Quick Start Guide

From product to your website in 6 easy steps.

The Zcapture system is designed to be so user-friendly, you can go from product to website in only 6 easy steps. We have outlined these steps below to insure the best 360 degree photography experience. Many variations of the steps below and different techniques may be needed to accomplish different goals.


Step 1: Setup your shot and lighting.

For the best results, we recommend two continuous lighting SoftBoxs with 5500K color bulbs at least 24" X 24" in size. Ideally, look for a CFL lighting system that uses a minimum of four 45 watt fluorescent light bulbs. 45 watt fluorescent is an equivalent of 200 watt Incandescent light bulbs. You can substitute with smaller systems simply by increasing the exposure length of each shot.

Typically, use a long sheet of paper or plastic of the same color as the disk connected to the Zcapture system. This will be setup as an infinite background, as seen in the picture example. Generally you will use a light directly above and one in front of the item so you fill the background and item you are shooting with equal illumination. Experiment with lighting to create different effects and more dramatic shadowing until you create the look you like.



Step 2: Start the system

This is one of the easiest and more configurable steps. The Zcapture system comes preconfigured and ready to go with general settings that work well with most items. At times, you may want or need to customize these settings so you can get a desired effect or allow enough time for a large or moving item to come to reset. The Zcapture system allows you to configure rotation speed, shots per rotation, delays and much more. The wired controller can be used to start, stop or preview your shot or you can use the software interface to control the system. Once you start the system, it will completely automate the shot sequence, item rotation, steps per frame and camera shutter to make an easy, hands-free experience.



Step 3: Sync to your computer

Depending on your preferences, there are a few methods that will allow you to stay productive and multitask. Here are a few ideas to help.

1. Swap memory cards between shots or several shots to allow you to process images in the Zcapture software suite while the system is running.

2. Sync via USB interface. This is a fast way of pulling the data off the camera but prevents its use while the transfer is working.

3. Using an Eye-Fi card is an exciting way to use the system, especially if you want to run multiple systems at the same time. It allows a Wi-Fi connected transfer of the pictures on the camera, automating the file transfer process to your computer and greatly increasing efficiency.



Step 4: Edit and Process with Zcapture Software

The Zcapture editing and processing software suite is a powerful tool that allows you to batch process an entire sequence of shots into content optimized for the web. With a powerful suite of tools, it easily allows adjustment of gamma or contrast, brightness, color saturation, sequence starting frame, frame removal, editing, cropping, resizing, customization, previews, exporting and much more. The easy interface enables most new users to completely process an image in less than 10 minutes.



Step 5: Copy export to your website

After the editing and tweaks are done, your composition can now be exported to create your web viewable content. Zcapture software has a few great options to help speed up this process. The basic export tool can easily save your 360 rotating product shots as web-optimized images with modern HTML 5 and JavaScript-based web content, complete with our customized web player, preview images and embeddable code snippets.

Alternatively, you can export web-optimized animated gifs. This is beneficial for imbedding 360 content into emails. They will play upon viewing and not get caught by spam filters.

Best of all, you can use FTP to copy the content to your website or easily use the built-in FTP client to transfer your assets to the server.



Step 6: Add code snippet to your content

Adding content to your site is as easy as it gets. Each time a sequence is exported, a small html file is created with all the needed code to embed the content into your site. In most cases you can simply copy and paste the content into your CMS system and update the paths. Soon after, your content will be live for the world. In some cases you may need to add js and css files to your master or template pages to prevent conflicts. Regardless of the methods, it’s that easy to add the 360 content to your site using the Zcapture Software export.



The Zcapture 360° hardware and software suites are tools designed to allow any user to rapidly produce content for use in a 360° or 3-D rotating type format. These tools have been created to empower users not only with creativity and the tools they need to accomplish simple tasks but to do so at a price point which there is no competition for. The reason for this is we believe 360° photography and rotational product photography whether it's for use in e-commerce product demonstrations, research and development or even academic settings as well as the ability to interact with it at a touch level to digital tablet and mobile devices really truly is where the future lies. Static product photos are great at showing specific angles or even details of your product but 360° product photography will always engage user longer, with greater interest in focus, and expose them to your product in a way that cannot be found in any other medium. If you're interested in purchasing the Zcapture hardware or software platform please visit our contact page or online store and help support the revolution in imagery that we are trying to lead.