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Docs: Virtual Tour Studio

Virtual Tour Studio

Build, customize, share and export interactive 360° virtual tours from photos, videos and 3D splats.

On this page

Virtual Tour Studio creates interactive 360° tours from panoramas, flat photos, 360° videos, and 3D Gaussian splats.

Product landing page: https://pano.cool/products/virtual-tour-studio
Editor: https://pano.cool/design

Features

Account management

How to: go to https://pano.cool/account, or open the Your account tab in the dashboard.

  • Update profile basics: Name, Username, Email (when email update is allowed), and Biography.
  • Change avatar image (max 2MB per file).
  • Enable/disable portfolio page visibility, and quickly open your public profile.
  • Manage User aliases from a dedicated aliases modal:
    • add/remove aliases (up to 2),
    • use aliases as alternate profile brands for share links.
  • If user aliases are not available on the current plan, clicking alias management opens an upgrade modal.

Tour creation with high-resolution support

  • Support max 32000 pixels resolution photos, max 300mb file size
  • Format: jpeg, jpg
  • Photo: full sphere, partial panorama, flat photo (normal photo)

Support 360° video scenes

  • Format: MP4 (equirectangular 2:1 recommended for best results)
  • Upload flow:
    • Before uploading, you can trim the video to keep only the needed segment
    • Video is then uploaded and processed for web playback
    • Scene shows Processing… while transcoding is running
    • Scene becomes playable once processing is complete
  • Scene thumbnail:
    • A thumbnail is auto-generated from the video (best effort)
    • You can replace it manually from Scene Menu → Change thumbnail
  • Scene settings for video:
    • Start time (set where the video should begin)
    • POV (point of view)
    • Autoplay
    • Muted
    • Loop
    • Show controls
    • Volume
    • Reset to default is available in the Video Settings modal
  • 360 video support is available for Super Cool plan

Support 3D Gaussian splatting (3DGS)

  • Format: .compressed.ply, .ply, .spz
  • Different view mode: Orbit mode or First Person mode

Create hotspot

  • Create icon hotspot:
    • 100000 free icons to select.
    • change icon color, opacity
    • animation for icon
  • Create image hotspot:
    • format: jpeg, gif, png.
    • change opacity
  • Create video hotspot:
    • format: mp4
    • settings for loop, autoplay, mute.
    • change opacity
  • Create text hotspot
    • set font size, font family, color, opacity
  • Hotspot Display Modes
    • Stitched Mode: The hotspot is attached to the panorama surface. It will scale with zoom (gets bigger when zooming in, smaller when zooming out). Feels like part of the image — similar to a patch on the pano
    • Fly Mode: The hotspot floats above the panorama. Its size stays constant, regardless of zoom level. Useful when you want the hotspot to remain clearly visible at all times
  • Hotspot visibility (zoom-based)
    • When a hotspot is selected, open Visibility in the hotspot toolbar (eye icon).
    • Always show (default): the hotspot is visible at every zoom level. Existing hotspots without visibility settings behave this way.
    • Show at certain zoom levels: the hotspot appears only when the viewer zoom is within a range you set.
    • Use the dual-handle slider to set the range from zoomed out to zoomed in (0% = fully zoomed out, 100% = fully zoomed in). You can also type values in the number fields.
    • The range is clamped to your tour’s min/max zoom limits (set in Project Settings → View settings).
    • When you first switch to zoom-based visibility, PanoCool suggests a sensible default: visible from the current zoom level inward (more zoomed in).
    • While editing, the selected hotspot stays visible so you do not lose it while adjusting the range; unselect or publish the tour to preview hide/show as visitors will see it.
    • Available for icon, image, video, text, HTML, and polygon hotspots.
  • Hotspot actions:
    • click to open popup: can edit popup content with rich text editor, support insert image, video, iframe
    • click to open other scene (panorama), we can call this is navigation hotspot — see the Navigation hotspot styles section
    • click to open a new link, can open in current tab or in a new tab
    • click to open a photo gallery
    • click to change to different view
    • mouse hover to show tooltip

A navigation hotspot is any hotspot with a Go to scene action, such as the one created by dragging a scene from the scene list onto the panorama. It can use three different looks, and you can switch between them at any time.

  • Icon: a single icon picked from the icon library.
  • Callout: a marker with a line to a label showing text, the destination scene thumbnail, a custom image, or an icon.
  • Circle portal: a circle that opens into the destination scene thumbnail with a title badge when the visitor hovers it or looks at it.

How to switch style:

  • Select the navigation hotspot, then click Change style in the small toolbar that appears above it.
  • Right after creating a navigation hotspot by dragging a scene, the tip that appears also offers Change style.
  • In the panel, choose Icon, Callout, or Circle portal. The style in use is highlighted and marked (current).
  • Choosing Icon when the hotspot is already an icon opens the icon picker so you can pick a different icon.

What is kept when switching:

  • The Go to scene action and the hotspot position are always kept.
  • The label is carried over (Callout text ↔ Circle portal title), together with its translations. If you never edited it, the new style uses its own default; a Callout with no label of its own falls back to the name of the destination scene.
  • Colors are matched by role, so a marker color stays a marker color and label background and text stay label background and text. They are carried only when you customized them — a hotspot still using the theme colors or a default palette keeps following the defaults of the style it becomes.
  • The image setting is carried over: linked scene thumbnail, custom image, or no image. Circle portal cannot show an icon, so a Callout set to an icon switches to the linked scene thumbnail.
  • The label font size is carried over, unless it falls outside the range the new style allows.
  • The icon of an icon hotspot is remembered, so switching to Callout and back restores it.
  • Settings the new style has no equivalent for (for example callout line height, or circle size) use its own defaults, or your default preset for that element when you saved one.

