how to create virtual tours

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How to Make a Virtual Tour

Last Updated: February 9, 2024 Tested

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Jack Lloyd . Jack Lloyd is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. He has over two years of experience writing and editing technology-related articles. He is technology enthusiast and an English teacher. The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 186,295 times. Learn more...

This wikiHow teaches you how to shoot and edit a 360-degree tour of a house. While you'll need a camera capable of shooting 360-degree panoramas, you can use a free website to piece together, host, and publish your video.

Recording Your Tour

• You'll also need a tripod for the camera.

• If you end up installing an app on your smartphone, you may have to pair your phone with the camera via Bluetooth. Some cameras can also pair via Wi-Fi.

• Keep in mind that you may have to take multiple shots within a few feet of each other if you plan on transitioning through a doorway. [1] X Research source
• The service you'll use to piece together your footage allows a maximum of 25 photos.

• The photos can usually be found in a "DCIM" folder on the camera or its SD card.
• If you're using the camera's SD card, you may have to place the SD card in a USB adapter and then plug the adapter into one of your computer's USB ports.

Creating Your Tour

• Enter an email address in the "Email" text box.
• Enter a password in the "Password" text box.
• Re-enter your password in the "Password confirmation" text box.
• Click Create account .
• Enter your email address and password, then click login .

• Click Upload panoramas under either the "Spherical" or "Cylindrical" heading.
• You can upload a maximum of 25 photos at 20 megabytes apiece.
• Click Open .
• Wait for the photos to finish uploading.

• Click once the panorama.
• Click an indicator shape (this is what a user will click to move to the next scene).
• Click the "Select type of hotspot" text box, then click Transition in the drop-down menu.
• Click the next scene's panorama in the "Select the destination panorama" section.
• Scroll down and click Save .

Publishing the Tour

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The 5 Best Websites to Create Virtual Tours

If you want to showcase your space, you can use these powerful websites to quickly and easily create virtual tours.

If you’re looking for virtual reality tools to showcase your space, there are many websites to choose from.

Virtual tours have made a considerable impact in creating a real life element to spaces online. Instead of merely using a group of gallery photos, you’re able to get a realistic feel of a place without having to physically be there.

Here are five websites you can use to create virtual tours.

If you're looking for an easy way to create a virtual tour, this is a great place to start. Kuula allows you to provide an experience of your space. Instead of a boring slide show, Kuula helps you create a 360-degree tour.

Creating a virtual tour on Kuula is simple. All you have to do is create an account, and you're good to go. You can upload and arrange your panoramic shots and have your virtual tour ready in minutes.

Kuula offers a free plan where you can share up to 100 uploads per month. If you’ll need unlimited uploads or advanced features, you can opt for the Pro plan for $16/month.

Related: Outdoor Virtual Tours to Get Back to Nature With Hikes, Dives, and Spelunking

2. Matterport

Matterport is one of the largest 3D platforms for virtual tours. This tool can be used by anyone, whether you want to share your space with friends and family or you might want to create a tour of your professional property. This tool doesn’t only capture a 360 view, it captures the depth of your space by combining a 360 view with 3D data.

Matterport can help you capture your space professionally through a 3D capture technician, starting at $129. But, you don't have to use an advanced technician to create your virtual tour. You can also do it yourself using your iPhone.

Matterport offers a free plan, a starter plan for $9.99/month, and a Pro plan for $69/month.

3. Metareal Stage

With Metareal Stage, you can use 360 images to create your virtual tour. Metareal Stage lets you create more than a 3D tour, you can also create a 3D model and model view.

A unique feature on Metareal Stage is “Build It For Me”, which basically does the job for you. All you have to do is upload your panorama shots and your virtual tour is created. This feature costs $4 per panorama.

Metareal Stage works well with a 360 camera, a DSLR, or if you have a rotator, you can use your phone camera. You can build your virtual tours for free. However, if you're looking for more features, you'll pay between $9.95 to $39 per month.

4. CloudPano

While CloudPano is used by multiple brands across industries, it’s not restricted to marketers and business owners. CloudPano is an easy to use 360 virtual tour software that can be used by anyone.

To use this tool, you simply have to sign up for an account. You can upload an unlimited amount of 360 photos under a free plan. However, your tours will expire after 120 days. If you're using this tool for your business and need additional features, you can pay $10 per tour or choose the Pro Plus plan for $33 per month.

If you want to create aerial virtual tours for large spaces such as a golf course, Roundme is the tool for you.

With Roundme, you can use portals to allow people to easily navigate across your panoramic tour. You can also get inspired by a community of 360 photographers and contributors on the website.

Roundme offers a free account with up to 15 uploads per week. If you want access to unlimited uploads, the Pro account costs $8.25/month.

Related: The Best Free Virtual Travel Experiences Worth Checking Out

Use Virtual Tours to See the World

The above websites are all amazing and will surely help you create virtual tours. But, virtual tours aren't only useful for showcasing your space.

With virtual tours, you don't have to worry about distance. If you want to view some of the world’s most desired places, you can use virtual tours to do that.

See how Cvent can solve your biggest event challenges. Watch a 30-minute demo.

The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Tours

The  COVID-19 pandemic  has accelerated the virtual tour industry's growth, revolutionizing how businesses operate. With its versatility and adaptability, virtual tours are an indispensable asset for  event venues , offering numerous benefits such as increased bookings and an immersive customer experience.

In this blog, we'll explore the key advantages of virtual tours and provide essential tips for creating a successful virtual tour experience. From harnessing the power of technology to understanding your target audience, unlock the secrets to staying competitive in your industry.

What Is a Virtual Tour?

A virtual tour is a digital representation, sometimes using 3D rendering techniques, that recreates the experience of exploring a physical location. It often uses interactive features called "hotspots" that let you move from one area to another.

Virtual tours go by many names – digital tour, panoramic tour, 360 tour, 360-degree tour, 3D tour, immersive experience, interactive tour, online tour, remote tour, and virtual reality – but they all aim to simulate the experience of physically walking through and interacting with a space.

Types of Virtual Tours

Virtual tours are a fantastic way to experience a location without being there, and they come in different types with unique features. Let's explore these main types of virtual tours:

360 Virtual Tour

This is one of the most accessible and common types of virtual tours. It provides a 360-degree view of a space, allowing users to look around from any angle. These tours are typically created by merging multiple camera shots or using a 360-degree camera to capture the entire environment.

They are easy to develop and can be embedded in websites and apps, making them widely accessible. 360 virtual tours benefit real estate listings, tourism destinations, and event venues by giving prospective clients or customers a virtual walk-through experience.

3D Virtual Tour

As the name suggests, this type of tour offers a three-dimensional experience. The entire environment of the tour is created in 3D, allowing users to explore a location in a more immersive and realistic way.

3D virtual tours are often more detailed and interactive than 360-degree tours and can be accessed through web applications or mobile, desktop, and other platforms. These types of tours can even be used to populate fictional or long-gone locations, making them applicable to various industries and use cases.

Virtual Reality (VR) Tour

Taking virtual tours to the next level, VR tours provide an unprecedented level of immersion and realism. With a headset and appropriate software, users can feel like they are standing in the location and taking in the surroundings. VR tours are created in 3D, allowing users to look around by moving their heads and interacting with the environment using controllers with the headset.

According to a  recent study , the virtual reality market is projected to reach $165.91 billion by 2030, indicating the growing popularity of this technology. This type of tour is ideal for destinations like museums, archaeological sites, and venues where offering an immersive experience is valuable.

Where Are Virtual Tours Used? 

Virtual tours have become a powerful tool adopted by various industries to enhance their marketing efforts, provide immersive experiences, and improve customer engagement. Here are some industries that use virtual tours:

Events and Conferences

Virtual tours are a key tool in  venue sourcing  for event organizers. They provide a realistic, immersive view of a venue's layout, amenities, and configurations, aiding in informed decision-making. Unlike traditional 2D plans or static images, the latest virtual tours allow a three-dimensional visualization of the space, enhancing understanding of traffic flow and seating arrangements to ensure venue suitability.

For hotels and hospitality venues, virtual tours are vital for  venue marketing  and showcasing facilities and ambiance to potential clients. They help attract bookings by offering a virtual experience of the property, which is particularly beneficial for venues in scenic locations or with unique features.

Brick and Mortar Businesses

Many physical businesses, such as retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and museums, use virtual tours to provide potential customers with an interactive and immersive experience of their premises. This allows customers to "visit" these places virtually even before making an actual trip.

Real Estate

Real estate agents often create virtual tours for properties to offer potential buyers a more comprehensive and convenient way to view listings. Virtual tours can include 360-degree views of different rooms, providing a better understanding of the space and layout than static images alone.

Real estate developers also use virtual tours to showcase off-plan or unfinished properties to potential buyers. This lets buyers visualize the finished project and make more informed purchasing decisions.

