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Intro
Photovista 2.0 is designed for professional web
developers and e-business users alike to create 360-degree, navigable
images and virtual tours. This is accomplished by using a series of
overlapping still images, which can come from any digital camera, video
camcorder or scanned from prints. Photovista 2.0 then automatically
adjusts and blends the images into a 360-degree panorama. These panoramas
can then be viewed as part of a multimedia presentation, or uploaded to a
web site for general viewing. MGI also point out Photovista 2.0 can be
used in conjunction with their ZOOM Image Server software which they claim
can create high-resolution, zoom able panoramas which can be viewed
quickly over low bandwidth. I was unable to test this claim.
Highs
After several hours of testing and getting
to know the software and several visits to its reference manual, it became
apparent that Photovista 2.0 was capable of doing its job. Obvious uses
are estate agents that could send, via the internet or CD ROM several
panoramas of a house they have for sale. In effect they could make a
virtual tour of the property. Other uses could be in the travel business,
imagine a DVD Rom travel guide, which could contain hundreds of such
panoramas and virtual tours.
Lows
Unfortunately when viewing these panoramas over the
internet, download times can be excessive. In an attempt to reduce
download times smaller and less detailed images with higher levels of
compression need to be used. This has the effect of greatly reducing the
initial download time for each panorama, but at the expense of image
quality. This lack of image quality noticeably reduces the immersive
experience they have to offer the viewer. This will hopefully become less
of an issue once the vast majority of internet surfers are linked to the
internet via high speed data links. Even so a Photovista 2.0 360-degree
panorama is far more impressive and visually rich, than any still image of
the same detail could hope to be.
Conclusion
For the right user with the right visual needs and
audience, Photovista 2.0 will become an invaluable tool. It is relatively
easy to learn and use, its cost and computer needs are modest.
MGI has a view of the world were its products including
Photovista 2.0 maximises the potential of digital and visual content for
businesses and consumers alike. It is fast becoming a world leader in this
field, by direct sales of its products and the growing number of third
party products that have MGI products included with them.
Its often quoted that a picture is worth a thousand
words, if this is true, then a 360-degree panorama created by Photovista
2.0 is worth a million. |
