The future of online vehicle displays

Comment

Comment by Ted Frazier on September 30, 2008 at 8:25pm

Here's an inside tip. I've found It's really easy and inexpensive to create an interactive 360 with a digital camcorder on a tripod filming a car on a motorized turnstile. Then import the footage into adobe flash and create a video control so you can control the spin back and forth with a slider. Looks really cool on a website. Still not something that would be feasible to do for every car on the lot though.

Comment by Tiny Malone on September 30, 2008 at 6:50pm

The images on Toyota's site of the tundra are all CG. Most that I have seen are CG. I was looking at a demo of a set-up for studio use, but it was DAY-Um expensive ($98K if I recall correctly). I think most OE's are figuring out that CG is cheaper and better in most cases. I have new car spin on my website, but I think it must be imported from Chrome or something.

Ted is correct in the summation that camera height in relation to the beltline of the car must remain the same. I would charge large money for this if there were a way I could display it on e-bay, etc. I bet I can develop a template that will interface and work well with e-bay and display a spin. Very cool stuff!

Comment by Doug Blankenship on February 26, 2008 at 9:07pm

I totally agree. Good photography is king. I am glad to see that we are trying to push the envelope in practical photography. I would venture to say that anyone speaking to this subject has that in mind and is way above average in their field.

The 360 spins is another area we can and will accel in, over and above the "dime a dozons" to come. Even though Dealer Specialties has been around for many years, I feel that poeple like us are still the pioneers of online automotive photography.

Comment by Ted Frazier on February 26, 2008 at 8:11pm

Mark- This is a very profound point. Thanks for making it. Although I have some experience working as a pro photographer(of people), the bulk of my interest and experience lies in web design and software technology. It's easy for me to get exited about the technology and forget about the consumers point of view.
I still think that the 360s and VRs are valuable if done right, but these technologies will soon be a dime a dozen. The REAL value is indeed in the skillful photographer, which is hard to find and harder to keep.

Comment by Mark Deutsch on February 26, 2008 at 6:55pm

Just some thoughts:

From my most recent polling of consumers and real estate professionals:
Consensus is that the prospective customer is most interested in clear, concise, and accurate presentation of the vehicle (or real property) he has taken enough interest in to have found on the Web.
He (or she) has already seen manufacturers' websites-where rotating vehicles or even rotating walls abound.
Some of these Flash or flip animation presentations, when done proficiently, can serve what should be the intended purpose: creating excitement.

At anything less than a totally professional looking virtual tour, the rotating car can quickly cause boredom or worse yet- dizziness.
The real estate industry is finding this out- the purveyors of premiere properties are abandoning the virtual tours in favor of higher quality, more aesthetically pleasing photographs.
Visuals should create the desire to look further, not look away.
Maybe now would be the time to focus on better photography-more accurately exposed and color balanced photos, with more pleasing composition.
Most of us have a ways to go in this direction before we have license to make our clients' cars sing and dance.

My $.02

Comment by Ted Frazier on February 26, 2008 at 1:14pm

Those are some very good ideas, now you guys got my creativity buzzing.

Comment by Doug Blankenship on February 26, 2008 at 11:32am

Immersive video would be cool for the about us page. Go on a busy Saturday and get some busy video. Get video of a customer ringing the bell with everyone cheering in the showroom. Get some video in the tower of managers working a deal. (of course they would have to tone down the typical tower talk. "How can we help these people?")

Comment by Eric Miltsch on February 26, 2008 at 11:15am

The immerserve video would let a visitor see the rest of the lot at the same time...more of a wow factor item.

Ted - pls send me pricing info. Thx:)

Comment by Ted Frazier on February 26, 2008 at 7:06am

Eric - I see you've got CDM's SiSter video service on that site. Maybe you should compare it to ours:
http://www.frontiermotors.vinmanagersites.com/AutoDetails2.aspx?ID=2357222

that immersivemedia stuff is cool. There are complete packages that the real estate peeps use for virtual tours that do that quite well. I haven't priced one in a couple years but they used to sell for around $4000. HomeNet used to use them. The hurdle I still need to overcome is a way to make exterior 360's fast and simple for the photographer.

Comment by Jeremy Gould on February 26, 2008 at 12:02am

Eric,

That ND video is unreal! Not sure how well it would work for a vehicle exterior but the technology is there already for interior shots like that.

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