360 degree – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

January 12, 2018

Make VR Videos With No Coding Skill as Notch Looks To Makes VR Mass Market

The virtual reality (VR) medium is only getting bigger, and if you or your company isn’t getting involved in VR marketing, videos and more, you might soon get left behind – especially since now new companies are opening the way for content creators to make new VR content, with no coding skill whatsoever.

Notch (no, not the Minecraft one) is a company that produce real-time graphics and video effects, and they’re now working towards making VR content creation easy and accessible for absolutely everyone, whether you’ve used a head-mounted display (HMD) before, or whether you’re able to code or not, this could be your gateway into VR content creation.

Notch’s new software allows VR videos to be developed in real-time, where they claim the experience is “immersive” and on a “whole other level.”

Many VR videos are made in Unity, a game engine which is easy for new users to understand, but definitely not as simple as, say, a traditional video editor, and introducing complicated animations can make things far more awkward. Code-driven work is passed through technical teams like “Chinese whispers” where non-coders can’t get involved with the creative process.

Notch demonstrate their new VR video software with a music video for Finnish band Phantom. The music video for their song “LOST” is shot in full 360 degrees and manipulated in real time. You’ll soon be able to watch the video on Oculus devices, or embedded on YouTube below. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen VR music videos…

Notch want the software to pave the way for mass market VR, with content creators from different fields and expertise getting involved in creation interesting VR videos. It’s certainly not a bad idea, as opening the door for more content creators will only get more consumers interested in the technology; and we could always use a few more flashy videos to experience when strapped into our HMDs.

Notch already have experience with live productions and experience, with their team and technology having been on hand for shows such as Beyoncé, U2, the Brits, Grammys and The Voice.

Matt Swoboda, director at Notch, explains: “VR truly is one of the best ways to listen to music. It makes it an experience. Notch technology has released the restrictions that creators face with interactive VR and VR 360 video – coding skills and time – enabling far greater creativity. Putting the creator back in charge of the creative. We now have a whole set of tools aimed at music. VR is a key part of the feature set. With the world’s fastest VR and 360 video renderer, artists can make high quality VR in a matter of minutes. As opposed to the days or weeks that most currently spend creating such experiences.”

It’s all incredibly promising, and we hope to hear more from Swoboda and the team at Notch very soon.

For all of the latest music and experiences you can get through your VR HMD, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.

April 10, 2017

Yours, In 60 Seconds: RelayCars Updates To Version 6.0

Most everyone growing up fantasises about owning a particular car. Cars are just one of those things that capture the imagination. An evocative mix of speed, expense, beauty and freedom. Of course for many of us we can never live the dream, and if you do end up driving it will be something far less flashy and conservative than the Porsche, Lamborghini or Ferrari dreams of our youth.

But thanks to one particular app there is a way for Samsung Gear VR owners to get a chance to appreciate an array of cars on the market.

EVOX Images has launched version 6.0 of RelayCars, an app for the car enthusiast which allows them to explore the exterior and interior of more than 700 cars without ever leaving the comfort of their sofa. The app, which includes all manner of cars across six different virtual showrooms (from SUVs to American muscle cars) features vehicles from makers such as the aforementioned Porsche, as well as the likes of Jaguar and Tesla.

“We are excited to bring consumers the most comprehensive automotive VR application on the market and enhance the way people buy cars.” Said the CEO of EVOX Images, David Falstrup. “Our goal is to make you feel like we just put you in the driver’s seat of your favourite car. RelayCars 6.0 features coverage for every model in our vast library, giving consumers access to an unprecedented number of vehicles, completely free on the app store.”

The app, available for free from the Oculus Home store also features the chance for you to take a virtual test ride, living out the dream of driving unobstructed down a desert highway road or taking in the sights of the coast.

VRFocus will bring you news on further developments with RelayCars as it is released.

March 2, 2017

With LiveSYNC You Control 360-Video Playback of Multiple Devices

The portability and affordability of mobile VR is inspiring developers from all walks to create games, educational apps, or even productivity software for the platform. Though dependent on the types of phones users have, there’s an incredibly large install base already in place so it’s just a matter of capturing their interest and keeping it. 360-degree photos and videos are growing in their popularity and some devs are creating social apps centered on that type of media, but companies are using it for presentations as well. LiveSYNC is a tool for use reminiscent of the latter, allowing presenters to sync up video to any number of devices.

Finwe Ltd is a Finnish company that was founded in 2006 by a group of research scientists and the company’s focus is on high-quality mobile software. “Finwe has been developing high-end 360 video presentation solutions for global customer base over 4 years,” says CEO of Finwe Juha Kela in the press release for the announcement. “We showcased our first 360 video player in MWC 2013 and added VR mode a few months later.”

