John Kavanagh : Indie Web Developer

Welcome to the New TV Studios!

This was part of a pitch put together whilst working at Catalyst Pictures and shortly after Apple introduced their QuickTime VR technology: a way of encoding and displaying 360° panoramic views, and a way of submersing the user in a 3D virtual environment, looking around using their mouse.

© johnkavanagh.co.uk

One of the more intriguing capabilities (and less well-documented) is the use of hotspots: great for creating multiple-node VVRs, you can also trigger other actions. In the NewTV example I created with a colleague of mine (at Catalyst Pictures), I used this capability to display rendered transference scenes in-between nodes to give a greater impression of movement and submersion:

© johnkavanagh.co.uk

Clever use of different nodes also allows for interactivity within the QTVR, allowing the user to switch the stage lights on and off by clicking on the ligth switch (on the far door after you enter the studio):

© johnkavanagh.co.uk

making it possible to trigger JavaScript functions: integrating QTVR, JavaScript and potentially even Flash together

The most intriguing aspect of QTVRs though, and one that I was never fully able to investigate before the project was shut down is the fact that you can also use the hot spots inside each node to trigger external actions. Meaning that if embedded into a web page it would be possible to trigger JavaScript functions in the containing page, integrating QTVR, JavaScript and potentially even Flash together into a fully interactive and responsive system. This expandability and interactivity made a part of our pitch, although was sadly never integrated as although the idea was loved, the client wasn’t willing to host another media technology on their servers, so the project was later resubmitted to them entirely built in Flash.