Frequently asked Questions

Development and Hosting

What is a VR tour?

A VR tour is short for virtual reality tour or just virtual tour. It comprises of an image that is interactively viewable through 360 degrees on the horizontal axis and 180 degrees on the vertical axis. It can comprise of a single VR or multiple different VRs joined together via “hotspots”. As an alternative to hotspots on the VRs themselves there can be an image plan with hotspots on it or as we have shown extensively on our site a Google map with info bubbles containing preview images and links to other VRs in the same area.

How do I put a VR on my website?

We can produce a page for you readily prepared to put on your website.

Do you provide web hosting or do we host with our existing provider?

We provide web hosting for you or you can use your own provider. We charge an annual hosting fee for each panorama hosted on our servers and it’s bandwidth charge free. So if your panoramas become popular you will not get any extra monthly charges. As each panorama can be 2 - 4 megabytes depending on resolution you can

How will the VR pages be laid out?

We can provide a simple generic layout included in the price but to your colour scheme and to our layout specifications and will also place your logo and a paragraph of your text etc. This will be included in the price of the panorama. We can also make the new pages look just like a page in your existing website for an additional web design fee.

Can our web designer design the pages needed?

Yes, we can work with your webdesigner to build the VRs into a page he designs for you for a reasonable consultancy fee.

Pre Shoot Preparations

Who is responsible for the site?

The site, anything in it and anyone appearing in the tours are ultimately the responsibility of the customer. Aztec360 takes no responsibility for the presentation of the site.

Our VR photographer will require the areas to be photographed to be free from casual passers by and people who don’t belong in the shoot. This is more of an issue if the shoot is outdoors where, once set up correctly, they need to be taken quickly. If the site is free from traffic it won’t take long at all to take the shots necessary to produce a beautiful 360 degree panorama. If there are multiple panoramas to be taken then it would pay for the person within your organisations who is responsible for the site on that day to inform the staff that certain areas will be off limits for a brief period and provide someone outside the various exits to each room or area to stop people coming in. We realise that each and every client’s situation is different and will discuss it with you prior to coming to site.

What provisions are required by the photographer?

For pre-shoot preparation attention to detail is a must. Remember, your site will be shot as seen so fresh flowers, A quick hoover around and clean off any unsightly dirty marks.

Any items that are not required to be in the tour will also need to be removed prior to the shoot.

If there are any fabric based items like bed linen, curtains or tablecloths that are creased that would appear in the shoot they will need to be identified and ironed prior to our photographer coming to site

Please decide if you wish to use natural light or artificial interior light or both and open and close curtains using or not using tie-backs as required. If the curtains are open but you haven't put them in their tie backs then you need to do that too or visa versa as they will be shot as seen. If something is obviously bad and easily dealt with then the photographer may offer a suggestion to sort it out on site but the responsibility to have the site as you would wish it to be shot is obviously still yours.

Anything not right with the site after the shoot and after the virtual tours are rendered that requires a re-shoot, re-stitch and retouch is chargeable

If you have a restaurant or bar you my wish to make sure the optics are topped up with full bottles and labels face the right way, that place settings on tables are all laid out with polished cutlery and clean and tidy menus. Remember that the photography we provide for you can easily be let down by the subjects we shoot.

What time of day will the shoot be?

Any time you choose for indoor photography. if there is bright sun shining through windows there may be a small additional fee for blending a correctly exposed outdoor layer into your panorama but on some shots it might be well worth it. On other shots it may be good to just close curtains and save that extra fee.

If we need models who provides them?

We can source models for any shots you wish to have people in and handle the model release forms etc. You are also free to either use your own staff or source models yourself.

Copyright and Licensing

Who owns the images produced?

As is standard in the industry, we the photographic company own the images. We license them to you for an unlimited period of time but for limited use on either a website via a still image or a VR or within company literature or advertising etc.

What licensing terms do you provide?

We are flexible in the way we license our imagery and charge a standard fee for each specific requirement that you have for each image or even negotiate an unlimited (not for resale use) license or a license for resale use and finally if you really have deep pockets we can grant you a license that gives you full exclusivity to an image for a specific length of time.

If we have a panorama produced for web can we put it on our brochures?

To use imagery that we produce you will need to discuss a separate license for this.

How long does our license last?

With the exception of the exclusive license all licenses last for an unlimited period for their intended use.

Expenses

Is there a charge for travel

A travel charge will be incurred depending on distance and locality.

What about overnight accommodation

Occasionally we would require an overnight stay and this would be paid for by the customer, however we make good use of Premier Inn facilities where the charge is minimal.

If we want you to do a shoot abroad, who pays for flights, hotels etc?

We would expect you to provide any required travel tickets and pre pay for a hotel room for our photographer and on occasion an assistant if needed for the shoot. And in some cases car hire if needed for the period.

Insurances and other cover

Are you insured for public liability?

We are insured up to £1 million pounds public liability.

Is your equipment insured?

Our equipment is fully insured against theft and damage.

Equipment

If your camera develops a fault, do you carry a spare?

Our equipment is fully serviced on an annual basis and we always carry a spare camera body on all of our shoots.