|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hometour360°™ Self-Service Help
Contents Self Service customers use iPIX camera technology to capture 360X360, fully immersive virtual tour images. Self Service tours are created using the Homestore hometour360º™ Wizard software, and uploaded to the internet using PicturePath™. Using the hometour360º™ Wizard 3.5H, images can be:
Using the Homestore PicturePath™ Web site, images can be:
Features
In order to create iPIX® immersive images with the hometour360°™ Wizard you'll need an iPIX-compatible camera, a tripod, a Rotator, a 180° fisheye lens, and a supply of Image Keys. For additional product information, to place an order or to purchase Image Keys, visit the hometour360°™ Marketplace. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between an immersive virtual tour and a panoramic virtual tour? What is the difference between an immersive virtual tour and a panoramic virtual tour?
What is Homestore’s relationship with iPIX®? iPIX® is an important and valued strategic partner. Homestore will continue to offer the patented 360x360 immersive imaging technology exclusively in the residential real estate market as well as to homebuilders and REITs. Homestore has licensed the IPIX® technology and will continue to offer this world-class solution through the Authorized Service Provider Network. An iPIX image places you in the middle of the scene. You can look anywhere: see the design of a vaulted ceiling or the detail of a marble floor. You can even zoom in or out of a scene. iPIX images are created from two hemispheres captured with a camera equipped with a fisheye lens. A hemisphere is a single image captured through a fisheye lens. Two hemisphere images, when digitally stitched with iPIX software, create an immersive iPIX image. If you open an image file produced by a camera equipped with a fisheye lens, the picture appears as a distorted circle. The distortion is removed when the iPIX image is viewed.What is a hometour360º™ Self Service virtual tour? A hometour360º™ Self Service virtual tour is a collection of iPIX images. A tour format, like the Web Tour and the hometour360º™ EGallery, lets you move from scene to scene in the tour by clicking on a button or hyperlink. For instance, let’s say you take images in four rooms at a property. You open those four rooms, called “Locations” or “Scenes” in the hometour360º™ Wizard, and create iPIX images for them using the Wizard software and PicturePath™. When you save your images as an EGallery, the Wizard links all of your images together as a stand alone application called a hometour360º™ EGallery. When you upload your images through PicturePath™, the application links all of your images together on Web pages for a Web Tour.How do I take pictures for iPIX images? iPIX photography uses a digital camera with a fisheye lens and rotator mounted on a tripod. The pictures that your camera system captures are called “hemispheres”. IPIX images are created from hemisphere pairs, so every one iPIX image requires two pictures.1. Select a location. 2. Take the first picture. 3. Rotate the camera. 4. Take the second picture. 5. Transfer images to computer. After the initial pictures are taken, iPIX image creation follows these steps: 1. Open the hometour360º™ Wizard 3.0H software. 2. Select your picture files and name the locations. 3. Build the iPIX image and preview the results. 4. Save and publish your virtual tour. 5. Use PicturePath™ to distribute your virtual tour. Stitching, also called seaming, is the process of aligning and melding two hemispheres into a whole image and blending away the line where the two images are joined, thus removing the “seam”. An iPIX image key is a 30 digit numeric code that allows Self Service customers to seam (or create) four iPIX images (or scenes). Image keys are purchased and stored in an online account with the iPIX store. Image keys need to be transferred directly into the customers hometour360º™ Wizard software prior to creating an iPIX image. Once the keys are transferred into the software they have a 60 day expiry limit. What is an iPIX image certificate? An iPIX image certificate is a 25 digit numeric code that represents an allotted quantity of iPIX image keys. An image certificate can be redeemed online with the iPIX store. Once a certificate is redeemed, the allotted quantity of image keys associated with it will be banked in the customers iPIX store account.How do I navigate an iPIX image? Your mouse controls movement within an iPIX image. You can control the speed,direction and magnification of the image. The navigation actions are explained below.Panning: To move inside the image, hold down the mouse button and point the hand icon in the direction you wish to move. As you move the hand icon around the photograph, the hand points in the direction the iPIX image will move. The hand icon drives the iPIX image slowly if held near the center of the image. The closer the hand is to the imageedge, the faster the iPIX image moves. The space bar returns you to the initial view. Zooming In: The magnifying glass with the plus symbol appears when the cursor is slightly above the center of the iPIX image. When you see this icon, hold down the mouse button toncrease magnification. Zooming Out: The magnifying