Photo by Lukas Blazek

Last week we released a new v3.6.5 beta build 507. Today there are more than 70 new features, enhancements and fixes in v3.6.5 beta of WebRotate 360 Product Viewer (see version history). And while we have plans for a few more before the final release, now is a good time to cover the most interesting ones that are already available in the latest downloads.

1. Built-in web server

Starting with the latest build 507 of v3.6.5, we have packaged a tiny web server with SpotEditor to finally stop requiring any extra browser configuration for your local tests. Now every time you publish in SpotEditor, your local browser previews are loaded via the web server that runs inside SpotEditor which doesn't trigger any security flags with modern web browser. You will also notice that the preview URLs will look like this:

http://localhost:63533/xyz (or some other local port number)

Though if you manually open published html files from your hard-drive, the extra steps discussed in this article are still required.

2. Videos, third-party content & scrollable content in hotspots

Historically it's been a challenge adding videos or "iframed" content in hotspot popups without some custom work. In the latest v3.6.5 we introduced advanced support for embedding videos, third-party content (e.g web pages, 3D panoramas, iFrames, etc) as well as using long scroll-able content inside the hotspot popups. Moreover in this hotspot mode, the popups are fully responsive and give you a lot of control over sizing either within the 360 product view itself or even outside of the view, i.e. centered on its parent page.

To activate this mode, first make sure to select the "lightbox" option under Render as on the first tab of the Hotspot form (third option). Then use button #2 in the screenshot on the Text Content tab to insert the URL of your custom content:

To see extended sizing and positioning options, click button #3 next to Width (%).

You may find that the close button that is automatically added in the top right corner of the popup overlaps the popup content. If so, simply add extra padding using Padding CSS option on the same tab. For example, if you enter 40,50 in the padding field, it will use 40px for top-bottom padding and 50px for left-right. Or use four comma separated numbers for top, right, bottom, left. Use Close button color picker to match your content color as required.

3. Configurable max zoom

This has been something we have resisted for a while. Zooming your high-res images over or below 100% of their published resolution never seemed like a good idea. Going over 100% makes images blurred and may slow down your browser (depending on how big you blow them up) while not zooming to 100% would seem like a waste of bandwidth.

But there're still good reasons to allow custom zoom scale and this is what this feature is about. Now you can set Max Zoom as percentage of your published image size and it can go both ways. For example, you may set it to 70% to ensure that when you zoom the view on a high-density retina screen (say an iPad with 2x2 pixels per dot), your zoom details remains sharp. Or you can set it to 200% to blow up the images and fill the screen to create a better presentation and reveal more information to the end-user.

Also note the new "Zoom to image center on tap" that works great for narrow objects and ensures that no matter where user taps on the screen, we always zoom in to image center. This make it more user-friendly when zooming 360 product spins with tall narrow objects, especially in conjunction with the recently introduced "Pane and Spin" feature in v3.6.4.

4. Spin on page scroll

Sometimes you may want to give user a hint that the image they see is not simply a still image but an interactive 360 product view. And there're existing ways to do this, including setting automatic playback or placing a "Hint" message on top of the view that you can do under Controls tab in SpotEditor. One overlooked option is to spin images automatically as user scrolls the page and this can be especially useful if your 360 product view is not placed at the very top of the page. With the latest release this is now possible under Control -> More options -> Page scroll

There are few options for advanced control:

• Follow scroll direction: animate images according to the direction of page scrolling (up/down to clockwise/counterclockwise).
• Use playback to smooth: if not checked, the speed of the image animation is relative to the amount of page scrolling. If checked, we activate the standard playback function on page scroll and you can then configure the speed of the playback and its responsiveness (to the release of the page scroll) in the same section.

The later creates smoother animation regardless of how fast user scrolls the page. 

There's also a new template under Templates on the Publish form called Spin on page scroll that you may use to test this feature before delivering for integration.

5. Configurable drag acceleration

Here's an extra tool for your animation control toolbox. It's designed for 360 product spins that consist of an unusually high number of 360 product images.

