Frequently asked questions

You can find the different features of both applications in the comparison chart between Panotour Pro and Panotour Giga.

Panotour can run on Windows, Mac and Linux. Before purchasing it, you can download an try the demo version for free.

Minimal configuration

• Operating system:
  • Microsoft Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2000
  • or Apple Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.7 Lion, 10.6 Snow Leopard or 10.5 Leopard running on an Intel-based Mac only
  • or Linux kernel 2.6 or superior
• Processor: 1 GHz
• RAM: 2 Gb
• Display: resolution of 1024x768 minimum
• A sufficient hard disk space depending on the size of the panoramas you process

Recommended configuration

• The 64-bit version of your operating system if your hardware can handle it (eg. Windows Vista 64 bits, Mac OS 10.8 - 64 bits, Ubuntu 9.04 - 64 bits, etc)
• A 2 GHz processor or more
• Multi-core processors
• 4 Gb of RAM or more
• A recent graphics card with dedicated memory

Panotour supports more than 400 graphical formats in input, including JPG, TIFF, PSD and the RAW files of nearly all cameras. The full list is available on this page.

Panotour enables you to export your virtual tours in the following format:

• Adobe Flash® format, compatible with all computers, tablets and telephones that are equipped with the Adobe Flash® technology.

Find our more about the export options of Panotour.

If you want to easily create profesionnal virtual tours, you need a DSLR camera with a fisheye lens. The fisheye lens helps a lot because you can shoot the whole sphere with just 6 or 7 images whereas you would need at least 15 to 20 with a standard lens.
With a fisheye lens, you can shoot 5 images horizontally, for instance, then the image of the ceiling (called zenith image) and the image of the floor (called nadir image). Some photographers don't shoot the nadir. They prefer to incline the camera 15° towards the floor to shoot the horizontal line, then taken a photo of the zenith. Then they quickly retouch the very small remaining empty zone.

A virtual tour is not a simple image, it is a group of files. To display a virtual tour on a website, a minimum of knowledge in web publishing is required: you need to transfer the files on your server and add in the page a code that appeals the virtual tour. You can find more information on the page Web publishing of the software documentation. Attention: the publishing on a website is not within Kolor's competence. Kolor does not offer technical support on this point but you can use the Panotour forum if you have questions on this subject.

On 64-bit operating systems you have access to essentially unlimited RAM, because these systems offer a wider address system and data path. On 32-bit systems, each application is limited to 4GB of RAM (in practice this number is actually smaller). More RAM means applications can manipulate larger pieces of data, cache more information and handle a wide range of tasks more efficiently. Panotour is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, but we highly recommend you to use a 64-bit system if you are planning to create big projects.

On Windows

If your computer has a 64-bit processor, then you can upgrade to a 64-bit version of Windows. If your computer does not have a 64-bit processor, you may upgrade to a new computer. Refer to your computer dealer for more information.

On Mac OS

Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion are already 64-bit capable, which enables leveraging of more than 4GB of RAM. If you intend to work on big projects, you can just add some RAM and you will start seeing the benefits of the 64-bits support in Panotour.

You can download a trial version from the Download Center.

The trial version is not limited in time: you can use it as long as you like. In terms of features:

• Generated virtual tours have a watermark
• Virtual tours can only be viewed locally, not on the internet

Yes. You have access to the full technical support section, that includes text and video tutorials and the documentation. You also have access to the forum (creating a forum account is free) and you can still contact the Kolor team in case you have specific questions.

You don't need to install the application again. You just need to unlock the trial version with a registration code that you can purchase on the Kolor Store. You then receive your registration code by e-mail and you just need to copy and paste it in the software as described on the page Installation / Registration.

You can purchase a full license on the Kolor Store. As soon as your payment is confirmed (it is immediate for the majority of card or Paypal payments), you receive your registration code by e-mail and you can use it immediately.

No. All our software applications are to be downloaded. This enables you to download an update as soon as it is released on our website and therefore always have up-to-date software. Should you want to keep a copy on a CD-ROM, feel free to burn the latest version of the installer file that you can find on the Download Center.

The license of Panotour is a single-station license, i.e. you can only install the application on one computer. However, Kolor tolerates the installation of the application on several computers for individuals and self-employed persons insofar as you are the only user of the application on these computers.

You don't need to buy a new license, you just have to download and reinstall Panotour, and use the registration key you received when you purchased the application. If you lost your registration key, you can retrieve it at any time on your User Account. If you change your operating system (for example, if you move from Windows to Mac OS), you can use the same registration key. When you buy the program, you are asked to specify your operating system only for statistic reasons.

Kolor is committed to promote the potential of panoramic photography to the most possible people. In this effort, Kolor offers special prices for students, teachers and schools. Refer to the Kolor Education Program.

Yes. You can find the volume pricing on some product pages of the Kolor Store, or contact the Kolor team to get a quote.

Yes. All bug fixes of a main version (example: version 2) are free.

All minor updates are free (example: version 2.0 to version 2.1). The major upgrades (example: version 2 to version 3) are paid upgrades and the upgrade price is generally the third of the standard software price, but these major upgrades can be free if you purchased the previous version around the date of release of the new major version.