Please feel free to leave a review. Here are what people are saying about OrbitZoom:
- I have seen all sorts of multi-touch zooming and this is much faster and more precise because you click on your target and only have to use one hand. Congratulations.
- I showed my seven year old son how to use OrbitZoom and he was a pro in two minutes.
- After using OrbitZoom I wonder why zooming is not done like this all the time…
Please leave a review.
oz
OrbitZoom 
Nice. I use it on my pc all the time. Quick and uncomplicated.
Since I use it as a previewer – “save as …” wld be nice.
By: idodialog on Apr 3, 08
at 12:12 am
Nice try but I’m fairly certain the UI needs improvement, and possibly zoom algorithm to be “picasa-pan-and-zoom-screensaver-smooth”. . Here is my suggestion on how the world’s most efficient image viewer should work. Picasa 3 almost got it, but they could have improved the UI. Orbitzoom, specifically:
1.) Double click to fit. Nice. I would keep this.
2.) Panning should be done with the left mouse button, always. That’s just about all the left button should do. Click and drag to pan.
3.) Zooming should be done with the right mouse button. The location of the pointer serves as the starting point for the zoom. The zoom goes in or out based on if the mouse is moved up or down. A small push up with the mouse should begin a gradual smooth zoom in. Pulling the mouse back should stop the zooming. Then the user can let go of the right mouse button and pan around.
I can’t be alone on this…
great work. The world needs this. Seems like Picasa3 image viewer is dangerously close to being the killer-app. Too bad the zooming and “%” pop-up ruin it.
By: Damien Margo on Oct 28, 08
at 1:07 pm
I need an automatic slide show program that can pan and zoom on pictures according to pre-program directions. I wish OrbitZoom could record movement on individual pictures and replay them automatically.
By: PaulY on Oct 29, 08
at 10:30 am
PaulY… I have a tool called Zen Pan that does this… it is basically a motion graphics program that lets you pan across pictures or crossfade to new pictures over time in various ways. I thought it was great and use it for a few things but then realized by the time I added up the size for the pictures I was panning and showing it was megabytes and megabytes and kind of lost heart as premiere to an flv was probably the better way to go… You can see the tool at work at http://www.zenvlog.com and http://inventor.wordpress.com
By: orbitzoom on Oct 30, 08
at 1:05 am
Damien, thanks for the comments. I suspect I agree with you – your arrangement looks to be optimal. I am not sure the mac has a right button which in part prompted the move to the left button click zoom.
The click zoom reduces strain by allowing you to zoom without having to hold down your finger – and once you get used to it I think it is just as easy.
The mouse wheel is good for zoom in and out too… but not all mouses have it.
By: orbitzoom on Oct 30, 08
at 1:12 am
Some more thoughts… It would be nice to have “cursorless” mouse functionality so nothing appears over the photo. It would also be nice to have a fully working keyboard-only solution i.e. no mouse. This should also have a distraction-free view of the image. I just wish I had one single program that works as well as that old Play Gizmos 98! That was a good viewer! One last thought about the current interface. I find it hard to use mainly because the image zooms in and out repeatedly beyond my control. This is because I move the mouse up, then down–but too far down, which currently re-initiates the zoom process.
very best,
Damien
By: Damien Margo on Nov 20, 08
at 6:18 pm
Hi Damien,
Download the new version if you want – press H to hide the cursor and H again to show it.
We are still considering the zoom out and right click manipulation.
By: orbitzoom on Mar 6, 10
at 7:48 pm
Hi Damien, the H key now hides the cursor. Thanks for the tip.
By: orbitzoom on Dec 21, 11
at 11:06 pm
Orbitzoom is brilliant, using it on a site I’m designing, only thing is though, internet explorer seems to not display it whereas every other browser seems to be working ok, anyone else had this problem?