They’ve come a long way since then and LiveSYNC looks to be a culmination of their advancements, bringing their best technologies involving 360-degree video all into one program. Imagine conference rooms around the world all holding an event at the same time, all filled with people wearing mobile VR headsets, and you’re picturing the type of setting LiveSYNC wants to thrive in. For all of those attendees, the program allows one presenter to observe and control the video playback on the devices simultaneously with an iPad. Not only will they be able to stop and start, they’ll be able to switch the video to another clip and even add messages into the 360-degree space their viewers are immersed in at that time. You can also share any player’s view to a television screen with HDMI or wirelessly with AppleTV.

LiveSYNC can currently be requested as a combination of controller app and players for iOS, Android, GearVR, and Daydream platforms, which can be soon downloaded from the app stores and you can contact the team at sales@finwe.fi.

Tagged with: 360 degree, 360 video, gear vr, LiveSYNC, samsung

February 22, 2017

Brothers Fight On Opposite Sides of the Civil War In My Brother’s Keeper

From weekly news shows to mini-documentaries, 360-degree video continues to grow as a medium for storytelling. Creatives, journalists, and more are taking to the platform and giving audiences a perspective that not only shows off more angles of a story than previously allowed, but draws the audience in like no other platform could.

While many new and upcoming events continue to get the 360-degree treatment, some creators have been recreating historic events within the platform. The historic event under the immersive microscope this time is the Civil War as PBS Digital Studios takes us into the conflict with their 360 short My Brother’s Keeper.

Mercy Street is a period medical drama that follows nurses and doctors in Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War. It’s currently on its 2nd season, which started in January this year, and My Brother’s Keeper is a feature inspired by the series.

“We are at the dawn of a new era in narrative filmmaking in which the visual vocabulary of cinema, as well as the production process, is being completely reinvented,” said executive producer of the film Don R. Wilcox in a blog post. “I think My Brother’s Keeper in its own way does a remarkable job of advancing this evolution.”

In a matter of nine minutes, My Brother’s Keeper tells the fictional tale of two brothers (inspired by true stories from the Civil War) that each fight on the opposite side of the war. The production crew used over 150 Civil War reenactors in the short as they reunited the two characters at Antietam, which was one of the bloodiest battles in American history. The short alternates between the points of view of both brothers until the final conflict and the filmmakers utilized a couple techniques not seen frequently in 360-degree content.

Using the Jaunt ONE camera at 120fps, one the battle scenes utilizes slow motion. Another technique forced viewers to focus on an 180-degree portion of the film, blurring out the rest. While that technique did make it easier to follow the action the filmmakers intended at those moments, at some points the characters would look or point their weapon off in a particular direction. To look that way only to be met by a blurry haze breaks the immersion.

The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, but is now available to be seen on Viveport, JauntVR, and PBS.org.

Tagged with: 360 degree, Mercy Street, My Brother's Keeper, pbs, VR

December 23, 2016

Get A Glimpse Into Conditions Filmmakers Braved To Create ‘ClimbEverestVR’

Media has always been a bridge to experiences we wouldn’t otherwise be able to see, whether via text, video, or photography. 360-degree media have given us dynamic looks into many different settings that may even be dangerous, but what of the people exploring in those dire conditions?

Noel and Lynn Hanna, Northern Ireland natives currently living in South Africa, are the first couple to reach the summit of Mount Everest on both sides and serve as the guides for the upcoming ClimbEverest VR. Virtual reality filmmaker Przemek Siemion and his team withstood dangerous elements to bring us the VR experience and he spoke with Upload about the process.

Mount Everest isn’t a place where someone can traverse comfortably and is certainly not a place to inhabit for long periods of time.

“Starting from altitude that drastically limits your physical abilities – you are out of breath, way slower in movement, often with a headache,” Siemion says. “Harsh climate, extreme temperatures, strong winds – it all affects your body.”

As conditions changed on the mountain, the script they started the trip with changed too but, thankfully, Siemion says they were in good hands with their expedition leader who was responsible for making decisions that provided the best environment to proceed in.

Though it was certainly a chore to move around and record as they wished, that didn’t stop Siemion from enjoying the trip. He said they worked through 20 hours days so that the next day is a clean slate, but also found time to appreciate the beautiful scenery he was exposed to.

“It was as if the mountain was allowing me to be there and challenging me at the same time,” he says.

Not only does the mountain present a challenge to the people attempting the climb, recording in VR requires a wealth of new tools and the audio and video equipment have to be able to withstand the harsh climate as well. Even worse, the team wasn’t able to fully test everything as some of the cameras only arrived a day before departure. Thus, the team reached new levels of flexibility and came up with the new ideas on the fly as they worked toward their goal.

The result of their hard work is scheduled to be released early 2017.