Usually, we recommend to stay somewhere between 20 to 72 images per rotation but on occasion our customers may produce spins that consist of a couple of hundred or so images. The large number of images creates a very smooth animation at the expense of slower loading but often is a necessity. For example, we see in architectural 3D renderings such as this one that unless you render almost 200 images, the moving background may result in some disorienting and almost dizzying effect. Or you can think of photographing a car on a parking lot in 360 degrees which also may benefit from the higher number of images (also due to the moving background and usually somewhat jerky 360 footage you get on a parking lot or via a drone).

This brings us to the issue where the large number of 360-degree images makes it harder to spin the view. In other words no matter how fast you drag it, it takes too long to go through the entire spin (because there're so many images!).

And this is where the new Drag Acceleration feature is very helpful. The default is 1 which means no acceleration, and you can then activate the acceleration by dragging the slider and selecting desired acceleration multiplier which will speed up the image animation based on how fast user drags their mouse or finger.

6. Responsive hotspot indicators

At last you can make hotspot indicators responsive so that they scale with your views and look sharp and neat on small screen devices. To activate responsive indicators, access indicator styles as per the following screenshot and set Min scale (%) to some number that works for your view and/or custom hotspot indicator.

For example, if you set it to 50% and your indicators are 32 by 32 px, they will scale with the view (i.e proportional to the change of the base viewer width that you configure on the Interface tab in SpotEditor), and no matter how small your 360 product view ends up on a mobile device, they will be at least 16 by 16 px.

By the way, one of the improvements in the latest v3.6.5 is better precision of hotspot indicator placement inside a 360 view (we transitioned to floating point numbers for the calculations of hotspot path) which also helps with the smooth scaling.

7. Always active & linked hotspot content

v3.6.5 introduces extra activation option called Always activated (see this recent example). Checking this option as shown in #2 in the screenshot below ensures that hotspot content, be it an image or text or custom styled html, is visible right away and no extra input is needed from user to "trigger" the hotspot.

Also unless when indicator is visible is also checked under Activation options, the content stays always visible, even when the hotspot indicator is not present on a given image. This can be useful in combination with the new content linking feature where a connecting line is added between the hotspot content and the indicator.

For example, user can select Rotating indicator with content popup in fixed position under Render as section of the Hotspot tab and position the hotspot content on the right side of the view at the top using Content position controls as shown in the screenshot. Then assuming a content link is also enabled as discussed below, when the hotspot indicator comes to view, a link between the fixed content and the indicator is shown and it links the two accordingly until the indicator disappears after following its configured trajectory.

To enable content linking, click Styles -> Configure on the Hotspot tab of the Hotspot form and then check Show a link between indicator and hotspot content under Content link style as per #4 in the screenshot:

• Link width: pixel width of the link (default is 1px).
• Content offset: offset from the content start position where to start the line.
• Indicator offset: offset from the indicator center where to end the line.
• Link color: hex color of the link (default is #eeeeee).
• Opacity (%): opacity of the link (default is 80).
• Content start: nine X-Y origins of the link relative to the content center.

Download or upgrade

There are more features, important fixes and enhancements in this release (e.g configurable resolution of imported images, new "zoom to hotspot" action, configurable "play to label" action, new API additions, etc).

To get this update in your existing SpotEditor installation, click blue "info" icon in the left toolbar in SpotEditor and select Check Updates.

Free version can be downloaded under "additional resources" using this button:

Download Free v3.6.5 Beta

By Jose Soriano Photography

A popular problem with the e-commerce industry is the “expectations vs reality” experience most consumers suffer from. It mainly happens because they have only examined the product through a couple of photos that cannot represent what the product actually is. Interaction with the product plays a huge part in converting the visitors into paying customers, which is why physical stores are more successful at it.

The way out from this drawback for your e-commerce website is a perfect and interactive presentation of the product. 360 product photography has evolved how products are viewed online, clearing the path towards this way out.

What is 360 product photography?

360 product photography is a technique that allows the viewer to inspect the product from different angles. Series of photos are taken and then combined to develop an interactive rotating view. This more realistic experience almost edges out the advantage that physical stores have over online stores. The technique is being rapidly adopted throughout the e-commerce industry and has proved to be beneficial in increasing sales and lowering the return rate.

Why do we need it?

The sales conversion in the e-commerce industry depends on how well the customer perceives the product. Some flat photos are not enough for an effective perception and that is the answer to why we need 360 product photos. Certainly, 360 product photography will soon become a standard in e-commerce. The concept of capturing a 360 spin might seem complicated but the process is actually simple. This complete guide will show you everything you need to know about 360 product photography. Let's jump into it.

