FAQs
Unlike video and 360° panoramas, 3D virtual tours allow your customers to freely explore every room of a property as if they were actually there, which means you can ensure they are serious when arranging that viewing.
3D virtual tours are the only way to give your audience a true sense of presence – the feeling of being immersed in a space. That’s why our tours are the most realistic way to experience a physical location online. .
As a guide, an average sized 4 bedroom residential home takes approximately half a day to capture. Building layout and furniture can affect how many scans we need to capture in each room. To speed up the photography process please ensure the rooms are ready, un-wanted items have been removed and that there are no moving objects (or pets) in the room.
Virtual tours are created in a real life setting. The 3D element of the tours creates the 3D view known as a ‘dolls house’. The rest is HDR photography which is mapped onto the 3D model we create. We can only produce virtual tours of finished properties so Matterport is not the tool to use if you have not yet built the property.
Every building is unique and there are many factors which can affect how long it takes to produce a tour such as number of floors, mirrors, furniture layout and so on. We give a more accurate quote once we have had a consultation with you and seen photos or visited your venue. You can see some example prices here to give you a rough idea.
Yes. Once we have produced your quote, we will take a 50% upfront payment to secure your image capture day. Once your tour is produced the remaining balance will need to be paid before it goes live. Our full payment terms can be found here.
Once we have visited your venue and completed all scans we then have to load up the data and turn it into a ‘walk-around’. We have to add annotations and map out the route. We aim to get your tour to you within 7 days once payment has been made.
Although we are based in Manchester and cover the surrounding cities, we still produce virtual tours for businesses all over the UK. We must point out that projects sometimes need a physical check of the venue before 3D photography can take place.
Get in touch and let’s discuss your requirements.
Special lighting is not required but the space will be captured exactly as it looks in real life. If you want to portray a more cosy feel, we’d recommend switching on lamps etc. If you rely on daylight then we’d be best to take the photography on a day when it is bright. Our camera takes 5 different exposures of each photograph (known as HDR), this ensures the lighting looks at it’s best when rendered.
Click here to download the Matterport embed guidelines. If you are embedding just one tour then we’d recommend using the iframe embed code. If you have a WordPress website and publishing many tours then take a look at the 3rd party plugin called ‘WP3D Models’ which allows you to embed and customise with ease.
Once we start work on processing your tour, we can add tags to key features that you wish to include. We will factor the cost of adding such tags into your quote. The tags act as interactive ‘touch points’ throughout the tour where you can add descriptions, links or even embedded videos!
Much like signs in a museum or art gallery, tags are a useful way to annotate hidden areas or objects of interest.
We can do the image capture Monday to Friday whenever suits your business. We must point out that scans can’t be done with people, animals, active televisions or any moving objects about. You will also need to consider the time of day for best lighting as image capture will be exactly as it looks in real life. For Schools we can be available on a Saturday, however availability maybe limited.
Yes but it depends on what type of business you run. You will need to close the areas of the building that you wish to scan. The room needs to be photo-ready and not have moving objects, active screens or people or animals in the field of vision. If this is an issue for your business, we would recommend you arrange your image capture for a time just before you open or after you close.
Our cameras will capture the venue exactly as it looks to the eye. We will need you to ensure all surfaces are clean and tidy and that objects or furniture is placed as you’d like it to be on the tour. We also ask that you remove any valuable objects or sensitive material like photographs or documents on desks that you do not wish to be included. We only need to scan the rooms that you want including in the tour but please ensure there are no active televisions, fans or moving objects (including pets) in the space.
Yes we can do image capture on venues with lots of windows or glass but there will be significantly more post-photography work to do. We always recommend a consultation/visit beforehand. We may not be able to remove camera reflections from mirrors, glass or super shiny surfaces but we will always ensure your tour looks as professional as possible and offer advice beforehand.
Our camera takes high-quality 4K images (18mp). From the captured imagery we are able to extract a collection of stills but for best results, we would always recommend using a professional stills photographer. Different shaped rooms require various lenses and flash lighting.
You don’t need a VR headset to view a tour. This is what makes it so accessible to your customers. Having said that, the tour does look incredible on a VR headset, so if you can get your customers to use one you’ll find it is a very realistic experience.
Floor plans are not included however Matterport can produce black and white 2D schematic floor plans on request for a small fee and depending on the size or number of floors of your venue. Floor plans are usually only produced for residential property.
All virtual tours are hosted on and run via the Matterport Cloud. You will first need to have a basic Matterport hosting account in which to host your tour. Their starter account is £9.99 per month for up to 5 spaces and they have other hosting packages for larger quantities. Your own account means you have access to the analytics and full control of the tour and what you do with it going forward.
Yes! but camera equipment can only capture exterior areas as high resolution 2D in 360° views. 360° views are spherical 2D panorama images that users can view in all different directions. 360° views can be seen through 3D showcase along with the rest of your 3D space.
Currently, it it not possible to edit out anything after the scan/image capture has been done. If there is anything sensitive or valuable you do not want to be seen on the tour, please ensure it is removed prior to our arrival or let us know you would like it blurring out on the tour. A feature that should be used sparingly.
We are unable to remove something in view from the tour.
You can read our full set of terms and conditions here. These apply to every project we work on.