Notes:

  • Callout and Circle portal are sized by their own settings, so they do not show the resize and rotate handles that icon hotspots have.
  • Switching style is available on all plans. Default presets applied during the switch require the Cool or Super Cool plan — see the Callout Presets section.

Reusable content lets an editor create a popup or photo gallery once and use it in multiple interactions in the same virtual tour. When the shared popup or gallery is edited, every linked hotspot, theme menu item, or supported theme layout action is updated automatically.

  • Supported reusable content:
    • Popups, including rich content, embedded images or videos, and appearance settings.
    • Photo galleries, including photos, captions, gallery style, and modal settings.
  • Scope: the reusable library belongs to one project. It is not an account-wide library and its items cannot be selected directly from another project.
  • Browsing: the project’s reusable popups and galleries are also listed in the Library tab under Content, where one can be inserted as a new element that opens it.
  • Plan: creating, linking, promoting, or detaching a reusable popup copy requires the Super Cool plan. Previously linked content remains visible and editable if the plan later changes.

How to create or use reusable content:

  1. In a hotspot’s Interactions settings, or in a compatible theme menu/layout action, choose Open popup or Open a photo gallery.
  2. Open the action’s additional options and choose one of these commands:
    • Create reusable popup/gallery: start new shared content and link the current action to it.
    • Choose existing popup/gallery…: open the reusable-content picker.
  3. The picker contains two tabs:
    • Reusable library: persisted reusable content already created in this project.
    • Saved in project: existing non-reusable popup or gallery content that can be promoted to reusable content.
  4. Search by scene, hotspot, menu, or content. Items can be previewed before selection. Reusable items can also be renamed and edited from the preview.
  5. Select an item to link the current interaction to it. If an item from Saved in project is selected, PanoCool converts that saved content into one reusable item and links both the original location and the current interaction to it.

Shared editing behavior:

  • A linked editor displays Used in N places. Changes apply everywhere.
  • Select Show locations to see where the reusable content is currently used.
  • Saving changes to linked content updates every usage; it does not create a separate copy.
  • For a linked popup, select Detach copy to create and link an independent reusable popup. Save pending popup changes before detaching. Later edits to the detached copy do not affect the original reusable popup.
  • Multi-language translations for reusable popup/gallery content are shared with the resource and therefore apply to all of its usages.
  • PanoCool prevents a reusable item from being deleted while it is still linked. Remove or replace all of its usages before deleting it.

Media, storage, and duplication behavior:

  • When inline content is promoted, its images and other uploaded media are safely copied into project-owned reusable content. The source action is then linked to the new reusable item. Unreferenced old media is cleaned up in the background and the user’s storage usage is updated automatically.
  • Cleanup runs in the background, so a successful promotion does not wait for media cleanup to finish.
  • Duplicating an entire project creates independent reusable items and independent media files in the new project. Editing the duplicated project’s reusable content does not affect the original project.
  • Duplicating a scene keeps links to the same reusable items because the new scene remains in the same project. Editing that shared content affects usages in both the original and duplicated scenes. Scene-specific and hotspot-specific translations are copied to the duplicated scene, while reusable-content translations remain shared.

Common questions:

  • Why did changing one popup/gallery update several places? It is reusable content shared by every listed usage. Use Show locations to review them.
  • How do I reuse content that already exists in the tour? Choose Choose existing popup/gallery…, open Saved in project, and select the content to promote.
  • Why is reusable content missing from another project? Reusable content is project-scoped. Each project has its own reusable library.
  • Why can’t I delete reusable content? It still has one or more linked usages. Remove or replace those links first.
  • Why am I seeing an upgrade prompt? Creating, choosing, promoting, and detaching a reusable popup copy are Super Cool features.

Custom domain

  • Add a custom domain to a project
  • only 1 domain per project
  • this feature is only available to Cool, Super Cool plan
  • limit 5 custom domains for Cool plan
  • no limit custom domains for Super Cool plan

White Label

  • The ability to host multiple 360 tours under one custom domain, (e.g., mydomain.com/project1, mydomain.com/project2).
  • This feature is exclusive to the Super Cool Plan. It allows for one domain to be used for all projects with no project limits.
  • Available for Super Cool plan only.

Background audio

  • add an audio to project, it will play when open the tour
  • add an audio to specific scene, it will play when open the scene
  • settings for volumn, loop
  • visitors can click mute/play button

Multi-language tours

Reach international visitors by offering the same virtual tour in multiple languages.

  • Available for Super Cool plan only.
  • How to: in the editor, open Project Settings, then select Languages.
  • Turn on Enable multiple languages for this tour, then add the languages you want to support (up to 5).
  • Choose a default language — this is what visitors see if no other language is selected.
  • Optional: Auto-detect browser language so the tour opens in the visitor’s preferred language when possible.
  • Optional: Sync selected language to URL so share links can include a language (for example, ?lang=vi).
  • Manage translations to translate tour content such as scene names, hotspot text, menu labels, buttons, and other on-screen text shown in your theme.
  • Visitors see a language selector on the published tour so they can switch languages at any time.
  • Customize how the selector looks:
    • Choose tabs or a dropdown (or let PanoCool pick automatically based on how many languages you offer).
    • Set its position on screen (corners or center), and fine-tune placement in the Theme tab by dragging the selector.
    • Match your theme colors, or set custom colors for the selector.
  • If multi-language is not available on your plan, selecting Languages in Project Settings shows an upgrade prompt.