Tourism and Travel

The tourism industry widely uses virtual tours to promote destinations, hotels, and attractions. Virtual tours enable potential travelers to get a glimpse of a location's beauty, culture, and amenities before planning their actual trip.

Art and Culture

Art galleries, museums, and historical sites often create virtual tours to provide access to their collections and exhibitions to a broader audience. Virtual tours can include interactive features, such as zooming capabilities and audio guides, to offer an immersive and informative experience.

Automotive Industry

Automotive companies use virtual tours to showcase the interior features and designs of their vehicles. It gives customers a more interactive and engaging experience than traditional static images or videos.

What Are the Main Advantages of Virtual Tours?

Virtual tours offer significant advantages for businesses looking to attract clients, including:

1. Expanding Customer Reach and Access

With virtual tours, businesses can market spaces and offerings to a nearly unlimited global audience online – far broader than feasible via in-person tours alone. The expanded access and visibility also aid Search Engine Optimization, helping drive more organic traffic.

2. Empowering Informed Decision Making

By navigating location renderings, clients can evaluate layouts, capacity, amenities, etc., in detail before committing to customizing spaces in their mind's eye. It empowers selection based on precise needs and preferences versus relying solely on imagination.

3. Enhancing Visualization

Virtual tours allow clients to tour sample event setups and decor rather than just empty space. This visual evidence lends confidence by demonstrating venues successfully hosting relevant events with suitable arrangements and amenities.

4. Improving Sales Efficiency

Exploring options virtually expedites decision-making by enabling rapid, self-guided tours of shortlisted spaces instead of lengthy in-person visits. This pre-qualification yields more qualified booking leads.

5. Increasing Bookings

With more informed clients focused on preferred options, virtual tours ultimately convert interest into more booked events. They set accurate expectations while expanding visibility to more potential booking leads.

How to Create a Virtual Tour

Creating a virtual tour involves capturing 360-degree images of a space and stitching them together using appropriate software. This can be achieved by following a few simple steps:

Select Your Equipment

You don’t need to invest in an expensive setup to start creating virtual tours. It’s even possible to buy an affordable fisheye lens adapter for your phone to create the wide-resolution photos you need. However, if you’re looking for the best quality, you may want to upgrade to a full DSLR camera (for a hefty price, of course).

After you pick your camera, you’ll also want to ensure you have a tripod that can rotate on an axis so you can capture all aspects of a room in a steady, controlled way.

Choose Your Virtual Tour Software

After you find a camera that can capture your images, you’ll want to decide what type of virtual tour software you’ll use to stitch them all together. You have several options with benefits and trade-offs for various event design needs and budgets.

Plan Out Your Photos 

Before recording your footage, you must plan your walk-through and know where to place the camera in every room. Ideally, you’ll want to go to the center of the room to capture it in its entirety. However, in rooms that aren’t symmetrical, you may need to find a different location, so test it out.

Because the virtual tour mimics walking through the site, you must also plan your route. For example, you can’t start from the stage and then jump down to the lobby – the connection simply won’t make sense. Try to shoot your footage logically, and do not skip any important spaces. Use an  event design software  to plan the layout, if required.

Test Your Equipment and Lighting 

When it’s finally photo day, test your camera, equipment, and angles for a final time. Make sure your tripod is level to prevent crooked or warped photos.

Next, go to each meeting room and see what the photos look like. Is the lighting too dark? Try the overhead light. Still too dark? You may want to have extra lighting on hand to illuminate the room.

Also, ensure you and the camera aren’t reflected in mirrors or windows. If you do notice a reflection, adjust your angle.

Take Your Photos and Upload Them to Your Software 

Finally, the most important part – taking the photos! Follow your shoot checklist, and don’t be afraid to take multiple pictures in each room, just in case. After you have all your photos captured, it’s time to upload them to the software you’ve chosen.

Once your tour is created, add music, room descriptions, interactive links, and more. To create engaging and interactive 3D virtual tours, consider using  3D virtual tour software  to create immersive experiences.

10 Ways to Maximize the Reach of Virtual Tours

The key to maximizing the reach of your virtual tour is to adopt a multifaceted and creative approach to marketing and promotion. Continuously seek new opportunities, adapt to changing trends, and engage with your audience to build momentum and sustain interest in your virtual tour experience.

Here are some tactics you can use to maximize the reach and impact of your virtual tours.

1. Optimize for Search Engines:  Utilize relevant keywords, meta tags, and descriptions to make your virtual tour and its dedicated web page discoverable through search engines. This increases the chances of your target audience finding your tour organically while looking for related content.

2. Collaborate with Influencers and Industry Experts:  Partner with influencers or industry experts with a substantial following or engagement in your target niche. Having them promote or endorse your virtual tour can expand its reach to a wider audience and boost credibility.

3. Host Virtual Tours for Influencers and Media:  Invite influencers, media representatives, or other relevant individuals to experience your virtual tour first-hand. Providing exclusive access can encourage them to feature or share your tour with their audiences, which can be a powerful form of social proof and organic promotion.

4. Leverage Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and Listing Platforms:  List your virtual tour on online travel agencies (OTAs) or listing platforms specific to your industry. This allows individuals searching for virtual tour experiences to discover your tour directly, expanding your reach to a targeted audience.

5. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC):  Empower visitors of your virtual tour to create and share their experiences through user-generated content. This can include sharing photos or videos of their virtual tour experience on social media with branded hashtags, which helps generate organic word-of-mouth marketing and expands your reach.

6. Run Contests and Promotions:  Launch contests or promotions around your virtual tour experience. Encourage participants to engage with your tour and share their experiences on social media, with the chance to win prizes or discounts. It creates a buzz around your tour and attracts a wider audience.

7. Utilize Paid Advertising:  Consider investing in paid advertising on social media platforms or search engines to promote your virtual tour. Targeted ads can help reach a wider audience and drive more immediate traffic to your tour, especially when combined with compelling visuals and copy.

8. Create a Virtual Tour Trailer or Sneak Peek: Produce a short trailer or sneak peek video showcasing your virtual tour's highlights. Distribute this video across social media platforms to generate excitement and interest among potential visitors.

9. Cross-Promote with Other Local Businesses:  Collaborate with local businesses or establishments related to your virtual tour theme. Cross-promote each other's content or offer joint discounts or packages to attract a combined audience and boost visibility for both parties.

10. Engage with Visitors and Respond to Feedback:  Monitor visitor interactions with your virtual tour and engage with them by responding to comments, reviews, or social media posts. Leverage positive feedback and use constructive feedback to improve your tour and overall user experience.

5 Tips to Create Effective Virtual Tours 

To create an effective virtual tour, focus on engaging your audience and providing them with an immersive experience that showcases your brand's unique value. Here are some tips to create an impressive virtual tour:

1. Set Clear Goals:  Begin by defining your marketing objectives. Determine why you want to create a virtual tour and what you want to achieve. Having well-defined goals will help measure the tour's success and align your efforts.

2. Incorporate Brand Storytelling:  Use the virtual tour to tell your brand's story. Create a narrative communicating your brand message and showcasing what makes your offering unique. This will help in creating a memorable experience for your audience.

3. Keep It User-Centric:  Just as you wouldn't hand out a pamphlet and walk away when hosting clients in person, your virtual tour should be designed with your audience's interests in mind. Consider what they want to see and create a tailored experience that resonates with them.

4. Ensure Technical Functionality:  A virtual tour should be more than just an experience; it should have strategic functionality that guides users toward your desired outcomes. Consider including interactive elements, audio guides, or other features that enhance the user's experience and align with your key messaging.

5. Focus on High-Quality Visuals:  Pay close attention to lighting and visual elements to create a high-quality virtual tour. Ensure indoor spaces are well-lit and that any outdoor tours are conducted on days with favorable weather conditions. Consider additional elements that can enhance the visual appeal of the tour and capture your audience's attention.

Stepping Into the Future with Virtual Tours

Virtual tours are the future of how we experience spaces. Whether checking out an event venue or touring a dream house, these tours are changing the game. And with tools like 3D virtual tour software , we're not just talking about looking at pictures – it's about stepping into a new world.

Hope Salvatori

Hope is a Senior Content Marketing Associate who has been with Cvent for more than two years. She has 8 years of experience producing content for corporations, small businesses, associations, nonprofits, and universities. As a content professional, she has created content for a wide range of industries, including meetings and events, government and defense, education, health, and more.

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How to create Interactive Virtual Tours in 7 easy steps? 8 min read

Want to be ahead of your competitors and provide an engaging customer experience?  Our most recent innovation at Dot.vu, Interactive Virtual Tours , provide plenty of possibilities to engage customers with interactive experiences within a virtual environment. Interactive Virtual Tours gives you the possibility to organize educational tours, showroom events, trade shows, and many other opportunities to bring people virtually together. 

