I received a request to do some panoramas from a customer and after learning the equipment was very expensive and my customer did not have enough work to justify purchasing the equipment it was dropped. But a month or two later I thought I could beat the system and produce the panoramas by hand and end up with a better looking product for those looking for that kind of service. Most panoramas I had viewed appear warped and in my opinion they sucked canal water because the high price being charged for these warped images was wrong. This reminded me of the 3D camera days… “This camera is going to be the future”, yeh right! So I set out to make a better finished product for a reasonable price and I did exactly that.

On the first panorama I made I used a DV video camera, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe Photoshop. My second panoramas were made with a $129 digital camera and Photoshop. Photoshop is not necessary, just about any graphics software can be used. To replace the proprietary software that displays those warped panoramas on a website I scowered the net and found many solutions, I chose PTViewer, a java applet. This is just to show everyone you don’t need to pay the exorbitant prices to enjoy your craft, there is always more than one way to skin a rabbit.

You can view the budget virtual tours I created and judge for yourself if they are acceptable.