IMMERVISION RELEASES THE PURE STARTER TOOLKIT

PURE TOOLS is based on a modular design concept that enables users to make the most of the innovative functionalities of the PURE Player and PURE Player PRO panorama viewers. The range of functionalities is designed for both professionals and amateurs and covers the workflow spectrum from editing and publishing to viewing panoramas.

The PURE STARTER TOOLKIT offers five basic functionalities needed to edit and publish panoramic content:

– Panorama Image Extractor extracts panoramic images created in different formats, such as IMP, IVP packages, QTVR JPEG;
– Panorama FileMaker generates IVP and QTVR file formats from panoramic images with cubical, cylindrical or spherical formats;
– LensFlare Creator lets you create dynamic and realistic lens flare effects to enhance your panoramas created with Panorama FileMaker;
– Package Maker easily creates IVP file bundles to make publishing your panoramas even simpler;
– and Package Crypter protects your creations by encrypting IVP file packages, using simple, temporal and localized security codes.

“Our goal with PURE TOOLS is to address the very specific needs of our users with a modular approach,” says Alessandro Gasparini, ImmerVision’s Chief Commercial Officer. This flexible approach will allow each user to develop a unique toolkit based on his or her requirements. He likens it to a big toolbox where the professional photographer, multimedia artist and panoramic image enthusiast will find the exact tool for the specific task they want to accomplish and according to their own workflow.

The PURE TOOLS architecture is built around a central core and a fully automated updating system, making it extremely flexible and easy to add further tools. But as any good craftsman can tell you, it’s not enough to simply have the right tool for the job—you’ve also got to know just how to use it. “That’s another great advantage of this specialized toolkit concept,” Gasparini explains, “the simple user interface makes the learning process easy”.

Furthermore, ImmerVision has a number of individual PURE TOOLS now in the final testing phase that it plans to release in the near future, such as: authoring the startup image of the PURE Player PRO for Java; creating customized lighter applet using only selected functionality; creating virtual tours and hotspots; adding special graphical effects; and adding transition effects. “In order to allow the accessibility of these tools to the larger public the unitary price will range between US$10 and US$30. In some cases where the tool addresses very specific professional requirements the price might be slightly higher,” Gasparini says. “Our goal is to make PURE TOOLS accessible to everybody.”

And what about that elusive Flash player, which has stirred up interest since ImmerVision’s prototype release? “Your readers will be pleased to know that indeed ImmerVision is today developing a PURE Player for Flash,” Gasparini responds. “The release date, however, is not yet available.”

PURE STARTER TOOLKIT
ImmerVision’s first release of the PURE TOOLS series is the PURE STARTER TOOLKIT, which includes five tools and is available online for US $34.95. “Our goal with the STARTER TOOLKIT is to help our customers increase their productivity by automating and making easier, from any panoramic image, the creation and publications of files compatible with our PURE Players and QTVR,” says Gasparini.

The five tools of the PURE STARTER TOOLKIT are:

Panorama Image Extractor 
Extract panoramic images created in different formats. It can extract images from ImmerVision packages (.ivp, .ivl, .ivu, .ivi), .imp, QTVR with JPEG compression, or unknown formats that integrate standard images such as JPEG, GIF, TIFF and PNG. Functionalities include: Extraction from an ImmerVision package – Panorama Image Extractor retrieves all files contained in the package; Extraction from a .imp file – Files with .imp extensions are first-generation ImmerVision panorama files, Extraction from a QTVR file, Extraction from unknown formats: Panorama Image Extractor searches the file for JPEG, GIF, TIFF and PNG images.

Panorama FileMaker 
An intuitive tool that makes it easy to create IVP and QuickTime VR (QTVR) files from panoramic images with cubical, cylindrical or spherical formats:

– Transform all your panoramic images into IVP panoramas;
– Add lens flare effects created with LensFlare Creator;
– Create an HTML page to display your panorama;
– Transform your QTVR panoramas into IVP panoramas;
– Export your panoramas to QTVR

Input file formats:
– Spherical (equirectangular), cylindrical and cubical projection JPEGs;
– Spherical (equirectangular), cylindrical and cubical projection TIFFs;
– Cylindrical and cubical projection QuickTime VR JPEGs

Editing functionalities:
– Calibrate the angle limits of the projection;
– Define the field of view (FOV) limits of the panorama;
– Define an entry point;
– Block Zenith and Nadir;
– Add a lens flare effect;
– Create an automatic horizontal movement (autopath);
– Add legal information (meta tags) to your panorama: author, copyright and licensing

Save formats for the panoramas:
– XML files (IVP format) compatible with PURE Player™ panorama viewers
– IVP packages (grouping XML files and your panoramic images in a single folder) compatible with PURE Player panorama viewers
– QuickTime VR files

When you create a panorama with an IVP format, Panorama FileMaker creates a Web page that embeds the PURE Player for Java viewer, ready for uploading to your web site.

LensFlare Creator 
Easily create dynamic lens flare effects for your panoramas that can be added to panoramas with Panorama FileMaker.

Lens flare effects appear in a photo when a light source is located in the camera’s field of view. This creates colored polygons, called halos, which are aligned between the light source and the camera’s optical center.

With its simple interface, LensFlare Creator lets you easily create lighting effects. Use as many of the 16 available halos as you want, and customize them by modifying the following settings: Halo size, Halo position, and Halo color

The created lens flare effects are saved in packaged .ivl format for easy integration into the .ivp panorama format, either directly into the xml file or by using the Panorama FileMaker module

Package Maker 
Create packaged IVP files that are compatible with PURE Player and PURE Player PRO viewers. Packaged IVP files group together the resources of a panorama, a lens flare effect, a graphical interface or an image, to make them easier to publish. These files can also be encrypted with the Package Crypter module in order to protect your data.

– Creates all types of packages and simplifies the process of creating package types that are compatible with PURE viewers: .ivp, .ivu, .ivl and .ivi

– Automate the search for resources: When you select an xml file that contains a panorama, a graphical interface, a lens flare effect or an image, Package Maker automatically includes in the package all the linked resources (image of the panorama, image of the lens flare etc.) that are described in the xml file.

– Optimize downloads: Package Maker organizes the files in the package to ensure the fastest possible download time for Web viewing. As an example, it will place the panoramic image before the lens flare image so that the user can start viewing the panorama even before the lens flare is loaded.

Package Crypter 
Encrypts packaged files (all formats: .ivp, .ivu, .ivl and .ivi) to protect their contents, while still allowing them to be viewed with the PURE Player and PURE Player PRO viewers. Depending on your needs, you can choose from several types of encryption: simple, by directory path, domain name or full web address, with the capability to apply time restriction to all of them.

Package Crypter encrypts packaged files (all formats: .ivp, .ivu, .ivl and .ivi) to protect their contents, while still allowing them to be viewed with the PURE Player™ and PURE Player PRO™ viewers. Depending on your needs, you can choose from several types of security codes: simple, temporal and localized.

Package Crypter allows you to encrypt your packages (panoramas, interfaces, lens flares and images) in three different ways:
– Simple encryption: Protects data contents of package (including panoramas, images, etc.) from being accessed. An encrypted package can only be opened with the PURE Player and PURE Player PRO viewers.
– Localized encryption: Prevents the PURE Player and PURE Player PRO viewers from opening a package that has been relocated — coding is by path (relative or absolute), domain name or web address.
– Temporal encryption: Limits the time that the package can be opened by PURE Player and PURE Player PRO viewers.

Package Crypter allows you to encrypt several packages simultaneously, and will save the last 10 encryption settings, so you can use your favorite configurations again with other files.