I have started a new travel and real estate website using drupal 6.2. I am just starting out setting things up. The site is working fine.

I am a panoramic photographer and I have hundreds and hundreds of virtual tours of real estate and vacation rentals.

Everything I do now is static html but I want to take things further now using drupal

I would like to find a way to use Drupal to show my virtual tours.

Currently I use java (ptveiwer.jar) to display my spherical panoramic images.

Does anyone know how to make java applet code work in a drupal page? Is there a module?

A further problem is that a "virtual tour" consists of 4 to 8 panoramic images and a still photo gallery.

Here is an example.
http://www.northwestflorida.com/virtual_tours/destin_real_estate_co/111_...

There is now a Flash viewer availble so these tours can be done in flash without java. But the flash viewer is of lower quality than the java version. But I could live with flash if that is easier.

Example of the applet code

<applet archive = "ptviewer.jar" code="ptviewer.class" width=568 height=400>
          <param name=file value="images/pano/living_v2.jpg">
          <param name=wait value="wait.jpg">
          <param name=bar_x value="100">
          <param name=bar_y value="365">
          <param name=bar_width value="300">
          <param name=bar_height value="10">
          <param name=frame value="bar.jpg">
          <param name=barcolor value="0000ff">
          <param name=bgcolor value="ffffff">
          <param name=auto value="-0.2">
          <param name=panmin value="-180">
          <param name=panmax value="180">
          <param name=pan value="90">
          <param name=tiltmin value="-90">
          <param name=tiltmax value="90">
          <param name=tilt value="0">
          <param name=fovmin value="70">
          <param name=fovmax value="130">
          <param name=fov value="100">
          <param name="shotspot0" value=" x20 y380 a48 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(-0.2, 0, 1)'">
          <param name="shotspot1" value=" x85 y380 a102 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(0.2, 0, 1)'">
          <param name="shotspot2" value=" x160 y380 a190 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(0, 0.2, 1)'">
          <param name="shotspot3" value=" x218 y380 a252 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(0, -0.2, 1)'">
          <param name="shotspot4" value=" x300 y380 a333 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(0, 0, 0.99)'">
          <param name="shotspot5" value=" x370 y380 a400 b400 u'ptviewer:startAutoPan(0, 0, 1.01)'">
          <param name="shotspot6" value=" x447 y380 a472 b400 u'ptviewer:gotoView(90, 0, 100)'">
        </applet>

Thanks

Troy Ward

Comments

crosshairs’s picture

Hi Troy,

I'm looking for the same thing! I will let you know if I find anything. I'm new to the panorama thing, but have just looked into Panorama Tools and PTviewer. Looks good :) What flash viewer do you use as an alternative to PTviewer? Could you send me a link?

Thanks

TroyWard’s picture

There are several options for flash to show spherical panoramas. I use a program called "pano2qtvr"

This outputs both qucktime and flash movies. You can find more info here "http://gardengnomesoftware.com/"

There is a new version out now that is not dependent on quicktime source. See the link for more info.

I use "ptgui" to stitch the pano's with and then use pano2qtvr to render the quicktime or flash movie. But there are many other stitching programs out there that will render your pano in flash as well. Prior to flash 8 it was not possible to show spherical pano's in flash. Since flash 8 this is now possible. The flash movies are based on the "cube" format designed by quicktime.

For further information on this see the Panotools list at yahoo "http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PanoToolsNG/". Here you can find further information all about panoramic imaging.

I posted on this list and got this answer.
"Yes, CCK with Contemplate.
Contemplate is great for "understanding" how to use the database values in
your html and its a great helper to FIND what fields are available.
Here you can build a template, quickly without ftp, and get moving quickly.
A good course on basic PHP is a MUST, so at least you can use variables,
without days of trial and error if you make a mistake.
It's even possible to destroy a drupal site here, if you call an unknown
function, requiring you to use phpmyadmin to fix your template.
On the other side of the coin, you can use a tpl, without contemplate to
theme the content type. Good for content type theming per theme installed.
Also some options are only available here, like the zebra class. You simply
put all your code in a file called node-"content_type_name".tpl.php in your
theme directory.
Once you have your themes done, you can do all sorts of crazy stuff.
AFAIK, drupal is the king of cms's for those that can program just a little
bit."

I have been told that there is no module to do what I asked. So the CCK and Contemplate modules were recommended.

Due to the compexity of intergrating a polished presentation of virtual tours and all the different viewing platforms for them (java, flash, qucktime, shockwave, develVR) I have decided to go with a static image of the tour on a page or book page as a teaser and spawn a popup with the acutual tour. I just don't think it will be possible to fully intergrate a multi image virtual tour with hot spots and navagation directly within drupal.

But hey if there are any developers out there who think otherwise I will be glad to assist them in any way if they think this can be done in drupal.

Troy

najibx’s picture

I have never tried it but if software such as "pano2qtvr" can convert pano images into flash, than this is simply normal flash file and can be embedded directly via FCKeditor/Tiny MCE, isn't ?

Then I would go for CCK and Contemplate.

cbrompton’s picture

Here is what I did .... I have a similar sort of Website

<div align="left" id="virtualtour" class="tabcontent" width="640px">
 <div id="navigation" class="menu withprimary ">
        <div id="primary" class="clear-block"> <ul class="links-menu ">

<li class=""><a href="#" style="color:white" onclick="javascript:document.myapplet.newPanoFromList(0)">
<?php print $node->field_panorama[0]['title'] ?></a></li>

<li class=""><a href="#" style="color:white" onclick="javascript:document.myapplet.newPanoFromList(1)">
<?php print $node->field_panorama[1]['title'] ?></a></li>

<li class=""><a href="#" style="color:white" onclick="javascript:document.myapplet.newPanoFromList(2)">
<?php print $node->field_panorama[2]['title'] ?></a></li>

<li class=""><a href="#" style="color:white" onclick="javascript:document.myapplet.newPanoFromList(3)">
<?php print $node->field_panorama[3]['title'] ?></a></li>
</ul></div></div>
          <applet id="myapplet"  archive="/ptviewer.jar" code="ptviewer.class" width=640 height=450 mayscript=true>
            <param name="file" value="ptviewer:0">
            <param name="pano0" value="{file=/<?php print $node->field_panorama[0]['filepath'] ?>}{auto=0.2}{pan=0}{fov=165}">
            <param name="pano1" value="{file=/<?php print $node->field_panorama[1]['filepath'] ?>}{auto=0.2}{pan=0}{fov=165}">
            <param name="pano2" value="{file=/<?php print $node->field_panorama[2]['filepath'] ?>}{auto=0.2}{pan=0}{fov=165}">
            <param name="pano3" value="{file=/<?php print $node->field_panorama[3]['filepath'] ?>}{auto=0.2}{pan=0}{fov=165}">
            <param name=showToolbar value="true">
            <param name=imgLoadFeedback value="false">
            <param name=auto value="0.2">
            <param name=pan value="180">
            <param name=fov value="165">
            <param name="toolbarImage" value="/Toolbar.gif">
        </applet><br/><a href="/troubleshooting">Can't See the Virtual Tour?</a></div>

I created a List and styled it as a menu.
I used the onclick javascript to call the panos from the list.
hope this helps