Service

Studio service combined with collaborative tools and support

Creating 3D immersive training is naturally complex but it doesn’t need to be difficult. We take care of the things that you shouldn’t have to learn so that you can concentrate on what you’re trying to teach. Our studio specialists generate the highest quality immersive worlds – allowing you to develop amazing training experiences and get results as quickly as required.

How is an Insite created?

There are three stages to creating an Insite.

Step 1

Capture the space accurately using 360º photography

Step 2

Build the 3-D navigation so that it can be explored online

Step 3

Embed media & information into the space

Who does what?

Steps 1+2 – 360º Photography and 3-D require professional techniques & hardware and are undertaken by highly trained specialists. If you have a dedicated VR department we may well be able to train your specialists to do it.

Step 3 – Authoring requires only knowledge of the training subject itself. Our user friendly CMS and online authoring tools and can be mastered by any user to achieve perfect results.

What do we do well?

camera 360º Photography  panorama_photosphere Virtual Environment Creation  code Web Development    photo_camera_front Video Production  camera_enhance Still Photography  view_in_ar 3D Computer Graphics  animation Animation  dataset_linked Database Management  movie_edit Video Post Production  kayaking Paddle Boarding!

How much does an Insite cost?

The best value immersive training available.

Building immersive training with 360º photographs, rather than computer models is quicker, cheaper and looks better. Combine this with the quality of Insites and you won’t find a more cost-effective professional solution. If you’d like a quotation please either choose an existing project that you’ve seen from us before, or tell us in as much detail as you can, what you’d like to make.

If you’re willing to work together we can make it even cheaper.

We are always looking to build new trainings for resale. If your training is something that would be a popular training product we could discuss decreasing or even removing the cost.

 

Common Questions on Collaboration

Can we use our own 360º photos?

There are some things you should consider.

Although one-shot VR cameras are handy they don’t provide a level of quality that our clients often require and even the best ones cannot be optically accurate. We would also need the exact location of the camera to calculate the simulated 3-D space. So there are quite a lot of factors which make it much preferable that we take the photos.

How can we edit our own training?

Our CMS and authoring tools are all there and easy to use

We have developed the most intuitive backend tools to express numerous complex concepts within the virtual space. Our online authoring and a content management system mean the most techno-savvy or technophobic client can still achieve excellent results or they can just leave it to us.

How long does it take?

Just as long as you need.

The process of photography and site building takes only a few weeks. From then on the processes goes at the speed that you feel comfortable with.

For us it’s as important to make the authoring process as intuitive as the resulting training. We aim to accelerate production time by reducing delays with our instant feedback system. This encourages the project’s evolution through incremental testing and momentary evaluation rather than approval loops and corrections. You don’t always know what’s right immediately but with Look.insite we find the best way organically and efficiently.

Do we have to write the training ourselves?

You can write as much or as little as you want.

Often the expert authority and source of the training material is the client themselves.  Our team can develop Insites from scratch with only the the most basic instructions or we can create the 3-D environment and then step back while the client authors the training with only our technical support

Why shouldn't we use 360º tour software?

Then prepare for hard work and limited results

It’s logical to consider a standalone piece of software to generate immersive training content. This is viable for traditional e-learning but building a VR training requires a much wider range of skills and visual content. The simplicity of a virtual tour generator is usually matched by limited results it can produce. If you want your training to be professional you need to work with professionals using advanced tools. That’s what we offer at Look.insite.

Can we reuse existing training material?

Yes we can.

We can link Insites’ text/media content to most databases as long as all the necessary information is available. This means we can also have live updates for running systems.

Client Tools and Support

The Insites platform is not only the user interface but also the backend tools which make the process of production much simpler and more powerful. We make sure that our trainings can be integrated with all types of learning media and that the Insite can be kept up-to-date over an extended period. Here are some of the special and unique features that we offer.

Content Management System

We have developed a custom made user friendly interface for building text and media content into the VR trainings. Video and image content is stored on a server where it can be accessed using the CMS. When changes are made in the CMS they are instantly visible in the online version of the site.

