Field Training
Field Training
The Theta Z1
Use the Theta Z1. It came out four years ago and it is still the best camera for Zillow 3D tours because of the one inch sensor and the way its image processing plays with Zillow.
The Stick Tripod
Put it on a fold out stick tripod about five feet high. The 360 camera barely sees the stick, and you move it through a home far faster than a regular tripod.
Virtual Tour and Floor Plan
Open Zillow 3D Home, tap New Media, and always choose Virtual Tour and Floor Plan. Never tap Virtual Tour only. That one button is the most important click of the whole job.
Exposure at 1.7
Set the exposure in the gear icon to plus 1.7 with HDR on. if you put it on zero, it looks good on your phone as you take it, but once Zillow processes the tour it comes out very dark. 1.7 is my current pick after hundreds of scans.
The Theta camera WILL fight you. Be ready for it when it does.
Factory Reset
If the Theta will not connect to your phone, factory reset it. Hold the Wi-Fi and power buttons together for ten to fifteen seconds. Your images survive, and you can do it mid shoot.
The Serial Number Password
After a reset the camera's Wi-Fi password goes back to its serial number, printed on the top and the bottom of the camera. Forget the network on your phone and reconnect.
Just Retry
Errors on a scan are extremely common. The camera is never in the mood. Just retry.
Start at the Entrance
Start every tour at the entrance. That is how Zillow wants it. Pick the property type, floor one, then tap the big blue New room or area button for each scan.
One Step Before and After
Place one scan a step before every door frame and one a step after it. Skipping this gives you invisible walls where the tour will not let you click through, which is the worst thing that can happen.
No More Than Ten Feet
Every single scan should be no more than ten feet from the last one. Ten feet is the sweet spot, eleven is already pushing it too far. In a regular home scans end up anywhere between five and ten feet apart. If the next natural spot is fifteen feet away, step to the midpoint and scan there instead.
Go In Order
Go in order, room by room. These little 360 cameras forget where they came from, so give the app the path a buyer would actually walk and skip the random corners nobody stands in.
Hide Yourself
Hide yourself before every scan and check for your shadow and mirrors reflections. When in doubt, tap into the finished scan to see if it caught you. If it did, hide that scan and retake it.
Two Clicks
Listen for two clicks. The first means the camera started its HDR exposures, the second means it finished. In a dark room the camera is still shooting after the app says “please return to camera”, so walking in early makes you a ghost in the panorama.
Tidy First
A scan takes seconds, so tidy first. Toss stray items into a bin and put them back at the end. Zillow does not let you Photoshop anything out, so if something is too nasty to touch, a shoe cover works as a glove.
Two Scans Per Closet
Every closet gets two scans from the same spot: one with the door closed for people walking the tour, one with the door open so the floor plan gets the dimensions. Then tap the eye icon on the open one. Zillow keeps the data to create a better floorplan but nobody on the actual tour can click into it.
Shoot the Garage, Then Hide It
Always shoot the garage, even a messy one, then hide every garage scan with the eye. The floor plan needs it, the tour does not.
Just Another Floor
An ADU, a storage room, or a detached garage is just another floor. Back out to the floor view, tap the plus sign at the top right, name it, and scan it the same way. One scan near the door and one in the center reads all the dimensions.
Both Sides at Once
The Aug 8 apartment, Unit 104, was recorded from both sides at once: the glasses (clips 09 to 13 above) and the phone screen (clip 14). The first 1:37 of the screen recording is a false start. A side by side edit of the two is the next step.
Seven Scans for a Deck
A massive deck took seven scans about ten feet apart. Zillow may not let people walk outside at all, so patios and backyards are optional.
12 clips, 77:48 of footage, and 9 sections of notes. Every other training in the library sits one tap away.
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