I have an opportunity.

A potential client called me on the telephone today and asked I could help them integrate Tourweaver into their website.

Question:

Can I create 1 Tourweaver template, their website design general design, color scheme suitable, AND teach them to replicate that single template and let them do panorama imaging and still shot replacements.

1 tempate with their color scheme skin and for a second and thrid project all they need to do is to take new panorams and single shots... and plug them into the existing template ?

I have just only started to read the Tourweaver .pdf.

Comments are welcome.  No we have not yet accepted the project.  I need to know if the generic template idea is workable.

Yes our potential client did buy a copy of Tourweaver 1.25 and now is lost in the process of learning how to do this.  So they asked our help.

Dave

Well this should be possible.

I think there are some solutions. Really depends on there web knowledge.

1. Create a skin with the companys design so they can re-use always the same skin.

2. Teach them how to work with the Tourweaver.

If they are not able to work with the Tourweaver, you could process the Tour and host the the tours on your server and they just insert a link on there homepage.

Thats what I did here:

http://www.irgportugal.com/findProperty_details.asp?ID=654#

I think it should be also possible to insert the applet code innto the website.

Hope this gives you some ideas

Markus

daves,

if tourweaver outputs the final file as html then i guess you can do this.

design template 1tourw.html and upload it with lets say 5 panos and 5 stills and name them

pano1.jpg 2,3,4,5  and still1.jpg 2,3,4,5

then upload 2tourw.html and 3tourw.html (which will be copies of 1tourw.html) but with no panos or images.

and when their ready theyll upload their panos and stills using the same name format pano1.jpg and still1.jpg

well at least thats my way of thinking..but im thinking html - i dont know if with tourweaver it will be the same.

also, the quantitiy of panos and still on the 1tourw.html  I THINK might need to match the quantity of panos and stills on the other 2 files.

i think the jpgs that tw reads are  pano.jp1

notice the "1" instead of the g

but still the above suggestion should work in theory.

if you were to do that for your client there are a few things you need to point to them.

1. the # of scenes on the first template have to match all the additional templates.

2. the name of each scene has also to match (but you can use generic names like scene1 scene2 scene3 which gives more flex)

3. they still have to upload the jpg panos with the same names are the ones from first template using jp1.

4. map compass wont work the same for all 3 templates. perhaps you can use the map but not put hotspots or compass.  rather just as reference like a floormap

i think i just about covered everything. i've still need to down the trial of pw to test it. i've just been making my observations with their gallery  and  a lil of brainstorming and logical conclusions. (AKA hypothesying) http://easypano.com/tourweaver125_gallery.html

The best way would be to either:

Offer them a service contract to tie in new panos, stills and floor plan + hotspots. If they deliver all the goods, you should have only 15-25 mins of work. This u can charge out at a reasonable rate. Advantage: floor plan will work, hotspots will be placed, text will be copied and pasted, u the proffesional gives it a once over, posting on their site, they save time and can concentrate on the job at hand. Maybe offer to host the tour in the price. You keep client contact. You gain return business with little stress.

Or as suggested... teach them TW. You'll design the template, teach them how to deal with TW and earn on the training. You'll have a one off higher return... ie 4-5 hours training should be worth $50-70 an hour at least. They have one off cost. You have greater initial return but lose on the repeat business. Obviously they'll need to invest in TW. (Oh yes if u sell TW as affiliate you also earn some cash.)

Either of these options offer the customer the result he requires. The last option of designing a template with say 5 panos and 5 stills which are numbered 1-10 and then are exchanged each time within the scene file is the cheapest option. It won't really allow the use of hotspots or interactive map as these parametres change from tour to tour. However a thumbnail/dropdown box/text info solution would be possible. This I think you should sell them as the least attractive option... however it's the cheapest and a sale is better then none. They'll most likely need ur services here more then they think which will result in you offering time you most likely won't get paid for.

Oh yes... scene images can be output as jpg or jp1... the later would be less sutable if they don't have TW as these images are encrypted. You'd have to switch encryption off and leave images as jpg so that they could exchange scene files.   

Now there's surly a programmable way of solving some of the issues... But it appears that everything else from above demands additional work/cost.

Any more ideas guys??

Thank you for your assistance.

Last night I did download the trial version.  Will work with clients color scheme and our other hotel imaging.  Will use your thoughts and comments in our work flow.

Will let you know what I think about Tourweaver.

Dave