VR photography, or virtual reality photography, is the interactive viewing of wide-angle panoramic photographs, generally encompassing a 360-degree circle or a spherical view.
VR photography is the art of capturing or creating a complete scene as a single image, as viewed when rotating about a single central position. Normally created by stitching together a number of photographs taken in a multi-row 360-degree rotation, the complete image can also be a totally computer-generated effect, or a composite of photography and computer generated objects.
VR panoramas are viewed through movie players, such as Apple's QuickTime software, which may be part of a Web browser plug-in or a stand-alone player application. QuickTime VR (QTVR) was the original interactive panorama format, but there are now a growing number of different players and plug-ins. Many of these are based on Flash, but some use Java, SilverLight, custom programming using OpenGL and WebGL, and even JavaScript. Most of the players can be seen in the Panorama Player Comparisons project.[1]