3D Virtual tours open up new horizons in the presentation of architectural and design projects. They allow you to get acquainted with the space in detail, even before its physical realization, and greatly facilitate communication between customers and contractors. But what factors determine the complexity and duration of creating such tours? Let’s take a look at the main aspects.
A 3D virtual tour is an interactive 360-degree journey that allows you to see an object in the smallest detail. In the real estate, architecture, and design industries, this tool has become indispensable for demonstrating space to clients. Virtual tours allow you to see an object even before it is built, as well as appreciate the details that are not always visible in ordinary images. However, creating such a tour is a complex and multi-stage process. To better understand how it works, let’s look at five main factors that affect the development time of 3D virtual tours.
A 3D virtual tour consists of a set of panoramic 3D images. The higher their resolution, the longer it takes to render them. A high level of detail ensures a high-quality visual experience: the user sees only a part of the panorama while viewing it, and this part should be as clear as possible. This makes the process of creating panoramas longer than in the case of conventional static renders.
An interactive viewpoint is a panoramic rendering with a camera located in the center of the scene. The more viewpoints you need for your tour, the more detailed the view of the space will be. For example, 2-3 viewpoints may be enough for a small room, and dozens for a large house or office.
Although increasing the number of points does not require creating everything from scratch, it adds work to set up lighting and further post-production. For large projects, the time can increase significantly depending on the scale.
The more individual models your project requires, the more time it will take to create a 3D virtual tour. For example, modeling furniture, décor, or architectural elements is one of the most time-consuming stages.
However, it is possible to use ready-made 3D models from studio libraries. This significantly reduces the time and cost. To further speed up the process, you can provide 3D artists with photos of the environment or a window view that they can use instead of creating new elements from scratch.
The complexity of the space has a significant impact on the development time. A simple room with minimal furniture and décor may require only a few viewpoints. However, more complex facilities, such as multi-zone spaces, rooms with different height levels or architectural features, require more panoramas and more careful customization.
Additional time may be required to integrate modern technologies, such as seamless transition between viewpoints, which provides smoother navigation in a 3D 360 virtual tour.
A rendering farm is a cluster of computers designed to accelerate the computation of complex 3D images. Creating high-resolution panoramas is a resource-intensive process that is significantly accelerated by render farms. Large CGI studios usually have access to such resources, which allows them to complete even large projects in a short time.
3D virtual tours are becoming more and more popular due to their ability to showcase a space with maximum detail and realism. They not only improve the interaction between designers, architects, and clients, but also save time and resources by avoiding mistakes at the planning stage. Investing in a high-quality 3D virtual tour is an investment in your successful project.
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