PTViewer image file format

See also “Import image file formats” and “Export image file formats” in this chapter for tables comparing the different image formats.
You may also wish to visit this same web page at The Panorama Factory website to check for updates: www.panoramafactory.com/help/hid_ptviewer.html.

About PTViewer
Creating a PTViewer panorama using the Wizard
Creating a PTViewer panorama using the Classic interface
Saving a PTViewer panorama
Capabilities of the PTViewer export filter
Importing a PTViewer panorama
Capabilities of the PTViewer import filter
Installing support for PTViewer on your computer
Note for users of V3
References

About PTViewer

NOTE: According to the PTViewer documentation [1], “PTViewer is an open and free Panorama viewer.” However, the PTViewer is produced by Helmut Dersch. and is not a product of Smoky City Design, LLC. When using this viewer, please be sure to comply with licensing requirements (if any) imposed by Helmut Dersch.

The PTViewer, from Prof. Helmut Dersch [1], is a Java viewer that is one of the best viewers available. Prof. Dersch has given a great deal of attention to image quality issues in the PTViewer. The viewer also provides a rich set of features.

A recently updated version published by Fulvio Senore [5] provides improved image quality through Lanczos2 interpolation and also corrects the problem described in “Trouble Report 273—Hotspots don't display properly in PTViewer.”

PTViewer displays a segment of a panoramic image, re-projecting the image to have conventional perspective. By click-dragging on the image, you can look around as though you were standing in the middle of the scene.

Saving an image in PTViewer format actually creates two files: a JPEG image and a web page (HTML file). It is not possible to create a PTViewer image without the web page.

PTViewer images can contain hotspots. These are areas on the image that do something when you click on them. For more information, see “Adding hotspots to your panoramas” in Chapter 7, “Making a virtual tour.”

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Creating a PTViewer panorama using the Wizard

To make a PTViewer panorama using the Wizard, simply select PTViewer for the output format on Wizard step 5/9/ - Select panorama type.

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Creating a PTViewer panorama using the Classic interface

Follow these steps to make a PTViewer panorama:

1. Create a panorama using the Stitch command or the Stitch 360 command (New image menu). Be sure to use the Stitch 360 command if this is a full 360 degree panorama. For best results, select Spherical projection on the Camera properties dialog box before creating your stitched image.

2. Crop the stitched image using the Crop command (New image menu). You may change the height of the cropping rectangle if you wish, but for best results do not change its angle or width.

3. Resize, sharpen or otherwise enhance the image.

4. Make sure the final image is displayed as the current image. If it is not, you should double-click its thumbnail to make it the current image.

5. Select the Save current image as... command from the File menu and then select PTViewer format from the the Save as type dropdown list of the Save Image As dialog box.

See also Chapter 4, “Using the Classic interface, step by step.”

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Saving a PTViewer panorama

To save your IVR panorama, select the Save current image as... command from the File menu and then select PTViewer format from the the Save as type dropdown list of the Save Image As dialog box.

NOTE: Use the Save current image as... command to save and name the current image. To save the entire Panorama Factory project, use the Save project command, Save project as... command or Save project archive as... command instead.

Choosing PTViewer enables other choices on the Save Image As dialog box. You may create a web page containing an PTviewer viewer, create a thumbnail image and view your web page in your computer's web browser.

You can also control attributes of the saved IVR image file by selecting the IVR settings... button to display the IVR settings dialog box.

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Capabilities of the PTViewer export filter

The PTViewer export filter supports only a subset of the PTViewer format. This section describes this subset and explains the relationship between Panorama Factory panoramas and hotspots and the PTViewer format.

Single-node VR images only — A Panorama Factory image can be exported to a web page containing a single VR image. There is no provision for combining multiple images into a multi-node web page.
Partial panoramas and 360 degree images — The Panorama Factory can export partial panoramas as well as full 360 degree images.
URL hotspots only — The Panorama Factory supports hotspots that link to web URLs. It does not support other types of PTViewer hotspots.
Spot and rectangular hotspots — The PTViewer export filter supports spot-type and rectangular hotspots only. Other shapes are saved as the smallest rectangle that encloses the hotspot shape. Although PTViewer implements arbitrary shapes through the use of hotspot mask images, The Panorama Factory does not support this feature because is uses GIF images. GIF is not supported by The Panorama Factory.
Hotspot name — PTViewer preserves the hotspot name.
Show hotspot — PTViewer supports the show hotspot attribute.
Hotspot color — PTViewer uses the hotspot color when it displays the hotspot.
Text message — PTViewer shows a hotspot's text message when it displays the hotspot.
Spherical projection only — PTViewer directly supports spherical (equirectangular) images. Although PTViewer supports cylindrical and cubic images through QTVR formats, The Panorama Factory only exports spherical images for PTViewer.
Image quality — The Panorama Factory can control the JPEG image quality. Lowering the image quality can produce smaller file sizes.