Tagged with: 360 degree, Expedition, media, Mount Everest, video, VR

December 1, 2016

Disfellowshipped Is Investigative Journalism Adapted To Immersive Media

News outlets like USA Today and Huffington Post have turned to 360-degree media to add a new layer to reporting in recent months. Though interesting, both works are just brief looks into various topics. Investigative journalism is a deeper dive into specific topics and The Center for Investigative Journalism, also known as Reveal, is using immersive media to pull viewers right into the story.

Disfellowshipped follows a journalist’s

The process that led to Disfellowshipped started back in May of 2015 when the VR start-up Vragments started work on the Fader tool. With Fader, the dev group wanted to provide journalists an easy way to integrate virtual reality into the reporter’s work loads. Fader works by allowing the journalists to create specific story points and allow viewers to explore them in virtual spaces while also adding additional elements in post-production. In the early stages of development, they turned to Trey Bundy’s investigation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and he broke down the story he wanted to tell into three parts.

The story focuses on Debbie McDaniel, a young woman who was exiled from the Witnesses by the very person that had abused her for five years. The 360-degree visual takes you through her story and her hometown of McAlester. The experience isn’t just one long 360-degree recording of the interview with McDaniel; it has various stills, cuts of her hometown, and music mixed in with Debbie’s interview and narration much like television shows that focus on investigative journalism. The resolution isn’t the best (Bundy used an inexpensive 360-degree camera) but the animated portions of the feature represent big additions.

“The answer is to give the viewer a more intimate understanding of a character and her experience,” Bundy wrote about the project. “The technology allows us to put you in the reporter’s shoes, to feel what it’s like to sit with people as they look you in the eye and tell you their story, to visit their towns and the places that affected their lives. In some instances, it becomes a window into a person’s emotional memory.”

Disfellowshipped is a solid example of how to keep viewers involved with a longer form of reporting with the experience broken into two parts, with an additional “Inside the Investigation” feature. You can watch part 2 of the feature on Youtube here or via your browser where all three clips are in the same virtual space here, clicking and dragging like a YouTube video. It has a VR option in the bottom right corner.

Tagged with: 360 degree, Child abuse, Jehovah's Witness, Journalism, reporting, VR

November 18, 2016

Protruly Releases First 360-Degree Video Capable Smart Phone

360-degree videos can be viewed in a VR headset, you can click and drag the video’s perspective with a mouse, or you can even rotate the view by swiping your touchscreen. We recently reported on Nokia and Sony teaming up for 360-degree content and also wrote up an impression on Verizon’s collaboration with Lucasfilm for the Rogue One: Recon 360 teaser, just a couple recent examples of companies putting time, money, and effort into the medium. User creation is going to be an important aspect of its growth and China Daily reports that Chinese company Protruly has taken a major step forward in that regard with their new cell phone that has 360-degree recording capability.

Called the Protruly Darling VR Smartphone, its front and rear wide-angle 13-megapixel lenses are said to capture and stitch together footage in .02 seconds for near real-time viewing. It is powered by a 2.5 GHz MediaTek Helio X20 processor, 4GB RAM, 3560 mAh battery, and has a 5.5 inch AMOLED 1080p screen. It also connects via the newer USB type-c connection. There’s no specific information on the software the 360-degree recordings or pictures will integrate with, but this could be a important moment for the penetration of this type of media into casual audiences. There are various additional accessories that give existing phones 360-degree functionality, but having it as a standard feature on a phone could be something we see grow quickly in the next couple years.

Just a couple days ago we covered the social application Pie, a program aiming to bring a community element to 360-degree media that is sorely needed. It lets you use commercial 360-degree cameras or phone attachments to share the immersive media with friends. It even has a feature called “Slice” that allows those without the right equipment to make pseudo-360 videos that move forward and backward as you rotate around. Applications like this are what could make the Darling VR Smartphone’s features even more appealing. The phone is currently available in China in a luxury, diamond and gold encrusted version for $1300 and standard version for $590.

Tagged with: 360 degree, china, media, Protruly, Smart Phone

November 18, 2016

Watch ‘Rain or Shine’, Google’s Kid-Friendly Interactive 360-Degree Spotlight Story

Google’s Spotlight Story series has already created some of the most memorable 360-degree videos to date. Today it returns with its sixth entry, Rain or Shine. Its the first film to be released since the launch of the company’s Daydream View headset two weeks ago, where it’s best viewed.

Created in partnership with London-based animation team, Nexus Studios, and directed by Felix Massie, Rain or Shine tells the story of a young girl named Ella. On a hot, sunny day in the UK capital Ella gets an anticipated delivery: a new pair of sunglasses. She’s overjoyed to have her new accessory, but is soon dismayed to learn that every time she puts them on a rain cloud forms above her head. Try as she might, Ella just can’t enjoy the day while wearing her new shades, until she actually finds some use for them.