What do you need?

IDEAS:

Always start with a fresh and creative brainstorming session. It will be the base of the whole process. Make sure that you surf the web and find some great and innovative ideas. Always do your research accordingly to your product and what you have in mind.

That's how I make a perfect start!

CAMERA:

A great thing about 360 product photography is that you don’t have to look for any complicated specifications while choosing the camera. Any camera may it be a DSLR or mirrorless can be used as long as it offers a manual mode. Always remember that a camera is a mere tool here. The factor that will impact the most is how you use your creative juices to bring the most out of the next steps.

I use the Nikon Z7 with the Nikkor Macro 105 mm 2.8.

TURNTABLE:

Using a specific 360 product photography turntable increases the effectiveness. Various companies make 360 turntables specifically for product photography and most of them come attached to their own software. The one I use is the edelkrone HeadONE with the turntable kit and it isn't tied up with software. The turntable kit comes with white matte and black glossy base options that you can choose from. It also includes a shutter release extension cable. The kit is attached to a motorized pan system that provides the rotation. The control app for the pan system allows regulating the rotation with the help of different settings making it a practical solution for 360 product photography.

The one I use is the edelkrone HeadONE with the turntable kit.

BACKGROUND:

As mentioned above, the product's success in the e-commerce industry depends on its visual representation. The key here is to present the product in a way that will make it stand out. So we need something which will not distract the viewer's attention. That’s why almost 80% of the websites use a pure white background. A pure white photographic paper will be the ideal solution to go for.

Savage Pure White Seamless Paper #66 is popular with product photographers.

TRIPOD AND REMOTE SHUTTER RELEASE:

The photos should be perfectly clear without any camera shake so we can get a flawless 360 product view. If there is a camera shake even in a single frame, the spin can be affected. To keep the camera in place, use a steady tripod, and if you can add some weight to keep it in place and to avoid shakes while pressing the shutter release, use a remote shutter release. Usually, the turntables have their own app that you can trigger the camera without touching it and at the same time control the rotation.

The one I use is Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 tripod with arca Swiss plate and MH057M0-RC4 ball head.

LIGHTING EQUIPMENT:

Typically, two types of lights are used in studio product photography.

• Strobe lights: Usually referred to as flash, strobe lights provide a high output lighting for a fraction of a second when the shutter is pressed. The biggest advantage is that it allows you to lower the ISO (50 – 200) and close down the aperture to f8 – f16 (depending on your lens).
• Continuous lights: Continuous lighting for instance LEDs are kept on throughout the shoot. This type of light allows you to keep a check on what you are getting right away. You can also check if there is any variation during the rotation.

I use Godox strobes (2x AD200, 2x AD600) with XT Pro radio trigger and softboxes (Elinchrom strip boxes and Phottix Raja). See a quick "behind the scenes" video using my lighting gear in the following section.

In addition, using softboxes and diffusers is recommended to deal with hard light and nicely wrap the light around the product. You can make the photos look more professional with the help of additional accessories such as white foam (to bounce light), larger diffusers, light cutting black flags, etc. We will discuss an extremely effective lighting setup that I personally use further in the article.

Setting up the shoot

Now that we have all the necessary equipment, let us get to set up a perfect 360 product photography shoot.

MAKE THE PRODUCT PRESENTABLE:

As mentioned earlier, how good your product looks will directly affect sales. Using photo editors to clean up the product in every frame is far more daunting than just nicely cleaning the product during the shoot. You can use additional accessories such as a lint roller, canned air, gloves, etc. Also, be careful that your fingerprints are not visible on the product.

SETUP THE CAMERA & CENTER THE PRODUCT:

Set your camera on the tripod and make sure you are zoomed in enough to have white space in the background.

Perfectly rigging the product can be puzzling, but do not continue unless you are satisfied with this. Carefully place the product at the center; otherwise, each product frame will appear to be at different positions while spinning. Before placing the product straight away, measure a reference point. A reference point will be helpful even if the product is misplaced during the shoot. Perform a few test spins to make sure that the product does not wobble from its position.

