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Topic: twviewer.swf - Better or Worse?

Message posted by thedhgroup on April-25-2008 at 3:19pm

United States
April-10-2005
131 Posts

I posted a lengthy response to the latest release in the "TW new release" topic relative to the view quality a few hours ago. The more I played with the new TW release the more I felt I needed to bring my observations to a new topic starter.

This pertains only to flash (I've given up on Java).

I've noticed the interaction with a pano image has gotten (in my opinion) worse. Compared to the previous build the viewer is really hard to interact with. Slight movements of the mouse equal major movements in the image and then when you view in full screen the issue is amplified even more!

Does anybody else see this? For me this makes this release unusable. When I saw the release notes where EP said they improved the viewer, I got excited. Maybe more like immervision I thought. Nope, further from it. Theirs is so smooth. The latest TW release is way too jerky and unstable.

I've emailed support. Let's see what they say.

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www.dvt360.com

Message posted by DaMan on April-25-2008 at 6:48pm

United States
October-04-2007
111 Posts

I partially agree. It does not seem as good as immervision when there is semi transparent layers. I did not really see much improvement even with normal layouts. At least it works and we can hope they can/will improve on this improvement :) Just my 2 cents.

DaMan

Message posted by bruxist on April-29-2008 at 5:47am

New Zealand
February-12-2008
88 Posts

I would agree with you. The interaction between my mouse and my panoramas, in FlashVR, is way too sensitive. I have to resort to clicking once on the image then use the arrow keys to step it around (or use a button action, which seems to control the speed better).
When I test the same panoramas using QTVR they are certainly less reactive.

Message posted by thedhgroup on April-30-2008 at 2:56pm

United States
April-10-2005
131 Posts

I have not gotten a response from support yet, although I never get any of their newsletters either so my guess is my email system blocks EP even before I have a chance to see it.

Not many people have responded to this issue so I guess it is not a problem?

I like the new features the latest release has to offer but I don't know how to be more clear about the fact many end users of this technology are surprised to learn they can interact with pano images. If you interact with these images for the first time, I want the users to have a good experience. I've been messing with this stuff for over 5 years now and I even have a hard time interacting with what comes out of the latest release. Think about the new users, make it as easy as possible to interact with these images. Having a pano image jerk all over with small mouse movements is certainly not a good experience.

Since I cannot seem to ever get emails from EP can you guys put some kind of response on this forum, that way others that are concerned about this can find out what your response is on this issue.

By the way, I looked at a tour that was done in TW1.3 today. That was very smooth and the mouse was weighted just about right. Very easy to navigate.

Thank you.

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www.dvt360.com

Message posted by smooth on April-30-2008 at 3:06pm

Australia
November-23-2002
5401 Posts

I haven't had the time to test the latest release so I really cannot comment on if it is better or worse. But by the same token I haven't seen a link to the one you claim is jerking.

Flash and Java will yield completely different results.

Many things could be the result of the problem you are describing.

Give us all the link to see this in action and then we can pass comment.

Regards, Smooth

Message posted by thedhgroup on May-02-2008 at 2:36pm

United States
April-10-2005
131 Posts

The link I was referring to was EP's own demo but I can show this in a better way. A simple comparison between the recent build and the previous one.

Before clicking on the following link make sure to stop the pans on both players before interacting with either one of them.

Before and After

Both players will be Flash players.

As far as Java is concerned the reason I gave up on it was the fact I did not like getting support calls from end users and clients asking why it didn't work. 99% of the time it was because they did not have a JVM on their computer. Flash does not display quite as nice but it is better than wasting time asking folks to download a huge bit of software just to see a tour.

Back to the recent flash player, maybe I'm too picky but I just cannot bring myself to use this build. I know no one is forcing me too but I want to take advantage of the bug fixes too. The latest build is supposed to fix all the hot spot problems on the map and I have a few tours out there that could use that fix. Not to mention the overlay is great! But please EP, make the viewer smooth again.

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www.dvt360.com

Message posted by smooth on May-02-2008 at 3:06pm

Australia
November-23-2002
5401 Posts

OK, I tested your samples and I found the panning on both smooth but I did find the second (latest build) very sensitive to mouse movement (A little too twitchy) and as you say very hard to keep rotation at the horizon line.

What I don't see is jerky movement. Possibly this is a result of the video graphics card being use?

Anyway, I'll put in a vote for less twitchy mouse control.

Regards, Smooth

Message posted by Handler on May-02-2008 at 4:52pm

United States
April-17-2008
12 Posts

I don't notice any difference between the two O.o But I have a very fast computer and graphic card (core2duo, pci-express card)

It could be that the new build is more of a resource hog, so on a slow computer the new one is jerky while the older version is smooth?

Message posted by DaMan on May-02-2008 at 5:36pm

United States
October-04-2007
111 Posts

I can not see much difference in the two either.. But WOW was the mouse action bad in the new build. On my laptop I could not keep a straight level pan so save my life. It was not a problem in the old build, but COME ON!!! What a step backwards! I love the new fixes but I never would have know about this problem because I have never looked at panos on my laptop before. (C2D 7500, GeForce8600GT, 2GB RAM) I do not think it is the computer as I did not have any problems with the old build. I hope EP fixes this fast.

Thanks for the heads up.

DaMan

Message posted by thedhgroup on May-02-2008 at 8:24pm

United States
April-10-2005
131 Posts

I guess I should have been more clear on the jerky movement comment. What it really comes down to is the sensitive mouse.

http://www.dvt360.com/temp/twtest/ I've updated the A B comparison page to better compare side by side rather than top to bottom.

There is no way to interact and the image pan slowly like it did before. This is indeed a step backwards and I think I will pass on this build and wait for the next one.

This exact same thing happened in TW2 as well. Midstream through all the fixes and updates the applet got very difficult to interact with. Then TW3 came out and it was fixed. Now it is bad again. Thanks EP for the bug fixes and enhancements but if you could see about fixing the hypersensitive mouse, that would be great. Take a look at the flash player immervision puts out and make it like that.

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www.dvt360.com

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