As is usual with these Spotlight stories, it’s a short, sweet video that wouldn’t be out of place in front of a Pixar movie. It doesn’t reach the heights of the emotionally arresting Pearl — not that that’s the intention — but is still well worth watching for anyone with an interest in this use of VR headsets.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about the film, though, is the small degree of interactivity the viewer has with the world. Examples of this are slight, but one given in the making of video below is two friends sitting at a pub in the background. As you look at them and look away again, they’ll consume more beer. If they drink a lot, they’ll be drunk when they run away from the rain, and stumble around.

For now YouTube is the only place to watch Rain or Shine, though Pearl did later come to Vive via Steam. Fingers crossed this will too.

Tagged with: 360 degree, google, Rain or Shine, Spotlight Story

November 16, 2016

Easily Create and Share 360-Degree Videos With Pie App

As we mentioned when reporting on the big news about Nokia and Sony’s partnership, 360-degree video is a very accessible bridge to immersive content and, by extension, virtual reality. 360-degree video can be viewed on almost any device and works really well with smartphones, a common accessory for most.

Social engagement is a smart way to increase interest in just about anything, which is exactly what the Pie application on iOS is doing. Announced via press release, Pie raised seed funding from McClatchy, Colopl VR Fund, Sparkland Capital, Stage Venture Partners, Graph Ventures, Matter Ventures, and others and they’ve officially launched the application.

360-degree recording typically requires a good bit of equipment to make content, but Pie and powerful smartphones with certain accessories help to streamline the process a bit.

If you have or purchase 360-camera attachments like the Insta360 Nano, you can use your iPhone to capture, edit, and share 10-second video clips. If you have a consumer camera like the Ricoh Theta S or Nikon Keymission 360 you can still upload the video to Pie via your iPhone. If you don’t have either of these peripherals, you’re not left out of the experience entirely.

Though not true 360-degree video, Pie’s “Slice” feature allows you to record a video that will move forward or backward depending on a user swiping across their screen or spinning around.

VR and 360-degree videos are not exactly synonymous, a fact mentioned by Pie Co-Founder Ceci Mourkogiannis when speaking on the new developments. “We are excited about the long-term possibilities of VR as it relates to 360 video,” she says. “But today we want to serve the 2 billion people who already own smartphones and give them a way to create and watch 360 videos that fits into their everyday lives.”

Despite that fact, VR headsets are certainly the best means to immerse one’s self into a 360-degree video. Nevertheless, this new social and easy to use program, along with tools like it, will be instrumental in growing the popularity of 360 media. You can download the Pie application for iOS here.

Tagged with: 360, 360 degree, create, pie, social, video, VR

November 14, 2016

Nokia and Sony Pictures Team Up For 360-Degree Content

360-degree videos are the most accessible means to show the benefits of immersive content, even if you don’t think they’re “real” virtual reality. In absence of an actual headset, users can swipe across their touchscreens and get a feel of how the open-ended perspective can benefit entertainment, news reporting, and even security. That can be a bridge into virtual reality headsets, opening up to a growing collection of experiences.

Nokia, a huge information technology company founded in 1865, has developed their own tool for 360-degree filming: The Nokia OZO. It’s designed to be an end to end tool that simplifies the process and, via press release, Nokia has announced a content partnership with Sony Pictures.

“VR is an exploding medium that is rapidly changing how we communicate and bringing a deeper connection to how we experience content,” said Nokia’s vice president of Digital Media Paul Melin. “We’re thrilled to partner with Sony Pictures and its talented storytellers to apply our technology and create experiences only possible with OZO – like 3D 360 live VR broadcast.”

Sony Pictures recently appointed a Senior VP of Virtual Reality and they previously teamed up with Reality One to create VR content as well, so their endorsement and excitement for the budding industry comes as no surprise. Nokia is even helping Disney bring their biggest franchises to immersive screens.

From Nokia, the OZO streamlines the 360-degree recording process by syncing 360-degree video and audio into one file and offers wireless functionality through a cartridge that combines memory storage and battery. It’s SDK (software development kit) also provides creators with a device that can output to all the major platforms. Being such a powerful yet lightweight tool (9.3 lbs with battery) lends to its versatility across many scenarios and the partnership with Sony will yield additional gear and technology to inspire high-quality content.

Sony will also be integrating OZO playback directly into their Privilege Plus content ecosystem and Scot Barbour, VP of Production Technology at Sony Pictures, spoke to the company’s confidence in OZO, “Nokia’s OZO camera and its suite of professional tools are an excellent solution for content creators because they seamlessly integrate into established production processes and workflows, and enable the real-time capture and broadcast of VR content.” The Privilege Plus application is currently available via Google Play.

Tagged with: 360 degree, content, google play, nokia, Privilege Plus, sony, video, VR