Place the object in the center of the turntable. Adjust the placement until it's centered on the circle. If you plan to use lighting, place the lights in the positions you'd like around the turntable and turn the lights on.
Place the camera on the tripod and adjust it until you've found the height and angle you want for the shot. Turn on the lighting and take one picture of the object. Rotate the turntable 10 degrees in either direction. Look at the tick marks on the bottom of the turntable to find a 10-degree rotation (see Reference 1).
Take 35 more pictures of the object as you continue to rotate it 10 degrees with each shot. Be sure to keep rotating the object in the same direction. At the end, you should have 36 pictures giving you a complete 360-degree view of the object.
Connect your digital camera to your computer with a USB or Firewire cable and upload your 36 images. Be sure to save all of your images into one convenient folder. Use Adobe Photoshop and open one image from your batch. If the image needs to be cropped, select "edit" and click "crop image." Click and drag over your image until you've selected the part of the image you want to keep. Click the "Crop" button to finalize the process.
Create an action program to apply your crops to all images. Do this by clicking on the "Action" tab in Photoshop's right palette window. The "Action" tab sits next to the "History" tab in the palette. Click on the small icon at the bottom of the palette next to the trash can icon. This will open the "Create Action" window.
Name the action something that you'll remember and select "OK."
Apply your cropping and image adjustments to all images by selecting "File" then "Automate." Choose the "Batch" setting. In the "Automate" window, select the action you just created in the menu. Click on the source drop-down menu and find the folder where you've saved all images.
Click on the destination drop-down menu and find the folder called "Fix." Photoshop creates the "Fix" folder automatically when you make a new action. Select "OK" in the "Automate" window. You should see Photoshop automatically opening each image and making identical changes to each image.
Open the VR Toolbox program. Select "File" and then "Import images." Open the "Fix" folder and select all of your images. The images will load into the program in order from first to last taken. Click on the "Define Object" button and enter 36 into the images tab and 10 into the degrees tab. Click the "Movie" button under the output files section.
Select "Edit" and click "Object Settings." If you want the object to move horizontally, click the "Wrap" button next to horizontal. If you'd like the object to move vertically, click the "Wrap" button next to vertical. Finally, select "The Make Object" button and choose a movie name and destination folder.
Open the Quicktime VR movie in the destination folder to ensure that it plays all the way through.
Set up your camera on a tripod in the middle of the room. The camera does not have to be in the exact center of the room but get it as close as possible. Place your camera onto the tripod and make sure it stays in position. Adjust the height and angle of the tripod to your liking. Place a level over the top of the camera and remember where the bubble sits inside.
Take 36 shots of the room for your movie at 10-degree intervals. Most tripods allow for 360-degree rotation and usually have a protractor to help you measure degrees. After each shot and rotation, place a level over the top of the camera.
The bubble should be in the same position as before. You need to make sure the angle hasn't changed between shots.
Preview all images on your camera's LCD display. After completing 36 shots in the room, view your pictures by selecting the "Play" button near the LCD display. Scan through the images using the directional arrows next to the screen. You should be checking that all shots have similar light exposure, alignment and focus. Small differences can be fixed, but if any image sticks out, it should be re-shot.
Follow Steps 4 to 9 in the previous section to complete your room VR movie.