Sharing

  • Share links in multiple formats: /p/{project-id}, @{username}/{project-slug}, white-label domain, and custom domain (when configured).
  • User aliases (Super Cool only): create up to 2 aliases to share links like @{user-alias}/{project-slug}.
  • Project aliases (Super Cool + project owner only): create up to 2 aliases per project to share links like @{username}/{project-alias} or @{user-alias}/{project-alias}.
  • Project alias management is available only after setting a custom project slug (default untitled-project is not supported for slug-based alias links).
  • Share via QR code: download QR image is available; custom logo in QR is available for Cool and Super Cool plans.
  • Copy embed code to embed tours on other websites.
  • Generate deep links to open a specific scene directly.

When a project owner opens one of their public PanoCool tour links while signed in, a dark circular shortcut appears at the center of the right edge. It provides a quick way to return to the editor without exposing editing controls to visitors.

  • Supported public links: /p/{project-id} and @{username}/{project-slug}.
  • Visibility: the shortcut appears only when the signed-in user’s ID matches the project owner’s ID. Visitors, collaborators, and other signed-in users do not see it.
  • The shortcut is enabled by default for project owners.
  • Click the shortcut to open these options:
    • Edit project: opens /design/{project-id} in a new tab.
    • Close: hides the shortcut for the current page view. It returns after reloading or revisiting the tour.
    • Don’t show this again…: opens the relevant Account Settings section in a new tab; it does not disable the shortcut immediately.
  • To disable or re-enable it permanently, go to Account Settings → Public project views, change Show editor shortcut on my public projects, then save the preferences.

Scene Menu

Click the three-dot icon or right-click any scene to open the Scene Menu.

Available actions:

  • Change Name: Rename the scene
  • Change thumbnail: Upload/select a new thumbnail image for the scene
  • Scene Settings: Configure scene-specific settings (image/splat scenes)
  • Video settings: Configure 360 video playback settings (video scenes)
  • Make Comparisons: Create before/after comparisons (photo scenes)
  • Retouch Pano: Edit the panorama using built-in tools
  • Replace Pano: Replace the current panorama
  • Duplicate: Create a copy of the scene
  • Delete: Remove the scene

Scene Settings customizes how the scene behaves and appears:

  • Initial View: Set the starting view when the scene loads
  • View Effects: Choose between wide angle, fisheye, or custom settings
  • Zoom Limits: Control how much users can zoom in/out
  • Vertical Look Limits: Restrict how far users can look up/down

These settings override the project-level settings for this scene.

Additional scene options:

  • Background Audio: set audio specific to this scene
  • Location: update map position and heading, this data is used for features like Mapbox and Street View Arrows

Video settings (for video scenes):

  • Autoplay, mute, loop, controls visibility, and volume
  • Reset to default values in one click

Action details:

  • Make Comparisons: Create before/after views. See the Comparisons (Before / After) section for more details.
  • Retouch Pano: Edit the panorama using the built-in retouch tool. See PanoCool Retouch for more.
  • Replace Pano: Replace the current panorama with another version. All existing hotspots, elements, and settings are preserved.

Analytics integration

  • Add Google Analytic ID to a project to tracking
  • How to: in PanoCool Virtual Tour Studio, click Analytics tab

Themes

A Theme is the interface used to interact with your virtual tour (panorama view, menus, logo, controls, etc.). PanoCool provides various themes for different use cases: general, hotel, real estate, construction, resort, and more. Some themes are available only for subscribed users.
How to Change Theme:

  • Go to the Editor
  • Click on the Theme tab
  • Select a different theme or adjust settings for the current theme

Theme Settings: You can customize the theme with the following options:

  • Colors: Change the overall theme colors
  • Font: Set the font family for all text in the theme
  • Logo: Hide or replace the logo (if supported)

Menu Management:

  • Add new menu items
  • Edit or remove existing items
  • Each menu item can be assigned an action, such as:
  • Load a scene
  • Open a link
  • Open a popup
  • Toggle background music
  • Open a photo gallery
  • Open a map view (Mapbox)
  • Open a floor plan
  • Selecting Another Theme
  • In the Other Themes section, click on a theme
  • A popup will appear with theme details
  • Click “Use this theme” to apply it
    ⚠️ Note: Switching to a new theme may reset all settings from the previous theme

Set font family

  • can set font family for all text in project. How to: in the editor, click Theme tab, select Theme styles
  • more than 1000 free fonts
  • support upload and use custom font family

Advanced Interactive Hotspots

  • Callout Hotspots for info:
  • it will be popup the message when moving near the center of screen
  • settings: change colors, click actions
  • Polygon Hotspots to highlight clickable areas:
  • Youtube tutorial: https://youtu.be/eEBLqUY0I6E
  • Create new polygon hotspot: in editor, click Elements tab, click Polygon, press Shift + mouse click to create different points of the polygon; click Save button
  • Change color, opacity of border and filled area of polygon area: click on the polygon, a tool bar will be display, click Polygon Appearences
  • Change color, opacity of border and filled area of polygon area on mouse over: click on the polygon, a tool bar will be display, click Interactions, on Hover section select Change Appearence

Little Planet Intro Add-on

The Little Planet Intro wraps your 360° photo into a spherical “miniature world” that cinematically zooms into the scene upon loading. It’s the perfect high-impact opening for any virtual tour.
Quick Setup Guide:

  • Upload: Go to Dashboard > Create and drop in your 360° sphere photo.
  • Enable: Open the Add-ons tab and toggle on Little Planet Intro.
  • Adjust: Set the Duration slider (increase for a slower, smoother zoom).
  • Publish: Click Share and open the link to see the effect in action.

