A virtual tour is a digital replica of a physical place. But don’t worry, they’re not hard to create. This Matterport Real Estate guide will tell you how to make a virtual tour in 4 easy steps. Before we go into detail, let’s cover the basics. Virtual tours are incredibly useful tools for realtors, construction companies, and anyone who would want to remotely inspect a job site or property. As one to one replicas of the space they’re modeled after, virtual tours present an immersive and realistic way to interact with a space.
1. Choose the Right Camera and Software
In order to create a virtual tour you will need two things: a 3D, 360 degree camera and the software to stitch the thousands of photos that it takes together. Fortunately, these usually come packaged together. For example, Ricoh and Matterport, two of the most prominent brands of 3D cameras, offer an app that users can download to create, upload, and share virtual tours.
Both of these companies offer reasonably priced, entry-level, gear, so I’d definitely recommended going for one of their cheaper models. While these might not have the niche features that some more extravagant cameras have, they’re perfectly capable of making high-quality virtual tours.
If you’re not in need of a long battery life, the best quality for your money is definitely the Ricoh Theta X. It is capable of capturing 5.7K video and 11K still images in real-time without any rendering. This feature can save hours of processing time and allows you to view your work in the field. While other cameras with this feature can cost over $15,000, the Ricoh Theta X is only $800. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to check out our Ricoh Theta X review.
The Matterport Pro2 is another very capable 3D camera. While it’s priced at $2,795, which is significantly more expensive than the Ricoh Theta X, it’s designed for all-day use. With a battery life of 8 hours and integrated service with the Matterport cloud, the Matterport Pro2 is a solid choice. If you want to learn more about this camera, you can read our Matterport Pro2 review.
2. Plan your Shots and be Consistent
Once you’ve got your camera, it’s important to plan your shots and scout out the area before you capture it. Inconsistent lighting, objects, and level can really mess with the final product, so you need to make sure everything is static. I find it helpful to stage each room before-hand, and adjust as needed, rather than prepping each room right before a shot. Doing this streamlines the capturing process and, with everything in place already, it’s easier to keep consistency between two different areas.
When finished, you should always review and double-check your work before you leave the site. Nothing’s worse than getting back to the office with a hunk of unsalvageable junk. Your ability to do this will depend on both the camera and the software that you have, but most will allow you to review still-images. Again, be sure to check for discrepancies in lighting, objects, and even shadows. Even minute differences can make a big impact on the quality of your virtual tour.
3. Start Shooting
Once you’ve got your plan, it’s time to start shooting. It’s good practice to take a couple test shots before you start too. This way, you can adjust the lighting and be more consistent in-between areas. How your camera shoots and captures an area will depend on its model, but some aspects of this process are generally the same throughout.
To start, make sure that your camera is on level ground and place it at your first capture point. Keep in mind that most cameras will require you to scan a room multiple times. This is to ensure that you’re capturing enough data to create a fully fleshed out virtual tour.
I find it easier to start in the center of a room and work my way out towards the edges. Generally, you want there to be about six-feet between scan points. And depending on the speed of your camera and the size of the room, the time it takes to do this will vary. However, on average you can expect it to take 20-30 minutes to scan 100 square meters.
This means that it’s going to take some time to capture an entire property. So, be sure to block enough time beforehand. It may seem a bit tedious, but a detailed and complete collection of images will result in a high quality virtual tour.
For tips on how to take pictures, check out our video on how to get started in real estate photography.
4. Create Your Virtual Tour
Once you’re done shooting, you need to stitch all your images together. Processing thousands of images into a coherent model might sound a bit intimidating, but don’t worry if you’re not familiar with photo-editing software. Much of this process can be automated and there’s only a few steps you need to take to create a high quality virtual tour.
First, you’re going to need to download Adobe Lightroom. This application, available on Adobe’s creative cloud, lets you correct for any inconsistencies that might’ve occurred while shooting. For example, some shots might not be level or an unadjusted white balance might need color correcting. Whatever they may be, it’s important to get the kinks worked out before you upload your images to a virtual tour software.
There’s a variety of virtual tour software to choose from and, depending on your camera, it might already be integrated. For example, any Matterport camera is connected to the Matterport cloud and automatically uploads data as you shoot. After you’re done, Matterport’s A.I. software will create and process your virtual tour within a few hours. This is the most beginner-friendly software and, out of all of your options, is the easiest to use.
But if you’re using another brand and want to explore a different virtual tour software, I recommend going with 3DVista. While it might be more expensive than some other options, it provides the most advanced and comprehensive set of options for your virtual tour. Allowing for live guided tours and animated panoramas while keeping a fast processing speed, it’s the software of choice for many professionals.
However, recent updates within Matterport’s cloud service have made it compatible with different brands of cameras. While it won’t let them directly upload to the Matterport cloud themselves, it now lets users do it manually. Like I mentioned before, if you’re new to photography and photography software, this is probably still your best bet. The hosting fee is about $10/month per property, so it can add up quickly, but it will save you a ton of time and the effort of learning new software.
Once your virtual tour has finished rendering, it’ll be able to be downloaded, uploaded, and viewed on mobile, tablet, and desktop. Most virtual tour softwares are integrated with popular real estate websites like Zillow, Google Street View, MLS, and Realtor.com. This is really useful because, in just a few clicks, you can upload your virtual tour to any of these sites.
Benefits of a Virtual Tour
Now that you have your virtual tour and the skillset to make even more of them, you’ll be able to relax and reap the benefits of your work. This is especially true for real estate agents who are eager to get a leg up on their competition.
Look at these statistics taken from Matterport’s website:
- Agents get 403% more leads from real estate listings with dynamic visual content.
- Virtual Tours get clicked on 40% more than listings without virtual tours.
- Properties featured with a virtual tour get 95% more phone inquiries.
- Virtual Tours generate 49% more qualified leads.
Along with this, they provide the advantage of letting the buyer see the property before they tour it in person. This saves a ton of time for agents and reduces the possibility of setting up a property for an uninterested buyer. It also provides a more COVID-19 friendly way to conduct business. As the pandemic is becoming more of an endemic, virtual tours are a great option to keep business going when cases surge.
For a more comprehensive look at what virtual tours can bring to your business, check out our blog that goes into detail about the benefits they provide.
What’s next?
Virtual tours are a proven and immersive way for people to digitally interact with your listing or business. Even if you’re not up to the task of making one yourself, virtual tour services, like Matterport Real Estate Tours, can do it for you. For a one time fee, we will shoot and create a virtual tour for you. You will be provided with unlimited and unabated access to your property’s virtual twin and, if you have any hesitations, check out our portfolio to see some of the projects we’ve tackled.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full-suite of services that we provide as well. We can help you get the edge on your competitors. With proven results and an excellent track record, we ensure ultimate satisfaction for all of our customers.