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FriendlyBadger8631's avatar
FriendlyBadger8631
Honored Guest
6 days ago

Meta Quest 3 viewer for gigapixel photospheres?

Is there a viewer that fully supports viewing tiled gigapixel photospheres (output from Pano2VR), with the ability to zoom in and out while displaying the high resolution of the original image?  These photospheres look superb on a computer, and can be zoomed into while retaining detail.

Equirectangular images capable of being opened in the goggles must be so small that much of the resolution is lost.

So I figured I could view them at full gigapixel resolution using a browser.  I was wrong. The image quality is no better than a much smaller image. Plus, you can't use the controller to zoom in. The Wolvic browser is even less compatible. 

I'm hoping that better resolution and full control might be available in an app that runs in the goggles but uses the GPU of a tethered Windows PC, like is possible with Google Earth VR and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Does one exist?

5 Replies

  • steve_40's avatar
    steve_40
    Visionary
    6 days ago

    Maybe try a PCVR app such as DeoVR. I'd recommend trying the PCVR version rather than the native Quest version in this case.

    • FriendlyBadger8631's avatar
      FriendlyBadger8631
      Honored Guest
      4 days ago

      Thank you very much steve_40​ for replying.  I have the DeoVR app on the MQ3 so in its browser I went to my local web server and opened one of my gigapixel photospheres. I do not see an obvious way to switch to immersive mode instead of just looking at rectangular viewport. Worse, the controller just zooms in and out; there's no way to drag left/right to look around.  I realize you recommended "trying the PCVR" version" but besides no knowing how to do that, I wonder if the app's lack of compatibility presages what it'll be like in PCVR. 

      • steve_40's avatar
        steve_40
        Visionary
        4 days ago

        I haven't tested with 360 photos, but in the PC version of DeoVR, I can select a folder icon on the bottom menu bar, which lets me open files on my PC. I have a NAS drive attached to my router that I can access with all my media files on it. After opening something (eg. a 3D movie), if I squeeze the right controller trigger, it opens the play menu. There, there are two icons that I can click to change the viewing format. One is "mono" by default, where I can select alternative 3D formats like side-by-side etc. The other icon is a "flat" lens profile, where I can change it to 360 degrees, 180 degrees, 220 VRCA, etc.

        You're correct that there doesn't seem to be an option to drag left & right, the app requires you to physically look about.

  • FriendlyBadger8631's avatar
    FriendlyBadger8631
    Honored Guest
    4 days ago

    Thank you, steve_40​.  I appreciate the additional info. Maybe I'll try setting it up. These are 350MB files so even on a very good Mac or PC they take a while to load in viewer, like PTGui Viewer. I suspect they won't load any faster going through a server app and then being transmitted to the goggles. The beauty of turning these huge high resolution images into tiles using Pano2VR is that they load quickly, yet can be zoomed into and retain sharp detail. Sadly, though, that's only possible when viewing them in a rectangular viewport. The MQ3 browser works fine for this.  Once I switch to immersive mode there's good news and bad news. The viewer is able to look around in the photosphere with a wide FOV, but no zooming in to look closer. 

  • FriendlyBadger8631's avatar
    FriendlyBadger8631
    Honored Guest
    2 days ago

    Hey steve_40​  and others following this. I have since documented an image quality difference between viewing a gigapixel pano using the Meta Quest 3 browser, which looks pretty good, and what the image looks like when switching the view to immersive/VR mode.  See this post on the Pano2VR forum.  I ask why this difference exists and if can it be overcome. Another issue raised is that once in immersive/VR mode, zooming in and out is not possible. That defeats the purpose of viewing a gigapixel panorama.