Building Immersive Training
Studio service combined with collaborative tools and support
Creating 3D immersive training is naturally complex but it doesn’t need to be difficult. We take care of the things that you shouldn’t have to learn so that you can concentrate on what you’re trying to teach. Our studio specialists generate the highest quality immersive worlds – allowing you to develop amazing training experiences and get results as quickly as required.
How is an Insite created?
There are three stages to creating an Insite.
Step 1
Capture the space accurately using 360º photography
Step 2
Build the 3-D navigation so that the immersive space can be explored online
Step 3
Embed media & information into the immersive training environment
Who does what?
Steps 1+2 – 360º Photography and 3-D require professional techniques & hardware and are undertaken by highly trained specialists. If you have a dedicated VR department we may well be able to train your specialists to do it.
Step 3 – Authoring requires only knowledge of the training subject itself. Our user friendly CMS and online authoring tools and can be mastered by any user to achieve perfect results.
What do we do well?
How much does an Insite cost?
The best value immersive training available.
Building immersive training with 360º photographs, rather than computer models is quicker, cheaper and looks better. Combine this with the quality of Insites and you won’t find a more cost-effective professional solution. If you’d like a quotation please either choose an existing project that you’ve seen from us before, or tell us in as much detail as you can, what you’d like to make.
If you’re willing to work together we can make it even cheaper.
We are always looking to build new immersive trainings for resale. If your training is something that would be a popular training product we could discuss decreasing or even removing the cost.
Common Questions on Collaboration
Can we use our own 360º photos?
There are some things you should consider.
Although one-shot VR cameras are handy for 360º photography they don’t provide a level of quality that our clients often require and even the best ones cannot be optically accurate. We would also need the exact location of the camera to calculate the simulated 3-D immersive training environment. So there are quite a lot of factors which make it much preferable that we take the photos.
How can we edit our own training?
Our CMS and authoring tools are all there and easy to use
We have developed the most intuitive backend tools to express numerous complex concepts within the virtual space. Our online authoring and a content management system mean the most techno-savvy or technophobic client can still achieve excellent results or they can just leave it to us.
How long does it take?
Just as long as you need.
The process of 360º photography and site building takes only a few weeks. From then on the process of building your immersive training goes at the speed that you feel comfortable with.
For us it’s as important to make the authoring process as intuitive as the resulting training. For this reason we aim to accelerate production time by reducing delays with our instant feedback system. This encourages the project’s evolution through incremental testing and momentary evaluation rather than approval loops and corrections. You don’t always know what’s right immediately but with Look.insite we find the best way organically and efficiently.
Do we have to write the training ourselves?
You can write as much or as little as you want.
Often the expert authority and source of the training material is the client themselves. Our team can develop Insites from scratch with only the the most basic instructions or we can create the 3-D environment and then step back while the client authors the training with only our technical support
Why shouldn't we use 360º tour software?
Then prepare for hard work and limited results
It’s logical to consider a standalone piece of software to generate immersive training content. This is viable for traditional e-learning but building immersive training requires a much wider range of skills and visual content. The simplicity of a virtual tour generator is usually matched by limited results it can produce. Therefore if you want your training to be professional you need to work with professionals using advanced tools. That’s what we offer at Look.insite.
Can we reuse existing training material?
Yes we can.
We can create immersive training by linking Insites’ text/media content to most databases as long as all the necessary information is available. This means we can also have live updates for running systems.
Client Tools and Support
The Insites immersive training platform is not only the user interface but also the backend tools which make the process of production much simpler and more powerful. Furthermore we make sure that our immersive trainings can be integrated with all types of learning media and that the Insite can be kept up-to-date over an extended period. Here are some of the special and unique features that we offer.
Content Management System
We have developed a custom made user friendly interface for building text and media content into the immersive trainings. For example video and image content is stored on a server where it can be accessed using the CMS. As a result when changes are made in the CMS they are instantly visible in the online version of the site.
In-Site Authoring
The online version of the immersive training is in fact a work in progress until it’s completed. For example by entering the authoring mode every hotspot can be moved around or added. What’s more changes made in the CMS will be reflected online. Altogether this makes the process of building your immersive training a fluid experience rather than a series of feedback loops.
LMS Integration
Insites integrates your immersive training seamlessly within learning management systems. Not to mention the fact that this allows the training provider to restrict access to the online training and most significantly provides the ability track progress. By comparison with other forms of immersive training Insites is undoubtably the most compatible platform on the market.
Custom Interface
It goes without saying that each client wants to express it’s own clear identity within it’s training material. With this purpose in mind our training is created with great attention to each customer’s preferences. That is to say colours and fonts and logos can be adapted to present a bespoke, unique immersive training environment.
Offline Mode
The internet is not always available, especially in extreme environments. Consequently our online immersive training can be viewed off-line when necessary.
Tester Versions
Every immersive training can be offered in preview version which allows users to test the training without having full access. This exceptionally useful functionality is acheived by limiting access to views and items and ensuring that previews can then be unlocked with the use of a secret URL token or by logging into a learning management system to view the full version.
Advanced User Guide & Help
A lot of immersive training is impossible to navigate without someone standing by you telling you what to do. The fundamental reason for this is that it is tricky to make proper help which is intuitive and appears when you need it without overloading you. For this reason our feedback system is second to none and ensures you don’t need any help. All you have to do is follow simple instructions and look for help in the obvious place if you get stuck.
