How to keep 360° aspect after editing video in another program?

[Big Swifty]

Greetings,

I'm a still photographer who's a complete n00b when it comes to video editing.

I use 3DVista Virtual Tour Pro to convert my 360° equirectangular photos into a virtual tour. One of the publishing/export options is to have the software create a 360° interactive video as an MP4 that can be placed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and any other platform that supports the playing of 360° videos. I'd like to add sound to the video and also be able to place a photo at both the beginning and the end of the video that acts as a title card and end credits.

Other photographers recommended OpenShot Video Editor to me when I asked for a simple to use, lightweight software solution where I could put together a basic video. I also downloaded Da Vinci Resolve, but haven't installed it yet. OpenShot was very easy to use and intuitive.

The problem is that once I added an audio track and placed a traditional photograph at both the beginning and the end the exported video lost the interactive 360° ability. Instead of being able to navigate each panorama that makes up the video, the panoramas are now flattened into an equirectangular format.

I've asked for similar assistance on the 3DVista Facebook group, but wonder if the solution might be in how I'm exporting the finished video. Apparently there are a ton of options when it comes to exporting as an MP4. Maybe I'm just not selecting the right option? Maybe I need to use something other than OpenShot? Since this is something I do rather infrequently and I'm almost exclusively focused on editing still images I'm looking for a free solution. Since I am using the integrated graphics on my CPU I'm assuming any kind of heavier, Premiere Pro type software that can do everything might not be practical.

[Cornucopia]

Premiere can work with 360, and something like that would be a natural go-to for a task like yours.

However, if you find Premiere daunting anyway but already like your 360 app, what you should be able to do is prep your other assets in reverse first, to conform them to the 360 style, as if they were 360 assets.
So make a standard photo fit into an equirectangular canvas, then append your actual equirectangular element(s), perhaps along with the audio if your app supports it. If it doesn't, you can always just mix it in later.


Scott