Why are virtual tours gaining traction? They’ve proven to be one of the most effective tools for keeping users engaged on a website, often extending their stay by 5-10 times . Stay ahead by creating compelling, interactive content that captures your audience’s attention. Be agile and flexible for your next event by inviting customers to an Interactive Virtual Tour.

Curious to learn more and explore the potential it holds for you?

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the process of creating an Interactive Virtual Tour—from ideation to promotion and monitoring results.

Read more here: What is an Interactive Virtual Tour?

7 Steps to Creating an Interactive Virtual Tours 

Let’s jump straight into how to start creating your Interactive Virtual Tour! 

1. Define   

Before you start creating your first Interactive Virtual Tour, consider and define your business objectives. For example, are you promoting a new product or thinking of holding a conference? Are you planning to increase your company’s customer engagement? Do you want to generate more qualified leads, or do you want to get more customer insights?  

It is crucial to have specific objectives in mind, to help steer the project in the right direction and measure the right KPIs. That will help you create your tour as interactive and engaging as possible. 

2. Plan Your Interactive Virtual Tour 

When it comes to mapping it out, you need to go through several checkpoints. First, ensure that you scope out and specify all the details of your projects. That way, you have a clear plan that everyone can understand and easily follow. 

Location 

Before you start creating Interactive Virtual Tours, think about the location you want to use. To make your location virtual, use either 360° pictures generated from a 3D model or just upload a panoramic 360° image of your desired environment. You can go to a real-life location and take 360° panorama images with your phone camera. Or you can rent 3D image equipment and create a 3D model of any location. For more lifelike feeling, use 3D generated images, typically comprised of multiple 360 images, allowing people to go from one location to another, just like you would do in the physical world. 

Interactive features 

Next up, you must decide which interactive elements you will include in your Interactive Virtual Tour. Depending on your previously defined objectives and theme, you can enrich your Interactive Virtual Tour with some interactivities, such as  Guided Selling ,  Interactive Videos , different types of Marketing Games , Interactive Flipbooks , and much more. Once you have decided, you can start mapping out the location of interactivities within your tour. Play around with the rules of our reality to make the experience even more lifelike. For example, you can have a time-based room that only opens at a specific time, or there is a limit on how many people can enter a room at the same time. 

Customer journey 

Once you have built the foundation of your Interactive Virtual Tour, it is time to become creative. Branch out the customer journey and think about: How do you want the customer journey to be? Where do you want the customers to go to? Which Interactive features could you place in which part of your Interactive Virtual Tour? For instance, you add so-called “hotspots” to the entrance, so your customers have guidance on where to go next in your Interactive Virtual Tour. Or you could invite to only one room with a few interactivities. 

3. Create your Interactive Virtual Tour 

Now, let’s learn how to create an Interactive Virtual tour with our virtual tour software . Once your plan is in place, it is time to start creating your experience. As the first step, simply drag the Interactive Virtual Tour component to your page, then upload the different 360° images you would want to use in the experience. Once this is in place you can simply drag any interactive component or navigation points to make it all interactive. 

The more interactivity you implement, the more engaged your customers will be with what you offer. The sky is the limit, so get creative. If you are looking for ideas, get inspired by our Interactive Virtual Tours example.  

4. Define KPIs and data to collect

As with any online experience, it’s important to set up and define the KPI’s of your success. That will help you to learn more about your customers and measure your campaign success. You do this easily by adding any trigger to count up a specific KPI once your customers engage or click on a specific interactive element. All KPIs and data collected can be viewed and exported from the Dashboard of the experience or directly integrated into your preferred system. At Dot.vu, you also have the choice to integrate with different platforms such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, and many more. 

5. Publish your Interactive Virtual Tour 

It is time to review your Interactive Virtual Tour one more time before you promote it. Consider using existing data from other marketing and sales activities to optimize this campaign. Also, use this step as an opportunity to maximize your SEO with a meta-title and description. After that, you are ready to publish your Interactive Virtual Tour, embedded it in your website, native mobile app, or run it as a full landing page experience and watch the magic happen!  

6. Promote your Interactive Virtual Tour 

To make your campaign successful, make sure to promote it on your marketing channels. Ensure your customers are informed about this experience to take part in. Let them know through your social media, email newsletter, blog, or website. Remember to use “Call-to-action” to encourage users to check out this tour of yours. As a result, improve your brand awareness and increase customer engagement. To create hype around your event, consider making a pre-sign-up lead form or countdown before the start of your Interactive Virtual Tour. 

7. Evaluate your Interactive Virtual Tour 

Once you have your Interactive Virtual Tour published, try returning to it after a while to track how it performs. Check your behavioural data, such as  first-party and zero-party  data, and find out which Interactive Experiences generate the best results. By measuring how users interact with your Interactive Experiences, you can gain insights to quickly spot potential issues and apply the necessary corrections in real-time. Specifically, this collected data can make your future marketing campaigns more relevant to your audience and build a more meaningful and lasting brand relationship. 

Are you ready to create your Interactive Virtual Tour? 

Become part of this new reality with countless possibilities! If you can dream it, you can create it! So, start building your Interactive Virtual Tour already today and request a demo so we can help you get started. For more inspiration, explore our virtual tour templates !

At Dot.vu, we understand that crafting an Interactive Virtual Tour filled with engaging elements takes time and dedication. Let us bring your vision to life! Our team of Interactive Content experts can transform any idea into a captivating experience, from visualizing your store to crafting a virtual tour for your next event. Schedule a meeting to discuss your concept today:

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Free Virtual Tour App – How to Create a 360 Virtual Tour

Imagine creating captivating virtual tours without breaking the bank.

Free virtual tour app creates stunning 360 virtual tours easily and showcases spaces in an immersive and engaging way. Learn how to create a virtual tour using these apps and bring your space to life online

Free virtual tour app (software) provides a representation of a specific area or location in a 360-degree panoramic view with no cost required. These types of tours are helpful at the time of making the decision on a property purchase. These capture an intuitive view of the area and enable digital transactions. It works on image stitching and 360 cameras and 3D tour techniques.

These user-friendly apps offer a cost-effective solution for creating virtual tours of properties, products, or even travel destinations

Features of  360 Virtual Tour App

Most popular 360 virtual tour app is made with an understanding of the importance of 3D virtual tours and works to ensure that they are operational on both desktop and mobile versions of their website. Most virtual tours have these features:

• Hotspots: To allow viewers to identify, locate, learn and understand the finer details.
• File Recovery: To prevent a virtual tour from being lost, it becomes essential to store it in the cloud.
• Instant Publishing: To record and publish the tour online soon after creation.
• Drag and Drop: Easy drag and drop facility to enable users to identify what works better. Users get to pick things within their virtual home and place it somewhere where it looks better.
• Auto Responsive: The virtual tour resizes to screen size automatically.
• Enlarge and Email Button: There are options to enlarge the objects and email the queries to the creator instantly.
• Map Button: It helps locate or list a business.
• Viewer Traffic Statistics: It is easy to track virtual tours and analyze the source of online traffic.
• Google Street View Style: The 360 images create a walkthrough
• Different Views: Panoramic, 360 degrees, aerial and moving videos
• Professional Photography: It uses a high dynamic range (HDR) for precision.

Why is a virtual tour essential?

Online listings let potential buyers across the country, and even the world, see the property, destination, location and area of products. However, just photos may not be enough to complete the sale. That is the reason why is a virtual tour essential, which allows potential buyers to explore the space before they commit the time to arrive to see the space. Regularly, this means that your listing can receive more widespread engagement and interest which can lead to a sale.

Real estate agents, marketing professionals, and tour operators implement virtual tours to create presentations, scoping their prospects. Free 360 virtual tour software helps realtors or sellers to give a detailed look at the inside of the home or area’s products for sale, helping potential buyers save time by preventing unnecessary in-person visits. The virtual tour enables the tourism industry by showcasing destinations to tourists with inviting immersion. The virtual tour allows teachers: to make their students access virtual tours to visit museums, tour cities, and visit educational locations without the need to spend time and money on a field trip.

Top 3 Free Virtual Tour Apps

Panoee is a cloud platform that supports high-quality, multiresolution panoramas. Especially, it is free of charge with premium features to support users. With a virtual tour app solution, Panoee enables photographers and end-users to edit and publish 360-degree virtual tours. Panoee remains a free virtual tour platform, and as declared in our manifesto, it will always be free.

Click here to get a Free virtual tour app for Android on Google Play

Most valued features by users

• Create free virtual tours that engage your audience

Our editor is simple but packed with powerful features. With the free options, you can create unlimited tours, add labels, custom hotspots,  background audio, interactive cards and floor plans. Create beautiful 3D 360 tours that your users never easily forget!

• The smoothest and most efficient 3D 360 Virtual Tour player on the web

For more marketing efficiency, do not just show images to your clients, give them a more excellent experience. Panoee offers the smoothest and most efficient 3D 360 Virtual Tour player on the web. Perfect to the last detail.