In-Site Authoring

The online version of the site is in fact a work in progress until it’s completed. By entering the authoring mode every hotspot can be moved around or added meanwhile changes made in the CMS will be reflected online. This makes the process of building a fluid experience rather than a series of feedback loops.

LMS Integration

Insites work seamlessly within learning management systems. This allows the training provider to restrict access to the online training and also track progress.

Custom Interface

Each company has a clear identity our trainings feel different and specific to each customer. Colours and fonts and logos can be adapted to present a bespoke training environment.

Offline Mode

The internet is not always available, especially in extreme environments. Our online training can be viewed off-line when necessary.

Tester Versions

Every training can be offered in preview version which allows users to test the training without having full access. This is acheived by limiting access to views and items. Previews can then be unlocked with the use of a secret code or by logging into a learning management system to view the full version.

Advanced User Guide & Help

A lot of VR is impossible to navigate without someone standing by you telling you what to do. This is because it’s tricky to make proper help which is intuitive and appears when you need it without overloading you. Our feedback system is 2nd to none and means you don’t need any help you just follow instructions and look for help if you get stuck in the obvious place.

Long-Term support

A training can have a long valuable life although things change and often get better. We provide long-term plans to re-edit training information or update the platform when our technology progresses. All this can be calculated over a three or five year period so that there are no nasty surprises.

Database Integration

Our CMS can link directly into an external database so the content of training material can actually be updated automatically and within short time increments.

Specialist Studio Service

The initial stages of building an Insite require skilled operation of specialised hardware and software by experienced technicians. Some of our clients have dedicated VR departments – in this case as we are open to collaborate in the more technical part of the process, but generally we provide photography and world building as a service.

In the long term we hope to make more of the in-house process available to normal users. The current barriers to this are – the limitations of photographic hardware, indoor measurement systems and automated image grading systems.

Capturing the environment

360º photography on location

The first step to capturing the location is to get an idea of the space in advance through maps and photographs and then roughly plan what needs to be shot. Often locations are difficult to reach or dangerous. This is why we make these trainings virtual in the first place. The rule of thumb for preparation for a location shoot is to make the whole space look as you want it to in the photographs. Once we start photography, it’s important that the everything remains the same. The camera shoots in every direction, so people need to hide away from the all seeing eye! To find out more about how we make 360º photographs just click the button below.

Generating the world with AI or CGI

It’s possible to avoid the photographic process completely and generate Insite environment completely from AI or 3-D modelling. In this case the Insite works exactly the same but of course will look as realistic as the technique used for generating the environment allows.

World Construction

Building the 3D Space

The 3-D simulation is generated by connecting a series of 360° panoramic points of view in a three-dimensional space so that each view is visible from the other and you can move between them as if you were moving in space.
The result of this is a 360º tour website with navigation points at eye level, floor level and some in the form of arrows.

Drawing the Map

We normally add a map which represents the position of the navigation points in 2D and also as a floating three-dimensional map. The design of the map is usually kept as simple as possible. It can be split into different floor levels if necessary.

Adding Life and Motion

Animations are photographed as a series of incremental changes for example a door opening and closing or a fan rotating. These sequential images are then overlaid in the 360° space and played as stop motion sequences.

Customer Branded UI

Insites has a minimal and stylish UI which can be adapted to fit with the corporate identity of our clients across a full range of platforms. The interface can be customised through the styling and design of the map, the design of the icons, the placement of a branded logo and the fonts and colours of the text elements of the user interface.

Deep Fakes

The creation of this space as a 360° panorama tour can be achieved using photography or 3D computer graphics or a combination of the two. Animations are overlaid in the 360° space in stop motion sequences. Avatars are video sequences which are also overlaid within the space. All of this is generated and post produced at this stage of the process so that the visual material is available for building the three-dimensional site.

