Discussion Forum: Tourweaver 2.0 Beta (1) Initial Thoughts!

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Topic: Tourweaver 2.0 Beta (1) Initial Thoughts!

Message posted by smooth on January-24-2007 at 3:48am

Australia
November-23-2002
5401 Posts

OK, it's new and I don't want to be to harsh yet!

The viewer is err, not so great.
The "Right Click Menu" (Help) points to Easypano's website (Not Professional) Maybe this can be altered and I haven't spotted it? Can't find it in the help files either.
Personally I don't think the GUI layout comes across as "Easy" It took me a while just to find the place to insert a panorama. (No I didn't read the manual) It should be "SO" obvious!
The program didn't work properly until I rebooted.
For the amount of time it has taken to get to this beta I really don't see that much of an improvement. - maybe it's not obvious either? -

No doubt there is more to come both positive and negative. Please share your initial thoughts.

Regards, Smooth

Message posted by mstoss on January-24-2007 at 4:13am

Germany
December-26-2006
141 Posts

Hello Smooth,

:-) that's funny. I really had my doubts, but you didn't. Now it is me who is really excited about TW 2, especially the player. I normally render 2000x1000 images with max 250kb in size for a ptviewer display and even qt does perform well with these sizes. (my source files are much bigger though). TW 1.3 never managed to show reasonable quality with these images, but TW 2.0 does.

The layout has changed much. It is closer to Photoshop or Dreamweaver now with panels everywhere. This might not seem as straightforward as the old version, but I think the change is to the better in the long run.

You are right that it takes a bit longer to understand what is going on. For instance, I could not figure out how to link my hotspots in the panoramas and map until now. Guess I will find out sooner or later :-)

Installation was easy going, no crashes until now, preview is running smooth (XP SP 2 on a 3 year old notebook Intel mobile 4/ 3.06, 1gb)

Yours,
Michael

-------------
http://www.premiumpano.de

Message posted by smooth on January-24-2007 at 4:23am

Australia
November-23-2002
5401 Posts

I was under the impression that 2.0 was to be ActiveX and that would have cured the viewer issues with the correct technology. I run a 3500+ AMD with 4GB of Ram + a decent graphics card with 512mb RAM onboard and the fullscreen display is choppy with box flashing under the mouse pointer. Inertia is not right and the viewer seems to do it's own thing (too slow to react).

I have been reading about the improvements and it does have some things that were not obvious and I need to play some more.

As for the GUI. I don't, NOT agree with it totally. But for a company that promotes itself on ease of use I think it's wide of that mark. Newbies (noObs) will not find it easy.

Also I'm disappointed in Danny (He has said nothing for ages) I was at least expecting a notification of it's release here on the forum.

Still, lots too play with and get my head around. Before making more judgments.

Regards, Smooth

Message posted by daugaard47 on January-24-2007 at 4:41am

November-10-2006
113 Posts

Its going to take awhile, to get used to the new layout.it took me forever to find out how to put my hot spots in.i dont like the feel of the viewport when you manualy move around the scene . it moves further than i want it to . and like you said i dont like how the right click will take you to easypano website.i really hope that is not set in stone. i do like how you can view all the hotspots but i wish i could drag and drop them into the scene instead of droping them into the folder. im sure once we play with it we will like it more.Its 3:30 in the morning for me and it all a little to much for me to take in right now. I just glad it is finally here. oh, danny told me you would be able to export to dvd (didnt see that)
Later Daugaard47

Message posted by mstoss on January-24-2007 at 4:53am

Germany
December-26-2006
141 Posts

Quote: Originally posted by smooth on January-24-2007
<FONT face=Verdana>As for the GUI. I don't, NOT agree with it totally. But for a company that promotes itself on ease of use I think it's wide of that mark. Newbies (noObs) will not find it easy.
<FONT face=Verdana>Also I'm disappointed in Danny (He has said nothing for ages) I was at least expecting a notification of it's release here on the forum.
[/QUOTE]
Hm... yes, you may be right regarding the GUI from a target group aspect. But I think a good tutorial (project or video) could compensate for this. Many TW users will probably want to produce a lots of tours and they will profit from the new GUI.

The (absent) forum announcement was a piece of lousy marketing, yes. I'm not registered to a newsletter, so may be they have announced it there. It was by pure accident, that I found out from the first posting here. In december I visited the forum nearly every day to find out more about the release. Last week I contacted a competitor (there is at least one and I still watch out for their next product release) and since then I did not look at this forum so often. This is how you send your clients to competitors.

Yours,
Michael

-------------
http://www.premiumpano.de

Message posted by mstoss on January-24-2007 at 5:04am

Germany
December-26-2006
141 Posts

Now I found out how to edit links. I don't like manuals either, but I had to read the help section. Now I know that I did close the properties as one of my first actions when I started playing. No wonder that I could not see the relevant informations then... :-) My fault!

Michael

-------------
http://www.premiumpano.de

Message posted by mstoss on January-24-2007 at 6:17am

Germany
December-26-2006
141 Posts

Quote: Originally posted by daugaard47 on January-24-2007Its going to take awhile, to get used to the new layout.it took me forever to find out how to put my hot spots in.i dont like the feel of the viewport when you manualy move around the scene . it moves further than i want it to . and like you said i dont like how the right click will take you to easypano website.i really hope that is not set in stone. i do like how you can view all the hotspots but i wish i could drag and drop them into the scene instead of droping them into the folder. im sure once we play with it we will like it more.Its 3:30 in the morning for me and it all a little to much for me to take in right now. I just glad it is finally here. oh, danny told me you would be able to export to dvd (didnt see that)
Later Daugaard47

Make sure you have the "movie rec" window open. You will find 4 film strip icons on the left hand side of this window. The right one with the red dot is the "export video" button. Select mpeg DVD/PAL or /NeverTheSameColor there.

Michael

-------------
http://www.premiumpano.de

Message posted by smooth on January-24-2007 at 6:56am

Australia
November-23-2002
5401 Posts

I just made a DVD (a quick bodgie) and it worked pretty well. This is a great feature and Easypano should be commended for this.

My video quality was low so I hope to make a better version by adjusting the panorama image size and hopefully there is some sort of compression quality/sizing. Sort of would have liked the "Skin" to have been exported to the "video" on CD or DVD as well and not just the panorama images. Had it have been done this way the button controls could have shown "down state" while the movie followed the movie track path.

Again the GUI and the record button is not obvious and needs a redesign. Imagine that was a GUI for a panorama skin, doesn't cut the grade at all.

Re the newsletter: I am signed up and have received nothing to inform us about the BETA release.

More to learn and play with.....

Regards, Smooth