Emily
By: Emily on Dec 17, 09
at 8:42 am
Emily, please see the response below – add an & at the end or use the Flashvars parameter in an html page…
Dan
By: orbitzoom on Mar 6, 10
at 7:41 pm
Hi,
The company I am working for is very keen to use orbitzoom for their site, but it needs to work in internet explorer too, if you can let me know if this would be possible please message me back?
Thanks!
Emily
By: Emily Fraser on Dec 24, 09
at 10:04 am
Sorry for the deeeeeelay! Emily – must have seen this at some time and meant to answer – the application is Flash and Flash works in IE.
Having said that, there seems to be a glitch in IE that needs an & at the end of the parameters passed to orbitzoom – this makes no sense at all and was completely unexpected. Boo IE.
So for now – we have looked for a solution but are yet to find one, please put an & at the end of the url like so:
orbitzoom.swf?url=http://www.yoursite.com/yourpic.jpg&
or if you are doing more than one picture separated by commas:
orbitzoom.swf?url=http://www.yoursite.com/yourpic.jpg,http://www.othersite.com/theirpic.jpg&
By: orbitzoom on Mar 6, 10
at 6:25 pm
Wow! Figured it out. When you load the swf with the parameters on the end, if those parameters end in jpg then IE thinks it is showing a jpg and will not load the swf!
So the solution is to put an & on the end – anything will actually work but the & will not break the last url so use an &
The other solution is to load orbitzoom through an html page and pass the parameters through the Flashvars parameter as shown in the zip example.
By: orbitzoom on Mar 6, 10
at 7:40 pm
Hi,
Orbitzoom is great, I’m trying it now for an artist’s website. It performs really well when zooming in.
There some usability concerns though. When zoomed all the way in (which only takes a slight gesture with the mouse in no matter what direction), there is no way to zoom out again, other than doubleclicking the image to restore the image.
Would it be possible to incorporate zooming out? For instance, sliding left and up zooms in, sliding right or down zooms out?
Another question: is it possible to get rid of the orbitzoom logo altogether? Perhaps in some kind of licensed version?
Other than this: it’s great and fast! Keep up the good work.
cheers, peter
By: Peter on Mar 4, 10
at 5:06 pm
Hi Peter,
Got rid of the OrbitZoom oval – that had been bothering us a little too – kept running into it.
Will consider the zoom out.
By: orbitzoom on Mar 6, 10
at 7:45 pm
Hi Dan,
Thanks very much! Frankly, I’m stumped…, such a great service and so fast…
I’ll keep a keen eye on Orbitzoom, it has a lot of potential for an artist’s web presence. Let me know if you have a paypal donation button somewhere. I’ll let you know when the site I’m working on right now is online.
cheers, peter
By: Peter on Mar 7, 10
at 7:05 pm
Thanks Peter,
Thought we would get you back with a year’s delay in responding ;-). We adjusted a slight bug in the Mouse Hide feature so it stays hidden across multiple pictures. Also added the Donation link!
By: orbitzoom on Feb 14, 11
at 7:18 pm
Just tried it and it’s truly lightweight and simple. I’m impressed! I still have some suggested improvements to make it perfect:
* Remember zoom degree and pan position between slideshow images. Possibly also a mode where these settings are remembered for EACH image (defaulting to the last image’s settings until changed).
* Perhaps individual slideshow delay per image.
* Ability to load and save file lists as a text file, hopefully including above settings.
* Also, how about: Left-click without drag: zoom in until button released, right-click: zoom out until button released?
An old version 1.D2 of Lview Pro from 1996 has a “bug” which can be exploited to make it set and remember slideshow pan position by clicking once at some place in the image. It’s the only program I have seen that manages it and it’s even not intentional! There’s a gap to be filled here.
By: Carl on Oct 16, 12
at 9:55 am
Thanks Carl. We have some plans for OrbitZoom coming up so we will consider your excellent ideas.
By: orbitzoom on Oct 16, 12
at 10:18 am