3D Vista Virtual Tour Pro

BEL+T can provide extensive support to teaching staff looking to create virtual site visits using 3DVista. If you are interested, please contact BEL+T at abp-belt@unimelb.edu.au.

Creating Virtual Tours using 3DVista

Suggested Workflow

  • Step 1. Creating a new project file
  • Step 2. Adding Panoramas and 360 Videos
  • Step 3. Location Hotspots and scene navigation
  • Step 4. Adding Floor plans
  • Step 5. Customising Skins
  • Step 6. More on Hotspots, actions and interactivity
  • Step 7. Publishing a tour
  • Step 8. Embedding 3DVista tours into Canvas

Step 1. Creating a new project file

  1. Start the 3DVista program > choose ‘Create a new file’.
  2. You will be prompted with a selection of skin templates, select ‘basic’ skin and ‘empty’ style > click the select button
  3. You can choose to add images automatically or select them manually. In this example we will explain how to add images manually so click the 'X' icon to close automatic upload.
  4. Go to My Tours tab and save the new file as a local file. This will now integrate this into your My Tours library, which you can access from the 3DVista dashboard.

Note: If you do not have a registered license active you will be asked to log in.


Step 2. Adding Panoramas and 360 Videos

Once you have created a new file for your tour, you can add Panoramas (static 360 images) and 360 Videos to start building up your tour.

Panoramas and 360 Videos are different types of media, therefore they each have their own libraries within 3DVista. Within your tour you can choose to use either one or a combination of both media types.

Add Media to the Panorama library
  1. Navigate to ‘Panoramas’ along the top toolbar > click the ‘+’ button on the centre of the dashboard > a file browser will pop up, select the local 360 image files you would like to import and click open
  2. Once the media has loaded into your 3DVista project file they will appear as a tiled list of thumbnail images
  3. Double click on a thumbnail to preview the Panorama within the 3DVista editor
  4. Using the cursor you can look around the Panorama
Add Media to the 360 Video library
  1. Navigate to ‘360 Videos’ along the top toolbar > click the ‘+’ button on the centre of the dashboard > a file browser will pop up, select the local 360 video files you would like to import and click open
  2. Once the media has loaded into your 3DVista project file they will appear as a tiled list of thumbnail images
  3. Double click on a thumbnail to preview the 360 Video within the 3DVista editor
  4. Using the cursor you can look around the 360 Video


Step 3. Hotspots and scene navigation

Hotspots can be image icons, polygons, text or videos placed within panoramas and used to trigger actions such displaying hidden media or transitioning to other scenes. Hotspots that transition to other scenes are known as location hotspots - creating a portal and linking two scenes. This is how a virtual walk through is created.

Adding Hotspots and Actions
  1. To add a hotspot to a Panorama or 360 Video click on one of the icons found in the top of the hotspot window (right) > select an icon from the 3DVista image library > then click where you would like to place it in the scene.
  2. Once a hotspot icon has been placed, you need to add an action in order to make it interactive. With the hotspot icon selected, click the ‘Add Action’ button in the Actions window (right) > select an action from the pop-up window. In this case we want to create a location hotspot, therefore select Open Panorama or 360 Video > select the desired scene to portal to > proceed with the default settings and click Done
  3. An alternative way to create a location hotspot is: while viewing one Panorama, click and drag a second panorama from the image library (left) into the current workspace. This will auto-generate a location hotspot and a return hotspot, linking the two scenes.
  4. Repeat this process as many times as necessary, linking all of your 360 media to generate a walk through of your virtual site.
  5. To preview hotspots and test their functionality, click the orange Preview button (bottom right).
Creating custom icons

3DVista has a library of icons that can be used as clickable hotspots, but if you would like more control over the look and branding of your tour you can create your own icons and import them. The GIF below shows an example creating custom icons in Adobe Illustrator and importing them into 3DVista.

