360 Turntable

360 Turntable

Qtvr To Flash Product Displays, Advertising Sure Has Changed

In the beginning there was product photography, and it was good, good for anything printed on paper that is.  But now the advertising world is different. Every year more and more consumers turn to the internet for not only information but for purchases, large and small. And since they cannot touch the product they want as much information about it as possible.

When Apple computer invented QuickTime Virtual Reality almost 20 years ago, it promised to change the way we looked at photography, both of 'objects' and environments.  As exciting as it was, for several reasons it never became part of the mainstream. Perhaps the most significant barrier was the technology itself.  Until the last few years, Apple computers claimed only a 5% market penetration in the PC market. That meant that even in the early 2000’s 95% of computers not only did not have QuickTime installed on them, but that the owners of those computers had mostly never heard of QT, and considered it an 'Apple thing'. Sadly, generally attempting to open a QT movie without the application installed on one’s PC, resulted in computer crashes and hangs.

Also several companies capitalized on the technical aspects images for 360º degree photography and produced very specialized and very high priced special tripod heads, rigs and computer controlled turntables—which contributed to yet another misconception, that one had to have lots of money to produce this kind of imagery (which wasn’t going to make you any money anyway).

Another barrier was the file size of the final image file. Though small by today's standards, there was the perception that with consumers mostly using dial up connections that, even if they by some chance had QuickTime installed on their computer, they would not be willing to wait for the file to download. There also wasn't an abundance of asymmetrical CODEC’s or streaming possibilities.

Lastly, though the QTVR interface has several extra capabilities, they are not well known or obvious to a viewer who doesn't know QuickTime, and most think only of products spinning on a white background, or being able to pan around a room—entertaining but not ‘ready for prime time’.

All these factors combined to make QTVR and as a consequence, all 360º photography, perceived as a novel technology that though fun to view and experience, was not economical to produce, not capable of delivering attractive exciting photography and most importantly was not viable for real world retail uses.

These days... Not so.
With Adobe's Flash player boasting an almost 100% installation on all computers and 70-80% of internet consumers using some type of broadband connection the possibilities for 360º views and elaborate product tour interfaces.  Products can now be shown not only in 360º views but with zoom and pan features as well as informational graphical or even video ‘call outs’. 

With broadband connections being so prevalent in households, and Flash being a streaming media the product displays can use high quality photography and video.  They are used cross media as well for not only web, but trade show displays and even sales presentations.  A salesman can carry a laptop computer full of virtual products that otherwise would be too large or numerous to carry, as well as not possibly getting past security in office buildings.

Retail giant, Party City, for the past 2 years has used “Virtual Fashion Shows’ on their website to promote their extensive line of Halloween costumes.  They feature live models photographed as a 360º view and place them in a custom interface that not only rotates, zooms and pans, but is designed with a Halloween style to match their wed design. Since Halloween sales represent  over 30% of their yearly business, Party City feels that it’s important to use all possible technology to give themselves an edge in a very competitive business.

©2008 Logan Seale

Oregon based  Benchmade Knives uses 360º photos with video call outs to display the features of their high line knife collections, again it gives them an edge over the competition which these days is more important than ever.

©2008 Logan Seale

Some photographers are even experimenting with making unusual and artistic virtual reality photography. With careful planning and control one can be very successful with this idea.

For more information and images visit http://www.LoganSealeInteractive.com

About the Author

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