As you already know, you have the option to upload your tours directly to your device and use the 3DVista VR app to view them offline. You can see how to use this method here.

However, there is a workaround that will allow you to view your tours offline on Pico devices, using Progressive Web Apps (PWA). This method is very simple and consists of downloading the tour directly from the web version.

In this video tutorial you can see the necessary steps. Although we use an Oculus Go in the example, the process would be the same for your Pico devices.

In summary, these are the steps you should follow:

In VTPro, publish your tour with the following settings:

• Enable the option "Download message for Offline Playing".
• Disable the "Video to Adaptive" option (recommended)

On Pico devices:

• Open your tour in the Pico Web Browser.
• Make sure you use https:// rather than http:// in the tour's URL.
• Don't forget to bookmark the page before downloading it. Always run it from the bookmark list.
• Make sure you access the tour with the full URL of the html file (/index.htm or /index.html) and do not rename the html file after publishing it to VT Pro.
• Download the tour using the top option on the tour.

That's it, your tour will have been saved and you can watch it offline whenever you want. Access the tour from your bookmarks and once it's loaded, click on the VR button to enter that mode and enjoy the experience in a totally immersive way. 

Given the multitude of devices, operating systems used, age, etc. There are many variants of how to do this process, which we have been explaining in successive tutorials. In this post we collect and order all these methods for greater ease of use.

For Tours hosted on Cloud 3DVista:

First of all, let's describe the way of doing it if you have your tours already uploaded to a 3DVista Cloud account. In this case, the process is very simple.

Open your 3DVista App, go to the “Online Tours” section and login with your 3DVista Cloud account. This way all your uploaded tours will appear. Now you just have to press for a few seconds on the thumbnail of the tour that you want to open and a button to download will appear at the top right corner. Click on it, and your tour will start downloading to your device's memory (you can also select multiple tours to download at once). Once finished, it will be available to be played from the “Offline Tours” tab.

Here you can see the process in our video tutorial (until minute 2:40):

For Tours Not Hosted in Cloud 3DVista:

If you use Android (version lower than 11):

For older versions of Android, you can follow the process outlined in our tutorial (from minute 2:40):

If you use Android (Version 11 or higher):

The process is exactly the same as described above, only the folder where the tours are saved should now be this: /Android/data/com.tdv.player.tdv/files/3dvista

For iOS devices (iPhone or iPad) and using MAC version prior to 11:

Please follow the instructions in our tutorial:

For iOS devices (iPhone or iPad) and MAC version 11 or higher:

First, in Virtual Tour Pro, publish your tour using the "Web / Mobile" option and saving the files to a folder on your computer.

Open the Finder and connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. The device will be visible in the list on the left under "Locations". Select it and click on the "Files" option from the top list. The 3DVista application should appear here (if you haven't installed it yet you can find it here: 3DVista App).
Now simply drag and drop the tour folder you created in VTPro onto the 3DVista app. This way your tour will be copied to your device. You can now disconnect your device from the computer. Now when entering the 3DVista App, if you click on the "Offline Tours" option, the copied tour will appear and you can view it even without connection.

Despite the video demonstrating the procedure with the Meta Quest, the process for HTC is practically identical.

View your Virtual Tours offline

How to watch virtual tours easily and offline on HTC Vive Focus 3 and HTC XR Elit? Nothing's easier than that. With the new 3DVista VR App, for free to download from the HTC Vive Store, you can now view your tours in the most easy and native way. No more need to copy and paste tour links and view them through the browser or download them from the online version. Instead, you can simply use 3DVista's new VR app for free and play the tours copied to the device, directly in VR mode. Simply follow these steps.

Step 1. Publish your Tours for VR

The first thing you have to do is access your tour in VT PRO, go to the "Publish" button and select the "VR Apps" option. Inside, check the "Quest 3" box. Select a folder on your hard drive to which you want to save the tour and click "Publish".

Important: Make sure you publish your tours with the most recent version of 3DVista.

Step 2. Create 3dvista folder in your HTC devices and copy tours

Connect your HTC to your PC using a usb-c cable. Should your PC not reconnect to the new unit, try turning on the goggles. This'll pop up a menu on the HTC screen prompting you to give your PC access to the device.

Go to the root folder of the HTC drive and create a new folder with the name "3dvista". Inside it is where you can then copy the previously published tour folder(s) so that you can later view them within the 3DVista app.

Step 3. Install the 3DVista VR app  

Go to the store and search “3DVista VR” in the list of apps (categories: Collaboration, Education, Simulation and Training). If you prefer, you can also directly download the app from this url: https://download.3dvista.com/vrapp/vrapp-3dvista-wave.apk

Once the app is installed launch it and you will be prompted to give permissions to access the content of the device, hit “allow” to continue.

And that’s it, after the initial loading screen, the app will show you a list of all the tours that you initially copied. And by clicking on them you can view them directly in VR mode. The easiest way to watch virtual tours on your HTC Vive Focus 3 and HTC Vive XR Elite.

Branded VR App

3DVista also offers the service of creating your own branded app for VR devices. Include your name or brand, logo and your own Tours. More information here.

