Virtual Showroom vs. 3D Virtual Store: What's the Difference?
People use 'virtual showroom' for very different technologies. This article explains 360° panorama tours and 3D virtual stores, the trade-offs between them, and which one Immersiq is.
By Immersiq Team · · 3 min read
Two products can both be called a "virtual showroom" and work in completely different ways. If you are comparing options, the first thing to settle is which technology you are looking at.
Two meanings of "virtual showroom"
- A 360° panorama virtual showroom is built from photographs of a real space. Visitors look around from fixed points and jump between them.
- A 3D virtual store is a modelled three-dimensional environment, sometimes resembling a game world. Visitors move freely through it, often as an avatar or with a free camera.
Both can present products. They differ in what you must produce, what it costs to maintain and what visitors can do.
How 360° panorama tours work
You photograph each area, producing a 360° image. The tool connects those images with navigation links and adds clickable tags on products. Because the source is real photography, the result shows your actual space and the actual products in it, and the lighting and layout are exactly what customers will see in person.
The limits are inherent. Visitors move between fixed points, not freely. The imagery is only as current as your last shoot. And the format shows the space as photographed; it does not let a visitor rearrange it.
How 3D models and 3D stores work
In a 3D environment, objects and spaces are modelled or scanned. That allows free movement, viewing products from any angle and sometimes interactive changes, such as swapping a finish. The cost is production effort: creating accurate models of a space, or of many products, takes specialist skills or scanning equipment, and updates mean editing models. Visual fidelity varies with the quality of that work.
Trade-offs at a glance
| Question | 360° panorama tour | 3D virtual store |
|---|---|---|
| What is it built from? | Photographs of the real space | Modelled or scanned 3D assets |
| How do visitors move? | Between connected viewpoints | Freely |
| Typical production effort | A photo shoot plus setup | Modelling or scanning, then setup |
| Updating a change in the space | Re-shoot the affected scene | Edit or rebuild the models |
| Looks like the real place? | Yes, it is the real place | Depends on model quality |
These are general characteristics. Specific products differ, so ask any vendor for details instead of assuming.
Which fits which business
A panorama approach tends to suit businesses that already have a physical showroom and want to show it as it is, with a manageable setup effort. A 3D approach can suit businesses designing spaces or products that do not yet exist physically, or those that need product configuration and have the budget to model it.
What Immersiq does and does not do
Immersiq is a 360° panorama platform. It connects panorama scenes, product hotspots, a catalogue and enquiries into an interactive web experience. It does not create 3D models or reconstruct your space in 3D, and it does not offer free-roam movement. If that is what you need, it is not the right tool.
You can see the panorama format in the interactive demo, or read the virtual showroom software overview and the virtual tour software comparison for what is included.
