Painting QTVR Panoramas is a step by step tutorial written for Jungle DVD and a 3D terrain modeler like Bryce. You're not limited to using a 3D modeler, however. For example, MarshVR is a simple QTVR painting done with Painter and Jungle DVD.

If you do own Terragen, Bryce or another modeler, the tutorial uses a rendered terrain as the basis of the composition. In other words, you'll render a terrain, then export it as 2D picture. The 2D picture then becomes the basis for adding foliage.

Tips:

You'll need Apple's Quicktime to view the movie. If you don't have the browser plug-in, the movie won't display in your browser.

If you're on a Mac, the free Quicktime VR utility will create your movie automatically. If you own PhotoVista, all you need is the Quicktime Movieplayer.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find any free utilities for making QTVR movies using Windows. However, one of our users mentioned that Bryce 4 can make QTVR movies, and without need of a 3rd party utility.

"If you have a panorama you can use Bryce to export to .mov format.... Open Bryce, set your dimensions to the same dimensions as your picture. Then, without starting a project, import your image and immediately export as Quicktime.... That means you can ... use Bryce to make the actual .mov file."

Postscripts and caveats:

1) If you don't own Jungle DVD, try using the nozzles that come with the Painting Trees tutorial.

2) If you own Jungle DVD, you can paint textures for your terrains and render those in 3D rather than painting the distant foliage using Painter. (I haven't tried it, but a combo using both might be even better.)