We receive many emails daily asking which parameters you can add to a virtual tour's URL, to control the language, position, media, hotspot or even field of view that it leads to. That's why we thought it would be handy to post a list with all possible parameters that you can add to your tour's URL to determine what exactly should happen or be opened. This is a great way, for instance, to send someone the direct link to the tour's kitchen (rather than have them open the tour in your first media and navigate all the way to the kitchen) or to a specific hotspot that explains an element in the tour – all with just one and the same virtual tour as your base, so that the user can continue to navigate through the entire tour freely.

Parameters that can define a tour's URL:

(replace the CAPITAL LETTERS with your info)

• media-name=MEDIA_NAME : Name of the media to load (with escaped characters). This would be our Kitchen example. Send someone the tour but make sure it starts immediately in the kitchen.
• media-index=INDEX : media index, or which media in your playlist to load. Another way to get to the Kitchen example.
• media=MEDIA_NAME_OR_INDEX : use the name or media index to define which media to load
• trigger-overlay-name=HOTSPOT_NAME : launches the action of a hotspot. Use this in conjunction with media-name, media-index, or media
• trigger-overlay-event=EVENT_NAME : defines the action upon which to launch a hotspot's action. By default that's "click". Use this in conjunction with trigger-overlay-name to define which hotspot it refers to.
• focus-overlay-name=HOTSPOT_NAME : takes the visitor to that hotspot, which will appear in the center of the screen (without launching it). Should be used in conjunction with media-name, media-index, or media
• yaw=YAW&pitch=PITCH : changes the camera position. YAW should be between [-180, 180], and PITCH between[-90,90]. The yaw degrees must be calculated in relation to the physical mid point of the equirectangular panorama. Should be used in conjunction with media-name, media-index, or media
• fov=value : Sets the zoom value. Its value can range between 1-150. Should be used in conjunction with media-name, media-index, or media
• language=LANGUAGE_CODE : forces to open the tour in the defined language, for instance: ?language=en-US
• index.htm?skip-loading –> To load a (different) virtual tour without showing the loading screen, for a more seamless switch.
• variant=NAME : Would be the name of the variant of the 3d model to load.
• show-object-ids=OBJECT_NAMES : Show 3D Model objects, separated by comma. Short code "sobjids".
• hide-object-ids=OBJECT_NAMES : Hide 3D Model objects, separated by comma. Short code "hobjids".
• hide-components-tags=TAGS : Hide skin components using tags, separated by comma. Short code "hct"
• show-components-tags=TAGS : Show skin components using tags, separated by comma. Short code "sct"
• hide-overlays-tags=TAGS : Hide hotspots using tags, separated by comma. Short code "hot"
• show-overlays-tags=TAGS : Show hotspots using tags, separated by comma. Short code "sot"
• hide-overlays-names=NAMES : Hide hotspots using names, separated by comma. Short code "hon"
• show-overlays-names=NAMES : Show hotspots using names, separated by comma. Short code "son"

Of course you can also mix and match these parameters to create a very defined URL. And you can put several of this codes separated by ",":

index.htm?language=en-US
index.htm?media=Kitchen%20Panorama
index.htm?media-name=Kitchen%20Panorama
index.htm?media-index=3    <– this is the playlist index
index.htm?media=Panorama2&trigger-overlay-name=GoToB (e.g. open stove hotspot in the kitchen panorama, Pano 2)
index.htm?media=Panorama2&focus-overlay-name=GoToB
index.htm#media=Panorama2&yaw=110&pitch=-20

Important Tip: You can use either ? or # symbol in the URLs. Here's how they behave. When you use the above parameters in your tour URL with ? the webpage will refresh when taking you to the indicated parameter. If, on the other side, you want to avoid refreshing the entire webpage use # instead for a seamless change. That means that it usually makes sense to use ? in links that you send to people or use outside of the tour itself, while the # sign makes sense to be used to link to other elements of the tour but from within that same tour itself.

Make sure you have a look at our post about Deep Linking, which shows how you can send someone a tour URL which will make the tour start immediately in a defined media or position, as well as the post on How to manage big tours with Deep Linking for more inspiration.

This is how we created our New York City Loft Tour. What's so special about this tour is a) it's been created with panoramic CAD images and b)it features Virtual Staging – great for architects, photographers and realtors (or just anyone wanting to compare and simulate different scenarios).

A 360º interactive virtual tour that lets you switch through stages or options – that's our approach on Virtual Staging. You may know that staged homes generally sell easier and for more money than vacant homes, simply because it is difficult to visualize the potential of a home when it's empty. If, on top of that, you can have your customer virtually walk through and explore the object (maybe even in a VR headset) while skipping through furniture styles, you're impressing with much more than just photorealistic images.

What do I need to create those?

Have CADs already? Just export them as panoramas, import them into 3DVista Virtual Tour PRO and follow the steps shown in the video.

The new functions that you need for this are:

1. Creating Custom Playlists (and moving to the previous or next element in there) &
2. Maintaining the same view direction when opening the new media (so it looks like you're JUST switching furniture on or off, while technically you are loading an entirely new panorama)

In this tutorial, we are showing you where to find these settings and how to create an impressive virtual tour with (furniture) options.

Technology is cool, but you've got to use it as opposed to letting it use you.

– Prince