Guide to Interactive Panoramas

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What is it?

VR (virtual reality) Photography
Interactive photography
Immersive imaging
360 panoramas
Visual / virtual tours

These are all terms that are often interchangeable. VR photography gives you the opportunity to look around inside an image and explore different points of view.

Cylindrical Panorama

	How are they made? The panoramas on this site are constructed from multiple images which are "stitched" together. They are then shown as either cylindrical or cubic. Both have 360 degrees of view, however the cubics offer the advantage of being able to look all the way up and down.
QuickTime vs Java We offer two options for viewing panoramas: QuickTime and Java. QuickTime, a free application from Apple, is renowned for it's ability to display high quality full screen VR panoramas. Unfortunately it does require a hefty download (12MB) which can be a deterrent to people with slow internet connections. However the popularity of Apple's iTunes has greatly increased the prevalence of QuickTime. Java is currently on most computers and is only a small download. It doesn't work as well with large full screen files therefore the panoramas are much smaller. Java is a good alternative for those with slow computers or connections.	Cubic Panorama
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