Category: YouTube VR

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‘YouTube VR’ Finally Comes to Oculus Go, Now Available on Oculus Store

Gear VR users have had access to YouTube’s VR app since July, but now it’s Oculus Go’s turn, as Oculus’ standalone VR headset is finally getting the long-awaited YouTube VR app. It’s now available for free on the Oculus Store, letting you watch everything the video streaming platform has to offer.

YouTube VR includes support for standard 2D videos as well as 360 and 3D 360-degree content. If you’re looking for a good place to start, YouTube hosts their own VR channel, featuring a number of creators that have captured everything from underwater dives with manta rays, to up-close and personal views of Cirque du Soleil’s aerial rope artist. Content formats range the gamut from standard 2D video to decidedly more immersive content including VR180, 360, and 3D 360 video.

Users will be able to login to their YouTube accounts so you can view your subscriptions, playlists, watch history, and more.

If you’re a PC VR player, look no further than YouTube VR for Vive, Rift and Windows VR headset, which is available through Steam.

The post ‘YouTube VR’ Finally Comes to Oculus Go, Now Available on Oculus Store appeared first on Road to VR.

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YouTube VR Comes to Oculus Go

Though the newly announced Oculus Quest might be grabbing all the headlines at the Oculus Connect 5 conference, the Oculus Go has not been left out. Oculus and Facebook staff were keen to advertise the Oculus Go as one of the most affordable ways to get involved in virtual reality (VR). One of the ways that many Oculus Go users choose to experience VR content is by watching films and TV through the headset, and now a new avenue for finding great content has opened up with the announcement that YouTube VR is coming to Oculus Go.

As Oculus Connect 5 it was revealed that 80% of Oculus Go owners were new to the Oculus ecosystem, meaning that they did not previously own a Samsung Gear VR or Oculus Rift. Many were entirely new to VR. Oculus personnel were excited about how the device allowed VR to come to a new audience.

While previously Oculus Go users could watch a variety of content from Oculus TV or apps such as Netflix, Hulu and Pluto TV, one of the biggest repositories of videos on the internet is YouTube. As such, Oculus Go owners will be interested to learn that YouTube VR will be coming to the headset, providing Oculus Go users will access to over 800 VR videos covering a wide variety of subjects.

Using YouTube VR, Oculus Go users can set themselves up in a virtual movie theatre or comfy living room to take in various VR videos, including nature documentaries and 360-degree concert videos.

Oculus have been keen to promote the Oculus Go as a way to take in live events as well, introducing Oculus Venues for this purpose earlier this year. Oculus Venues lets Oculus Go users take in live events such as concerts or sporting events from the best seat in the house and Oculus have promised there will be more top-quality content coming to Oculus Venues over the Autumn.

For further news from Oculus Connect 5, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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YouTube VR Goes Even More Mobile With Samsung Gear VR

YouTube is the biggest video content platform on the planet and it’s no surprise that there’s quite a bit of immersive content if you know where to look. Then Google released the YouTube VR app to make things easier, initially launching for Daydream headsets before coming to HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. There was always a little bit of doubt whether the Oculus platforms would see YouTube VR appear, however, that’s now happened for Samsung Gear VR at least.

YouTubeVR

With millions of Gear VR headsets in circulation it makes sense that Google would want to make the app available to as many people as possible, with it due to appear in the Oculus Store for free this week.

In addition to the expanded YouTubeVR support Google also revealed another update for the software making it more social. A new sharing feature lets you watch and discuss videos with others in a communal, virtual space – in a similar vein to Facebook Spaces or Oculus Rooms. This new feature can easily be accessed by clicking on the “Watch Together” icon inside the app, found beneath the play controls in the Daydream View or Gear VR.

So is it worth a download? Well Google claims that: “YouTube VR is already home to more than 800,000 experiences in the virtual world,” and there are more planned, with several exclusives due to arrive this summer. Music fans will be able to go backstage with Portugal. The Man and Hayley Kiyoko as part of the VR180 Rockstar VR series, or how about The Female Planet series, which features activist, entrepreneur, and Olympic bronze medalist in fencing, Ibtihaj Muhammad.

samsung gear vr most innovative companies of 2015

With the launch of YouTube VR on Gear VR it does beg the question on whether Oculus’ other headsets will see support. Oculus Rift is the last of the big three to be included, while Oculus GO should really be guaranteed as it works on the same platform as Gear VR, Oculus Mobile.

If Google stands by the statement of VR Product Lead, Erin Teague that: “We want everyone with a VR headset to be able to experience YouTube VR,” then further headset support is likely on the cards. If that does happen then VRFocus will let you know.

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Google’s ‘YouTube VR’ App is Coming to Oculus Go Soon

Oculus and Google are finally bringing the official YouTube VR app to the Oculus Store for Oculus Go soon. Announced previously for Gear VR back at Google’s developer conference, the YouTube VR app has only been available for a select few flagship Samsung phones.