• Easily share, embed and add to listings

Virtual Tours are a great way to increase user engagement. Thanks to Panoee, you can easily add 3D 360 content to your website. The feature of the export allows users to adjust the player settings the way they want. With Panoee you can add custom branding and with business – you can use your own free domain!

• Reach anyone, anywhere

Easy sharing is at the core of Panoee. We want to help you share your Virtual Tours with everyone on the web. In any case, you want to share a tour in a real estate listing, embed it on a website or simply share a link via email – Panoee makes it easy to reach your audience, wherever they are.

• All 360 cameras supported

Panoee supports all 360 images, with all 360 cameras, use a DSLR or render your images with 3D software – they can all be uploaded and shared on Panoee or your own website.

Panoee is used by companies and photographers all over the world. The dedication to quality and usability has made Panoee becomes the leading 3D 360 Virtual Tour platform. Currently, Panoee supports monthly Subscriptions. You can switch between the “Befriend” plan (FREE) & “Companion” plan (PREMIUM) . Essentially your Projects will still stay on the platform when you stop subscribing, and your Virtual Tours will continue to be accessible usually without any restriction, including advanced features. Your Plan will switch to the “Befriend” Plan automatically, and still access all your Projects’ editors. Users can keep using free features while the premium ones are locked from editing, besides uploading new media if the user storage is not exceeding 20Gb of free data.

2. CloudPano

You can create 360 virtual tours to showcase your property in full 360 and VR with CloudPano. In case, you’re marketing a hotel room or a new home, CloudPano makes it easy to create beautiful, immersive experiences for your customers.

Kuula enables businesses in the real estate, hospitality, architecture, and education sectors to create, edit, and share 360-degree virtual tours with the audience. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a compliant platform helps organizations add their custom corporate logos to the interface, enhancing brand value across the web.

How to Create a 360 Virtual Tour for Free

But how do you actually create a 360 virtual tour online using a free app? Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:

1. Choose Your App : Several excellent free virtual tour apps are available, each with its own strengths and features. Research and choose one that best suits your needs and technical expertise.

2. Capture Panoramic Images : Most free virtual tour apps allow you to capture panoramic images directly within the app using your smartphone’s camera. Alternatively, you can upload existing panoramic photos.

3. Stitch and Edit : The app will stitch your panoramic images together to create a seamless virtual tour. Many apps also offer basic editing tools to adjust lighting, add text overlays, or include background music.

4. Share Your Creation : Once your virtual tour is complete, the app allows you to share it easily. You can embed it on websites, social media platforms, or even send it directly to potential viewers. Free virtual tour apps open doors to creative expression and immersive storytelling, all at an accessible price point.

Whether you’re a real estate agent showcasing properties, a travel blogger sharing experiences, or simply someone wanting to share a special space, free virtual tour apps empower you to create and share captivating virtual experiences.

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If you are looking for a Kuula alternative, you should consider Panoee, the smart virtual tour software for everyone.

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• 360 Tour Builder
• 11 Hotspot Types
• Publish Google Street View
• Publish 360 Virtual Tour
• Marketing Virtual Tour
• 360 Photography Portfolio
• Customize Design & Brand
• Virtual Staging
• 360 Panorama Cloud Storage
• Collaboration
• Multi-Language

360° Virtual Tour Creator

Create & publish your virtual tours online. start for free., a powerful application for unlimited creativity.

Theasys builds the most powerful and flexible tools for anyone to create and publish a 360° Virtual Tour. Whether your are a Real Estate Agent, 360° photographer, web designer, hotelier or travel agency, Theasys' Application with its unmatched functionality, ease of use and professional approach helps you create the most beautiful & elegant panoramic tours for your users. Thousands of individuals, amateurs & professionals, from around the world are more creative and selling faster by building their Virtual Tours on Theasys.

VR Editor Features

• Unlimited Panoramas & Virtual Tours
• Sophisticated Linking Module
• Live Panorama Enhancing
• Powerful Hotspot Editor
• Hotspot Transitions & Effects
• Font icons, custom images, 3D text & more
• Polygon Drawing Tool
• Object Presets & Enhancement Recipes
• Maps, Floor Plans & Orientation Indicator
• Nadir & Zenith Patch
• Background Sounds
• Projection & Behavior Adjustments
• Unlimited Hotspot Views
• Device Preview
• Full Spherical & Cropped Panoramas Support
• Keyboard Shortcuts

Embed & Customization Options

• Unlimited Embeds
• Custom Branding
• Panorama Thumbnail Stack
• Custom Look & Feel
• Virtual Tour Share Links
• Specific Point of View Share Links
• Hotspots Options per Embed
• Download & Self-host Tours
• Floating Arrows Navigation
• Cookies Consent Popup

Advanced Embed Options

• Multiple Embeds
• Google Analytics Tracking
• Password Protection
• Domain Specific
• SEO Options
• Wordpress Plugin

Security & Performance

• Amazon Cloud Unlimited & Secure Storage
• Max Delivery Speed through Global CDN
• Automatic Updates for All
• Advanced Caching Technology
• Lightweight VR Viewer

Virtual Events & Trade Shows

Your Own Interactive 360° Business

Training and Onboarding

SeekBeak: 360° Interactive Virtual Tours

The ultimate hosted 360° photo & virtual tour system.

SeekBeak is a toolkit which offers unparalleled control of 360º and flat images, virtual tours, and audience data. Create unique interactive experiences, track what’s working, and customize our platform to fit with your brand.

Try SeekBeak for FREE

Create Professional and User-Friendly Virtual Tours with SeekBeak

Maximize your online impact with 360º images and virtual tours tailored to impress and engage your audience. SeekBeak’s 360 virtual tour creator offers high-quality, mobile-optimized tours to leave a lasting impression on your visitors.

Virtual Tours Platform for All Types of Businesses and Use Cases

Experience the versatility and convenience of our virtual tours platform designed for a wide range of businesses and use cases:

• Architecture
• Apartments & Condos
• Assited Living
• Construction
• Commercial & Industrial
• Country Clubs
• Educational Facilities & Training
• Event Venues
• Golf Courses
• Government and Town Planning
• Hotels & Resorts
• Luxury Real Estate
• Real Estate
• Restaurant & Nightclub
• Sports Venues

What is a 360º Virtual Tour?

A 360º tour is a digital representation of a physical space that allows users to navigate and explore the area as if they were physically present. It typically consists of a series of panoramic interactive images stitched together, creating a seamless and immersive XR walkthrough experience

Simplifying Virtual Tour Creation with SeekBeak

How Does SeekBeak’s 360° Virtual Tour Platform Work?

Creating a virtual tour has never been easier with SeekBeak’s 360° virtual tour platform.

Follow these simple steps to bring your space to life:

See the platform in action with our introductory video playlist, showcasing how easy it is to upload, create, and share your virtual tours with SeekBeak.

Key Features of SeekBeak 360° Interactive Photo and Virtual Tour Platform

Experience the full potential of immersive and interactive 360 images with SeekBeak’s virtual tour platform. Our user-friendly platform offers a range of powerful features, including:

Manage Users & Multiple Team Accounts

Manage clients, team members, photographers, designers, (and anyone else), with our comprehensive Team based hierarchical structures and role based security .

Customize Icons, Colours, Branding, Domain Names

Take creative control over each point of user interaction. Easily use your own Domain name, add custom branding, logos, icons, nadir/zenith patches, colors, sizing and more.

Industry Leading Analytics

Discover exactly what users are engaging with, thanks to our comprehensive reporting suite, and deep analytics . Need more? Integrate any 3rd party CRM platforms with our custom scripting support.

Data Capture with Forms

Take bookings, gather contact/registration information, create surveys, generate hot leads, and capture any data that you need, using our fully featured Form Designer .

Security & Support

Unlisted Content, SSL encryption, Whitelisted Domains, Paywalls, Password Protected Content & Two Factor Account Logins. Questions? We offer the best support in the business, with response times that will make your head spin.

Bring 360º & Flat Images to Life

Easily add all manner of interactivity to your experiences using our various Hotspots , and optional custom Overlays . No coding or IT department needed. Upload 360º or flat images. We bring the toolkit, you bring the creativity.

Anti-Static Tours

No more static tours that always go from A to B! Multiple image entry/exit points, per link customizations, and each image can be shared individually and customized.

White-Label Branding Platform

Reselling, or white labelling for a full service 360º appearance? Take your 360º tour business to the next level with our Custom and  Enterprise plans.

Live Guided Video/Audio Tours

Be their guide, with Tour Guide . Invite viewers inside of your experience with a single link, or book it in advance. See and hear every one in real time.

Custom Overlays & UI

Tired of using the same User Interface for your content? Why not make your own! Drag and Drop your way to custom User Interface nirvana with our Overlay Designer .