Auto rotation add-on

Automatic rotation when there is no user-interaction.

  • Settings:
    • Wait time: time in seconds to wait after last user interaction before starting rotation (1–30 seconds, default: 3)
    • Acceleration: rotation acceleration in degrees/second (0.1–2, default: 1)
    • Speed: maximum rotation speed in degrees/second (−30 to 30, default: 1). Use a negative value for rotation to the left
    • Zoom slowdown: slow down autorotation speed relative to current zoom level to maintain consistent visual speed at all zoom distances
  • How to: in the editor, click Add-ons tab, toggle on Auto Rotate, adjust settings

Falling down effect add-on

Add particle effects to virtual tours for atmosphere and visual interest.
Youtube tutorial video: https://youtu.be/iP9HajiFw1E

  • Available presets: Snow, Snow balls, Snow flakes, Rain, Heavy rain, Silver stars, Golden stars, Hearts, Bubbles
  • How to: in the editor, click Add-ons tab, toggle on Falling Down, select a preset

Sync the current viewer state to the URL, allowing users to share or bookmark a specific scene, view angle, and opened hotspot.

  • Settings:
    • Sync scene: sync the active scene to the URL
    • Sync view: sync the current view angles to the URL
    • Sync hotspot: sync the currently opened hotspot popup or gallery to the URL
  • When visitors reload the page or share the URL, the exact same view is restored
  • How to: in the editor, click Add-ons tab, toggle on DeepLink Pro, configure which states to sync

Controls guide add-on

Shows an overlay guide for how to control the virtual tour (mouse drag, touch gestures, etc.). Automatically disappears when the user interacts with the panorama.

  • How to: in the editor, click Add-ons tab, toggle on Control Guide

Street View Arrows add-on: create familiar Google Street View style

  • navigation with floating arrows that guide users smoothly through properties.
  • similar to how you view Street View on Google Maps
  • How to:
  • in PanoCool Virtual Tour Studio, click Add-ons tab, click Street View Arrows add-on
  • turn on the add-on by clicking on toggle button
  • Next step is to define the position of all scenes and create connections between them. There are 3 options: place them on a map (On a Map mode), place them on a floor plan (On a Floor Plan mode), or let AI Auto Connect place and connect them for you — see the AI Auto Connect section.
  • Shortcut: the AI Auto Connect button in the Elements tab turns the add-on on and opens that flow in one click.
  • Once AI Auto Connect has placed a floor, Draw floor plan… in the Floor Plan block draws its walls, doors and windows behind the dots — see the AI Floor Plan section.
  • can custom color and opacity of floating arrows and chevrons.

AI Auto Connect (Street View Arrows)

AI Auto Connect fills in the Street View Arrows add-on automatically. It reads the 360° photos of a tour, works out where each one was taken, places every scene on a generated floor plan facing the direction it was shot, and connects the scenes that are next to each other. It replaces having to place scenes on a Google map or draw a floor plan by hand.

  • Available on all plans; it is paid for with AI edits, not by plan tier.
  • Works on sphere (360°) photo scenes. It does not use flat photos, 360° video scenes, or 3DGS scenes. Scenes hidden from the Street View Arrows setup are not analyzed either — unhide them first.

How to use it:

  1. In the editor, open the Add-ons tab and turn on Street View Arrows. (Or use the AI Auto Connect shortcut in the Elements tab, which does steps 1 and 2 for you — see the shortcut section below.)
  2. In Scene Setup, click AI Auto Connect. An introduction explains what it does; click through it and then Start.
  3. Choose whether the tour is on one floor or several. Scenes are only matched within a floor level, so each storey — or each separate zone such as a garden, a detached studio, or a rooftop — should be its own floor level. Floor levels can be added here.
  4. Each floor level is shown as a column of its scenes. Drag a scene to the floor it was shot on, untick any scene that should not be analyzed, and click a scene to preview it. Then click Start process. The run takes a few minutes; the tab must stay open, because leaving or reloading ends the run.
  5. A suitability pre-check runs first on a sample of the photos. If it reports that the photos may not suit AI Auto Connect, the run pauses and can be cancelled or continued with Continue anyway.
  6. When it finishes, the result is shown for review: how many scenes were placed, which connections were found, and which scenes could not be placed. See details lists every connection so individual ones can be unticked.
  7. Apply writes the result. The add-on switches to On a Floor Plan mode with one generated plan per floor level, and the normal Save button persists it.

Shortcut: the AI Auto Connect button in the Elements tab

The Elements tab has an AI Auto Connect button (sparkles icon), listed under the sample icons and texts. It is only a shortcut into the flow described above — it does not do anything the Add-ons tab cannot do, it just skips the steps of finding the add-on and turning it on.