Long-Term support
A immersive training can have a long valuable life although things change and often don’t look as good as when you first made them. For this very reason we provide support options to re-edit immersive training information or update the platform when our technology progresses. And what’s more all this can be calculated over a three or five year period so that there are no nasty surprises.
Database Integration
Our CMS can link directly into an external database meaning that the immersive training material can actually be updated automatically and within short time increments.
Specialist Studio Service
The initial stages of building an Insite immersive training require skilled operation of specialised hardware and software by experienced technicians. Some of our clients have dedicated VR departments – in this case as we are open to collaborate in the more technical part of the process, but generally we provide 360º photography and world building as a service.
In the long term we hope to make more of the in-house process of building immersive training available to normal users. At the present time barriers to this are the limitations of one shot 360º cameras, indoor measurement systems and automated image grading systems.
Capturing the immersive training environment
Planning
The first step to capturing the location for an immersive training is to get an idea of the space in advance through maps and photographs and then roughly plan what needs to be shot. Unlike video shooting we don’t need a script as such – what we make is nonlinear so the best preparation is often to draw a simple map and write a list.
Preparing the location
The rule of thumb for preparation for a location shoot is to make the whole space look as you want it to in the photographs. For this reason once we start 360º photography, it’s important that the everything remains the same. Because the camera shoots in every direction, so people need to hide away from the all seeing eye!
Shooting safely
The spaces that we photograph are often dangerous or inaccessible so we work with experts to make sure that everything is done safely. In fact, often the same skilled person will serve as a guide for what we should shoot including which elements require extra stills photography or video demonstrations. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessary for everything to be decided before we start shooting. In fact we can adapt the project even after the photography has happened.
Measuring
Building 3-D simulation of the immersive training location requires detailed measurements of where the 360º photographs were taken in relation to the space. This is essential to allow us to build the navigation points accurately into the location, as well as to to place the hotspots three-dimensionally and also to draw the 3D map. In furtherance of this goal we utilise a variety of techniques to capture information including lasers, photogrammetry and good old tape measures.
Generating the world with AI or CGI
It’s even possible to avoid the photographic process completely and generate Insite immersive training completely from AI or 3-D modelling. In this case the Insite works exactly the same but of course will look as realistic as the technique used for generating the environment allows.
World Construction
Building the 3D Space
The result of this is a 360º tour website with navigation points at eye level, floor level and some in the form of arrows.
Drawing the Map
Adding Life and Motion
Customer Branded UI
Deep Fakes
The creation of this space as a 360° virtual tour can be achieved using 360º photography, or 3D computer graphics or a combination of the two. Animations are overlaid in the 360° space in stop motion sequences. Avatars are video sequences which are also overlaid within the space. All of this is generated and post produced at this stage of the process so that the visual material is available for building the three-dimensional site.
Avatars
Avatars are video sequences which are shot in the actual environment or in the studio and also overlaid within the space. All of this is generated and post produced at capture stage of the process so that the visual material is available for building the three-dimensional site.
Creating Training Content
Once the world-building is complete the Insite is made available to the authors of the immersive training. To make that possible we’ve developed a system so that an Insite can be filled with training information and media very easily by users with a standard level of technical knowledge. This takes the form two intuitive and powerful tools – our content management system and our authoring suite.
In some cases clients would prefer to use their own content management system or connect the Insite immersive training directly to a database. Needless to say this is all possible without any difficulty. While external input may be required we also find the clients want the opposite and we very happy to do the work of content creation in house based on even the most basic instructions.
Writing the Immersive Training Material with our CMS
CMS
Composing Text in the CMS
Adding Media
Menu Creation
Adding the Info to the Insite with our Authoring Suite
In-site Authoring
Hotspots
Placing Hotspots
Once everything seems correct and has been checked it's a simple process to create a locked down version of the immersive training which can be posted online.
Delivery and Support
Platforms
Once authors are satisfied with the immersive training they request the delivery of their Insite. We then immediately prepare a data package that can be hosted within a learning management system or on a server. In fact we can also host projects on our own server on request. When required an LMS package can be generated in SCORM although other formats are available. Normally progress is displayed during the training but forgotten if the site is reloaded, but unique to us with an LMS hosted package a learner can revisit the immersive training at any stage and pick up where they left off and of course the training hosts can keep track of their progress as well.
Devices
Insites are built initially for web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Safari on desktop computers – while support for other platforms such as mobile devices or headsets is optional. Before delivery we perform extensive checks to make sure that each individual project performs perfectly on whichever platforms have been selected. This encompasses all of the major browsers on Mac and PC as well as for Android and Apple mobile devices. Alongside this we also support the native browsers of VR headsets including Oculus/Meta, Pico and HTC vive. Notwithstanding Insites can also be delivered as an offline package that requires no internet connection.
Support
Going forward the project can be made accessible again for editing upon request. For this very purpose we also offer platform upgrades or for example the opportunity to translate the training into other languages or re-purpose the visual material for an alternative training topic. As a direct result Insites can have a very long life because it’s possible to keep editing and improving the immersive training while retaining the original visual material.
Ultimately, our commitment is to provide long-term support and retain the currency and usefulness of your immersive training for as long as it is required.
