V5 VR HMD files and How to.

Q&A about the latest versions
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Hopki
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Hi,
And so finally it is here.
If you want to view VR content using a Head Mounted Display (HMD) the you will need to download our VR template and a skin file.

## Pleaes Note Pano2VR 5.0 now comes with cardboard.ggt and cardboard.ggsk skin so no need to download and install the stare and VR files ##

Attached is a zip that contains the required files which are:
stare.ggsk
VR.ggt
VR_Files.zip
(5.66 KiB) Downloaded 2096 times
Updated Fri 02 Oct 2015
  • The stare.ggsk puts a cross in the centre of the panorama. When the centre of the screen is over a hotspot, after a timer it will activate the hotspot so moving to the next node. The cross helps identify the centre of the screen but has no actions.
  • The VR.ggt splits the screen and has settings for using true north and stereo image pairs as well as other settings.
How to install the stare.ggsk, VR.ggt and pano2vrgyro.js files.

Mac:
Open Pano2VR 5 then click: Pano2VR => Preferences…
Then under the files tab right click on the Template directory file path to Open in Finder.
Open the HtmlTemplates folder then the html5 folder.
Copy in the VR.ggt.

Close all the windows so your are back to Pano2VR 5’s Preferences with the files tab selected.
Now right click on the Skin Directory file path and open the Skins folder.
Copy in the stare.ggsk.
Close all the windows and restart Pano2VR 5.


Windows:
Open Pano2VR 5 then click: File => Settings…
Then under the files tab right click on the Template directory file path to Show in Explorer.
Open the html5 folder and copy in the VR.ggt.

Close all the windows so your are back to Pano2VR 5’s Settings with the files tab selected.
Now right click on the Skin Directory file path and open the Skins folder.
Copy in the stare.ggsk.
Close all the windows and restart Pano2VR 5.


Single Node VR Output Pano2VR 5 and Pano2VR 5 Pro:
To output for HMD (Head Mounted Display) mono project:
Open Pano2VR 5 and drag in your panorama.
Select HTML5 output.
Expand the HTML tab and select the VR.ggt.
Click the Generate Output button.
Save your project and Pano2VR will output a side by side mono project.


Single Node VR Output Pano2VR 5 Pro:
To output for HMD stereo project:
Open Pano2VR 5 and drag in your Left panorama first then drag in your Right panorama.
Select HTML5 output.
Expand the HTML tab and select the VR.ggt.
Click the Edit Template button and select Nodes are stereo pairs, then click OK.
Click the Generate Output button.
Save your project and Pano2VR will output a side by side Stereo project.


Multi Node VR Output Pano2VR 5 Pro:
Mono, Open Pano2VR 5 and drag in your panoramas.
Link the nodes together using the point hotspot viewer mode.
Select HTML5 output and select the stare.ggsk.
Expand the HTML tab and select the VR.ggt.
Click the Generate Output button.
Save your project and Pano2VR will output a multi node side by side mono project.

The output will have a small cross in the screen like this:
small_cross.jpg
small_cross.jpg (8.57 KiB) Viewed 38833 times
Move your head/panorama so the cross is in the point hotspot image, after a few seconds the nodes will change.


Multi Node VR Output Pano2VR 5 Pro:
Stereo, Open Pano2VR 5 and drag in your panoramas arranging them like so:

Node one, left image first then Right image.
Node two, left image first then Right image.
Node three, left image first then Right image.
And so on…

Link the nodes together using the point hotspot viewer mode.
You will need to link the left and right nodes separately.
This is easily done if you select either the centre marker or grid in the viewer settings.
Node one left, link to Node 2 left. Node one right, link to Node 2 right.

Tip: If you move the right images point hotspot to the left by just over half the width of the point hotspot marker then this brings the hotspot image more forward in the stereo output giving a more 3D effect.
Caution: Over doing the effect can make people ill.
left_node.jpg
left_node.jpg (8.46 KiB) Viewed 38833 times
right_node.jpg
right_node.jpg (9.21 KiB) Viewed 38833 times
Select HTML5 output and select the stare.ggsk.
Expand the HTML tab and select the VR.ggt.
Click the Edit Template button and select Nodes are stereo pairs, then click OK.
Click the Generate Output button.
Save your project and Pano2VR will output a side by side multi node stereo tour.

The stare.ggsk puts a small cross in the centre of the screen.
small_cross.jpg
small_cross.jpg (8.57 KiB) Viewed 38833 times
Move your head/panorama until the cross is over the point hotspot. After a few seconds thsi will activate the point hotspot and change nodes.

Here is a stereoscopic output made with Pano2VR 5 Pro LINK panoramas courtesy of Karel Gillissen.
Regards,
The GGS team
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TrBailey
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:32 pm

It seems that the output to package option does not include side by side viewing. When I view the package it only shows 1 side, but when I export normally it has side by side.
We are trying to use the package for easy uploading to our website.

