm
by thomas
smooth wrote:Thomas,

Let me draw your attention to a thread I was involved in only recently (before the release of your company license) on Panoguide.
This was an interesting read. Just some comments: Every JPEG created with Photoshop contains a signature that shows it was created with Photoshop, every camera has its brand on the front and puts its brand name into the EXIF data.
What is annoying is that when you buy a license to software and the developer thinks "hey!, here's a lurk" if I add this or remove that I can charge "X" without any thought for previous customers who in good faith have supported the software by buying a (at the time at least) the "top of the line license" only to be followed up with no information on how these people would upgrade (showing clearly that they were not even under consideration).
I don't feel that I am greedy and you get a lots of features as free upgrades for a long time. I run a very small business on a niche market and don't have a budget for advertising. I can only live from the mouth to mouth propaganda and those small hints to my software for interested people. I often hear from customers that they want to keep their "secret sauce" secret and for that they would love see my page removed from all search engines and I should only sell my software to them etc. What they are missing is that having more customers means that I can spend more time on the software and I don't need to do other jobs to pay my rent. So I can add features where they again benefit from.

I don't want to create an elite software for 5000 Euros that only 2 people can buy. I prefer to sell it 200 times for 50 Euros. I also think that the talent of a photographer is not to know the URL of my homepage but to take good pictures and to be creative and that this is the distinguishing thing between competitors. In that sense I find it only fair if you even want to keep my URL secret that you support my product and help it to evolve in an other way by paying a higher price (btw. you can also upgrade from the "single user" license just by paying the difference between those two)
I'll take it that the ONLY difference is the removal of the right click link/about info/ad ?
Yes, for the moment but I plan some other features like limiting a panorama to a domain and limiting the usage of a panorama for a certain time frame to the "company" license only.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:24 pm
by thofle
As far as I can see your debating the "About Pano2VR Player"-link.
I don't think that matters, the only thing it will do is point some other people which are interested in making pano's this way. A "normal" person would maybe click it, don't understand why he/her is on some weird garden gnome site and go back.

I don't see why you should hide which software you use, if someone wants to make flash panos, they will find a way after 10sec with google.

Beta 4

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:25 am
by rjackson
Thomas:

Great job... it is brilliant.

All the best for 2008. See you at the next IVRPA meeting.

- Rusty
http://www.terra360.com/