Adding hotspots to your panoramas
What is a hotspot?
Adding hotspots to an image
Editing hotspots on an existing image
Exporting an image with its hotspots
Importing an image with its hotspots
What is a hotspot?
A hotspot is an area within an image that does something when you click on it with the mouse. The actions that can be performed depend on what panoramic viewer you are using. Virtually all viewers provide for opening a new web page URL when you click on a hotspot. Some viewers support other actions such as playing a sound file, executing a JavaScript command or executing a command within the viewer itself.
The Panorama Factory creates hotspots that perform the URL action. It does not create hotspots for other actions such as playing a sound file. To make your hotspots perform other actions, you use The Panorama Factory to layout the hotspots as URL hotspots and then modify the web pages to change them into hotspots that perform the action you wanted. Because most viewers embed the properties of hotspots in the web page that contains the panorama, you can edit the HTML code in the web page to change the URL hotspots to perform different actions. You must read the documentation provided by the publisher of your viewer to learn how these actions can be performed.
To learn about the capabilities of the different viewers, see “Export image file formats” and “Import image file formats” in Chapter 9, “Image file formats” for tables comparing the formats supported by The Panorama Factory. You may also refer to the help pages for the individual formats.
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Adding hotspots to an image
You use the Hotspots / Hotspots command (Bild / Image menu) to add or edit hotspots on the current image. To begin adding hotspots to an image, open the image by double-clicking its thumbnail. This selects it as the current image and displays it in the lower pane.
Next, choose the Hotspots / Hotspots command from the Bild / Image menu. This causes the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box to appear. Choose a hotspot type under the heading Hotspot erstellen / Create hotspot on the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box and then click or click-drag to add the hotspot to your image. Use the controls on the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box to set the properties of the hotspot.
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Editing hotspots on an existing image
To edit the hotspots on an existing image, just open the image by double-clicking its thumbnail. If the image contains hotspots, The Panorama Factory displays them and opens the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box automatically. There are two exceptions to this rule:
1. When you open a stitched image, The Panorama Factory shows the overlap outlines. You must choose the Hotspots / Hotspots command from the Bild / Image menu to reveal the hotspots, if any, on the stitched image.
2. When you open an image using the Quelle anzeigen / Show source command, The Panorama Factory shows the decorations and/or dialog that generated the computed image. You must choose the Hotspots / Hotspots command from the Bild / Image menu to reveal the hotspots, if any, on the source image.
Once you have opened the image, you can choose the selection tool to select existing hotspots or choose a hotspot type if you want to create a new hotspot. The selection tool and the hotspot types are under the Hotspot erstellen / Create hotspot heading on the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box.
Once a hotspot is selected, you can view or change its properties on the Hotspoteinstellungen / Hotspot properties dialog box.
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Exporting an image with its hotspots
You use the Aktuelles Bild speichern unter... / Save current image as... command (Datei / File menu) to export the image with its hotspots. You choose the export format from the Save as type menu of the Bild speichern unter / Save Image As dialog box. The way the hotspots are exported depends upon the particular export format. For example, some formats require that you create a web page in order to export the hotspots.
See “Export image file formats” in Chapter 9, “Image file formats” for a comparison of the different formats that are supported by The Panorama Factory.
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Importing an image with its hotspots
You use the Bilder importieren... / Import images... command (Datei / File menu) to import images into The Panorama Factory. Some import filters are capable of importing the hotspots along with the images. See the section “Editing hotspots on an existing image” for instructions on how to view and edit the hotspots.
See “Import image file formats” in Chapter 9, “Image file formats” for a comparison of the different formats that are supported by The Panorama Factory.
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