Other than that seems to work great :)
TrBailey
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:32 pm

we tested this on a couple of different devices. And it is a little jittery when moving around. are there any settings that can be changed to create a smoother experience?

When I turn off inertia and lower the sensitivity it doesnt change anything with the HMD. Will there be control settings for HMD in the next release?
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jobes
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Brilliant, thanks very much. I've been waiting for this for a while. Can't wait to set aside some time for experimenting!
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Hopki
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@TrBailey,

The Template for the ggpkg is different to that of the VR template. Im not sure that displaying a split screen output in a wordpress site would be of any value. I would just use a link to the split screen version from the page. For me this makes more sense but that is only my opinion, interesting to see what others would say.

Regarding the smoothness, what device are you looking at it with?
I don't see P2VR's output any worse then others I have seen but then Im not actually a big fan of this sort of thing, even though its fun to make.
I have seen a project through a rift headset with a pano produces with other software but that is no different to what I get with my iPhone in cardboard.

I will flag this up though just encase the dev's can give it a tweak.
Regards,
Hopki
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Howard
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Can't wait to try this later today.

A few questions: is it necessary to create a separate build of a VR project for HMD users? Or will the same skin work satisfactorily in a standard browser window on any device?

Can the new HMD skin be customized?

Thanks for getting this out to us!
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Hopki
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Hi Howard,
The HMD skin has a point hotspot, but also has a graphic to show centre of the window, but this has no actions, just to show the centre. thats it so nothing special.
So that said you can use any graphic just as long as its in the centre.
You also have to mage sure you hotspot template has the mouse click Open Next Panorama/Go To URL action to change the nodes.
Regards,
Hopki
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Howard
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Tip: If you move the right images point hotspot to the left by just over half the width of the point hotspot marker then this brings the hotspot image more forward in the stereo output giving a more 3D effect.
Caution: Over doing the effect can make people ill.
Dramamine included with the ZIP file? :D
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Hopki
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:lol:
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TrBailey
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Just wanted to let you know, we tried it on more devices and it was just the Galaxy s5 that had it all jittery. Other devices work pretty smoothly.
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Hopki
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Hi TrBailey,
Thank you for your update.
All the best,
Hopki
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Bostjan
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VR googles and 3DS are now mainstream and many of us are now with 3DS as standard when shooting panoramas. I am with Pano2VR from the beginning of Gardengnome but now I feel like stacked with the limitations of the software – I would like to know how far is the development of the software for fluent workflow of creating the content like e.g. Matt's: http://www.virtualswindon.com/balloonfiesta/ ? With some tricks I can get close but still very limited – e.g. jumping from mono panorama display to full screen on phone when the screen is split or setting the menu or options on the middle of the split screen, and more …
Any predictions how long to wait ...
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thomas
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Bostjan wrote:VR googles and 3DS are now mainstream and many of us are now with 3DS as standard when shooting panoramas. I am with Pano2VR from the beginning of Gardengnome but now I feel like stacked with the limitations of the software – I would like to know how far is the development of the software for fluent workflow of creating the content like e.g. Matt's: http://www.virtualswindon.com/balloonfiesta/ ? With some tricks I can get close but still very limited – e.g. jumping from mono panorama display to full screen on phone when the screen is split or setting the menu or options on the middle of the split screen, and more …
Any predictions how long to wait ...
Hello Bostjan,
we are also looking into this, and it is very high on the list, but first we want to bring out Pano2VR V5.
For now we have the split screen template that allows you to show stereo panoramas on a card board like device.
There are still imho a lot of technical things in the browser missing for good VR (Gear VR, Rift, ...). It takes way to many tries and crashes to be near a user friendly experience.
MfG, Thomas
Bostjan
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Hi Thomas,

I am testing wit stereo panoramas as I do consider that the only right way to use panoramas wit VR Goggles is stereo - I don't see the point with mono.
I was "playing" with Pano2VR and did few test tours:
http://www.burger.si/MuzejiInGalerije/G ... acija.html

or

http://www.burger.si/Plecnik/NUK_2015/o ... 0_NUK.html

It is not elegant process but it works. At the moment I am dealing how to 'convince' the browser to enter the full screen (double click on PCs) on iOS or android. It would be fine automatic when the VR mode is chosen. I tried to do that with the action call or within the html code but I can do that only for one window not split one.
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thomas
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Hello Bostjan,
Bostjan wrote:At the moment I am dealing how to 'convince' the browser to enter the full screen (double click on PCs) on iOS or android. It would be fine automatic when the VR mode is chosen. I tried to do that with the action call or within the html code but I can do that only for one window not split one.
You need to call containerFullscreen() so a "Goto URL" action with

Code: Select all

javascript:containerFullscreen();
should do the trick. The code for containerFullscreen() is in the HMD template.
MfG, Thomas
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