  1. To import your own image file for a custom icon, proceed with the same steps to adding a new hotspot > when prompted to select an item from the library, click to insert a new element > find the image in the file browser and click open > click to place in the scene

Step 4. Adding Floor Plans

Within 3DVista, floor plans can be maps, plan drawings or aerial images. Having a floor plan as part of a Virtual Tour is not necessary but can increase navigational and spatial awareness as it provides a sense of where you are when walking through a Virtual Site Tour.

Adding a Floor Plan
  1. Navigate to ‘Floor Plans’ along the top toolbar > click the ‘+’ button on the centre of the dashboard > a file browser will pop up, select the local image files you would like to import and click open
  2. Once the media has loaded into your 3DVista project file they will appear as a tiled list of thumbnail images
  3. Double click on a thumbnail to preview the Floor Plan within the 3DVista editor
  4. Hotspots can be added to Floor Plans, however you are limited to using polygons or your own image files as 3DVista hotspot icons are not compatible with Floor Plans.
  5. Add actions to these hotspots in order to portal to Panoramas and 360 Videos. With the hotspot icon selected, click the ‘Add Action’ button in the Actions window (right) > select an action from the pop-up window. In this case we want to create a location hotspot, therefore select Open Panorama or 360 Video > select the desired scene to portal to > proceed with the default settings and click Done
Adding Radars

Radars are a radius connected to hotspots and overlaid on the Floor Plan. Radars indicate the direction and field of view of the current scene.

  1. To add a radar to your Floor Plan, navigate to Radar in the Floor Plan toolbar > click Add in the Radar window (right)
  2. In the Global Radar Settings window (right) you can edit the radius length, colour and opacity

When a floor plan view is integrated into the tour’s Skin, this radar functionality will be visible when manoeuvring around a scene. For more information on Skins, see step 5.


Step 5. Customising Skins

The skin is essentially what your viewers will see on top of your Panoramas and 360 Videos. It provides navigational functionality to manoeuvre through the tour, becoming an important part of the user experience. You can select skin templates from the 3DVista library or you can create and customise your own.

Skins are made up of elements such as text, logos, buttons, containers, floor plans and information windows. Actions can be applied to these elements creating navigational triggers and interactivity.

The next four GIFs will show examples of how to create different skin elements as well as adding actions to these elements.

Adding a title to your tour

Containers can be created that hold text labels such as a title for your tour.

Creating a navigation bar

Navigation bars can be useful in improving the user experience of the tour. Often when creating 360 imagery, unwanted parts of the tripod get captured in the very bottom of the image. These can be covered up in a functional way by choosing to place a navigation bar at the bottom of the frame conveniently hiding any unwanted imagery in the scene.

Adding icons

Icons that you create yourself can be imported into the skin. This allows more control over the look and branding of your tour.

Skin Actions

In order to make you skin interactive it is important to add actions to the skin elements while considering the user experience of the tour. Actions such as clicking buttons to hide or show other elements, or adding a second view window displaying an interactive floor plan view with radars.


Step 6. More on Hotspots, actions and interactivity

If you want to know more about hotspots and what is achievable click here

Conditional Actions

Conditional actions are a way of creating a set of rules or a sequence you would like the users to navigate through your virtual tour. This can be done by hiding hotspots until specific ones have been clicked on - unlocking further interactivity. This helps information in your virtual tour be more digestible, improving user experience by creating a clear pathway of hotspots and panoramas rather than having everything displayed at once.


Publishing your 3DVista Virtual Tour

Publishing a file will render the current virtual tour and 'package' it in a range of file formats for sharing and viewing without the need of the 3DVista program. Some publishing export options relevant to learning and teaching within ABP include:

  • For Web / Mobile - perfect for sharing via online platforms such as Canvas. Can be played on a PC, Mac, Mobile or interactive device such as a VR headset through an internet connection.
  • As Standalone Player - ideal for sharing offline, no internet connection needed. Can be stored on an external drive and played on a PC, mac or interactive device such as a VR headset.
  • To 360 Video - for upload to YouTube or Facebook.

Embedding 3DVista tours into Canvas

For your 3DVista tour to be compatible with canvas you need to publish your file using the Web / Mobile export options.

To embed your published 3DVista virtual site visit into canvas, contact abp-belt@unimelb.edu.au