  • The button appears on photo scenes. The Elements tab has no content for 360° video or 3DGS scenes, so it is not shown there.
  • If you are not signed in, clicking it opens the login modal instead.
  • Clicking it opens a short Build a Walkthrough in Minutes panel that explains the flow — 360° Photos → AI Auto Connect → Connected Walkthrough — and notes that it places scenes on a floor plan, connects nearby views, supports multiple floors, and is best for indoor spaces such as homes, offices, and showrooms.
  • Watch Quick Demo opens a second page inside the same panel, with two tabs of tutorial videos: AI Auto Connect (shown first) and Street View Arrows. Back at the top left returns to the panel.
  • Start AI Auto Connect closes the panel, switches to the Add-ons tab, turns Street View Arrows on if it is off, opens the add-on, and lands directly on AI Auto Connect in Scene Setup — step 3 of the list above. Everything after that (floor levels, scene selection, pre-check, review, Apply) is identical, including the AI edit cost.
  • Start AI Auto Connect is disabled until the project has at least 2 panoramas, and a note says so.

Editing the result:

  • The floor plan is the source of truth: drag a scene’s dot to move it, and its arrows move with it.
  • Adjust which way a scene faces with the heading/radar control, and add or remove links by hand, exactly as with a hand-made floor plan.
  • Scenes that could not be placed are named on the result card and parked at the bottom of the plan; drag them into place, or select them and run AI Auto Connect again to fit them into the existing plan.
  • Re-running after a plan exists is an Add scenes flow: tick the missing scenes, and include one or two scenes that are already placed nearby so the new result can be aligned to the existing plan.

Cost and limits:

  • 1 AI edit per scene analyzed, whether or not connections are found for it. The estimate and the current AI edit balance are shown above the Start process button.
  • The suitability pre-check costs 1 AI edit. If the check itself is unavailable, it is not charged and the run can continue.
  • Maximum 20 scenes per run, and up to 20 scenes per floor level.
  • A run that is cancelled part-way only charges what was already analyzed; a floor level that never finished is not charged, and the remaining scenes can be run again later.
  • Provider failures are never charged — if a reconstruction fails or expires, no AI edits are taken for it.
  • Running out of AI edits mid-run keeps everything already analyzed; add more AI edits and continue.

When it works best:

  • Indoor spaces shot step by step — apartments, houses, offices, showrooms — from the same tripod height, a few steps apart, with each shooting spot visible from the previous one.
  • Harder cases: wall-size mirrors, glass walls, long featureless corridors, heavy fog, and shots that mix an interior with wide open sky. These give the AI less to recognise, so some scenes may stay unplaced.

Common questions:

  • Why were some scenes not placed? Their photos did not give enough recognisable detail (commonly mirrors, glass, or open sky). Place them manually on the plan, or select them and run again together with nearby placed scenes.
  • Why are scenes from different floors not connected? Matching happens within one floor level. That is intentional, so unrelated rooms are not compared.
  • Can the result be changed afterwards? Yes. It is an ordinary floor plan — every dot, heading, and connection can be edited, and the plan can be replaced with your own image.
  • Is anything applied automatically? No. Nothing is written until Apply is clicked, and nothing is published until the project is saved.

AI Floor Plan (Street View Arrows)

Once AI Auto Connect has placed the scenes of a floor level, PanoCool can draw that floor’s plan: walls, doors, windows, room names and room sizes, drawn behind the scene dots as the plan’s background image in the Street View Arrows setup. The drawing is reviewed before it is saved, can be edited by hand, and can be downloaded as a PNG.

  • Available on all plans; it is paid for with AI edits, not by plan tier.
  • Needs a floor level in On a Floor Plan mode with a generated plan (the result of AI Auto Connect): the AI-placed dots give the positions and the scale the drawing is built on. A hand-uploaded floor plan image cannot be drawn.
  • Visitors do not see the drawing: Street View mode shows the arrows and the level switcher only. To show a floor plan to visitors, download the PNG and upload it in the Floor Plan add-on (see the Floorplan Support section).

How to use it:

  1. In the editor, open the Add-ons tab, open Street View Arrows, and in Scene Setup find the Floor Plan block of the floor level.
  2. Click Draw floor plan…. On a floor with no scale or no placed scene yet, nothing runs; a note names the scenes that still need to be placed and linked.
  3. An introduction shows the price and the current AI edit balance, a Room names in language picker, and — when the floor holds scenes in more than one linked group, or scenes not on the plan — Scenes to draw checkboxes. The main group is ticked; a group not linked to the rest is drawn where its dots are. Click Start.
  4. Progress is shown scene by scene and can be cancelled. Scenes already analysed stay cached, so cancelling does not waste them.
  5. The drawing is shown for review with a summary: rooms, doors and windows, AI edits used, and scenes that could not be read. Apply floor plan saves it as the plan’s background image; Edit… opens the editor first; Discard keeps nothing. Nothing is uploaded or saved before Apply.
  6. Afterwards the Floor Plan block offers Draw floor plan again… (free for scenes already analysed), Edit floor plan… and Download PNG (a square 2000 px image).