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Importing a PTViewer panorama

To import an PTViewer panorama, select the Import images... command from the File menu and then select PTViewer format from the Files of type dropdown list of the Import Images dialog box.

You must select an .HTML or .HTM file that contains a PTViewer image. The Panorama Factory will import all PTViewer images that are referenced from the web page.

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Capabilities of the PTViewer import filter

The PTViewer import filter supports only a subset of the PTViewer format. This section describes this subset and explains the relationship between Panorama Factory panoramas and hotspots and the PTViewer format.

Multi-image web pages — The Panorama Factory can import multiple PTViewer images from a single web page. Each panoramic image will be imported to a separate image in The Panorama Factory.
Partial panoramas and 360 degree images — The Panorama Factory can import partial panoramas as well as full 360 degree images, however partial panoramas are padded to full 360 degree images when they are imported with the PTViewer import filter.
URL hotspots only — The Panorama Factory supports hotspots that link to web URLs. It does not support other types of PTViewer hotspots.
Spot and rectangular hotspots — The PTViewer import filter reads spot-type and rectangular hotspots only. Although PTViewer implements arbitrary shapes through the use of hotspot mask images, The Panorama Factory does not support this feature because is uses GIF images. GIF is not supported by The Panorama Factory.
Cylindrical and spherical projection only — PTViewer directly supports spherical (equirectangular) images. Although PTViewer supports cylindrical and cubic images through QTVR formats, The Panorama Factory only imports spherical images for PTViewer.

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Installing support for PTViewer on your computer

In order to view PTViewer images you must install the PTViewer Java viewer (for internet browsers).

We recommend the recently updated 2.8 version of PTViewer available from Fulvio Senore [5] at http://www.fsoft.it/panorama/ptviewer.htm. PTViewer may also be available directly from Prof. Dersch's website [1] or one of the mirror sites [2,3,4]. As of this writing (June 2004), the most recent revision at the mirror sites appears to be identified as Version 2.5 for Java 1.0.4 or above.

The PTViewer ZIP file contains several different versions of ptviewer.jar. The one supported by The Panorama Factory is identified as

Applet\ptviewer.jar in the 2.8 ZIP file
ptvj2.5\Applet\ptviewer.jar in the 2.5 ZIP file

After downloading the viewer, you should place the ptviewer.jar file into the folder on your computer that contains The Panorama Factory application. On Windows this is normally:

C:\Program Files\Smoky City Design\The Panorama Factory

On Mac, you should put ptviewer.jar in The Panorama Factory’s Resources folder. Assuming you installed PFactory.app into /Applications, the easiest way to open this folder is:

1. Open a Finder window.

2. Choose the "Go to folder" command from Finder's "Go" menu. A dialog box will appear for you to type the folder name.

3. Enter "/Applications/PFactory.app/Contents/Resources" into the dialog box and click the "Go" button.

When The Panorama Factory exports an image for PTViewer, it tries to copy ptviewer.jar (and possibly also ptviewer.class) from its application folder to the folder into which you are exporting. This enables your web browser to find the JAR file when you view a web page.

If you publish a web page containing the Java viewer, you must be sure to copy ptviewer.jar and ptviewer.class, if present, to your web site.

In the past, support for Java was automatically included with Internet Explorer. However, since the release of Windows XP, Microsoft has not included Java with Internet Explorer. You have to install it separately. You can download and install Java here:

http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

Here is a web page to detect whether Java is installed in your browser:

http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp?detect=jre&try=1

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Note for users of V3

The Panorama Factory V3 required you to extract the ptviewer.class file from the ptviewer.jar file. Starting in V4, The Panorama Factory performs this extraction when needed, so it is no longer necessary for you to do this. Note that ptviewer.class is needed for PTViewer version 2.5, but not for PTViewer version 2.7L2 or version 2.8.

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References

This section contains references to web pages at other web sites.

1. Prof. Helmut Dersch's website, www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/.

2. Mirror site 1, http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~dersch/.

3. Mirror site 2, http://www.all-in-one.ee/~dersch/.

4. Mirror site 3, http://home.no.net/dmaurer/~dersch/Index.htm.

5. PTViewer 2.8 from Fulvio Senore, http://www.fsoft.it/panorama/ptviewer.htm.

NOTE: There is no guarantee that these web addresses will remain valid over time. If they are no longer valid, please visit this same web page at The Panorama Factory website to check for updates: www.panoramafactory.com/help/hid_ptviewer.html.

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