Digital Workshop

One of the many really nice new features in OPUS XE 4.5 is a NEW Object called Quicktime VR. Like a Video Object, you select the QTVR icon, then size the Object in the Edit Window, then you select which Quicktime .MOV file you want to display.

When you Preview, you can drag your pointer within the QTVR Object, and the image will scroll left/right/up/down (LRUD). When you Publish, a .MOV file is placed in the publish sub directory.

In my first use of this feature, I was only able to scroll (LRUD). I then created a Button Object and used the NEW Quicktime Actions which allow you to ZOOM In and ZOOM Out using "Field of View." A minus value zooms out; a plus value zooms in. Through experimenting, I found -10 and +10 worked very well.

When my .MOV file initially appeared, you could see the "seam" between the start of my 360 degree panoramic photo, and the end. It isn't a perfect match (even though I used a level tripod). It looked "goofy" for a first impression. To solve this, I set the QTVR object to Initially Hidden, then created a Frame and added a Trigger of "On Show." I added an Action of Pan 32 degrees - "Overwrite Current Position"; then a "Show" QTVR object. In Preview, before you see the "seam" OPUS sets the file to a better position, then displays the QTVR object -- very nice.