glass with the minus symbol appears when the cursor is slightly below the image center. When you see this icon, hold down the mouse button to decrease magnification. EGalleries are virtual tours, or linked series of iPIX images, that do not require external viewing software. The iPIX viewer is built into the hometour360º™ EGallery, making these virtual tours a convenient means for delivering images by email or on floppy disks. An Egallery file is produced when creating virtual tours using the hometour360º™ Wizard software. Using the software, the user can add property information, contact information, an active URL, or even a still bitmap image to the executable EGallery program. Navigating EGalleries: You can navigate the iPIX image in the same manner as other iPIX images. The buttons under the iPIX image let you scroll through the locations, turn image rotation off or on, stop the image rotation, and reset the view. You can scroll through the locations by using the arrow buttons or by selecting new locations in the Location menu. hometour360º™ EGallery navigation directions appear in the Help menu. You can open the instructions by clicking on the Help menu and selecting How to Navigate option. PicturePath™ is a Web-based application that allows Self Service customers to upload their iPIX images to the Homestore image server and create an online URL to their virtual tour. Using PicturePath™, customers can select from a list of available posting sites they would like their virtual tour to appear on, including REALTOR.com®. PicturePath allows hometour360° users to select the different features that will be included in their virtual tour. What is VTDN (Virtual Tour Distribution Network)? Using PicturePath™, Self Service customers can choose to distribute their virtual tours to the widest audience of potential buyers via the REALTOR.com® Virtual Tour Distribution Network (VTDN). The VTDN allows customers to maximize the online exposure for their virtual tours. Tours will only deliver successfully to the selected VTDN sites if the listing page for the property is already available on the sites. The network includes distribution of hometour360º virtual tours to over 600 local, regional and national Internet portal, news and information and Real Estate Web sites.What is a 180-degree fisheye lens? It is a camera lens that captures a 180-degree field-of-view. Seaming two hemispheric photographs back-to-back creates a Full 360-degree iPIX image. iPIX® Rotators are tripod attachments, custom-designed for each camera model so that two back-to-back images line up. Rotators are included in iPIX Camera Kits, Starter Packs, and Rotator Packs. iPIX® Rotators keep the camera and tripod stable while perfectly positioning the camera for an exact 180-degree turn to shoot each hemisphere of an iPIX image. A tripod is an adjustable three-legged stand used for supporting photography equipment during a shoot. If you are providing your own tripod, the tripod adapter enables you to attach the iPIX rotator to a standard camera-thread.Who do I call if I have questions about Camera Kits or thehometour360º™ Wizard software? Any questions or concerns about hometour360º™, camera kits or the hometour360º™ Wizard software should be directed to vtsupport@homestore.com or 866-483-4749.Overview: Self Service training sessions empower hometour360º™ Self Service customers with the necessary photographic skills required to capture and create professional virtual tours. The following points are discussed during training sessions to familiarize customers with professional image capture techniques: A. Lighting
B. Seam Placement The iPIX lens provides 185° of coverage resulting in ten degrees of overlapped area when the image hemispheres are joined (the hometour360º™ Wizard software will use this overlapped area to calibrate the image). The contents of the overlapped area should be chosen carefully to generate a professional image:
C. Point of View Determining where to place the camera and tripod is important when capturing image hemispheres:
D. Basic Tips
Building a Tour Once you've installed all required software and captured your images, you'll be ready to create a virtual tour. Creating a virtual tour follows these basic steps:
Creating a New Tour There are two ways to create a new tour. When you first open the hometour360º™ Wizard software, it defaults to a new tour. You can also create a new tour by selecting ‘New’ from the file menu. You can add new scenes to your tour by clicking on the Add Scene tab.Open Images The hometour360º™ Wizard software will pair images with sequentially numbered file names. If the front hemisphere is named, “masterbdrm01.jpg”, the Wizard will automatically open “masterbdrm02.jpg” as the back hemisphere, provided these files are in the same directory. You can open images by dragging and dropping hemisphere files onto the picture windows, or by double-clicking on the picture windows and selecting your images. Hemisphere images can be loaded directly from the camera using a serial cable, or transferred using an external USB card reader, FlashPath FloppyDisk adapter, or PCMCIA card reader based on camera type.To open images:
Select Scene Types Before a virtual tour can be created, every image pair in the tour must be assigned a location type.
