How to Make a Virtual Tour with a Phone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have you ever wondered how you can use your phone to make a virtual tour of your house, real estate, or a vacation destination? Now you can do this using your phone with a little bit of effort and right equipment. This guide will walk you through the entire process, ensuring you create a high-quality virtual tour that stands out.

Introduction to Virtual Tours

In today’s fast-paced world, it is important to stand out. Welcome to the realm of virtual reality, where you can take your audience to new dimensions and give them the opportunity to experience limitless possibilities all while saving money and time! You may highlight your home, establishments, goods, and amazing trip spots by creating a virtual tour with your phone. The ability to visit several houses or businesses at once without having to travel is made possible by the magic of virtual tours, which has revolutionized how we engage and interact with our surroundings.

In this era of technology, upgraded smartphone features enable you to create an unforgettable journey of virtual tours with a few taps and side equipment. This allows your audience to explore and connect with you or your business seamlessly. Check out what is a virtual tour on our website if you are eager to learn more about virtual tours. So, buckle up! This guide will help you learn how you can create your virtual tour with an Android phone or iPhone.

You can also get some extra help by visiting our site Virtual tour LLC to get detailed insight into how virtual tours are made.

Choosing Your Virtual Tour App

Before starting to create your virtual tour, you need to select the best application to turn reality into a virtual tour for your audience. Some smartphones have a built-in ‘Photosphere’ tool in the camera that you can use to capture footage, which you can then merge and edit using software like My360.

If your phone model is from the last 4-5 years, you can create 32MP footage; however, some phones don’t have this option. So, what if I told you that you could create a virtual tour in just 30 minutes? Oh yes, you can do this by using a range of free or paid apps such as:

These apps are specifically designed to help you create a virtual tour with a phone, whether for real estate, businesses, or personal adventures. 

Gather the Right Equipment

Having the right equipment before starting to film the virtual tour is very important for the best quality virtual experience. Here are some essentials:

  • Tripod stand: A tripod stand is very handy for keeping your phone levelled and steady. It helps prevent shakiness that can occur if the phone is handheld.
  • Lens: A super wide-angle lens to attach to your phone to capture the best quality wide-angle footage.
  • Rotator: It’s optional. You can rotate your phone by hand, but there are chances of stitching and parallax errors due to the lens being in different positions while capturing the photos. However, for a high-quality and professional shot, choosing a rotator is the best option. It rotates the phone six times to create 360-degree panoramas. It aligns the lens in the middle to maintain the horizontal and vertical axes, resulting in minimal errors.
  • Lighting: If you are shooting indoors, choosing portable LED lights is very important for the best quality results.

Other optional tools include a microphone for improved sound quality and the reduction of background noise, and a phone cover for better attachment to the tripod stand.

Plan and Capture the Virtual Tour

So, here is the most awaited part of the guide! First, decide the location you want to convert into a virtual reality experience, whether it be your home, office, or tour destination. Let’s start with your home tour.

  • First, set up your equipment. Cover the camera of your phone with the lens and place the tripod stand in the middle of your room. Extend the tripod as high as possible, place the rotator above the stand, and fix your phone.
  • Turn on HDR on your phone and set the self-timer to 5 to 10 minutes. Now press the camera button to start the shot. It’s better to hide when it starts filming to avoid shadows that may interfere with the quality of your shots.
  • Make sure the line of sight is clear while you are filming hallways so it can shoot in front of every door frame. Shoot one photo per room. Each photo takes 10-15 seconds to capture using this technique, so you can do a full house in 15-20 minutes.

Weave Your Magic: Edit and Create the Tour

Select the right app to gather and upload your photos. Google Streets and My360 can help you complete this task smoothly. Open the app, select the photos, and upload them. After uploading, merge the photos and adjust them according to your needs to create your virtual tour. This process will take some time if there are a large number of photos.

Add Text and Navigation

Add text and navigation to your tours to help your viewers explore hidden treasures. For example, use audio narrations to explain and describe each aspect of your footage, enlightening viewers with its benefits so they can make better choices.

Tips and Best Practices

  • Add Google Maps integration to improve your visibility to your viewers. It can help them locate and enhance your digital presence.
  • While filming, keep your camera settings consistent. Set your camera in one place to avoid shakiness and blurriness.
  • Keep the lighting balanced and smooth throughout the virtual tour.
  • Arrange the photos in proper order to avoid hassle during editing.
  • Add informative content and optimize the virtual tour for various devices and browsers to increase reach.

Publishing Your Virtual Tour

Now it’s time to put your effort into the right site so that the magic of your virtual tour is visible to a maximum audience. Google Maps and Google Street View are the best to boost your SEO and make your virtual tour discoverable. You can also create your own website and integrate your virtual tour according to your website with Virtual tour LLC.

Conclusion

The wondrous journey of creating a virtual tour can be completed by following these easy steps and tips. You can now showcase your business or property using this enchanting virtual tour method with your phone, requiring minimal expertise and effort. So, get ready to dive into the world of creating your very own virtual tours.