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How to View an Equirectangular Image in 360 Degrees Mode

Dustin Nguyen

Apr 3, 2024 — 2 min read

A quirectangular image of a mountain landscape

An equirectangular image is a specific type of panoramic image that covers a full 360-degree view horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. It’s commonly used for capturing immersive scenes, such as landscapes, architectural interiors, or virtual reality environments. In this article, we’ll explore how to view equirectangular images in 360 degrees mode and make the most of their captivating perspectives.

Ways to View Equirectangular Images:

360 Image Viewer Plugins

Several JavaScript libraries allow you to embed equirectangular images in web applications. Here are a few popular ones:

Three.js Equirectangular Demo:
- This basic demo provides the base code to implement your own 360 image viewer using Three.js.
- Unlike Panolens.js, which is also based on Three.js, this demo focuses solely on Three.js.
  Link: Github
360-image-viewer:
- A standalone panorama WebGL image viewer for desktop and mobile.
- Uses regl as the WebGL wrapper, resulting in a lightweight viewer (140kb uglified or 46kb gzipped).
Kaleidoscope:
- An embeddable, lightweight, and dependency-free 360º video/image viewer.
- Note that 360 videos may not work in Safari, IE 11, Microsoft Edge, Android, and iOS due to CORS implementation bugs¹.
Panolens.js:
- Based on Three.js, Panolens.js focuses on panorama, virtual reality, and potentially augmented reality.
- Features include support for equirectangular images, cubemap images, Google Street View, and even 360 equirectangular videos (like YouTube/Facebook 360 videos).

PanoCool

PanoCool is a platform that allows immersive sharing of 360 photos.
Visit PanoCool to explore interactive 360 photos shared by the community.
Create your own immersive experiences and engage with fellow enthusiasts.

Whether you’re a photographer, a virtual reality enthusiast, or simply curious about the world, equirectangular images offer a captivating way to experience panoramic views. Try out these methods and dive into the fascinating world of 360-degree imagery! 🌐📸

Add a custom domain for your virtual tour

Using a custom domain with PanoCool enhances your brand, improves user experience, and boosts search visibility. It’s a smart investment for creating impressive virtual tours. This is a quick instructions of how to add your custom domain to your virtual tour on PanoCool. Go to your project, open editor

Why is my custom domain not verified?

When adding a PanCool project, it must go through a process of verification. This process involves changing DNS records. Once DNS records have been changed, they can take a while to propagate, which means global DNS providers recognise they have been changed. A custom domain added to PanoCool will appear

How to show 360 images in a Ghost blog

Embedding 360° images on your Ghost blog using PanoCool is a great way to create an immersive experience for your audience. If you would like to display 360 images like in this post, let check our simple guide below. Upload Your 360° Images to PanoCool: * Visit the PanoCool editor. * Upload

How to Add Text to 360 Images with PanoCool

Introduction 360-degree photos, often saved as equirectangular projection images, allow us to view immersive scenes in a spherical format. Whether you’re sharing these images on social media platforms like Facebook or Google Maps, you might want to add text overlays to enhance the viewer’s experience. However, adding text