Tour Builder 4.0 is now here! RTV is so excited that this product has been released. Our main goal was to simplify the tour building process, move tour storage online, and make updates and edits easier than ever. We hope we’ve met those goals.

I know a lot of you have burning questions about how to make your first tour using Tour Builder 4.0. I have written some simple directions for our current providers to use to fast track building their first virtual tour using the new system. The directions assume you’ve built a tour before and that you remember how to do it. If you haven’t created your first tour, or it has been a long time, then I recommend downloading the complete manual at this link:

http://support.realtourvision.com/downloads/TourBuilder4-TMS.pdf

Everyone else can just forge ahead. If you get stuck go ahead and download the whole manual with screenshots. It’s free! The first thing you need before making a new tour online is images to upload. You still need to stitch on your computer. You can stitch through the Tour Builder software and export high resolution images or you can learn how to stitch through Panavue. Click the link below to watch the video on how to do that:

http://Support.realtourvision.com/downloads/Panavue_101.zip – Zip download

http://www.youtube.com/v/IG92Dw37Y38 – YouTube

I recommend saving your images for a tour all in one folder. Also, for the sake of organization and efficiency, when you save the photos name them what you want the scene to be titled in the tour, that way you don’t have to change it later. You will also need to rotate your stills so they are upright if you took them with your camera mounted on the rotator. Once your images are prepared you are ready to build a tour.

1.    Log into TMS
2.    Click the Create HD V-Tours button
3.    Choose a tour type
4.    Type in the tour title
5.    Edit the tour colors if desired. Copy the color codes into the appropriate box or click in the field to open a color picker.
6.    Click the drop down box to choose a hotspot
7.    Click Continue
8.    Press the Upload button in the upper left
9.    Browse to the folder containing the images.
10.    Highlight the image(s) and press Open
11.    Images should be 900 pixels high or less and less than 800 kb. If they are not then they will be adjusted automatically
12.    Rename images if necessary
13.    Drag and drop images to sort
14.    Type in Spinfo scene description
15.    Click the Copy Down Spinfo button to repeat the first Spinfo in all the scenes
16.    Choose type – TB 4.0 attempts to guess what kind of image has been uploaded. It may guess incorrectly so it is important to check. If the wrong type is chosen the scene may need to be deleted and added in again later.
17.    Click Continue to proceed to the next step
18.    Place a hotspot by single left clicking in the image
19.    Type in the hotspot caption
20.    Click the down arrow to access the scene to jump to
21.    Click in the Starting Point box to set the hotspot starting point if desired. An overlay of the image will open. Click where you want the hotspot to open the scene.
22.    Click Save
23.    Place any other hotspots in this scene
24.    If it is necessary to delete a hotspot, click on the hotspot and click the trash can
25.    Click in the scene starting point box to choose where the scene should open in the viewer. An overlay of the scene will open. Click where you want the scene to open in the viewer.
26.    Click on the down arrow next to Tour Scenes to access the next scene in the tour
27.    Place those hotspots as needed until all the scenes are done.
28.    Choose the scene to use for a tour thumbnail and click Capture Thumbnail
29.    Click Continue to the Info/Edit page and Edit as usual, assign to realtor/owner, add attachments, etc

Enjoy the new Virtual Tour Software!
RTV, Inc 866-947-8687