Just a couple of weeks ago, we announced the separate launch of our BETA line, which is essentially the future version of our 3DVista Virtual Tour PRO. You can download it as a separate program onto your computer (so you can keep your "normal" Virtual Tour PRO and go back and use it anytime you want) and already use all the new features that we will launch in the official software at a later point (here' to making everyone early adaptors!). After a couple of updates, this latest update does require you download the beta again from scratch, hence, this post. After that, it'll update auotmatically, just like your official VT PRO does.

So what do I have to do?

If you want to start using 3DVista Virtual Tour PRO beta, just download it from the links below. If you already are using the beta version, you do need to download it again from the links below, since this beta update is the last one to require manual updating. After this version, manual updates or downloads will not be required anymore and your beta will update automatically. Download the new beta version from here:

Windows:
32 bits -> Click here
64 bits -> Click 

Mac: Click here

And here's what's new:

• Increased preview quality for Panoramas. The generation of the intermediate images might result in slightly increased waiting time throughout the first loading of the project.
• Added new options to open a Panorama or 360 Video through the "Open Media" hotspot action. These new options are:
  • Start Point.
  • Smart Entry View.
  • Same Spot as Current Media.
  • Custom.
• Added "Enable Antialiasing" option in the Publish Tab. If this option is enabled, the player quality for desktop will be improved when panoramas in high resolution are played.

We constantly update our software and tour players to give you and your audience the best virtual experience – no matter their device and connection. That's why, in general, we recommend you periodically republish your tours to make their underlying tech update to our latest improvements. This time, a few extraordinary events (Thanks, Google) make it even more important you hit the "publish" button on your existing online tours.

What's new?

We have implemented about 100 tweaks for our viewers, which improve the tour experience for your audience. But apart from that, there are three major updates that you should definitely apply to your tours:

1. Google Chrome
   Sometimes, Google and Apple do not make our developers' lifes easier. Google Chrome now obliges you to manually trigger an action and agree to playing video and/or audio on a website you visit. This also applies for a website with a virtual tour. Now, it's not cool if you have a video or audio playing as your tour's loading screen and they simply won't play due to Chrome's system restrictions. We solved this problem by prompting your audience a message and a button at the beginning of a tour, which asks them to agree to video/audio being played. Once they agreed, the tour will start playing as usual and this setting is saved for future visits so the message won't have to appear again.
2. Adaptive Quality on iOS
   You know how we already dynamically adapted the quality of 360º video to the quality of a user's internet connection on Windows, Android and Mac devices? This makes sure that even with bad connections, the video will downsize sufficiently to show as smoothly as possible. Finally, we can do the same on iOS devices, allowing for an optimum experience on any device, no matter the connection. To enable this, simply click "Export to Adaptive" under the video settings in your "Publish" tab.
3. Gyroscope Improvements
   Yet another drastic update from Google, which changed their metrics from degrees to radians. This obviously messed with the way our gyroscope mode was coded. So we had to adapt. The gyroscope will now work perfectly again, all you have to do is republish the tour as it is (Hit"Re-Publish", no need to change any settings).

What do I have to do?

In order for these changes to become effective, you need to republish your tours. This means:

1. Open Virtual Tour PRO (and make sure you got the latest version 1.3.58 or newer – if not, click "Help" and "Check Updates" in the menu)
2. Go to the "My Tours" Tab and click re-publish (you may want to open the project and tick the "Export to Adaptive" Option for 360º Video if it's not already enabled).

That's it. Do that for every tour you have online to make these changes come into effect. It's going to be worth it!