Facebook Pano Prepper

A Windows desktop application that helps prepare panoramic images for optimal display on Facebook by adding the required metadata and adjusting image properties to ensure proper 360-degree viewing. Today many cameras, DJI Drones for example, create images that Facebook will identify as panoramic images. If you resize the images or do any kind of work on them, you will have to use an application like Facebook Pano Prepper to fix the meta tags so that Facebook correctly display them as 360 panoramic images.

Features

• Drag & Drop Interface: Simple drag-and-drop functionality for processing single or multiple panoramic images
• Batch Processing: Process multiple panoramic images simultaneously
• Advanced Viewing Options:
  • Multi-Resolution Support for large panoramas
  • Built-in 360° viewer for processed images
  • Optional local web server for optimal viewing experience
• Dark/Light Theme: Built-in theme switching for comfortable viewing in any environment
• Real-time Progress: Visual feedback with progress bars and detailed logging
• Detailed Reports: Comprehensive processing reports showing:
  • Original image specifications
  • Processing status
  • File size information
  • Aspect ratio details
  • Warning messages (if any)
• Settings Management:
  • Configurable output options
  • Processing parameters
  • Advanced features toggle
  • Web server configuration

Previews

Simple Gallery

Link to full gallery is coming

Screenshot

Web Hosting Capability

In addition to preparing your panoramas for Facebook, the HTML code generated by this application can be uploaded to a web server and you can build a complete panorama homepage very easily. The application creates a web-hosting ready structure that can be deployed to any web server:

/Batch_[timestamp]/
├── images/ # Contains processed panorama images
├── viewer.html # Main viewer interface
└── processing_report.txt

Hosting Options

1. Local Viewing

   • Use the built-in web server (recommended)
   • Open viewer.html directly in a browser

2. Web Hosting

   • Upload the entire batch folder to any web hosting service
   • Works with any standard HTTP server
   • Compatible with:
     • GitHub Pages
     • Apache
     • Nginx
     • IIS
     • Any standard web hosting service

3. Requirements for Web Hosting

   • HTTP/HTTPS server
   • Support for static files
   • No special server-side requirements
   • No database needed

4. Quick Hosting Guide

   • Copy the entire batch folder to your web server
   • Ensure proper file permissions (typically 644 for files, 755 for directories)
   • Access through your domain: http(s)://yourdomain.com/path/to/batch/viewer.html

5. Security Considerations

   • The viewer is client-side only
   • No server-side processing required
   • Safe to host on static file servers

Requirements

• Windows OS
• .NET 8.0 or later
• Sufficient disk space for image processing

Installation

1. Download the latest release from the releases page
2. Extract the ZIP file to your preferred location
3. Run FacebookPanoPrepper.exe

Usage

Check the Wiki for a more detailed description on where to find the files to upload to Facebook

1. Launch the Application

   • Start FacebookPanoPrepper.exe
   • The main window will display a drop zone for your images

2. Configure Settings (Optional)

   • Access settings through File > Settings
   • Configure basic options:
     • Output folder location
     • JPEG quality
     • Auto-resize options
   • Configure advanced features:
     • Multi-Resolution support for large panoramas
     • Local web server for optimal viewing
     • Web server port settings

3. Process Images

   • Drag and drop one or more panoramic images onto the application window
   • The application will automatically begin processing
   • Progress is shown in real-time
   • Results are displayed in the log window

4. View Results

   • Processed images are saved in timestamped batch folders
   • Each batch includes:
     • Processed panoramic images
     • HTML viewer for interactive 360° viewing
     • Processing report
   • Optional multi-resolution tiles for better performance

Features in Detail

Image Processing

• Automatically adds required 360-degree metadata
• Preserves original image quality
• Handles multiple image formats (JPG/JPEG)
• Maintains aspect ratio requirements for Facebook
• Creates multi-resolution versions for optimal viewing

Interactive Viewer

• Built-in 360° panorama viewer
• Progressive loading of different resolutions
• Optional local web server for better performance
• Full-screen support
• Mouse and touch controls

User Interface

• Clean, modern Windows Forms interface
• Intuitive drag-and-drop functionality
• Real-time processing feedback
• Dark/Light theme support
• Detailed logging with color-coded status messages

Error Handling

• Comprehensive error reporting
• Warning system for potential issues
• Clear success/failure indicators
• Detailed processing logs

Technical Details

Built using:

• C# (.NET 8.0)
• Windows Forms
• Microsoft.Extensions.Logging
• Pannellum viewer for 360° images
• Custom image processing services

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Pannellum: A lightweight, free, and open source panorama viewer for the web. Created by Matthew Petroff.
  • Used for the interactive 360° panorama viewing functionality
  • Licensed under the MIT License
  • More information at github.com/mpetroff/pannellum

Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions, please:

1. Check the Issues page
2. Create a new issue if needed
3. Provide detailed information about your problem