In short
The browser model renders a spherical panorama from where the camera stands: outside from the orbit view or inside a room. Six views are captured around the viewpoint and folded into one equirectangular picture of 3072 × 1536 pixels, the 2:1 format that property portals and VR headsets accept. It costs no points and shows the model with its own materials, not a picture from the image model. On the share page it appears as a sphere the client can turn; the JPEG can be downloaded for a portal.
What equirectangular means
A sphere cannot be laid flat without stretching. The equirectangular projection accepts that: it maps longitude to the horizontal axis and latitude to the vertical one, twice as wide as it is high. The horizon runs through the middle, the zenith is stretched across the top edge.
Viewers, portals and headsets know this format because it is the simplest one to agree on. Any 2:1 picture is treated as a full sphere, and the same file plays on a phone, in a browser and in a headset without conversion.
How the picture is made
- 01Place the viewpointOrbit to the outside position you want, or walk into a room and stop where a visitor would stand.
- 02Capture six directionsA cube camera renders forward, back, left, right, up and down at 1024 pixels per face.
- 03Fold to 2:1A shader turns the six faces into the 3072 × 1536 sphere, with the same tone mapping as the viewer, and stores it as JPEG.
Where it goes: portals and VR
Share page
The panorama opens in a sphere the client turns with the mouse or a finger. No plug-in.
Property portals
Download the 2:1 JPEG and upload it where the portal asks for a 360° picture.
Headsets
Any viewer that accepts an equirectangular JPEG shows the sphere at scale.
Turntable, model panorama, image-model panorama
Turntable
Twelve pictures around the building at 30° steps. The building turns; you stand still. Good for the outside, useless for a room.
Model panorama
You stand still and look around. Geometry and materials from the model, light from the viewer. Honest, instant, no points.
Image-model panorama
Not offered. A stitched sphere from an image model would have to keep every wall consistent across six views, and that is exactly what image models are weakest at.
What a panorama is good for, and what not
A panorama answers “what do I see from here”. It is the fastest way to test a room’s proportion, the view from a terrace, the relation to the neighbour. It is not a marketing picture: materials are the viewer’s, the sky is a gradient, there are no people.
Use it for review and orientation, and let the image model make the pictures that sell. In a client meeting the sphere often settles the question a still picture leaves open: how the corner window meets the terrace, or how close the neighbour really is.
Questions and answers
Does the panorama cost points?
No. It is rendered by the browser model and stored as a JPEG.
Can I take a panorama inside a room?
Yes. Walk into the room, stop, and capture. The sphere shows the room with its openings and the view through them.
Why does the top of the picture look stretched?
That is the projection. Viewed in a sphere it is correct; only the flat file looks odd.
Can I use it on a listing?
Yes. Download the 2:1 JPEG and upload it to the portal’s 360° field. Mark it as a model view, not a photo.