Custom Transitions

Do the usual walkthroughs, zooms, crossfades and more with our stock transitions, but for something unique, dive into our Custom Transition Designer ! Create custom wipes, timings, animation curves and more!

Add Some Pizazz

Insert images and videos, (including chroma key/green screen), into your content via Polygon Hotspots, easily adding unlimited perspective correct images and motion to your content .

Interactive 360° Virtual Tour Samples

Explore our collection of interactive 360° virtual tour samples and see the potential for your own business or project.

Ronald McDonald House

Virtual Art Exhibition at Carmarthen School of Art

Goldmark Properties

With SeakBeak You Can Simplifying Virtual Tour Creation

Effortlessly Create Interactive 360° Images of Your Business

We have simplified the process of creating interactive virtual experiences with our powerful and user-friendly platform. It is more efficient and cost-effective than ever to create stunning virtual tours online.

What is a Snap?

SeekBeak is not just a Virtual Tour builder, nor is it limited to any specific industry. SeekBeak is a creative 360º and flat image interactivity toolkit which has become one of the best virtual tour apps for many people over the years. In the spirit of keeping things flexible for you, we use the following terms for things:

is a combination of a main equirectangular 360º image, or flat image, along with the Hotspots and associated audio and image files you attach to it.

is a 2D image with navigation Hotspots, which allows your users to easily navigate around. It can be anything from an actual map, an arial view, a brochure, or anything else you like.

is simply a way for you to Group your Snaps. People use Groups for organizing Snaps by virtual tour, real estate property, client, time of year, company division, classroom, course… and some don’t use Groups at all!

Create 360° brand experiences

Brand 360° and Flat Images with your Logo, Colors, URL, and More

Remove SeekBeak branding and replace it with your own for a custom branding experience. Embed your 360° images in your own website or private client pages. 

Custom reporting for your virtual tours and 360° images

Track ROI & User Interest with Deep Analytics

Find out what customers focus on using our heatmap technology and in-depth audience analytics. Premium users can use their existing Google Analytics accounts, or even 3rd party CRMs like Hubspot to integrate SeekBeak data for robust tracking options.

Learn about our reports here.

Save Time & Money With Centralized Account Management & Role-Based Access

Advanced User & Team Management

Set up each client on their sub-account and manage your entire business from one place. Assign different team members to each client with varying role-based access levels, or invite clients to view photos and reports as view-only users. So much is possible (including reselling accounts!) with our enterprise features.

Learn about our Enterprise Features Here

Are You Ready to Take Your Virtual Tours to the Next Level?

Try SeekBeak’s user-friendly and powerful platform for creating interactive 360 tours and images. Our easy-to-use tools allow you to capture, upload, enhance, and share your virtual tours with ease. Sign up for a free account now and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Join over 17,000 Users Who Love SeekBeak

This platform is phenomenal, and everyone I show it to absolutely loves it! From planners, to engineers, real estate execs and economic developers, so in love!

Thank you so much - you guys make everything so easy and seamless that I sometimes don't know how to handle it! We are big fans of your platform.

We used the SeekBeak platform for a virtual contractors expo today and it went flawlessly! We used several of the different features (embedded YouTube videos, forms, maps, multiple room to room hotspots, email inquiries) and even linked to six different Zoom rooms for each digital "booth" so that our attendees could speak face to face with our project managers. We were able to effectively mimic the feel of an actual in-person event and our participants made several compliments about our virtual space. I am amazed at what we were able to pull off today, and that is with ZERO experience coding.

This is really great software, making a 360 virtual tour is shockingly easy with SeekBeak. I expected building something like a virtual tour would take weeks. I managed to get a simple tour up and running within 15 minutes. It's awesome. With the COVID-19 situation, companies are exploring virtual expos/summits as an alternative and SeekBeak is a neat solution for that.

"After the first year at SeekBeak I have had the best experience. The software works solidly and is very easy to use. In one word, PERFECT! ... I think this is the easiest way for everyone."

We use a lot of Blender for creating assets and scenes as well, then we usually use 360 renders as an output for tours now with SeekBeak as it's honestly one of the best platforms we've found. We are also using Unity and Unreal Engine to make a more explorative experience, but it is so much more accessible via your guys platform!

“We have been using SeekBeak for providing a sense of realism to clinical scenarios we use to teach our paramedicine, nursing and physiotherapy students. Self-directed learning and problem solving is encouraged through hotspots of text, pics, audio and external links. Interaction between disciplines has been promoted as we link to one another’s scene- knowing collaboration important in healthcare. Set up is very intuitive and with a brief demo to students- they are off! It has helped prepare them for knowing what might be in an upcoming exam; or presenting case scenarios in a safe though authentic way. Thanks, SeekBeak, and for your continued support."

"SeekBeak has proven to be a very valuable storytelling platform for our agency. We use it to share some of our innovative work, such as 360-degree infographics, corporate case studies and business presentations. With iPhones able to natively read QR codes, there is a lot of potential in linking 360 experiences with physical spaces. As part of our educational efforts, we have also held several workshops to teach how to start creating VR content, right from a smartphone. The main value propositions of SeekBeak are easy of use, cross-platform, rich feature set and strong enthusiastic support from its developer."

"The team at SeekBeak is one of the best we've ever worked with! Their commitment to innovation helps keep us on the leading edge of what's possible with 360° imagery. They take it 10 steps further by providing amazing responsiveness to client feature requests and comprehensive analytics that are unparalleled. SeekBeak is a company that truly exemplifies putting the customer first. Our work with their team has been an amazingly collaborative effort and we look forward to creating many more compelling 360/VR experiences with SeekBeak!"

"SeekBeak made it so easy to create a virtual tour to show off our education space to prospective students. It took us next to no time to set up and feedback from parents and students has been great!"

Create Virtual Tours and Interactive Experiences in Minutes

Many clients call SeekBeak their secret weapon, allowing them to quickly create all manner of branded interactive experiences, giving their clients that wow moment in hours or days, not months.

Being both extremely easy to use, and extremely powerful, is a deadly combination.

Head over to the Examples page, or the Users Group to help get the creative juices flowing. Then try it out for yourself !

Sell Merchandise with eCommerce Embeds

Run an online store? Apply our eCommerce embeds to your 360° store tour and sell products directly. Our system will automatically pull the price, image, and title of your product using your existing store data.

Learn about eCommerce options here.

Design Forms to Capture Data Relevant to You

SeekBeak includes an integrated native Data Capture system, including a Form Designer, multiple Form Field options, full reporting, instant submission results by email, and more.

Optionally require users to complete a Form before they’re able to view a Tour/Image. Great for Virtual Conventions / Town Halls, Lead generation, and more.

Check out the Forms page for more information.

Invite Viewers Inside your Content, with Real Time Audio/Video and Chat

Our Tour Guide feature is perfect for offering remote  Sales / Tours / Conferencing / Inspections / Collaborations / Consultations / Progress Reviews, and more.

Take Your 360 Photo Business To The Next Level

SeekBeak is a flexible and easy-to-use interactive 360 photo and virtual tour platform that makes it easy to manage teams, clients, and a wide range of branding options.Try out our platform for free today.

Virtual Tour Tutorial PRO

It is very easy to create and manage Virtual Tours with Kuula. Tours can be composed of 360 panoramic photos, regular photos or a mix of the two.

Whether you have shot a series of photos in a physical space (house, office, etc...) or you have rendered them using 3D software - you can upload the resulting images to Kuula and turn them into an immersive, interactive presentation.

Step 1. Upload photos

Make sure you have all the photos for the tour grouped in a folder. We recommend that you give the files descriptive names such as kitchen.jpg , bed-room.jpg or main hall.jpg instead of IMG_2847.jpg . Kuula will automatically pull those file names and use them as the post description, so you will know which photo is which. This is not always obvious by looking at the thumbnails alone.

Before you upload, you can choose the level of quality/compression. This setting can be found in the Preferences section, under Photo Compression .

Now, go to the Create Tour section that you can find in the top bar, under Upload or in the side menu. Make sure the first option, named Create Tour , is selected at the top and enter a name for your new tour. We also recommend adding the optional description.

Now, you are ready to add the photos. Drag & drop files from the folder on your computer or select them from the local drive by using the Select Images button. After the photos are all added, they will show up as a grid of thumbnails:

Tour Settings

Under the Tour Settings tab, you can select the type of animated transition used in this tour, enable the Walkthrough Mode or add a background Audio track. If you're not sure what to choose - don't worry, you can easily change them later on!

After you create your virtual tour, you can go back to this section any time to change the setting. To learn more about managing existing tour settings, please refer to this tutorial .

When you are done with the settings, hit the orange Post button at the top right.

Step 2. Build the tour

After this, your images are uploaded and grouped into a tour. You could stop here and share it right away, but it is not a fully featured Virtual Tour yet. What you need are hotspots connections!

