External Links: What is it and how can I use it?

What are External Links?

With External Links, you can now add any URL to an image or text hotspot in your scene. Whether you would like to take viewers to your website, contact us page, or attach spec sheets, you can do all of that and more direct from your VR project

External Links are available on Custom and Standard Plans. To create a custom plan that fits your business needs, call us at +1 (416) 499-2227 or email us anytime at hello@yulio.com. 

How can I add External Links?

To add External Links to your VR project, start off by logging into your Yulio account and select the project you would like to edit or create a new VR project.

External Links can be added to any text or image hotspot. If you would like to add an External Link to an image hotspot, ensure you upload your image hotspot files on the Assets page. For more info on image hotspots, check out this article.

Next, from the edit project page, click on the blue Hotspot Editor button in the top right corner.

You can add External Links to image and text hotspots, first we will cover text hotspots. Scroll down to jump directly to image hotspots.

In the Hotspot Editor, click on the Text Annotations icon.

From there, select Create New Annotation.

On the Edit Annotation panel add your text hotspot title and description as you normally would. Below the description box, there is now a section for External Links. The External Link Title field, allows you to add 30 characters of text describing your link or product.

Next, paste the URL in the External Link URL field.

Your text hotspot will auto populate in the scene as you add your information.

Your text hotspot will now have a clickable link under the description.

External Links Text Hotspot

Next, we will cover Image hotspots.

In the Hotspot Editor, click on the Image Annotations tab. Here you will find the selection of images you uploaded on the assets page.

To add an image hotspot, select the image you would like to add and then drag and drop the thumbnail into the scene to create your image hotspot. 

On the Image Properties panel, there is now a section for External Links under the image thumbnail. The External Link Title field, allows you to add 30 characters of text describing your link or product.

Next, paste the URL in the External Link URL field.

Your Image hotspot will now have a clickable link under the image.

External Links Image Hotspot

That’s it!

Check out this sample project with External Links:

Can I view External Links on a VR Headset?

Absolutely! External links are now viewable in browser mode on a computer and in a VR headset. To view an External Link in browser mode, simply click on it to activate it. To view an External Link in VR, use our gaze and go technology to activate.

Note – Oculus Go & External Links: While viewing a VR project in the Yulio Viewer app on an Oculus Go headset, if you activate an External Link – the URL will open in a separate browser. Please note, this will force close the Yulio Viewer app. To re-enter the VR project, go back to the Oculus Go menu and reopen Yulio. This is normal and not an error.

Check out our YouTube channel for more info & tutorials.