KR Pano

Hi! I decided to take some time this week to figure out what program was best for my needs to share my 360 media. My needs can be summed up as "easily exportable for sharing with my friends at the personal level". Today I’m focusing on the KRPano application. 

I used the Ricoh Theta SC Hatsune Miku to capture my photos/videos and a Macbook Pro to edit them. 

Initial Thoughts

Krpano is a highly regarded program that runs through your computer’s system rather than opening in its own window. Initially, setting up was a little difficult as I run on a Mac, but that was nothing my password couldn’t fix. 

Krpano is a fairly expensive application, especially if you want the “Branding Free” version. I went with the trial version, which watermarks your images. 

You can see the contents of krpano here. I like that the program is small, all things considered. I tried the “convert SPHERE CUBE Droplet” but think that it is a tool better suited for individuals hosting higher res virtual tours than I. 

As you can see here, the program runs itself through the Mac Terminal and processes images fairly quickly.  

Trial and Error

Krpano has a lot of ease of use. You drag your files into the “Droplet” you want to use, then you take those files back into the Finder window and drop it on the “MAKE VTOUR (____) Droplet”.

The free tier adds in watermarks. Not a watermark, but plural.

If you'd like to view my tour, please click here.

So here are my pros and cons for the Krpano application:

Concluding Thoughts

If you are hosting your virtual tours somewhere like a personal website and have the money to spend, I recommend Krpano as a tool for professionals. If you are not hosting your tours on a personal service or site, it is not a great fit. I see how Krpano allows for ease of use, but think that it would be greatly improved by a reduction in watermarks for the free tier.