When it comes to telling a story there’s nothing quite like an immersive experience. Whether it’s in virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) the different ways you can use the technology to craft a tale are pushing an author’s ability to show their world in new directions. This, naturally, includes 360 degree video. And we’ve seen a growing increase in the amount of productions being made, awards being presented and recognition being received within the filmmaking industry all linked to VR and AR – which almost expressly involves 360 degrees.
As part of NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC), which will be taking place all this week in San Jose, California; the company has revealed as part of the proceedings a number of announcements relating to the VRWorks 360 Video SDK, the latest version of which (v1.5) was released today. Three firms relating to the creation of media, Z CAM, STRIVR and Pixvana all revealed their adoption of the SDK as part of their presentation, speaking to the NVIDIA blog.
“Because NVIDIA VRWorks 360 Video SDK shared the same API between Windows and Linux, it was super-fast and easy to integrate into our Linux cloud platform.” Explained Pixvana’s Sean Safreed, Product Director and Co-Founder of the company. Pixvana develops the SPIN Studio Platform which can be used to stitch together 360 degree footage. SPIN, naturally, integrates VRWorks 360 Video SDK. “The ability to access the VRWorks SDK through our powerful GPU-accelerated cloud backend simplifies the workflow and massively speeds the process from shot to review to final distribution, which our customers love.”
NVIDIA gave focus to Z CAM, the earliest adopter within the camera industry of the VRWorks 360 Video SDK. At GDC Z CAM has unveiled its V1 Professional VR Camera, able to record at 6K with 60 FPS in 360-degree stereo utilising ten cameras. As with those before it will be continuing support. Z CAM’s CEO explained the importance of including NVIDIA’s work.
“Integrating the VRWorks 360 Video SDK made it easy for us to enable live streaming of high-quality, 360-degree stereo video, and to support live streaming of both mono and stereo 360 VR, so our customers can really push the boundaries of live storytelling.”
You can see a demonstration of the Z CAM’s new product below, a video recorded at Times Square in New York City and put together using their Wonderstitch software with the NVIDIA SDK.
Lastly are VR production house STRIVR, last seen on VRFocus back in January as they worked with VR training programs to help athletes preparing for this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The company’s Chief Technical Officer, Brian Meek, described how it’s using the SDK to put some additional speed into production of video for its immersive training platform.
“Integrating VRWorks 360 Video SDK accelerated the STRIVR stitching process from 15 fps to between 45 and 60 fps, a 3-4x performance gain,” explains Meek. “Which translates into much faster turnaround time from filming to delivery.”
There’s sure to be plenty of news from this year’s GTC event. Look out for more on VRFocus throughout the week.