What is 360 product photo? What is 3D product photo?
What do we call a "360 product photo"
Saying "360 product photo" we mean animated clip with any product or object in it rotating 360 degrees. Usually this 360 degrees clip is made specially for viewing online and consists of at least couple of tens usual photographs of an object. Sometimes it is not for online: 360 product photos are excellent for show rooms, exhibitions or museum expositions. Sometimes it is not even a "product" photo: it might be human or cake or tree or even cat.
General trend is that 360 product photo is easy viewable with any mobile device with IOS, Android or Windows Mobile systems. A good 360 product photo player must be 100% compatible with any internet browser as well.
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What's the difference between 360 product photo and 3D product photo?
Usually we say "3D product photo" when talking about 2-axial animated clip with product, and we say "360 product photo" when mean 1-axial clip. Two-axial means one can rotate an object in any direction: left to right or up and down. One-axial means there is only left to right rotation in the clip.
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When comparing 360 and 3D product photos, we can see advantages and disadvantages of both types:
- 360 is easer to produce. Less lighting issues, less equipment needed, less time to make a photo
- 3D photo is more impressive and more informative then 360 photo. It really matters in some cases.
- 360 "eats" less traffic as it consists of less images
Talking generally, there are some options, and 360 and 3D product photo are just two basic cases. For instance, it is possible to make a "mix" of 3D and 360. Check this example for inspiration: it consists not too much images, but looks cool and gives both side and top views.
Why do I need a 360 or 3D product photo?
Check the page Advantages of 360 and 3D product photo. Talking shortly, 3D and 360 product photos on your website are positive for customers confidence, conversion and incredibly important for SEO.
How does the 360 photo production looks like
It's quite easy. Generally, you need the same equipment as for usual product photo plus PC-controlled turntable. For details check the Tutorial, but basic things on 360 product photo described below.
For user it is like that:
- You prepare things: connect the camera and the turntable to the computer with USB or WiFi connection, install the software, and choose the settings.
- You place a product and check that it looks the way you like,
- You press Start button in the software and in 2-3 minutes you save ready to view online animated clip.
For equipment it is like that:
- When you press Start button, the software starts to syncronize turntable and camera.
- Camera automatically make a photo. After that turntable turns on a specified angle and camera make the next photo. It repeats for all photos in the set, fully automatically.
- Parallel with shooting, all the images are transfered to the computer. When the last frame has been taken, all the set of frames is already in the PC ready to be saved or postproducted. Frame set looks like that:
- When you press Save button, software resizes the frames, generate the clip and save it. It can be uploaded straight from the photo software or later with any CMS or FTP client. Raw files are also might be saved unchanged.
How to upload and publish 360 product photo online? What are the formats?
Check publishing manual for details.
In a few words, Photo3D Studio supports saving in the following formats:
- HTML + JavaScript - it's the most flexible, cross-platform and ajustable format.
- Flash (swf) - for those who loves
- Silverlight - for Microsoft lovers
- GIF - most easy one-file format
- Folder - untouched raw and JPEG files that came from camera. For archiving and postproduction, if needed.
Photomechanics equipment is also compatible with third-party software including leading Object2VR. Check software page for details.
What is the price?
Photomechanics equipment is cost-effective. Check our shop for the prices. Generally, it depends mostly on the size and weight of your products.