Using Xcode Simulator with Local Files

Using Xcode Simulator with Local Files

With the options available to us to view locally saved 360˚ files on Mac OS we can go one step further and view these files in the Apple Xcode Simulator to actually see how they appear on a range of Apple products.

From the tutorial ‘Viewing Locally saved 360˚ Files on Mac OS” we know that we can use either the Pano2VR Integrated Server or the krpano testing server to view our files in a number of browsers including Chrome, Firefox and Safari. With the Xcode Simulator we can use Safari to open those files in up to 25 Apple devices from iPhone 5s to iPad Pro (3rd Generation)

Viewing Locally saved 360˚ Files on Mac OS

Viewing Locally saved 360˚ Files on Mac OS

For a long time Chrome and Safari browsers, on the Mac, have prevented users from opening a locally saved HTML file. As there are a number of vulnerabilities associated with opening such a file both browsers felt it prudent to block it.

Firefox was the only browser that allowed a locally saved HTML file to be opened unfortunately the latest version of Firefox, ‘Quantum’, now blocks opening the locally saved HTML file.

What does it look like?

What does it look like?

Update 14 April 2020:

RoundMe continues albeit in a zombie like state but it seems you can create a new login.

Update 10 October 2019:

After ongoing problems uploading, creating tours and no feedback from the developers as to the future of the application and now a 502 Bad Gateway error. We may be seeing the end of RoundMe.

This is very unfortunate as RoundMe was one of the more professional 360˚ publishing web applications and it will be sorely missed.

There are a number of free and paid 360˚ Panorama hosting sites that offer a range of services for panoramic photographers. The range of sites allow you to create tours, add multimedia elements, embed your panoramas/tours, publish to Google Earth and share via Social Media. The list is long and there is functionality to suit almost any requirement.

The question to ask yourself when choosing a site to host your panoramas is how do you want to be able to access and publish them outside of their respective sites. All of the sites allow you to embed your panorama in an external website and provide the code to do so. But, what does it look like when it's embedded?

If it's going to be embedded on your client site what will the interface look like, can you brand it with your own or the client's logo, will it work across mobile devices and desktops with and without Flash installed?

In this blog post I hope to show as many embedded versions as possible to show you exactly what each sites embedded panoramas look like and the functionality available.