The video tutorial below shows the process of connecting a tour composed of 6 images using hotspots:

Creating hotspot connections

Kuula user interface

• Click on the pen icon to enter edit mode.
• Use the thumbnail bar to see the images in the tour and to move between them.
• The Edit tour button gives access to tour settings discussed in Step 1.
• After the tour is ready you can share it as explained in Step 3 below.

• The right hand side panel now shows all the editing tools.
• You can drag & drop the thumbnails on to the panorama to create connections.

Step 3. Share the tour

After you made all of the edits, you are ready to share the tour. There are a lot of ways to do that and it all starts with the Share button located on the left of the tour page, as shown below.

The most important sharing tool at your disposal is located under the Get link or embed code button. This will take you to the Export Editor where you can customize the tour before sharing it. You can enable features such as auto-rotate or auto-play, remove the Kuula UI, add your custom branding and use many other settings.

Once you adjust the settings to your liking, you can grab a unique link to share directly via email or instant message such as Messenger or Whatsapp or you can copy an embed code to add the tour to your website or listing.

Besides that, the share popup offers some "quick" options. You can copy a deep link to the tour or share the tour on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

Do I need a PRO account to create tours?

Most of the functions described above require a PRO account. This includes unlisted posts & tours, hotspots and changing the order of the posts in a tour.

If you are on the Kuula basic/free plan, you can still create tours, but the available options are limited. The Create Tour is limited to 25 images at a time and there is a total limit of 100 uploads every month. Also with the free plan, all hotspots are private, which means you can edit them, but they will not be visible publicly.

With Kuula PRO , you can create public or unlisted virtual tours with no monthly upload limits. You can also share and embed the tours with your own logo or with no branding at all.

Virtual Tour Tutorial

Getting started kuula virtual tour editor..

Virtual Tours and 360/panoramic photos are highly interactive formats. They require Javascript and WebGL to run properly. Please enable Javascript in your browser or use another browser that supports Javascript.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Virtual Home Tour

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The COVID-19 economy has pumped up consumer demand for virtual home tours. These presentations, created using 360-degree and 3D tour technology, provide an immersive experience for viewing homes while limiting in-person contact.

Virtual tours give buyers a perspective on the home’s layout and flow that can’t be achieved with still photos, says consultant Jeff Turner of Santa Clarita, Calif. The tours help buyers weed out houses that are in their price range but that don’t fit their style, says Turner, a consultant to virtual-tour provider Immoviewer and entrepreneur in residence at Second Century Ventures and Reach , the National Association of REALTORS®’ strategic investment arm and award-winning technology accelerator. “Consumers are hungry for the opportunity to have a better online shopping experience, and to me, that’s the promise of 3D, 360-degree virtual tours.”

Data shows that virtual tours drive sales, says Amir Frank, a content manager at Matterport in Sunnyvale, Calif. Matterport studied MLS transaction data from the South, Southwest, Northwest, and Midwest from November 2016 to November 2019. The results showed listings with a 3D tour sold for up to 9% more and closed up to 31% faster than listings without them.

The cost and complexity of virtual tour technology have come down in recent years, making these tours more accessible for real estate professionals. To help you create exceptional virtual home tours, here’s a step-by-step guide to gathering equipment; preparing to shoot and edit the photos; uploading and editing the images; creating the tour from walkthrough to exit on an online platform; and publishing and marketing the tours.

Step 1: Choose Your Equipment and Platform

“We’re in the golden age of 360-degree cameras,” says Turner. “I’ve got within my grasp, right now, six different 360 cameras. All cost between $250 and $500. The cost shouldn’t be a barrier for anyone who’s doing any volume of home sales. I have a 3,400-square-foot house here in Southern California, and I can capture and turn this into a usable tour in less than 20 minutes.

“These are one-click tools,” he adds. “You don’t have to focus them. And the quality of these low-cost cameras has been improving over time dramatically.”

“To shoot a 2,000-square-foot home, it takes this [Ricoh Theta V] between five and 10 minutes,” agrees Peter Schravemade of Maroochydore, Queensland, in Australia, relationship manager for Box Brownie, a company that offers turnkey photo editing, virtual tours, and other services for real estate pros.

Besides its affordability and speed, says Schravemade, the Ricoh camera allows you to “bracket” to create the best possible images. Bracketing means taking the same photo multiple times, each with a different exposure, which helps ensure your tour includes exceptional interior and exterior views. He recommends shooting from three to five different exposures, then editing them together to create a bracketed image.

Matterport’s higher price results from its function as both a camera and a scanner, taking 360-degree tour photos, then creating a dollhouse-like floor plan. The floor plan is the major advantage, says Bill Lublin, CEO of Century 21 Advantage Gold in Philadelphia. Using the “dollhouse” format, viewers can go from room to room easily. However, it takes one to two hours to upload the Matterport tour, so it’s a slower process than what the Ricoh products offer.

Whatever 360-degree camera you use, you’ll also have to download a smartphone app or invest in a hosting platform for your tours. You’ll upload your photos to that platform for storing, editing, and sharing.

Step 2: Organize Photography, Lighting, and Camera Placement

Before you start shooting, open your photography app or hosting platform, and then place your 360-degree camera on your tripod. “I like to take photos exactly how I would move through a house,” says Turner, “starting with the exterior.” Take one photo from across the street and another in the front yard. Photograph both sides of the house if there’s room for your gear; then move around the house, and capture the backyard. When you’ve finished shooting the exterior, open the front door and photograph the entryway. Before taking interior shots, open doors and turn on all the lights. Open blinds and curtains, unless the view detracts from the image. “Then navigate through the house and take photos, as many as is necessary to allow people to flow through it.”

Inside, place the tripod in the center of each room with the camera set at eye height, above furniture and countertops. Then leave the room to take the photo using the smartphone app. You can take one photo per room, unless you’re bracketing your exposures or the size of the room requires more. Large rooms may need two or three images from different positions.

A Matterport camera requires a different workflow. The camera scans every corner of the room, creating a 3D dollhouse-like floor plan. Frank suggests starting at the lowest level and working your way up. Position the camera to take shots from the center of hallways and at each room’s entryway. Then put your Matterport camera in each corner of the room to create a feel for room size; the number of photos will assist the software as it forms the 3D dollhouse model.

Step 3: Upload the Tour

There are hundreds of 360-degree tour providers and hosting platforms, including Matterport, Ricoh360 Tours, Ogulo, Immoviewer, Box Brownie, Giraffe360, and EyeSpy360, says Schravemade. Many have apps that upload your photos as you take them. Editing tools on many of the platforms will stitch your images together for a seamless tour experience.

Costs vary by platform and complexity. Immoviewer has a subscription model that runs from $69 per month for five active tours to $159 per month for 20. Box Brownie uses a pay-as-you-go model in which a tour with up to 15 photos costs $16, one with 16 to 25 photos costs $24; options for image enhancement start at $1.60, and 360-degree virtual staging is priced at $64. The more complex Matterport tours fall in the $250 to $400 range.

Step 4: Create the Tour, From Walkthrough to Exit

Many editing programs, including Box Brownie and Immoviewer, will put your photos in the right sequence as they upload; as long as you take your photos in the order of the flow of the home’s floor plan, they’ll be properly arranged for the virtual tour.

If you’re using Matterport’s software, after you upload your photos, they’re processed into the 3D model in the correct order. You can then start adding “Matter Tags” and highlight reels, embedding videos and brochures, and labeling rooms and dimensions, says Frank.

If you have the editing skills to stitch the images together yourself, Schravemade recommends programs such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, available as an online subscription for $9.99 per month as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud package. (A subscription to the full Adobe Creative Cloud costs $52 per month, but most users need only those two apps.)

With Immoviewer, “those tours are live the moment they’re uploaded. So if you’ve got a good [wireless] connection from the house and you use the app, the moment those images are uploaded, that virtual tour is live and ready to go,” Turner says.

Matterport’s detailed scanning and photography process can take a couple of hours to finish uploading. Once that upload completes, it then takes 24 to 48 hours to process. That’s when you’re able to start tagging and adding specs and points of interest. Box Brownie uses manual stitching for its photo editing process and has a 24-hour turnaround, says Schravemade.

Step 5: Publish and Market the Tour on Multiple Channels

Platforms such as realtor.com®, many MLSs, and social media are ideal places for publishing your virtual home tour. You can embed the tour link in email campaigns and text messages or drop it straight into Facebook, says Schravemade.

Once the images and 3D model have been created, Frank says, the Matterport system “automatically generates photos it thinks are usable in your marketing campaigns, as well as a few short teasers, which are great; you can easily download a GIF or MP4 [video] file and use it in your marketing campaigns.”

