Interacting with QuickTime VR Images

You can do more with QuickTime than play linear movies. Apple’s QuickTime VR software lets you explore places as if you were really there and examine objects as if they were with you. When you view a QuickTime VR panorama of a place, you can look up, look down, turn around, zoom in to see detail, and zoom out for a broader view. When you view a QuickTime VR object, you can manipulate it to see a different view of it. As you explore a panorama, you can move from it into a neighboring panorama or to an object in it. For example, you could move from one room to another room and then examine an object there.

You can interact with a QuickTime VR panorama or object from any application in which you can view a linear QuickTime movie. You can use QuickTime Player, a Web browser, TextEdit, AppleWorks, or any other application that can play QuickTime movies.

When you view a QuickTime VR panorama or object, a QuickTime VR controller sometimes appears at the bottom of the window. It’s in the same place as the controller for a regular QuickTime movie (especially those viewed with the conventional controller in applications like AppleWorks). As with regular QuickTime movies, the QuickTime VR controller in QuickTime Player looks different than the VR controller in other applications. The cosmetic differences don’t affect the functions of the controller buttons.

Actually, you don’t use the QuickTime VR controller as the primary means of interacting with a QuickTime VR image. You simply drag the mouse pointer to explore a QuickTime VR panorama or investigate a QuickTime VR object. The remainder of this section describes how to use the mouse pointer and the VR controller to interact with a QuickTime VR image.

Exploring VR panoramas

To look around a QuickTime VR panorama, you click the picture and drag left, right, up, or down. The picture moves in the direction that you drag, and the pointer changes shape to indicate the direction of movement. Figure 20-11 shows a QuickTime VR panorama being moved to the left.

Figure 20-11: When you pan a QuickTime VR panorama, the pointer indicates the direction of movement.

Investigating VR objects

To manipulate a QuickTime VR object, you drag it left, right, up, or down. As you drag, the object, or some part of it, moves. For example, it may turn around so that you can see all sides of it, or it may open and close. The author of the VR picture determines the effect.

When viewing a QuickTime VR object, you can also place the pointer near an inside edge of the VR window and press the mouse button to move the object continuously. Figure 20-12 shows two views of QuickTime VR object.

Figure 20-12: Drag a QuickTime VR object in any direction to see another view of the object. (Images courtesy of John Greenleigh/Flipside Studios.)

Revealing the VR controller

When you view a QuickTime VR image in a Web browser window, the VR controller may not appear at the bottom of the image. If you have QuickTime Pro, you can view the VR image with a VR controller by saving the VR image as a QuickTime movie file on your hard drive and opening the movie file in QuickTime Player. The method for saving a VR image is the same as the method described earlier for saving a regular QuickTime movie. To recap: Control-click the movie or click the movie and hold the mouse button until the contextual menu appears, and choose Save As QuickTime Movie from the contextual menu. (The Save As QuickTime Movie choice does not appear in the contextual menu if you do not have QuickTime Pro or the author of the VR image does not allow saving it.)

Zooming in and out

While viewing a QuickTime VR panorama or object, you can zoom in or out.

• To zoom in: Click the VR controller button that looks like a plus sign or press the Control key.

• To zoom out: Click the button that looks like a minus sign or press the Shift key.

As you zoom in on a VR object, it eventually becomes too large to see all at once in the QuickTime VR window. You may be able to view another part of a zoomed-in VR object by clicking the controller button labeled with a four-way arrow and then dragging the object or by pressing Option while dragging. Either way, the object holds its pose as it moves around in the window. To resume normal operation, click the button again or release the Option key. (You don’t need to use the four-way drag button or the Option key with a VR panorama, which you can pan just by dragging across it.)

Interacting with hot spots

A QuickTime VR panorama or object can contain hot spots. You click these areas of the picture to cause some action to occur. Typically, the action involves going to another panorama or object. A hot spot can trigger another kind of action, such as displaying text in the empty area of the VR controller or taking you to a Web page.

Hot spots are normally unmarked. One way to find them is to move the pointer around the panorama or object. When the pointer is over a hot spot, the pointer’s shape changes. A variety of different pointer shapes may indicate a hot spot. One common shape is a large white arrow pointing up.

You can also have QuickTime VR show the hot spots in the picture. To highlight the hot spots with shaded rectangles, click the VR controller button labeled with an up arrow and question mark. If you double-click this button, it stays down and you can see all hot spots as you drag the pointer to move the picture. Figure 20-13 is an example of an outlined hot spot in a QuickTime VR panorama.

Figure 20-13: Hot spots are revealed in a QuickTime VR panorama (the highlighted area).

If clicking a hot spot takes you to another panorama or object, you can go back to your previous location by clicking the back button, which is labeled with a left arrow in the VR controller. If you’ve progressed through several hot spots, you can retrace your steps by clicking the back button repeatedly.