SET UP THE LIGHTS:

Now let us come to the most important element of 360 product photography i.e. lighting. The way you are going to control the light will decide whether your 360 product spin will look professional or amateur. Throughout my experience in this niche, the setup I have been most satisfied with is using 4 – 5 strobes.

• 1 – 2 for the background, depending on the size of the product
• 1 top-down with an octabox
• 2 stripboxes on each side of the product

See one of my shoots using this setup in this BTS video:

One of the reasons I work with strobes is that they have a clear advantage when the power comes in and that is important when shooting products because at the right aperture (f/8 – f/16) with continuous lights a higher ISO value (around 1000) would be needed to get the precise exposure and that could introduce some noise.

The next step would be changing the light positions accordingly to the object. The goal is to evenly lit the object and make the background look as white and clean as possible, and here, the top-down softbox will help you get the perfect white. Alter the lighting to achieve that balanced 255 white. Once you are there, you can even lower ⅓ of the stop on the background light. Avoid overexposing the background at all costs. It will kill the image quality by reducing the contrast due to diffraction.

One quick tip to avoid diffraction is to create enough space between the product and the background, in that case, it is safe to overexpose a bit of the background. A very helpful alternative to get a pure white background is with the blinky tool that almost every DSLR has nowadays.

The approach will also vary depending on whether the product is reflective or non-reflective. Non-reflective products are simpler to shoot than reflective objects. Reflective objects will need extra attention and different diffusers.

Time to start shooting

Now the real fun begins. Let us take look at how to shoot a flawless spin.

START WITH SOME TEST SHOTS:

A few test shots are helpful to find out any complications at the very start. You do not want to run into some unexpected problem in the middle or even after you finished shooting.

CAMERA SETTINGS:

• Manual Mode: Always use manual mode to keep the exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and white balance consistent in every frame of the spin.
• White Balance: Never use auto white balance as the color of the product might change with rotation. The best way is set the white balance accordingly is that if the background is white then it should look white in the camera frame. The colors should be not too cool or not too warm. If you are shooting RAW, you can easily adjust the temperature afterward. However, it is recommended to keep the colors as realistic as possible while shooting. A grey card can be helpful to set the white balance and if you want an even more professional look, you can get a color checker to make the color representation perfect.
• ISO: Using the right ISO is crucial to get a clear and crisp photo. ISO basically controls the digital sensitivity to the light. At a higher ISO, the camera absorbs light faster whereas, at a lower ISO, the camera absorbs light slower. As we will be getting enough light through the lighting equipment, so there is no benefit of keeping the ISO higher. It is recommended to keep the value at 100 – 200 to avoid noise.
• Aperture: For an overall sharp image of the product I use an aperture ranging f/8 – f/16 accordingly to the scenario. The reason I don’t suggest a certain aperture is that each lens has a sweet spot where they are sharper and usually it is in the center of these aperture values.
• Image stabilization: If your camera has "image stabilization", you need to turn it off. It can result in complications by making the images slightly blurry. Although it is subtle, we want to get the best 360 product spin possible. However, the mirrorless cameras now with advanced technology don’t produce blurry images with the image stabilization on.

THE NUMBER OF FRAMES:

No one will like a 360 product spin that looks like a high-end video game running on the lowest spec console. 12 – 24 frames can be enough to get a nice and smooth spin. This also depends on the nature of the product. If it is a high-quality product (e.g. expensive jewelry) and you want to capture a higher degree of realism, you can go for even 72 frames. Personally, I find using frames above 72 to be overkill but it is totally up to the nature of the product.

This 360 product view from my BTS video above has 22 frames:

An important point to consider is never shooting the same frame (such as starting frame) twice. If the starting frame appears twice, it will give an impression of pause.

IMAGE FORMAT:

You can use either RAW or Jpeg format. Jpeg format can help you in bulk image processing as they are smaller in size. However, I always use RAW format because it gives me more control over the photo while editing.

BE CONSISTENT:

If you shoot different products for the same website, always note down the settings you are using. It will help keep the consistency in all the products listed, ultimately giving a more professional look to the website. Taking some reference photos of the setup can also be helpful. Moreover, if you will be consistently shooting products for a certain client, you need to measure tripod height and lens angle.

