Introduction: How to Make a 360 Panorama From a Game

By MarcioT's Home Page
About: I am a hobbyist with an interest in open-source software, 3D printing, science and electronics. Please visit my store or Patreon page to help support my work!

While taking screenshots from games is fairly easy, this Instructable demonstrates a technique I developed to capture 360 panoramas of game visuals using freely available tools. I then show you how to convert these images into a format that can be uploaded to Facebook or other sites as a 360 panorama.

This technique can be adapted to any game or application that has first-person visuals and allows you to stand in one place and look around.

Credits and Copyrights:

In this Instructable, I will demonstrate the technique using visuals from the free demo of Titanic Honor & Glory, which is a fantastic recreation of the historic ocean liner. If you are not aware of their crowdfunding project, I highly suggest you check it out!

The screenshots in this Instructable are used in accordance to their Materials Usage License and are © 2017 FFE CO. & VDR LLC. "Titanic: Honor and Glory" is a registered trademark of Vintage Digital Revival LLC

Step 1: Download the Required Software

Step 2: Capture an In-Place Rotation

Start the game you wish to capture the 360 panorama from and a move to the center of the location you want to capture. Begin recording. Now, using the mouse or keyboard, turn in place a full 360 degrees. Stop the recording.

Step 3: Import the Video Into Microsoft Composite Editor

  • Import the video you captured into Microsoft Image Composite Editor.
  • Use the timeline sliders to find the start and end of your spin.
  • Select "Rotating Motion" from the "Camera motion" pull-down.
  • Click "Next"

Step 4: Stitch the Panorama

  • Drag to choose the center point of the image.
  • You may use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out.
  • Click "Next"

Step 5: Completing and Cropping the Panorama

  • Click "Auto Complete" under "Image completion" to fill in gaps in the image.
  • Optionally crop your panorama as desired.
  • Click "Next"

Step 6: Export the Panorama

  • Set the JPEG quality to "Superb"
  • Click on "Export to disk..."

Step 7: Fix the Panorama Metadata

Adding metadata to the captured panorama will allow sites such as Facebook to identify the image as a 360 view.

  • Open the resulting JPEG in "EXIF Fixer".
  • Load the panorama JPEG
  • Click "Equirectangular"
  • Click "Add Metadata"

You can now share the panorama on Facebook and it will be presented as a 360 panorama!