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How to create a 360° virtual tour: the shoot decides the result
A 360° virtual tour is won at the shoot, not in processing. Three rules are enough: a tripod at a constant height, a viewpoint every two to three metres, and generous overlap between neighbouring positions.
Updated 2026-08-17
The gear: less than you would think
No particular camera is required. What matters is producing 2:1 equirectangular panoramas — the rectangular image twice as wide as it is tall, holding the entire sphere around the shooting point.
- A consumer 360 camera does the job perfectly well. Aim for the highest resolution available: 8K wide is comfortable, 6K is still workable, below that the wall detail the reconstruction needs is missing.
- A tripod, non-negotiable. Not a monopod, not handheld. The height must stay the same from one viewpoint to the next: that is what gives the tour its continuity, and a height that drifts is immediately visible.
- A remote trigger (phone, self-timer) so you are not in every single image.
- A DSLR on a panoramic head works too, provided you stitch to a 2:1 equirectangular before sending.
The rule that decides everything: overlap
This is the point almost everyone gets wrong, and the only one that truly matters. From photographs alone the position of each shot is not known: it is rebuilt by recognising the same details from one image to the next — a skirting-board corner, a picture frame, a power socket. That is photogrammetry.
The direct consequence: two neighbouring viewpoints must see largely the same things. If they share no recognisable detail, nothing ties them together, and one of the two will not find its place in the tour.
In practice:
- A viewpoint every 2 to 3 metres, closer in cluttered spaces.
- One shot on each side of every door. A door crossed without an intermediate shot is the link breaking — and it is the number one cause of orphaned rooms.
- Do not skip corridors, however empty and dull. They are what ties the rooms together.
- Follow a continuous path, like a real visit, rather than hopping from room to room.
- Stairs are shot while walking them: one at the bottom, one or two on the way up, one at the top.
The right mental image
Do not think "I am photographing a room". Think "I am leaving a trace every three steps". A tour is rebuilt as a path, not as a collection of rooms.
Interiors that resist
Some places defeat photogrammetry however careful you are: when every wall looks alike, the algorithm either confuses two different places or recognises nothing at all. The classic cases are the empty white studio, identical corridors, hotel rooms in a row, and large bare volumes.
This is not a hypothesis: on our own demos, a repetitive white studio of 29 shots places only 17 of them. Adding resolution changes nothing — the missing information is not in the pixels.
What genuinely helps: tighten the spacing, keep furniture and objects in frame, avoid shooting bare walls head-on, and open the doors so each shot sees a little of the next room.
What a 360 capture alone cannot give you
It cannot give you absolute scale. A series of spherical photographs lets you rebuild the shape of a place and the relative positions of the viewpoints, but nothing in the images alone says whether the room is three metres across or six. That is a limit of the method, not a fault of your gear: a distance measurement is missing.
What it changes in practice: the walkthrough, the dollhouse view and the floor plan all work; measurements, however, are not reliable in absolute terms. If you need accurate measurements you need a source that carries them — a Visites-virtuelles backup or link, see exporting a Visites-virtuelles tour.
How many shots to plan for
These figures come from tours actually produced, not from a rule of thumb. They give the order of magnitude:
| Property | Viewpoints | Note | Indicative price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio / one-bedroom, ~45 m² | 29 | Comfortable density for a small volume | €29.10 |
| Townhouse, two floors | 77 | Stairs included, one shot per landing | €63.83 |
| Unusual volume (barge) | 130 | Two decks, narrow circulation | €90.85 |
Prices computed at the "360° panoramas" multiplier (×1.15) with the live grid; detail on the virtual tour pricing page. One shot too many beats one orphaned room: the marginal cost of an extra panorama is small, the cost of a second site visit is not.
What to send us
- 2:1 equirectangular images (for example 8192 × 4096), as JPEG.
- Named in shooting order — it is the only ordering hint the reconstruction has, and it genuinely helps.
- No destructive editing: crops, perspective corrections or heavy filters remove detail the reconstruction needs.
- Images already used for another tour, or gathered from elsewhere, will not do: the set must be coherent, shot on the same day, with the same camera at the same height.
See the difference, on the same property
The same flat, produced from 360 photos alone and then from a full survey. It is the best way to judge whether 360-only is enough for you:
Frequently asked questions
How far apart should 360 shots be?
Two to three metres as a rule, and less in cluttered or narrow spaces. The real constraint is not distance but overlap: two neighbouring positions must see largely the same details, otherwise the reconstruction cannot tie them together.
Do I need a professional 360 camera?
No. A consumer 360 camera on a tripod, at maximum resolution, is plenty. What makes the result good is the path you walk and the constant height, not the price of the body.
Why are some of my photos not placed?
Because nothing ties them visually to the rest: insufficient overlap, a door crossed without an intermediate shot, or an interior too repetitive to tell apart. That is the limit of the method, not a fault in your photos — with a Visites-virtuelles backup or link, every viewpoint is placed.
Can you measure distances in a 360-only tour?
The measurement tool is there, but the scale is relative: a 360 capture with no distance data does not fix the absolute size of a volume. For accurate measurements you need a source that carries them, meaning a Visites-virtuelles backup or link.
Should I turn the lights on?
Aim for even, stable light across the whole series: blinds open, lights on everywhere or off everywhere. A place half lit and half dark produces visible mismatches between neighbouring viewpoints.
Panoramas ready?
The price is computed per panorama and shown in full before any payment. You walk away with a folder of files, to host wherever you want.