360 PUBLISHING SOFTWARE:

After capturing some perfect frames, it is time to take them into the software. The market is filled with various 360 product photography software that can do the job but my go-to option always is WebRotate 360. I have come to this decision with proper and thorough research.

Final Word

Wrapping it up, this guide delivers an overview of a complete 360 product photography process. The only way to achieve the best result is by practicing and experimenting. Every product is photographed differently, Look for the pathway from this article and alter it accordingly to your own requirements and needs. Have a great day photographing!

Jose Soriano is a commercial photographer based in Calgary, Canada. His studio specializes in product photography (including 360 product photography), food photography, editorial and portrait photography.

Photo by Christopher Gower

Recently we started recording short video clips to help with some of the most frequent inquires and to showcase the latest updates in WebRotate 360 SpotEditor.

In case you missed these video tips on our Facebook or Youtube channel, here's the latest with some extra notes:

#1 - Crop Imported 360 Product Images

Always crop your images to remove as much empty space as possible, leaving just enough padding inside the turquoise rectangle for the images to look good. This is true even when the viewer preview in SpotEditor provides ample padding space for the images as-is like in this video. This is because the same 360 product view can be viewed on small devices or your client may change the final dimensions of the viewer on their pages and if the images are not cropped sufficiently, the actual product may end up looking too small.

PRO tip:

• Press ALT key (Option key on Mac) to drag locked crop sliders in opposite directions.
• Press center button to reset your crop.

#2 - How to Publish Transparent 360 Product Views

By default, even if you import PNG images with transparent background, SpotEditor will fill the background with white. To ensure SpotEditor doesn't change the background of your 360 product images, first set Viewer background to No Fill on the Interface tab under Styles. Also set image fill color to No Fill under Images -> Tools. And finally, select PNG image format on the Publish form.

PRO tip: remember that PNG format uses lossless compression. A better alternative is to match viewer & image background with the background color of your website and publish JPGs instead. This way you can expect a combined download that is 3-4 times smaller on average.

#3 - How to Size 360 Product Images

When you publish a 360 product view in SpotEditor, by default, it creates two sets of images:

• Low-resolution images for fast loading on the web
• High-resolution ones for zooming and optionally full-screen

Low-res images are sized based on the viewer dimensions under the Interface tab in SpotEditor. Usually, the Width and Height there is the size of a web page container where your 360 product view is going to be integrated when the page is viewed on a desktop browser at 100%.

Once viewer size is set under Interface, first crop the images under Images -> Tools as per #1 and then use Resize slider to size your zoom (i.e high-resolution) images.

There's a common mistake where some users think the Resize slider is for sizing the images to make them fit into the viewer container, which is not correct.

If the Resize slider is at 100%, your zoom images will have the original size of the source images you have imported into the software. As they are often too large for the web, make them sufficiently smaller by dragging the Resize slider to the left. Note that every time you start dragging the slider, zoom preview is turned on automatically to give you a preview of the zoom depth. Simply click zoom in/out button at the top to go back to the normal view and back to zoom as needed.

#4 - How to Pan and Spin at the Same Time

By default when zoomed-in, WebRotate 360 Product Views switch to panning mode where user can only pan left, right, up & down. User has to zoom out to spin images again or use mouse wheel, if configured. This may affect user experience.

We can make it more user-friendly, if in addition to panning, we let user spin images at the same time. This can work especially well for tall and narrow objects. To achieve this effect, select Allow drag rotation when zoomed under Control - More Options and uncheck Allow panning on X-axis. Then republish using fast publish via F6 key on Windows or Cmd + Shft + R on Mac.

PRO tip: it's never a bad idea to enable image rotation on mouse wheel when viewer is zoomed-in which you can also do under Controls -> More options tab.

#5 - Use Project Templates to Save Time

When working on multiple 360 product views that share the same or similar presentation properties (size, hotspots, zoom, speed, etc), consider using SpotEditor project templates.

First create a new project or open an existing one that you will designate as a template. Configure everything per your requirements as you would usually do, such as drag speed, zoom, crop and  size of the images, skin, hotspots, watermarks, etc.

Publish the project and verify that it works as designed and that it looks good on your web pages using various screen resolutions. At this point it's good to confirm with all of the stakeholders (your client, boss, etc) that they like it too.