Editing the drawing (the floor plan editor):

  • Select a door, window, glass door, closet door or opening to change its type, slide it along its wall, resize it from either end, or remove it. Add places a new one on the wall that is clicked.
  • Select a wall and drag it, or use the arrow keys. A dragged wall clicks onto a facing wall of the next room (hold Alt to prevent that), and dragged level with the wall beside it, the short wall between them disappears. Snap to the wall next to it appears when another room’s wall is within 60 cm.
  • Click a room’s floor to select it: drag it or nudge it with the arrow keys, rename it, Turn 90°, Merge with… a neighbouring room, or remove it. A room’s scene dots move with it, so the arrows re-aim to where the room now is.
  • Rotate the whole plan by single degrees, Straighten walls, Turn 90°, Fit plan in box; zoom, pan and pinch to reach any part; undo and redo every step (⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z, or Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y).
  • Elements opens a list of every room with its openings and scenes: click to select, tick several to remove them at once, or tick two rooms to merge them.
  • Room names are edited in the selection bar or in the list under the drawing. The Room names in language picked before drawing sets their language.

Cost and limits:

  • 1 AI edit per scene analysed (its doors and windows). A scene already analysed for an earlier drawing is free, so drawing again or editing costs nothing new.
  • Renaming rooms named earlier in another language into the picked language costs 1 AI edit per drawing; switching back to a language used before is free.
  • Up to 30 scenes per floor level.
  • Scenes whose photo cannot be read as a room (halls, warehouses, some outdoor views) are left out and named in the summary. Outdoor and drone scenes that are ticked come out as made-up rooms, so leave those unticked.
  • Provider failures are not charged; cancelling keeps the scenes already analysed.

Known limits:

  • Room sizes and proportions are close estimates, not a survey. Doors, windows and walls sit where the photos show them; the wall between two rooms can still be off by a few tens of centimetres. Walls closer than 35 cm are joined automatically.
  • An open glass door can make a balcony run deeper than it is; open-plan spaces come out as one room; mirrors are never drawn as windows. The editor fixes these by hand.

Common questions:

  • Why does Draw floor plan do nothing? The floor has no scale or no placed scene yet. Run AI Auto Connect on it, or place and link the scenes the note names.
  • Why is a room missing or in the wrong place? Its scene was not on the plan, was in a group left unticked, or its photo could not be read as a room. Link it and draw again, or move the room in the editor.
  • Why are there two walls between two rooms? Each room is measured on its own. Walls closer than 35 cm are joined automatically; a wider gap is closed by dragging one wall onto the other.
  • Can visitors see the drawing? Not in Street View mode. Download the PNG and upload it in the Floor Plan add-on to show it.
  • Does drawing again cost again? No. Only scenes not analysed before are charged.

Library tab (integrated asset and reuse management)

The editor tab previously named Assets is now Library. It is the single place for everything that can be reused inside a tour: uploaded media, saved element styles, shared popup/gallery content, and complete saved elements.

How to: in the editor, click the Library tab in the left tab strip.

  • The panel has four sections, switched with tabs at the top: Assets, Presets, Content, Saved.
  • In every section, selecting an item inserts it at the center of the current view of the active scene.
  • Sections that the current plan does not include are marked with a crown icon on their tab. Opening one shows a short explanation of the feature plus an upgrade prompt instead of the list.
  • The section last used is remembered (stored in the browser) and reopened the next time the Library is opened. It is a per-browser preference, not per project.

Assets section (all plans)

  • Account-wide media library: uploaded images and videos are available in every project.
  • Upload with the upload button next to the search field, or drag files onto the panel.
  • Formats stored: JPEG, PNG, GIF, MP4. Other still-image formats such as WebP, and HEIC/HEIF from Apple photo libraries, are converted to JPEG during upload. SVG is not supported.
  • Search by file name and filter by All / Images / Videos. Selecting the active filter again clears it back to All.
  • Click an asset to insert it as an image or video hotspot in the current scene.
  • Right-click an asset (or use its three-dot menu) to rename or delete it.

Presets section (Cool, Super Cool)

  • Lists saved styles for Callout and Circle Portal elements, grouped by element type.
  • Insert adds the element already styled with that preset. Blank adds the element with its default styling.
  • The star marks the default preset for that element type; a default is applied automatically when the element is inserted from the Elements tab. Project-scoped defaults take priority over global defaults.
  • The Global / Project badge shows the preset’s scope and can be clicked to switch it.
  • Click a preset name to rename it; the trash button deletes it.
  • Presets are created from the element’s content editor — see the Callout Presets section.

Content section (Super Cool)

  • Lists the reusable popups and photo galleries of the current project — see the Reusable popup and gallery content section for how these are created.
  • Search by name and filter by All / Popups / Galleries.
  • Each row shows a preview, plus the photo count for galleries or the number of places a popup is used.
  • Insert adds an icon element whose click action opens that reusable content by reference. Editing the content later updates that element and every other usage.

Saved section (Cool, Super Cool)

  • Lists complete elements saved from this project, including their display settings, click/hover actions, and translations.
  • Saved elements are project-scoped: they appear only in the project they were saved from.
  • Most recently used items are listed first. Search by name, click a name to rename it, and use the trash button to delete.
  • A warning icon marks a saved element whose go to scene action points at a scene that no longer exists.
  • Insert drops an independent copy into the current scene. Editing that copy never changes the saved original.

Saving an element to the library

  • Right-click an element on the panorama and choose Save to library, then give it a name.
  • The same right-click menu lists recently used saved elements for one-click insertion at the cursor position, and a Browse library command that opens the full list.
  • If the element’s image or video is still uploading, saving is blocked with a “Still uploading” notice — wait a moment and try again.
  • Requires the Cool or Super Cool plan; free accounts see an upgrade prompt.

