Alternate panoramas and finishes

Add other renders from the same camera, like a dark or timber kitchen, so buyers can switch finishes and compare them side by side.

Alternate panoramas are extra renders taken from the same camera as one of your main renders. Use them to show finish options: a light, dark and timber kitchen, or a standard and upgraded bathroom.

Buyers walk the tour as normal. When they stop at a spot that has alternates, a button for each one appears on the left. Their choice sticks: if they pick Dark in the kitchen, every other spot with a Dark render shows it too.

Render the alternates

1. In 3ds Max, change the materials for the new scheme.
2. Render from the same camera as the main render, at the same size. The ArchviewVR Toolkit’s Render selected works well for this.
3. Save each one with a name you’ll recognise, like Kitchen_Dark.jpg.

Tip: don’t move the camera. The alternate uses the main render’s position and heading, so hotspots, rooms and the floor circle stay where they are.

Add them to the tour

1. Open your project, then Set up tour → Alternate panoramas.
2. Click the render you want to add alternates to. The preview goes to that spot.
3. Click Add alternate panorama and choose one or more renders. They upload straight away.
4. Name each alternate, like Dark or Timber. Use the same name in every room that has that scheme, so they switch together.
5. Click the eye button next to one to see it in the preview.
6. Press Save at the top right.

You can also:

• Name your main renders. By default the button says Default. Change Name for your main renders to something like Light or Standard.
• Rename a scheme everywhere. Change a name under Schemes and every alternate with that name follows.
• Remove one. Click the bin next to it, then save.

The before and after slider

With Before and after slider on, buyers also get a Compare button at spots with alternates.

• Two options (your main render and one alternate): Compare splits the screen straight away. Drag the handle left and right to wipe between them.
• Three or more: the scheme they’re looking at goes on the left (marked L). Tap another to put it on the right (marked R). Tap the left one to swap sides.

They can still look around while comparing; both sides turn together. Walking away, or tapping Done, ends the comparison.

Turn the slider off in the same tab if you’d rather buyers just switch.

See what buyers picked

Analytics → Finishes shows how long people spent on each scheme at spots with alternates, and which pairs they compared. Developers find this useful when choosing display suite finishes.

Trials and storage

Trial projects can try up to 3 alternate panoramas. Published tours can have as many as their storage allows; each alternate uses about the same space as a main render.

If you upload new main renders later, alternates stay attached to the render with the same file name.