Make virtual home tours part of everything you can, whether it’s inexpensively with Immoviewer or Box Brownie or more fully immersive with detailed Matterport tours, Lublin advises. “People are more hesitant to enter properties now, but there’s a tremendous demand, and providing them the ability to see and choose to eliminate properties online is a powerful tool,” he says. “You always want to be seen as tech-forward. Now it’s easy to be tech-forward.”

Turner estimates 95% of listings still don’t have a true virtual tour, even amid the pandemic. “I wish [agents] wouldn’t be so hung up on perfect image quality, especially with a virtual tour,” he says. “Do one, get it up there, and give consumers this experience they’re looking for. A 360-degree camera is going to do a really good job of capturing an above-average image of the room.”

What You Need to Create 3D Home Tours

• Camera: $250–$3,500. Experts interviewed for this article recommended a range of options, including the Ricoh Theta V ($380); Insta360 One X ($456); Ricoh Theta Z1 ($1,000); and Matterport Pro2 ($3,400).
• Tripod or monopod: $25 to $50
• Extra battery: $30 to $40
• Battery charging station: $20 to $40
• App: Virtual-tour providers have apps that enable you to upload 3D photos to create tours.

On a Budget

For about $15, you can get a selfie stick, attach your smartphone to it, and walk through a listing, narrating as you go and pointing out features people might otherwise see more readily in an in-person tour. It’s not a true virtual tour, but it’s an economical way to create a tour to post to social media and aggregator sites.

Hear From the Experts

The National Association of REALTORS®’ recent three-part TechEdge series took a deep dive into virtual tours. The June 30 session, “The Virtual Agent,” was hosted by broker-owner Bill Lublin and featured Jeff Turner and Peter Schravemade. REALTORS® can purchase a recording of the session for $14.95 at nartechedge.com .

Mandy Ellis

Related content, 10 tips for looking your best on video, 6 steps to running a virtual open house.

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How to create Google Maps Virtual Tours (not just 360 photos) automatically

Everyone knows that you can share 360 photos on Google Maps’ Street View. But how would you like to be able to post a virtual tour to Google Maps? Cupix is a software will do it for you automatically. But it won’t teach you how to fight off the hugs and kisses that your clients will inevitably try to give you.

Google Maps Street View Virtual Tours

Google Street View is one of the most popular platforms for sharing 360 photos, particularly of businesses and places. But in addition to 360 photos, Google Street View can also include virtual tours. Here is a sample virtual tour of Disneyland:

By allowing viewers to ‘move around,’ the virtual tour gives viewers an even more immersive view,

Creating a Google Maps Street View Virtual Tour manually

Before we discuss Cupix, I wanted to show you first how to create a virtual tour the conventional way on Street View. Besides uploading the 360 photos, you need to connect them. If they have GPS data, they can be automatically connected. Otherwise, you’ll need to connect them manually. Here’s how to connect them manually: 1. On the Street View app, go to the Profile tab. 2. Select the photos you want to connect and tap on the upper right corner and select “Move and connect photos.” 3. On the next screen, you’ll see all the photos on a map. You’ll then have to position each node in the correct location vis-a-vis each other. 4. Tap on a line between photos to connect them. 5. For each photo, you must also reorient the photo by sliding the equirectangular view left or right. 6. For each photo, you must also place the correct compass orientation by sliding the compass indicator left or right.

For a tour with only a few nodes, it’s not too bad. But for a tour with many nodes, it is quickly becomes very tedious.

CUPIX: Create Street View Virtual Tours automatically

The good news is that there’s now a shortcut for creating Street View Virtual Tours automatically – with Cupix, a web-based virtual tour software. I’ve covered Cupix before (see here) . If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a unique virtual tour software that lets you upload several 360 photos, which it can analyze and automatically connect in relation to each other, and even create a 3D model in the process.

Now Cupix has added a new function: you can export your Cupix virtual tour as a Street View Virtual Tour. Since the photos are already connected in Cupix, you won’t have to connect the photos manually in Street View! Here’s a video demo:

Cupix therefore enables you to upload several 360 photos, have Cupix’s powerful software connect them, and then you can upload the tour to Google Maps, allowing you to create a virtual tour on Street View without the need to connect any of the photos manually, whether or not your photos have GPS geolocation data.

Now that you know how to post virtual tours easily to Google Maps, which virtual tour are you going to post first?  Let me know in the comments!

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Actualy, on mobile it is already with arrows so you are talking about use of app for descktop version?

Hi Stan. Some of the photos on street view have arrows (whether on desktop or mobile) because they are virtual tours. You can “move around” them. Others are simple photos that don’t have arrows. Here is a sample of one that doesn’t have arrows: https://goo.gl/maps/8UNnoy9gzzq Here is a sample with one arrow to move to a linked photo: https://goo.gl/maps/MrT4KFBus1q Best regards, Mic

Can this be used if the map can not be posted to google?

I’m not sure…

Is there any software other than cupix. Some works have different floor levels and how its done..

Yes there are several such as Matterport, Benaco, Metareal, among others.

Can you update your instructions for manual virtual tour? Or add some screen shots, it’s not working for me. I don’t know where the “profile tab” is.

Cupix is way too overpriced.

hi. i have a problem with street view pls help me. when i add some 360 photos and make them connect .they are connected and have arrow between but in vr mood i dont how arrow for moving.what is the problem?:I(

Hi. Many times happen that in the mobile version, the profile business is connected with a old photo( just one), posted for chance by a tourist . It is practically impossible to say to street view to remove the old picture and connect with the new one with the virtual tour. Very bad service by street view. Even if using google business and say to street view that the pictures is not correct , street view will not remove. So, is useless to make a new virtual tour if in the profile there is already a single stupid 360 old photo

That’s both a problem and opportunity…

Hello, I just downloaded the Cupix and transfer the photos, but I can’t make the pane to face where I want. I’m wondering if you have a tutorial, I was checking in Youtube, but I couldn’t find the answer. Great product is just a learning process.

Hi Axel. I haven’t used Cupix in a while. Could you try contacting Cupix?

Hey, I´ve currently got the issue, that I connected the Photos I uploaded on google, but the arrows don’t appear in the photos to move around. So now I’ve got several different photos online, but you have to go from one photo to another one manually. which isn’t really the point of it. I did this in the google street view app without any external software. Thank you for your Help

Hi Klemens. It usually takes a couple of days for the links to appear. Try to wait and see.

I’m currently adding photos to a location on the Google Street View app, but can’t figure out how to connect them. Could you elaborate on what you mean by “tap on a line between photos to connect them.” Should a line automatically populate? Do I need to create a line between them somehow? Pretty lost on this step.

Seems like it needs a login to access now… bummer. I will try the other apps you so kindly mentioned!

How Do I Make a Virtual Tour for Free?

A virtual tour is a computer-generated simulation of an existing place, usually consisting of a sequence of images or videos. They're used to give users a feel for a space before actually visiting it.

Virtual tours can be used for all sorts of places, including businesses, vacation rentals, and event venues.

They're handy for businesses that want to show off their space to potential customers or clients but don't have the budget for a professional photographer.

There are a few ways to create virtual tours. In this article, we'll focus on creating a free virtual tour using CloudPano.

How To Make a Virtual Tour for Free Using CloudPano

To create a free virtual tour on CloudPano, you'll need to create an account (no credit card is required) and then follow these steps:

1. Capture photos or videos using any 360º camera. You could also use the CloudPano mobile app to do so and then upload them to CloudPano.com .

2. Create a New Tour on your dashboard, then select the 360 photos or videos you want to use in your virtual tour. You can upload photos and videos from your computer or use ones already stored in your CloudPano media library.

3. Add hotspots to your virtual tour. Hotspots are clickable areas that allow you to add additional information, photos, or videos to your tour. They're a great way to add more content and make your virtual tour more engaging.

4. Connect your floor plans to your virtual tour. One of the unique features of CloudPano is that you can connect your virtual tour to a floor plan. This is especially useful for businesses, as it allows potential customers or clients to see your space laid out before actually visiting it. To connect your virtual tour to a floor plan, simply follow these steps:

• On your CloudPano dashboard, click on the "Tours" tab and select the virtual tour you want to connect to a floor plan.
• Click on the "Floor Plan" tab, then upload a 2D blueprint floor plan for the property you're creating a tour for.
• Once your floor plan is uploaded, you can select different scenes (or rooms) on it with your mouse to add additional hotspots to your virtual tour. This way, you link different sections of the floor plan to your property's actual photos or videos.

5. Re-order the scenes in your virtual tour. You can do this by dragging and dropping the scenes into the order you want them so that your virtual tour flows the way you need it to.

6. Customize the look and feel of your virtual tour. CloudPano offers a variety of customization options, including the ability to change colors, fonts, and logos. In addition, CloudPano has an excellent portfolio of virtual tour demos that show what's possible. Available also is the ultimate guide on how to create a virtual tour .