Before After

Avatars

Avatars are video sequences which are shot in the actual environment or in the studio and also overlaid within the space. All of this is generated and post produced at capture stage of the process so that the visual material is available for building the three-dimensional site.

Creating Training Content

Once the world-building is complete the Insite is made available to the training authors. We’ve developed a system so that an Insite can be filled with training information and media very easily by users with a standard level of technical knowledge. This utilises two major tools – our content management system and our authoring tools.

Some clients would prefer to use their own content management system or connect the insite directly to a database. This is all possible. We are also very happy to do the work of content creation in house based on instructions from our clients.

Writing the Training Material

CMS

We have developed a specialised content management system specifically for the development of immersive training. It is intended to give the user clear feedback and control over the formatting of text and the wording of labels and titles. It also is a system for managing media resources. It is possible to complete the creation of all training text and media content without external support. All that is required is that we create a project within the CMS that and a media storage area which you can access to manage your data.

Composing Text in the CMS

The text, image and video items that appear when you click a hotspot are defined using our specially made content management system. It uses a simple alternative to HTML coding called markdown to define the form of the text and we define a CSS template to get the styling perfect. The way it will appear in the insite can be previewed within the CMS so that bullet points and other formatting are easy to check without needing to preview the real site.

Adding Media

All media content such as images, video files and PDFs can be uploaded by the user into a secure storage online which then can be referenced by the CMS and appear in the Insite. These resources are listed in order so that images can be seen as a slideshow and also defined with labels. Videos can be streamed using youtube etc. Or sourced directly from the hosting server.

Menu Creation

The key connection between the authoring system and the CMS is the arrangement of information items into folders and subfolders. This is all done using a very simple system where folders are defined in the CMS and then using a drag-and-drop system items are organised to be arranged within these folders. In authoring mode before any items are placed within the space they will be accessible from the menu.

Adding the Info to the Insite

In-site Authoring

The creation of the content takes place in the CMS. Alongside that users can place this content within the actual training scenario online. The process is to enable the authoring mode on the work-in-progress site. All the items that have has been written in the CMS show up on the menu and can be placed as hotspots from any POV. Simply reloading the site will show the changes that were made.

Hotspots

The options for adding content is in what we call products which are triggered from hotspots placed in the three-dimensional space.They contain normally a panel of text and images or videos in a panel above. They can however be designed to show just one of either or even a PDF or link. It is also possible to add text in the info panel which is below the menu bar at the bottom of the site and can contain large amount of text and images.

Placing Hotspots

The placement of hotspot can be performed directly within the website. Any item in the menu can be added as a hotspot which can then be dragged into position. Information items can have more than one hotspot. It's also possible to delete and move hotspots after they've been placed. Once everything seems correct and has been checked it's a simple process to create a locked down version of the inside which can be posted.

Delivery and Support

Platforms

Once authors are satisfied with the results they request the delivery of their Insite. We then prepare a data package that can be hosted within a learning management system or on a server. We can also host projects on our own server on request. The LMS package is normally generated in SCORM although other formats are available. Normally progress is displayed during the training but forgotten if the site is reloaded, with an LMS hosted package a learner can revisit the training at any stage and pick up where they left off and of course the training hosts can keep track of their progress as well.

Devices

Insites are built initially for web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Safari on desktop computers – support for other platforms such as mobile devices or headsets is optional. Before delivery we perform extensive checks to make sure that each individual project performs perfectly on whichever platforms have been selected. This encompasses all of the major browsers on Mac and PC as well as for Android and Apple mobile devices. We also support the native browsers of VR headsets including Oculus/Meta, Pico and HTC vive. Insites can also be delivered as an offline package that requires no internet connection.

Support

Going forward the project can be made accessible again for editing upon request. We can also offer platform upgrades or for example the opportunity to translate the training into other languages or re-purpose the visual material for an alternative training topic. Insites can have a very long life because it’s possible to keep editing and improving them while retaining the original visual material.

Ultimately our commitment is to provide long-term support and retain the currency and usefulness of your training for as long as it is required.