Favorite Icons

Save frequently used icons for quick access when building hotspots. Available for Cool and Super Cool plans only.

  • Add to favorites: right-click any icon or click the three-dot menu on any icon in the Elements panel, then select “Add to favorites”
  • Scope: each favorite can be saved as Global (available across all projects) or Project (visible only in the current project). A scope selector appears when saving; you can change scope at any time.
  • Favorites section: saved icons appear in a “Favorites” row at the top of the Elements panel. Click any icon to insert it as a hotspot
  • Expand view: click the expand button to expand the list view. Expanding hides the sample icons below. Click again to collapse
  • Manage favorites: click the edit button to open the Manage Favorite Icons modal where you can:
    • Filter by scope (All / Global / Project)
    • Search and add new icons via Iconify search
    • Toggle scope per icon (click the scope badge)
    • Remove icons
  • Context menu: right-click any favorite icon to remove it or change its scope
  • Duplicate filtering: icons already in your favorites list are automatically hidden from the sample icons and recently used sections to avoid duplication
  • Sync: favorites are stored locally for instant access and synced to the cloud so they persist across devices
  • Cleanup: when a project is deleted, all project-scoped favorites for that project are automatically removed

Callout Presets

Save and reuse Callout hotspot settings (colors, text, display options) as named presets. Circle Portal hotspots use the same preset system. Available for Cool and Super Cool plans only.

  • Save a preset: in the Callout editor (Edit Callout panel), click the bookmark icon next to the Save button. Enter a name, choose scope (Global or Project), and optionally set it as the default preset
  • Browse and insert presets: saved Callout and Circle Portal presets are also listed in the Library tab under Presets, where inserting one adds a new element already styled with that preset
  • Load a preset: use the “Load preset…” dropdown at the top of the Callout editor to apply a saved preset’s settings
  • Default preset: mark a preset as default and it will be automatically applied when inserting new Callout hotspots. Project-scoped defaults take priority over global defaults
  • Manage presets: click the settings icon next to the preset dropdown to open the Manage Presets modal where you can:
    • Filter by scope (All / Global / Project)
    • Rename presets inline
    • Toggle default status (star icon)
    • Change scope
    • Delete presets
  • Sync: presets are stored locally and synced to the cloud
  • Free users: the preset selector and save-as-preset button are hidden; the Callout editor works normally without presets

Floorplan Support

Add interactive floor plans to your virtual tour to help visitors navigate spatially.
Youtube tutorial video: https://youtu.be/XehfMC7rZx4

  • Upload multiple floor plan images (JPEG, PNG)
  • Name each floor plan (e.g., “Ground Floor”, “Level 2”)
  • Add hotspots on the floor plan and link them to scenes
  • Drag hotspots to reposition them on the map
  • Customize hotspot color and size per hotspot
  • Set a default color for all hotspots in a plan
  • Set an active hotspot color to highlight the current scene
  • Radar indicator: shows the viewer’s heading direction on the floor plan; can be toggled on/off
  • Adjust hotspot heading with an interactive radar dial or numeric input
  • Floor plan can be triggered from the theme menu
  • How to: in the editor, click Add-ons tab, open Floor Plan section; upload an image, add hotspots, and link them to scenes
  • A plan drawn by AI Floor Plan (Street View Arrows) can be downloaded as a PNG and uploaded here to show it to visitors

Comparisons (Before / After)

Create a Before / After effect, Day to Dusk, or any other comparison inside a tour, to showcase transformations, renovations, and staging. Visitors switch between two or more versions of the same place without losing the direction they were looking in.

How to: open the Scene Menu (three-dot icon, or right-click a scene) and choose Make comparisons. Available on all plans, for photo scenes only — not for 360° video or 3DGS scenes.

Setting up a comparison

  • The scene the menu was opened on is added first and becomes the reference scene, marked with a Reference badge. Every other scene is aligned to it.
  • Add scene adds another scene. A comparison holds up to 10 scenes, and at least 2 are needed to save.
  • Give each scene a Label (up to 60 characters, emoji allowed). This is the text visitors see on the switching button — for example Before and After.
  • The trash icon removes a scene from the comparison. Removing the reference scene promotes the next one, and the alignment between the remaining scenes is preserved.
  • A scene can belong to only one comparison. Scenes already used in another one are not listed under Add scene.
  • Display switching button on: All selected scenes lets visitors switch from any scene in the comparison; the other option shows the switcher only on the reference scene.
  • Transition effect: Slide right to left or Fade.
  • Save stores the comparison. Remove deletes only the comparison being edited; other comparisons in the project are kept.
  • After saving, use Preview at the top left of the editor to see it working.

Editing an existing comparison

  • Open Make comparisons from any scene in the comparison — the same setup opens, with the scene it was opened from marked Current scene.
  • Saving updates that same comparison; it does not create a second one.

Align heading

Two panoramas of the same room are rarely shot facing the same way, so switching between them can spin the visitor around. Aligning records how far the camera was turned, so the view stays pointed at the same thing across the switch.