Now start a New Project and point it to a folder with the images of your next product. As you do this, check Advanced options on the New Project form and navigate to your "template" project in the Copy project field. Once the new project is loaded, all settings from the template project have been carried over and applied instantly. Just hit Publish and done!

By Gregory Esman, MARBL

Professional level 360 product photography is usually an expensive ordeal that requires specialized gear, training, and at times even hiring out. It’s not exactly something that the every day business owner can do to a high level, and needless to say, it takes some effort. It is difficult to create perfectly equidistant 360-degree images of a product, while maintaining each photo at the same height as the last.

But what if this could all be done in house, with little training, and in a budget friendly way? Furthermore, what if this same solution can also be used to help you create 360 product photos in a near automated manner, only requiring you to set up the lighting, framing and composition?

We at MARBL may have an interesting solution for you. One that you and your wallet will probably appreciate reading. Imagine having a portable, suspended camera system that creates a perfect 360° orbit around people, environments, or products. Imagine using your camera to automatically shoot photos of a product every x amount of time as the camera rig automatically rotates above and around the product you want to photograph with absolutely zero vibrations, giving you photos at an equal distance apart, covering 360° of the product. This as a result greatly simplifies the photography aspect of creating a 360 product view, and fast forwarding you to having a unique product display online.

With the photography aspect covered, all that's left for you to do is throw your images into 360 product photography publishing software like WebRotate360, and you've all of a sudden accomplished professional level 360 product photography in-house (while nearly automating the entire process).

My goal for this article is to help you visualize exactly how you would be able to use the Marbl ORBIT, a suspended camera system that orbits around people, objects and environments at variable speeds and distances, to save you time and money by creating your own in house 360 product photography studio.

Let's explore exactly how this is done, by first introducing the Marbl ORBIT, then explaining how to set everything up. At the end, you will know exactly how to create your own 360 product photography studio.

I will start with the main parts: the specialized motor, a set of arms, and the mounting accessories.

THE MOTOR

The Marbl ORBIT's motor can rotate from 1/60 RPM (1 rotation every 60 minutes), to 10 RPM, giving you plenty of room to choose your ideal RPM. It's exceptionally smooth, and utterly silent below 3 RPM. This unlocks the unique opportunity to do 360-degree product photography with lenses you've never used before, like high magnification telephoto lenses, and even the Laowa 24mm probe lens - with zero worries of any shaking or vibrations.

To ensure your photos will look the way you expect, you are also able to move the ORBIT by hand to preview and ensure your 360-degree images look the way you want all the way around.

THE ARMS

The Marbl ORBIT has two arms with swivel joints and quick release bolts. As a result, you can easily adjust the device to change how close the camera is to the subject, along with the height, tilt, roll and yaw of your camera.

The arms stretch to 84 inches (2.1 meters) while fully extended, giving you the opportunity to use high magnification lenses. We have a model with even longer arms, too! With the arms fully folded in, they only take up 44 inches (1.1 meters), and are able to fit in most rooms. While fully extended, the arms can hold 6.5lbs (or 8lbs for our pro model), so you will be able to safely use any camera you are likely to have.

MOUNTING

The Marbl ORBIT normally comes with a ceiling mount, but the Pro version also comes with adapters that attach to speedrails and C-Stands. This gives you the opportunity to mount the Marbl ORBIT between two C-Stands, and bring the Marbl ORBIT anywhere you'd like, instead of only being limited to indoor spaces.

Now that you are familiar with the device, let me run you through the start-to-finish set up procedure for 360 product photography, so you can see exactly how to use this to simplify your life, be home earlier and have a happier marriage*

(*Results may vary. It will help make 360 product photography more enjoyable and accessible for everyone though!)

MOUNTING THE MARBL ORBIT

Attach the Marbl ORBIT to the ceiling by screwing in the 4 screws into a stud. Or hang the Marbl ORBIT up, suspended between two C-Stands using the additional speed rail adapters that come with the Marbl ORBIT Pro Model. You can see how the ORBIT looks suspended between two C-Stands in the photo above.

