Hotspot Properties - Bug?

Q&A about the latest versions
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BrideValley
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:13 pm
Location: England

Hi

I am building a large tour (200+ nodes) using Pano2VR (V5.2.3 pro) and each node has hotspot links to its neighbours. I noticed a while back that Alt-clicking a (blue) hotspot on the main UI changed the view to the respective hotspot but in some cases the view direction appeared to have flipped 180 degrees. I inspected the hotspot properties and discovered that some hotspots have a target value of something like "-2.53554/0/70". I recognise this as direction/tilt/FoV values but I also discovered that there are 3 choices in the drop-down options: "Enter Target", "Forward" and "Backward". I experimented with the settings and discovered that if I update this attribute to "Forward" then Alt-clicking on the hotspot loads the new node and the viewing direction remains the same (which is what I desire). Unfortunately, when I generate HTML 5 output, many of the Hotspot Target values are amended and revert to making the nodes flip by 180 when I click on hotspots in my browser.

My panos are created with random initial viewing alignment, so it is necessary for me to manually align them in Pano2VR to North and set the Default view for each node accordingly.

I decided to take a look at the XML file and noticed that each hotspot has a target="" attribute. Some of the values were "$fwd" and some were populated with values in the form of "-2.53554/0/70". I experimented by manually editing the XML file to change all the hotspot target values to "$fwd". This resulted in the tour behaving as expected in a browser but sadly, every time the HTML5 output is regenerated, many of these values are reset. I have not established what determines this behaviour but with nearly 500 hotspots in my tour I'm getting fed up with manually editing the XML!

Is this a bug or have I missed something?

Simon
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Hopki
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Hi Simon,
Should not be giving you this much trouble.
By the sounds of it you have a mix of different target settings which is causing the problem.
As you have some hotspots using Forward and same using a Target View, the ones with a pan angle.

With Forward this uses default view with North correction.
So if you have two panos with north set then the hotspots will open the next pano facing the North as set in the user data.
If a hotspot has a hotspot pointing East then the next node will open looking East.

The Backward view adds 180 degrees so will look the way you came.
Example if you have three nodes then the hotspot in node two that opens node three, set it to Backward.
When you click this hotspots you open node three facing the way you came.

Target will use the view as set in the target view box.

The fastest way to set up this is either use Forward then use the "N" key so show the compass in the viewer which you can then just quickly click and drag the compass in the viewer or use the target view in the hotspot viewer mode.

For future if you shoot and stitch your panos so they all face the same direction then Forward will do as you require, always moving forward.
Regards,
Hopki
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BrideValley
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:13 pm
Location: England

Hi Martin
Thanks for that. Upon further investigation I have discovered the hotspot list view (never looked at it before!) that has revealed in some cases that there is more than one link between some of the nodes. I have gone through the whole tour, removing those that are duplicates, Making sure that all those remaining have a Forward target.
There were a surprising number of duplicate links. It's taken me a few days to build this tour and I've created, deleted and recreated links many times - but I wonder how this could happen? It would seem that links persist between nodes even if there's no blue arrow between the nodes on the Tour Map. My standard practice is to select a few appropriate thumbnails in the Tour Browser and click on the Sequential link tool in the Tour Map window . . .
Regards
Simon
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Hopki
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Hi Simon,
I have not had any reports that Pano2VR is making duplicate links so I can only assume this was done when making your tour, that said I am not dismissing it either.
Trying to think how this may of happened.
Did you set any hotspots manually in the view in hotspot mode, if you did then use Auto linking then this may be the reason.

It is possible to have manually added hotspots will then run along the same blue line so you only see the one.
May be try just select closet node when auto linking but will no nodes selected so it applies it to all nodes. You can then use teh tour map to se if all the links are correct.

Of course this only works if all the nodes have location data.
I take it this is not a Street View project.

What would be good is if you could send the complete project without the output folder to support@ggnome.com
Regards,
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BrideValley
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:13 pm
Location: England

Hi Martin
Sorry for the delay - I often forget to check in here until a few days have passed...
I will follow your suggestions with the next tour build and record the steps as I go. I get Pano2VR to add the hotspots to one or two selected nodes at a time, and as I write this I think I realise what may be causing the issue: with 2 nodes selected I have been using the "sequencial" option which of course adds a returning link. D'oh.
Please forgive my stupidity; of course I should be selecting the "closest" option. I will do so from now on.
If only I had a brain...

Many thanks
S
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Hopki
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Hi Simon,
Im glad you got the the bottom of it.
The important part is you know the answer.
Regards,
Hopki
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360Texas
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Brain is a good thing. Glad you have recovered.
Dave
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