Build a VR Tour

This resource was created by Kira Harris in 2019 and updated by Adelyn Arens in March 2022. Check out the collection of tours at https://virtualice.byrd.osu.edu/.

In order to build VR tours of our field sites we use a software program called 3DVista (https://www.3dvista.com/). They have their own YouTube channel that posts helpful tutorials and updates. We also use Fusion Studio, GoPro Player, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Dashware for pre-processing video and extracting GPS coordinates. Kira Harris created two tutorial videos that explain how we use tools in Adobe and Dashware to bring content into 3DVista. Google began offering a new option called Tour Creator (https://arvr.google.com/tourcreator/). Our team has not had a chance to explore this option, and Google announced that it will shut down in July 2021 with similar tools available in Google Earth for Web (https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/about/faq).

To share your tour with the world, you will need to have access to a web server, or use 3DVista’s available hosting services (https://www.3dvista.com/en/products/hosting). At the Byrd Center, we use the Bitvise SSH Client (https://www.bitvise.com/products) to transfer local files generated from 3DVista to our server (virtualice.byrd.osu.edu) and create the weblink.

These are the general steps to create one of our virtual tours:

  1. Film with a 360 camera. We use GoPro Fusion and GoPro MAX cameras because our teams record in tough conditions and often don’t have space in their backpacks for a larger rig, nor time to setup a more complex camera system.
  2. If using GoPro Fusion, render short pieces of video (10-20 seconds) using Fusion Studio that include the scene you want as a panorama, or a single standing location, in the tour. If using the GoPro MAX, open up the footage file in the GoPro Player and go to the scene that you’d like to use as a panorama. Then, in the top left of the window go to the “Edit” drop down menu and choose “Extract Current Frame.” Then skip to step 4.
  3. Upload these videos to Adobe Premiere Pro. This is where you will find the exact scene you’d like and extract the panorama (tutorial video).
  4. Get location data. This can either be from field notes taken at the scene in question, or from the raw footage if using a GoPro Fusion. This is done by uploading the raw, front camera (NOT rendered footage or raw footage from back camera) mp4 footage file to Dashware, which will extract the CSV file that contains location information (tutorial video). If using a GoPro MAX, the location data can be accessed by using this tool: https://goprotelemetryextractor.com/free/.
  5. Upload panoramas to 3DVista.
  6. Create a “floorplan” using a map of the study area. Using the location data from Dashware, create pins on the floorplan that correspond with each panorama’s location (applicable 3DVista tutorial video).
  7. Link the panoramas together using arrow hotspots so you can travel from location to location (3DVista tutorial video).
  8. Add content (info bubbles, photos, videos, graphs, leading questions, fun facts, etc.)! While info bubble text and photos are stored within the 3DVista output files, we use Vimeo to host the videos and Plotly Chart Studio to host the interactive graphs that are included in our tours.
  9. You can customize the “skin” to allow navigational tools, informational buttons, and maps to appear in all of your scenes. Our team is now adding scavenger hunts and puzzles to tours to increase engagement and knowledge retention.
  10. Publish and share!

 

These are the steps that the Byrd Center takes to upload the code created by 3DVista to our web server to share a tour:

  1. When publishing your tour in the 3DVista software, there will be multiple options for the file types that will be generated. In order to generate files to upload to a web server, check the box titled, “For Web/Mobile.” At the bottom of this publish window, choose the destination in your device for the files to be placed. The amount of folders and separate files generated may differ depending on different tools that may or may not be utilized in the tour, but generally the folders will be labelled, “lib,” “locale,” “media,” “misc,” and “skin.” There will also be several single files with multiple file types.
  2. Next, we log in with our Bitvise SSH Client and find the preferred location in the Remote Files where we would like the tour to be accessed. We select all of the files that were generated for the tour, and drag (upload) them to the remote file destination. At the Byrd Center, we change the index.htm file to index.html (just left click and rename the file). This may or may not be needed in your situation.
    • Note: This step could be substantially different if using an alternate web hosting provider.
  3. That’s it! Visit the link in any browser to make sure the tour looks the way you intended. If opting to use 3DVista’s hosting services, check the box in the publish window titled, “To 3DVista Hosting Service.” You will then be provided with a link to share to access the tour!

 

A playlist was made on the byrdpolar YouTube channel that includes relevant tutorial videos from both 3DVista and the Byrd Center. That playlist can be found here.