This one comes up constantly in architecture and design work - specifically for 3D visualisation artists. If you already work in 3ds Max, none of it is difficult, so let's get straight to it.

Start with a scene that is already finished: materials and lighting set up, interior or exterior, it makes no difference. Add a camera to it - in my case a Corona Camera (1). It is best to place the camera at a height of 1400-1600 mm, which is closer to natural eye level. To set the height precisely, select the camera, switch to move mode (!) and type the value into the Z coordinate field (2), then do exactly the same for the camera target.

Now select the camera again and open its Modify settings (3).

In the settings, uncheck Targeted (4), then under Projection & VR (5) set Type to Spherical 360° (6).
The camera will now look noticeably different.

Switch to the top view, find the camera and move it to the spot where a real photographer would actually have stood to shoot the panorama.

Note! The middle of the room is not always the best position. Avoid placing the camera too close to any furniture standing in the centre of the space.

At this point I switch to rotate mode and spin the camera on its axis to confirm the view captures everything I want it to.

Which way the camera faces at render time makes no difference if you intend to view and share the panorama through a service like TrueVirtualTours. If you plan to publish it as an ordinary flat image, though, it is worth making sure the seam at the edges does not fall across your main subjects.

In this render the camera was pointed at the highlighted spot - meaning the edge of the image fell behind the camera.

The last settings that differ from a normal render are the size and the aspect ratio.
The aspect ratio must be 2:1. For rough drafts 4000×2000 px will do, but the quality will be very low. For the final image I would recommend no less than 10000×5000 px - though of course it all depends on how powerful your machine is.

These values are set in the Render Setup window. Open it with the F10 shortcut or by clicking the icon (7). On the Common tab, under Output Size, enter the values you need (8).

Note! Keep in mind that the render has to come out horizontal. And don't be alarmed that the camera viewport doesn't show the full panorama after you've configured it - the render itself will be fine.

Now start the render and wait.

Save it as you normally would, upload it to TrueVirtualTours, make your clients happy - and enjoy it yourself.

This is the panorama that came out of writing this article. For now it is just a PNG/JPEG, but I plan to shoot another point in the same room and build a full 3D tour.

​