Annotations Overview

Annotations are a powerful feature that lets you to mark specific points on your 360 with text, pictures, and attachments and then view, share, or export them while persisting the annotation in place. 

This enables rapid communication using the full 360-degree context to anyone as long as they have an internet connection.  

HIGHLIGHTS

• Multiple display types: Depending on your use case (and content), use Standard or Hotspot Annotation types, or combine both. 
• Link, embed, multimedia, document support: Present images, videos, embeds, HTML, audio, video, documents (e.g. PDF, Word, Powerpoint, Excel) to annotations.  
• Works with Embeds/Shares: All annotations you place on a 360 show up (read-only) when you share the link or create an embed. 
• Works with Collections (and Collection Embeds): Add multiple annotated 360s to a Collection and link/embed the same way you have been.
• Export: You can export all annotations as a separate file (CSV, HTML)
• Move/Copy: You can also move/copy annotations between 360s (Paid Accounts only) 
• Custom Annotation Markers: Use your own Annotation Markers if you require specific iconography (Professional only)

Getting Started

Creating Annotations 

Annotations are created by going into any 360’s Detail view, and then right-clicking on the point that you want to annotate. A marker will display on the 360 at that point, and an “Add Annotation” box will appear in the upper left.  

For Hotspot Annotations, select Hotspot from the dropdown and then the Hotspot Type. A full list of Hotspot Types is here. 

Standard Annotations

Standard Annotations must at minimum have a Title; click the Save button to save the annotation. 

Adding Attachments: You can upload images, documents, and other attachments to an annotation by clicking the “Add Attachment” link. Attachment support extends to images, PDFs, Word, Excel, and other formats using the built-in annotation attachment viewer.

Adding URLs: URLs that are entered into the Annotation body are rendered as links when the annotation is viewed.

Note: Any changes are only saved when you click the “Save” button. If you want to discard changes, you can click “cancel” and any changes will be discarded. 

Hotspot Annotations

Hotspot Annotations enable a much richer set of display types for content and linking between your 360s and other media, or even between other 360s. 

See this separate article for specifics about how to create Hotspot Annotations.

Changing Annotation Marker Shape 

There are currently three basic marker types available:

• Square: The square "frame" marker is useful for situations when you do not want the marker to obscure the image content (e.g. calling out issues in a remodel)
• Pushpin: The map-style pushpin is useful for situations where you need to clearly call out a location in the 360 (e.g. locations in a drone panorama)
• Dot:  The smaller dot-style marker is useful where the marker needs to blend in better with imagery (e.g. callouts in a rendering)

You can change the marker type by selecting the option from the dropdown. You can always edit an existing annotation to change the marker.

Professional accounts have the ability to use custom Annotation Markers as well. See this article for details

Viewing Annotations 

Annotations can be viewed in both the Momento360 web application and as part of the embed/share viewer.  You can do many more things when you are logged in. 

Hover over an annotation to get a preview of it; click on it to open up the full panel. If the annotation has attachments, you can click the preview icon to spawn a file viewer.

While logged into Momento360

(If you have the "Annotation Author Email" option set to Show, the email of the user that created the annotation will display below the date. You can find this preference under the Account > Customizations section.)

The buttons across the bottom of panel are:

• Next/Previous: These will select the next annotation in the 360, automatically centering the camera on that annotation
• Recenter Camera: This will recenter the camera on the current annotation that's open. Useful if you are panning around the 360 and forget where the marker is.
• Edit Annotation: Allows you to edit the annotation. You can change title, shape, text, attachments; you currently cannot adjust the position of the marker.
• Share Annotation: This opens your share options; similar to sharing a 360, you can create a link, or email it directly to someone.
• Delete Annotation: This deletes the annotation and all associated attachments. 

The other Annotation controls are:

Index View

The button in the upper right toggles the Index View. The Index view displays a list of all the annotations in the current 360. This is useful especially on 360s that may have many annotations. Clicking on each hyperlink centers the camera on that annotation and opens it in the annotation panel:

Hide/Show Annotations: You can toggle the display of the annotation markers on/off using the Annotations toggle in the Index view. Note that you can still move the camera and display the annotation content by selecting it. This may be useful for scenarios where the marker is not useful.

Autoplay mode: You can trigger autoplay mode, which will automatically cycle through all the annotations in a 360 with a 3-second wait. This mode works with the annotations shown or hidden, and can be useful in tour-type scenarios. 

Annotations created in a 360 are immediately viewable by anyone that has access to that 360. This includes all existing embeds and shares. 

Viewing Annotations in a Momento360 Embed or Share

Annotations in a Momento360 embed/share link work similarly to above, except that there are no options to edit, share, or delete the annotations. You can also control how the annotations are displayed and whether they automatically start cycling by adding the appropriate URL parameters to your embed URL.

Viewing Annotations in a Collection or Collection Embed

Annotations also work in the context of Collections and Collection Embeds as well.