InstaVR VR Outputs – WebVR
- What is WebVR? How Can Users Access WebVR?
- Why Publish to Web? What Use Cases is WebVR Good For?
- How Does InstaVR Improve WebVR Publishing?
- View How the Smithsonian American Art Museum Utilizes InstaVR-Generated WebVR to Encourage Downloads of their WONDER 360 Gallery App
- View How Premise LED Uses InstaVR Created WebVR to Empower Their Sales Agents and Generate Interest in Their Lighting Solutions
- Pros & Cons to Publishing to WebVR
What is WebVR?
How Can Users Access WebVR?
InstaVR’s WebVR allows clients to publish full screen 360-degree VR experiences, or embed the VR directly into an existing web site. Hosting can be done either on InstaVR’s CDN or the client’s own content management system (CMS). Thanks to advances in browser technology, most current browsers can support the InstaVR-generated WebVR, including Safari. It’s strongly recommended that WebVR users focus on 360 still images instead of video though, as video is best experienced via native VR apps. The WebVR can also be used in dual-view mode, compatible with a traditional iOS/Android headset.
Why Publish to Web?
What Use Cases is WebVR Good For?
The Internet provides 360 VR authors with the largest addressable viewership. It circumvents the need to download a space consuming iOS or Android app to a phone. The embed feature can also be used to promote the downloading of the full app version. Users can also easily promote their work through our Facebook sharing function. Though not as robust as publishing to some VR headsets (ie HTC Vive or Oculus Rift), WebVR is a good option for new VR practitioners trying to reach a broad audience.
InstaVR is Available.
How Does InstaVR Improve WebVR Publishing?
Beyond having a simple but robust authoring platform, InstaVR also has a number of features that make publishing to the Web easy. Users can create stand-alone WebVR experiences or upgrade to InstaVR Pro to embed the VR directly into their web pages.
- Fast packaging speed, with option for either InstaVR or client to host. Pro users have the ability to host their InstaVR-generated 360 experiences on their own site. Packaging to the Web is fast, and allows for rapid iteration and improvement of your projects.
- Easily switch to dual-view of the web embed VR on a smartphone. For those looking to avoid publishing to iOS/Android, WebVR provides you a convenient alternative that will still allow you to use your headset with a simple iOS/Android headset.
- Navigation Links + Hotspots still clickable in WebVR, as is a Call-to-Action feature opening a specific URL. Clickable hotspots include the ability to open a separate URL — outside of the 360 environment. This is great for retail, tourism, real estate, etc.
- Easy Facebook sharing, including customizable preview image, title, and description. InstaVR allows you to easily share your WebVR over Facebook, including customizing the sharing details such as title and link description.
Example of WebVR
InstaVR is Available.
View How the Smithsonian American Art Museum Utilizes InstaVR-Generated WebVR to Encourage Downloads of their WONDER 360 Gallery App
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) utilized InstaVR to create their widely lauded WONDER 360 VR experience. The application takes you on an interactive tour of the Renwick Gallery, complete with videos from the artists explaining their installations.
The SAAM team published their application to three main outlets — iTunes, Google Play, and embedded on their web site. This web embed feature, included as part of InstaVR Pro, allows users to preview the 360 experience in a browser prior to visiting iTunes/Google Play to download the headset-ready apps.
View How Premise LED Uses InstaVR Created WebVR to Empower Their Sales Agents and Generate Interest in Their Lighting Solutions
Click to view the WebVR experience showcasing the benefits of upgrading to Premise LED lighting.
Premise LED is excited to be rolling out InstaVR-generated VR applications to their sales agents, allowing them to have more impactful presentations when meeting with potential clients. To get the agents excited to use the technology, they’ve additionally published select apps and published them on their public-facing web site. You can see the exact WebVR, including the before-and-after interactivity they added, by clicking on the link above. With embeddable WebVR included as part of the InstaVR Pro package, hosting their VR media on their web site was an easy to execute value-added activity for the marketing team.
Pros
- Largest addressable audience for your 360 VR content
- Easy to deploy, host on your own site augmented with additional text on page
- Supports both stereoscopic and hi-res 360 images
Cons
- Frames per second (FPS) is not high
- Unless dual-view mode is activated, not nearly as immersive as through a headset
- Internet connection required (versus download-to-offline for apps)
Further Reading
How to Publish WebVR Using InstaVR & Share to Facebook
How to Make a VR App Using the Ricoh Theta & InstaVR
Why We Made WebVR Available to our Free Users
Example WebVR: Renwick 360 Gallery (external link)
Example WebVR: Tour of the Tap Room (courtesy of VRTour.Guide)
Example WebVR: Mystery Wolfe Experience (courtesy of Vitalizer Studios)
Example WebVR: Guaranteed Rate Field in 360 (testing Insta360 Air images)
