Orby uses Spherically Projected images in order to display a captured environment in an OrbySPV virtual tour. Here is an outline of other types of panorama projection types in comparison to the spherical, or equirectangular, panoramic projection.
Flat and Planar Panorama Projection
Conventional photographs are considered flat or planar, that means without any form of perspective correction. A planar projection in a viewer lets you pan left and right without the immersive feeling. You’re basically looking onto a flat picture that’s moving left and right.
Cylindrical Panorama Projection
A cylindrical panorama is intended to be viewed as if curved around the inside of a cylinder. You can pan left and right with an immersive feeling as if you were inside the cylinder.
Cubic Panorama Projection
Apple’s QuickTime 5 made this format popular. Cubic images contain 6 separate cube faces, which are in themselves planar images, without any perspective distortion. You can pan left, right, straight up, and down. These images can be easier to edit or modify with image editing software because no distortion is needed or applied.
And, last but not least…
Spherical Panorama Projection
A spherical panorama is intended to be viewed as if projected inside a sphere. You can pan left, right, straight up, and down with an immersive feeling as if you were inside that sphere. Use a type of ultra-wide 6-8mm fisheye lenses with a coverage of more than 180° or a 14-15mm wide angle lenses, or one-shot solutions such as the 0-360 in order to capture these images correctly. When using fisheye lenses then it only takes two or three images to create a full spherical panorama (single-row stitching). When using a wide angle lense you will need a special spherical tripod head to take several rows of pictures and add up and down shots (multi-row stitching).
By using spherically projected images, Orby provides the user the fastest and most interactive experience. The images are easier to work with compared to the Cubic Projection, less processor intensive than the Cylindrical Projection, and of course, more enjoyable than the Planar or Flat Projection.
Have more questions about capturing Spherically Projected images? We have a capturing page here with links to camera types, tripods and lenses, otherwise, just let us know.