Tripod Cap Logos Using the hometour360º™ Wizard software, customers are able to add their own custom tripod cap logo to their virtual tour. In the ‘Scene Options’ menu, the customer will be able to load the selected image. The following parameters must be met for the logo cap to effectively appear in each scene:
Image Processing/iPIX Image Resolution Customer’s can manually adjust the hometour360º™ Image Processing and iPIX Image Resolution settings from the ‘Scene Options’ menu. (The adjustments made by the customer can be previewed when calibrating image hemispheres) Enter Agent Information The information you enter on the Agent Information screen is used whenever ahometour360º™ EGallery tour is created. The Agent Info provides the real estate agent’s name, office/company name, phone number, address, email address and Web page address that is displayed on the EGallery tour. To enter this information:
A .bmp or .jpg image by double clicking the image window entitled ‘Photo’. This image will appear in the Egallery program. Many customers will add their own photo or logo to this field of the Egallery. There are no size restrictions for the image being loaded. Save the Tour in the Address Book Whenever you make changes to tours, you should save them in the Address Book. While saving your virtual tour in the Address Book is not required, it will preserve the work you have done for later reference. To save a tour in the Address Book:
Image Keys- iPIX Store Account Overview In order to create a hometour360º™ Self Service virtual tour, customers will need to setup an iPIX store account and purchase image keys or redeem image certificates. The customers’ iPIX Store account will act as a repository for all image keys or certificates they have purchased or redeemed. When a customer is ready to create a virtual tour they can transfer images keys online directly into their hometour360º™ Wizard software, and use them to stitch their hemisphere images into iPIX 360X360 images. Creating an iPIX Store Account 1. Go to http://www.ipixstore.com2. Click on “create an account” 3. Complete the registration form (ensure that all fields labeled in blue are filled out) 4. Enter the hometour360º™ Serial Number (this number in the title bar when the hometour360º™ Wizard software is running. 5. Verify all information is correct and complete account setup Purchasing iPIX Image Keys 1. Login to iPIX Store account on main page2. Select ‘Purchase iPIX Image Keys’ 3. Select ‘For U.S. Residential Real Estate Market’ on the Key Purchases screen 4. Enter the quantity of keys being purchased and select ‘Continue’ 5. In the Billing Information screen, choose if the image keys are to be downloaded to the hometour360º™ Wizard software selected (Serial Code), or banked into the customer account. 6. Fill out the necessary credit card billing information. 7. Select ‘Place Order’ (keys will automatically be banked into customer account or downloaded to software based on selection) Redeeming Image Certificates 1. Login to iPIX Store account on main page.2. Select ‘Redeem a Certificate’ 3. Input 25 digit certificate number and click ‘Continue’ once the number has been entered 4. Verify Serial Code where keys will be deposited 5. Retrieve the 30 digit key number that will appear on the screen (this information will also be emailed to the customer email address on file) 6. Input the 30 digit key code into the hometour360º™ Wizard software when loading the program. When you publish a tour, the Wizard software creates iPIX images from thehemisphere files. Before you can publish a tour, every scene must have a scene name and hemispheres or images assigned. To create a Web tour, you can then use PicturePath™ to upload the images and distribute the tour to a large selection of real estate Web sites available through the VTDN. To publish a tour:
PicturePath™ is a Web-based application that can be found at: Using PicturePath™ Self Service customers are able to upload their finished iPIX images and create an online Web tour. PicturePath™ allows customers to distribute their Web tour to the largest real estate Website network via the REALTOR.com® Virtual Tour Distribution Network (VTDN). The online Web tour can be outfitted through PicturePath™ with the DeskTop Tour, and Find Out More lead generating application. Self-Service Customer Care and Technical Support:vtsupport@homestore.com or 866-483-4749 (Monday - Friday 6am PST - 5pm PST) |
|
Homestore, Inc. reserves the right
to supplement or modify coverage information without notice.
|
|
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
© Copyright Homestore, Inc., 1999-2003. All rights reserved.  Equal Housing Opportunity. |