Frequently Asked Questions

B-8 Virtual Tours provides full coverage of any area - inside, outside, and, when required, from the air.

Absolutely.  All tours are custom designed for a unique look.  Custom branding with the client logo, information and colors is always included at no extra cost.  

Yes.  Areas covered by the virtual tour do not need to be continuous or line-of-sight.  Widely separated areas can be connected in a single tour

There are a variety of navigation methods which we employ depending on the situation.  Interactive hotspots allow the viewer to naturally move to a new line-of-sight location.  Thumbnail lists of panoramas allow the viewer to jump directly to the desired location.  Drop-down lists with verbal loction descriptions also allow the viewer to go directly to a new location.  Interactive floor plans showing panorama locations and viewing direction can also be incorporated.

B-8 Virtual Tours will host the tour for you for a minimum of 5 years at no additional cost.  Tours are hosted on Amazon Web Services servers providing fast, reliable access.

If you want to host the tour yourself, B-8 Virtual Tours will supply all files necessary.

Tours can be downloaded to view off-line on either a Mac or PC.  They are not dependent on access to any proprietary software or systems.

No.  B-8 Virtual Tours does not supply this 3D view.

B-8 Virtual Tours does not normally generate and provide floor plans.

However, if a floor plan exists, it can be included in the tour and be used as an active navigation guide.

B-8 Virtual Tours has graphic capabilities and can manually create a floor plan for an additional fee.

Yes.  Unwanted artifacts like shadows and reflections of the camera equipment are an unavoidable issue when capturing 360 degree images.  B-8 Virtual Tours edits individual images as required to correct these artifacts.

We either edit the tripod out of the image, or we cover the tripod with an image that provides additional information, branding or advertising for the client.

The tripod area can simply be blurred, but this looks unprofessional and is not offered by B-8 Virtual Tours.

The optimum shooting condition for static 360-degree panoramas is without people.  However, people can be included in the tour with some limitations based on shooting conditions. 

Note that any individuals included in the panoramas will need to sign a model release that authorizes use of their image.

Yes.  Instead of static 360-degree panoramas, we can shoot interactive 360-degree video to capture all the action.  The 360-degree video can be used in your tour the same way a static 360-degree panorama is used.

Yes.  B-8 Virtual Tours can supply aerial panoramas ranging from a few feet in height for an expanded view to several hundered feet showing extremely large areas.

Yes.  B-8 Virtual Tours has broad capability to supply many forms of media and include them in your tour.  In addition to standard panoramas our capabilities include.

• Aerial panoramas
• Standard photography
• Aerial photography
• Video
• Aerial video
• 360-degree interactive video
• Audio recording
• CAD and graphics

We are a full service provider.

Prior to beginning the shoot, it is the responsibility of the client to ensure the property is clean, staged and photo-ready.

Photo-ready means that the property is ready to be photographed without additional work.  B-8 Virtual Tours is happy to make recommendations, but what constitutes photo-ready for any particular property is up to the client based on how they want the property to look in the virtual tour.

No.  Due to the nature of shooting 360-degree pamoramas, all panoramas are shot using a single camera on a tripod and the existing ambient light.  Only the camera and tripod are moved through the property.

The time depends on the number of panoramas and whether the shoot includes additional media, such as standard photography and video.  However, a basic tour of 6-8 panoramas without extra media should take less than an hour.  Longer tours of 10-15 panoramas generally take less that 1.5 hours.  Because shooting panoramas does not require elaborate lighting set-ups or extra equipment, the shoot moves quickly.