A computer has a network interface circuit to support communications with a client device. A memory is connected to the processor. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to supply an authoring tool to the client device. The authoring tool is configured to solicit a sequence of image layers that form a composite image and image layer visualization parameters including a parallax parameter that specifies a range of horizontal motion or a range of vertical motion for an individual image layer, panorama parameters that specify individual images to be assigned to individual cube faces, and a focus pull parameter that specifies a blur parameter to be assigned to an individual image layer.