THE FOCUS

The Marbl ORBIT comes with a magnetic focus ball that attaches to the very bottom of the device, right in the middle. All you have to do is focus on the ball, then switch your camera into manual focus mode to freeze the focus settings where they're at. Considering your product will be dead center of the ORBIT, the magnetic focus ball will help you set your focus reliably, and aimed directly at the pivot point of your product, making your subject in focus the entire time. Once you are done, take off the focus ball by simply pulling it down and off.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Use the laser crosshairs to position your product directly in the center of the Marbl ORBIT. Take note that bigger objects, or irregularly shaped objects may not be fully in focus because of their size and shape. If parts of your product are out of focus, you can play with the aperture until you achieve a satisfactory result, or you can MacGyver it by measuring the widest point of your product, then using THIS calculator to precisely calculate the aperture required so the Depth of Field between the nearest and furthest point in which the subject is in focus matches the widest point of your product.

Bonus: Dynamic Lighting

The ORBIT has two arms. Usually, you have a counterweight on the other side. But, you can also mount accessories, too. For example, what about a flashlight creating keylighting that follows the frame as it rotates around the subject, adding perfect, identical lighting to each of your photos around the product?

FRAMING THE SHOT

Simply unlock the quick release bolts and move the arms how you wish. This allows you to make big adjustments. Then, semi-release the ball joint holding the camera to the Marbl ORBIT’s arm to fine tune your frame. After you found the position you like, lock everything up! Rotate the ORBIT a full rotation by hand while looking at the camera screen to ensure you love what you see throughout the full 360-degree product spin. If something's off, now's the time to fix it.

Everything, including lighting, should now be set up! Your product is framed and ready to go. All that's left is taking the photos. The issue is, we can't touch the camera. It will introduce unnecessary vibrations. What do we do, and how do we automate this part of the process like I promised above?

Turns out, it's pretty simple. We use an intervalometer. An intervalometer is a device that plugs into a camera and controls how often a photo is taken. Once every second, once every ¼ of a second, or once every hour, if you'd like. It also controls how many shots are taken in total. Modern cameras like my Sony A7Riii have this device built in, but older cameras simply require an intervalometer attachment before they're ready to go.

We now have the capabilities for automated rotation around the product, and the capabilities for automated picture taking. All that's left now is telling the camera when to take the photos, and we're all set!

INTEGRATING WITH WEBROTATE360

Once you have all the photos collected, you are ready to create a real 360 product view for online publishing. Folks at WebRotate 360 will explain how to use WebRotate 360 to accomplish this goal:

1 Download & install WebRotate 360 Product Viewer on your Windows or Mac.

2 Save your captured 360 product images to your computer to a folder of your choice.

3 Fire up the software, start a new project and point it to the folder with the images.

4 There're built-in image processing tools, watermarking tools and hundreds of other settings to play with, including interactive callouts (points of interest or hotspots).

5 Publish and upload your media to a web hosting of your choice or simply drag it to our optimized PixRiot hosting service. Plugins for popular e-commerce platforms are available or you can integrate it directly using advanced APIs that come with the 360 product viewer.

Back to TEAM MARBL...

One last upside to this 360 product photography set up is simplicity. This level of simplicity allows you to fairly quickly teach anyone the process of creating 360 product images, which either gives yourself as a non-technologically savvy small business owner the potential to do your own 360 product photography, or gives the multi-employee business owner the potential to train their staff how to create these same photos, too. This means you no longer have to wait for the one person with these skills to come in and make the photos you need made, and you can also systematize the entire process, giving you the ability to train people how to use this device without you being there.

Then, when you're not using the ORBIT for product photography, you can use it for all the other different uses it has, like filming your passion, filming interviews for your company, or giving other content creators the potential to create orbiting shots like these, by renting it out. It will never be sitting in a corner. Can you tell that at Marbl, we’re passionate about innovation?

TO GET YOUR OWN

We are currently running a Kickstarter to share the Marbl ORBIT with our first customers. You can visit our page to secure your own ORBIT at a discounted price of up to 36% off. Our first shipment will arrive this October. Our second shipment will arrive in January 2022. We are getting down to the last few spots within our October 2021 shipment, so be sure to secure yours as soon as possible, before spots in our first shipment run out.

secure your own Marbl Orbit

All the best,
Josh, Jon, Greg, Ty and Hayden
TEAM MARBL

The Marbl ORBIT was designed and invented by Josh Yeo, the creator of MAKE.ART.NOW. The ORBIT has many uses going from medical field, to cinematography, to stop motion animation, to 360 product photography.