Image Cache Plug-In
Makes panorama transitions quick; eliminates loading time before the transition to new panorama; sequentially loads files from the XML into the browser cache after the first pano loads. Price: $10 Demo of Cache.
Loading, even from the cache, can not be instantaneous, some load meters will still appear. Using this plug-in together with ExtensibleMeter and its parameter, startAlpha = -1, will ensure that the load meter does not visually clutter the transition.
The syntax to load the plugin and to set a parameter follows the FPP standard. In the xml file for the panorama or tour, the plugin is loaded by setting the parameter layer_n (where n is a unique number not used for any other layer) equal to the path to the plugin on your server. To specify default settings, loaded at initialization place the <cache> and </cache> with the default parameters between them, after the </parameters> tag. For example:
<parameters>
...
layer_1 = Hotspots.swf
layer_2 = Cache.swf
</parameters>
<cache>
images/pano2_f.jpg
images/pano2_l.jpg
images/pano2_r.jpg
images/pano2_u.jpg
images/pano2_d.jpg
images/pano2_b.jpg
images/pano3.mov
</cache>
<hotspots>
<global>
<spot ... > ....
</global>
</hotspots>
</panorama>
All images to be loaded should be specified on separate lines between the <cache> and </cache> tags. The plugin will begin to load the images into the browser cache as soon as the first panorama has loaded and displayed. Files cannot be loaded dynamically, unless new files are specified in a new xml file on loading a new panorama.
Price: $10 US - Buy Now through PayPal
Please give us the email to which the files will be sent. Orders will be fulfilled with 24 hours of reception. Contact me to discuss customization if desired.
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Hi Will this plug-in also
Hi
Will this plug-in also work with .mov files?
Best regards
Morten
Yes it will work with .mov
Yes it will work with .mov files. It will download any sort of file actually, and the browser should cache it. The only exception is if the user has turned off the browser cache...
I deliberately clicked
I deliberately clicked before it got the new pano in cache. This let me see the extensible load meter on the second pano. I was able to see the names of all three elements of the load meter. Is it just for demo purposes to show it is of three parts or something not working right?
Hi John, The load meter is
Hi John,
The load meter is there just in case you want to click early, and see what happens.
If you click early, you will see the load meter, as the images will not have loaded into the cache, but if you wait a bit (which is a more realistic usage pattern for a tour, by the way), the transition will be quick and not visually cluttered by load meter.
The names have been added to images to illustrate which image is which (and the images have been pulled apart to further show that), and also to show how line.png works.
Hi guys I was wondering if
Hi guys
I was wondering if there is anyway you can "ask" to cache.swf plugin to start downloading all the files in a folder in just one line? Like
images/ALL
As it is now I have to write 6 lines for every panorama (cube face) That will be an awfull lot of lines if you have large tours (starting 2008 I'll be producing a tour of 22 scenes) it will take some time to write, and the xml document will be huge.
I hope this is possible
Best regards
MOrten
Hi Morten, Flash executes
Hi Morten,
Flash executes locally on the user's computer, and so, to download files from the server, it has to request the file by name, and doesn't have any protocol for downloading the contents of a directory, and server isn't designed to serve in that manner either. That is why it is designed as it is.
Now, there are a few creative workaround that could be designed: php, which executes on the server could be requested to get a listing of the files in a directory, and send them back to the plugin, and the then it would proceed to download.... Or you could specify the root of the name, as you do now in the xml, and the plugin could add the suffixes on, and download the file....
I will look into it, but it will never be quite as simple as specifying a directory, unfortunately.
Zephyr
Hi Zephyr Thanks for the
Hi Zephyr
Thanks for the quick answer - I really appreciate that.
I do not want to go in to something fancy where I don't know exactly what I am doing.
My "problem" is not really a problem. I would just have been nice, and I know that I would have pulled out all of my hair if I made a document with 132 lines (22scens x 6 cubes)when I could have just writtten 1 line. So it is better to know in advance.
I guess an other space saving solution would be to write all the cubes in each scene in just one line. Then I am down to 22 lines in the project coming up.
Once again tahnk you for your support.
Best regards
Morten
Hi I tried your demo and got
Hi
I tried your demo and got the following error:
ArgumentError: Error #2025: The supplied DisplayObject must be a child of the caller.
at flash.display::DisplayObjectContainer/removeChild()
at ExtensibleMeter_fla::MainTimeline/remove()
at ExtensibleMeter_fla::MainTimeline/enterFrameHandler()
Any idea ?
Cheers
Loic
I receive that error too, in
I receive that error too, in Safari. Are you using the debug version of Flash Player?
I didnt know I was... but
I didnt know I was... but yes it looks like I am.
Not sure how it got installed on my machine.
Thanks
Loic
I also get Error #2025.
I also get Error #2025. Firefox PC using debug version of Flash.
Are the Flash police going to come looking for you for breaking some rules, Zephyr????
Hi guys. I have tried to
Hi guys.
I have tried to implement the cache plug-in to this tour:
http://www.wideeyes.dk/temp/tour/index.html but it seems not to work as planned. Would you mind taking a look at the .xml document found here http://www.wideeyes.dk/temp/tour/pano.xml and see if I have done anything wrong?? It seems that it loads the first pano into the cache but then it stops
Your help will be greatly appreciated as I am about to hand over the tour to the client.
Best regards
Morten
Hey there: Morten -- did you
Hey there:
Morten -- did you figure this out?
Cheers,
Patrick
hi, the cache plugin does
hi,
the cache plugin does not mac osx safari.
pfit
Hi! i can´t make the cache
Hi!
i can´t make the cache plugin to work well.
i am using .mov panoramas
it loads the first panorama in the list between and
but the second and next panoramas never load.
this is how i write the code:
panos/pano1.mov
panos/pano2.mov
panos/pano3.mov
is there something wrong? or a bug using .mov?
Do you mean it doesn't work
Do you mean it doesn't work in Safari? It does for me, here (OS X 10.4.11, Safari 3.x).
I would like to buy this
I would like to buy this plug-in but I don't seem to find a one positive feedback. So my question is.
Is this working properly?
Could you make one
Could you make one glassmeter for all VR in the cache?
It really works!
Just to reassure everyone, I am using Zephyr's plugin for both cube face and mov format files and have no problem whatsoever. Zephyr even did a small modification at my suggestion to pause downloading while loading another pano to reduce the chance that caching would slow down the downloading of a pano not already in the cache.
If anyone has any problems rest assured that Zephyr is very responsive and helpful. So, don't worry. Use the plugin and be happy!
Scott
Does this work with Krpano or Panosalado?
If not, can it be modified to work with either?
Dave
re: does image cache plugin work with PanoSalado
Hi Dave:
Sure, I imagine the Image Cache plugin for FPP can be modded to work with PanoSalado.
Have you tried using JavaScript, creating Image objects, loading assets into them (but not displaying them)? The method is similar. Or even a simple preload Body:onLoad script...
Zephyr should be back in next week, so you might repost or check in with him then, if you want more of a "plugin" for Panosalado.
Cheers,
Patrick