7. Share your virtual tour. Once you're happy with your virtual tour, you can share it with others. Keep in mind, however, that there's a three free tour limit on CloudPano, and that the created tours expire in 120 days.

Upgrading to Pro or Pro Plus for More Features

While the free version of CloudPano is excellent for creating simple virtual tours, you may want to consider upgrading to Pro or Pro Plus if you need more features. Some additional features you'll get with a paid subscription include:

• Unlimited tours with no expiration
• The ability to embed on your website
• 8K or High-def premium photo uploads
• The removal of the "Made by CloudPano" watermark
• Complete access to the 360º virtual tour creator
• CloudPano live video chat
• Team collaboration
• Google Analytics

This isn't to say you can't create a virtual tour free of charge. You can still use unlimited 360º photos for your tour, add branding and logos, and enjoy gyroscope-enabled motion control. You can also incorporate hotspots and infospots in your virtual tour and share it anywhere. This way, you get a great idea of what you'll be getting should you choose to upgrade.

Indeed, CloudPano is an excellent option for those who want to create a virtual tour for free. It's easy to use and offers various customization options. Plus, you can share your virtual tour with others by embedding it on your website or sharing the link.

Enjoyed building your 360º virtual tour for free? Upgrade your CloudPano account to pro or pro plus today to enjoy more features.

Create Captivating Virtual Tours with CloudPano

Elevate your real estate business to new heights by harnessing the power of immersive virtual tours. With CloudPano's user-friendly platform, you can craft stunning 360-degree experiences that captivate potential buyers, streamline your workflow, and stand out in a competitive market.

Unleash the magic of virtual tours and enjoy benefits such as:

• Engaging Experiences: Create virtual tours that allow buyers to explore properties as if they were there in person.
• Increased Efficiency: Save time by weeding out low-intent buyers and providing comprehensive property information upfront.
• Global Reach: Attract non-local buyers and expand your client base by showcasing properties to a worldwide audience.
• Enhanced Productivity: Work with more clients in less time, adapting to the growing demands of the real estate market.
• Optimized Listings: Boost your success rate by offering an in-depth, visual understanding of properties to potential buyers.

Are you ready to revolutionize the way you market properties? Experience the future of real estate with CloudPano's advanced virtual tour software. Get started today and witness firsthand how these cutting-edge tours can take your business to new horizons.

Visit CloudPano.com and embark on your journey towards creating captivating virtual tours that leave a lasting impression. Your clients will thank you, and your business will never be the same again!

360 Virtual Tours With CloudPano.com. Get Started Today.

Try it free. No credit card required. Instant set-up.

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What Is VR Tourism and What Are Its Benefits?

V irtual Reality (VR) allows users to experience simulated environments as if they're in the real world. With VR, you could experience far-off destinations' sights, sounds, and sensations without ever getting on a plane.

VR tourism has been gaining popularity in recent years, offering tourists an immersive and accessible way to explore the world. But is it worth doing?

Let's explore the world of VR tourism, what it is, and whether it's a worthwhile experience for avid travelers.

How VR Is Revolutionizing the Tourism Industry

VR devices are commonly associated with gaming, but they have a range of other applications. One of them is in the travel industry, which now allows people to explore the world virtually from their living rooms. It offers travelers an immersive and interactive experience of traveling to any part of the world.

Travelers around the world are taking a keen interest in virtual tourism. According to an estimate by Market Data Forecast , the Global Virtual Tourism Market is expected to reach approximately $847.95 billion by 2028. Meanwhile, the market's valuation for the year 2022 was around $385.75 billion.

VR technology creates a virtual environment that simulates actual tourist spots worldwide. You can experience them through VR headsets or glasses and enjoy these far-off destinations virtually. But it is only one instance of the use of VR in the tourism sector—there are many other uses of this tech in the industry.

For instance, VR can help tourists virtually explore a place before planning a trip. It would allow them to get familiar with the location's culture, know which things they should try, give them a better sense of what to expect, and increase their confidence in their choice. It can also be handy for marketing in the tourism sector and help travel guides attract more visitors.

Furthermore, VR technology offers an immersive experience for travelers unable to travel due to physical disabilities, health issues, or financial constraints. It can also help preserve natural and cultural heritage sites by reducing the number of physical visitors.

Moving forward, let's now focus on the different benefits of VR in tourism.

Create Virtual Travel Experiences

One of the main benefits of VR in tourism is the possibility of virtual travel experiences. You can experience a range of tourist spots, including religious sites, historic sites, and even places that still need to be fully developed for tourists. A range of VR technologies like VR headsets and glasses, 360-degree cameras, special video editing tools, and others allow you to enjoy these attractive sites without being in person.

Virtual traveling can eliminate many limitations for travelers, like budget constraints, physical limitations, or time constraints. You only need to invest in VR technologies, and you can avail immersive travel experiences of any destination worldwide.

With VR travel, you can get teleported anywhere you like and enjoy VR city tours with your friends and loved ones. And because you're not going through the trouble of transit, you don't need group planning apps that help make planning trips with friends and family easier.

However, virtual travel experiences are still uncommon as many people yearn for the authenticity of actual travel. The idea of virtual tourism, where you don't even have to pack your bags, can be puzzling to some. But if you want to try virtual travel, you should check out these free virtual travel experiences .

Use VR for Self-Guided Tours

VR technology and augmented reality (AR) devices can work as your personal tour guide. Although VR and AR are different technologies , they can work together to improve your tour. This especially benefits those who prefer solo travel or desire more privacy. VR tourism apps provide self-guided tours, allowing travelers to explore at their own pace.

VR travel apps for exploring , like the City Guide Tour , can provide you with information about destinations through object recognition features. For instance, if you are traveling in an unknown city, it might pinpoint tourist spots like museums, parks, and galleries and offer on-screen information related to them.

Additionally, translation apps let you talk to anyone, even in places where communication is a challenge. You can download languages to your phone, translating conversations in real time, even without a data connection. Therefore, you can communicate easily at markets, airports, or hotels.

Book Your Destination Using VR

The travel industry is getting even more exciting with the introduction of VR booking systems that provide users with an immersive environment for planning trips. These systems help you to plan your vacation in a better way. You can select your destination, hotel rooms, or plane seats through these AR and VR booking interfaces and even make payments.

Although yet to be widely used by travel agencies, several companies have introduced these services. Amadeus' VR travel search and booking experience is one excellent example that allows travelers to plan their entire trip virtually.

VRBookings.com is another example that offers vacation rental software to travel companies. This emerging trend could revolutionize the VR tourism industry by making the booking system more user-friendly and efficient.

Travelers could save time and money by using VR for booking and payment. At the same time, travel companies could reduce overhead costs and provide more personalized services to their customers. As this technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of AR and VR in the travel industry.

Take a Virtual Tour Before Booking Your Hotel

VR is not limited to the tourism industry but also offers unique features for the hospitality industry. You can take virtual hotel tours before deciding on whether to book. This lets you know what a hotel offers, its environment, recreational activities, and the overall experience. It lets you book a hotel according to your preferences and enjoy a personalized experience.

VR hotel room previews allow hotels to be more transparent about their services and attract more visitors, promoting their services worldwide. Many hotels, like Atlantis Dubai, highlight their lavish features through 360-degree video virtual tours. This innovative approach helps hotels stand out and ensures customers make informed decisions before booking, leading to a more enjoyable and memorable stay.

A Look Ahead at the Tourism Sector and VR

The global virtual tourism market is rapidly expanding thanks to the inventive use of virtual and augmented reality technology. Although VR tourism trips may feel strange to some, Virtual Reality can surely enhance your travel experiences.

VR tech can revolutionize the tourism industry by transforming how travelers plan and experience their trips. In the future, it could be used for destination marketing, creating personalized travel experiences, and enhancing in-destination experiences through immersive tours and interactive exhibits.

This technology can also help tourism boards attract more visitors and encourage them to stay longer. Travel companies, too, can create customized travel itineraries and offer travelers more engaging and memorable experiences. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of VR in the tourism industry.

How To Configure A Call To Action (CTA) Button in Virtual Tour

• How to create a CTA button

The first major enhancement in WPVR is the addition of a Call To Action (CTA) button directly on your virtual tours.

Now you can link to an external page, opening up new opportunities for interaction and marketing with this feature.

WPVR has introduced a Call To Action (CTA) button which you can create directly using WP VR Pro. This addition allows you to seamlessly link to external pages, unlocking new possibilities for user interaction.

How to create a CTA button #

1. Create a new tour or open the existing tour. Navigate to General > Basic Settings.

2. Now enable the Call To Action button. After enabling it a new section will be added below.

3. From these options you can customize the CTA button to your preference.

4. After you are done customizing press the Update button and publish the tour on your desired page.

Here is the demo of how it will look on the page where you published the tour.

That’s how easy it is to configure. You can now explore more and create a CTA button of your preference.

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