  • Click Align heading under a scene. Every scene except the reference has one.
  • Both panoramas are shown as flattened 360° strips, one above the other, with a centre line through both.
  • Find something visible in both — a window, a door frame, a corner — then drag the lower strip until it sits on the centre line. Dragging the upper strip looks around without changing the alignment.
  • Zoom (up to 8×) magnifies both strips for a finer adjustment. Offset shows the angle in degrees and can be typed directly; Reset next to it returns to 0.
  • With the lower strip selected, the arrow keys nudge by 0.5° (hold Shift for 5°), and Home resets.
  • The strips open from small copies of the panoramas so the panel appears immediately. Load full resolution loads the originals for a sharper image; the button states the download size first.
  • Close the panel with the × in its top-right corner.
  • If a scene has no usable 360° preview — for example its thumbnail was replaced with a cropped image — the strips are not shown, and the offset can still be set by hand.

What visitors see

  • The switcher is a row of labels for two scenes, or a column for three or more. Most themes place it automatically.
  • In themes built with the theme builder, it is the Comparison block, which can be styled as pills or tabs and positioned like any other block.
  • Selecting a label loads that scene keeping the current viewing direction and zoom, with the chosen transition.

Multi-language: comparison labels can be translated. They appear in Project Settings → Languages → Manage translations under the Comparisons group, as Comparison label 1, Comparison label 2, and so on.

Common questions:

  • Why does the view spin when switching between the scenes? They are not aligned. Open Align heading on the non-reference scene and line up something visible in both panoramas.

  • Why is a scene missing from Add scene? It already belongs to another comparison, or it is a 360° video or 3DGS scene.

  • Why doesn’t the switcher appear on a scene? Either Display switching button on is limited to the reference scene, or the theme in use has no comparison block placed.

  • Does Remove delete all my comparisons? No. It removes only the comparison currently open.

  • Guide: https://docs.pano.cool/enhancing-your-virtual-tours-with-comparisons/

  • Youtube tutorial video: https://youtu.be/pkqa42x56Ro

SEO-Optimized Sharing

Customize Meta Tags, titles, and descriptions for every project.

  • How to: in the editor, click the Metatags tab.
  • Title and Description control how the tour appears in search results and link previews.
  • Image is the preview image used when the link is shared. Upload one, or use Take screenshot to capture the current view of the panorama.
  • Advanced options → Favicon (Super Cool): upload a custom icon for the browser tab of the published tour, replacing the default PanoCool icon.
    • Formats: PNG, ICO, or SVG. Maximum 512KB. A square image works best.
    • Applies to every public link of the project (/p/{project-id}, @{username}/{project-slug}, white-label and custom domains) and to the password screen of a protected tour.
    • Leave it empty, or remove the uploaded image, to keep the default PanoCool icon.
    • Duplicating a project copies the favicon into the new project.

Multi-Platform Export

Export your projects for Web (Self-hosting), Desktop apps, or Mobile apps for offline client presentations.

Google Analytics Integration

add Google Analytics ID to monitor visitor behavior, popular scenes, and conversion rates.

Private Password Protection

Protect your virtual tours with password access for private client previews or internal corporate use.

  • How to: in the editor, click Share, then Password Protection.
  • Set, change, or remove the password at any time. Visitors must enter it before the tour loads.
  • Password protection requires a paid plan (Cool or Super Cool).
  • Advanced options → Logo on the password page (Super Cool): choose what visitors see while the tour is locked.
    • PanoCool logo (default): shows a “Powered by PanoCool” logo below the password form.
    • Custom logo: shows your own logo above the form and hides the “Powered by” line. Formats: PNG, JPG, SVG, or WebP, up to 2MB.
    • No logo: shows the password form on its own.
    • Custom logo keeps showing the PanoCool logo until an image has been uploaded.
    • Duplicating a project copies the password page logo into the new project.
  • The project’s custom favicon, when set, also applies to the password screen.

Project Status Management

easily toggle tours between “Active,” “Inactive,” or “Under Maintenance” modes to manage your live links effectively.

Manage Access

Invite others to collaborate on or take ownership of your virtual tour projects.

  • Collaboration: Invite users by email to edit or view a project. Editors can manage scenes, hotspots, and media. Viewers have read-only access.
  • Transfer Ownership: Transfer full project ownership to another user. The current owner will be editor role once the invitee accepts. Both users must have the Project Transfer feature on their plan.
  • Invitation System: Invitees receive an email with a link to accept or decline. If the invitee doesn’t have an account yet, the invitation is linked automatically upon registration.
  • Limits: Maximum 10 collaborators per project (active + pending combined). Only one pending transfer invitation per project at a time.
  • Remove Access: The project owner can remove collaborators or cancel pending invitations at any time.
  • Plan Requirements:
    • Collaboration (edit/view) requires the Super Cool plan on the owner’s plan.
    • Transfer requires Super Cool plan on both the sender’s and receiver’s plans.
  • Owner Only: Only the project owner can send invitations, manage collaborators, and initiate transfers. Non-owners see a read-only notice.
  • Shared Projects: Projects shared with you appear in your project list with a shared badge indicating your role (Editor or Viewer) and the owner’s name. View-only users cannot edit the project.

Callout Hotspot

Use Callout Hotspots to add a short, styled note that pops out from a point in the panorama. It is useful for highlighting property details, labels, features, instructions, or points of interest.

  • Add custom text with multiple lines
  • Show a linked scene thumbnail, upload a custom image, or choose an icon
  • Customize colors, image/icon size, circle size, rounded corners, padding, blur, and opacity
  • Control when the callout appears as the viewer looks around the tour
  • Save favorite styles as presets for reuse on other callouts

Guides:

Youtube videos: https://youtu.be/kedOIoYc1og