Update (September 26th, 2018): Today at Oculus Connect 5, the company announced that the YouTube VR app is finally coming to Oculus Go. There’s no specific launch date, however the company says it will be “soon”. The app was previously only supported on a few Gear VR-compatible phones. The original article follows below:

Original Article (July 26th, 2018): Gear VR owners have been waiting for an official YouTube VR app since the headset officially launched in late 2015. Previously, users would need to navigate to YouTube via VR web browsers such as Samsung Internet or Oculus Internet, which admittedly wasn’t to best way to view the video platform’s variety of content, which spans 360 degree, VR180, and standard formats.

Another recent development in the world of YouTube VR is the app’s new social viewing mode, dubbed ‘Watch Together’. Google says in a blog post that the new feature will let you “watch and discuss videos with others in a communal, virtual space,” although we have little to go on in terms of how that’s handled outside of this short gif below which shows thumbnail versions of avatars while viewing a 360 video. The company says it will be available on Daydream View and Gear VR.

The company also proclaims that YouTube VR now supports Samsung Gear VR, Daydream View, HTC Vive, and PSVR. That’s not really the whole story though.

Despite the fact that Gear VR is ‘powered’ by Oculus, and hooks into the Oculus Store for content, noticeably missing from the list of supported devices is any mention Oculus Go or Oculus Rift, the latter of which is actually supported via the YouTube VR app on Steam; it would be nigh impossible to create a HTC Vive exclusive when publishing through Steam using Valve’s OpenVR API and added benefit for user-created custom keybindings for SteamVR-compatible controllers.

While the Gear VR app isn’t out yet, it could be possible that Oculus Go will see de facto support too, but Google just doesn’t want the headlines to skew that way right now. Oculus themselves tell developers that “most Gear VR apps will run unmodified on Oculus Go,” so it may be when the app launches that Go users can get a crack at it too, although this is pure speculation.

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We’ll be keeping our eyes out when the Gear VR app launches later this week, and updating this piece when more information arrives.

The post Google’s ‘YouTube VR’ App is Coming to Oculus Go Soon appeared first on Road to VR.

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[Update]: YouTube VR erscheint in Kürze für Oculus Go

[Update]:

Auf der Oculus Connect 5 veröffentlichte Oculus, dass die VR-App YouTube VR in Kürze für Oculus Go erscheinen wird. Ein genaues Veröffentlichungsdatum ist noch nicht bekannt.

[Originalartikel vom 26. Juli 2018]:

Die YouTube-VR-App ist bereits für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive auf Steam sowie für PlayStation VR (PSVR) im PlayStation Store erhältlich. Innerhalb des Angebots für mobile VR-Brillen war das virtuelle Videobetrachten bisher lediglich Besitzer/innen einer Google Daydream vorbehalten. Doch dies soll sich nun ändern, wie das Unternehmen innerhalb seines eigenen Blogs veröffentlicht. Demnach soll die App noch diese Woche im Oculus Store für Gear VR mit einem neuen sozialen Feature veröffentlicht werden. Ob eine Version für die Oculus Go erscheint, wurde bisher noch nicht offiziell bestätigt.

YouTube VR für Gear VR erscheint diese Woche im Oculus Store

In einem Blog-Post veröffentlicht Google das Ende der Exklusivität für YouTube VR innerhalb des mobilen VR-Marktes für die Gear VR. Demnach soll die Video-App noch diese Woche kostenlos im Oculus Store für Gear VR erhältlich sein.

Dadurch erhalten neue Nutzer/innen Zugang zu mehr als 800.000 VR-Videos. Der bestehende Content soll nach eigenen Angaben im Sommer 2018 zunehmend qualitativ erweitert werden. So dürfen sich virtuelle Videofreunde beispielsweise über immersive Musikkonzerte mit Behind-the-Scenes-Erlebnissen freuen oder in Sportereignissen am Training der Athleten teilhaben.

In einem Statement beschreibt ein Sprecher von Google die Gründe für die Freigabe der YouTube-App:

“Wir möchten das jede/r Besitzer/in die Möglichkeit bekommt, YouTube VR zu erleben. Die App ist bereits für die Daydream, HTC Vive und PlayStation VR erhältlich. Ab dem heutigen Tage möchten wir den Zugang auf die Millionen Menschen mit einer Gear VR erweitern. Ihr könnt die App im Oculus Store zu Beginn der Woche kostenlos herunterladen.”

In einem Interview mit Variety stellte sich die Frage, ob man vorhabe, die App ebenso für die Oculus Go zugänglich zu machen. Allerdings blieb die Antwort verhalten und man hielt sich vorerst mit Details zurück.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/gG5_w5r0tG0NCmo39bpqW9An6HH2iqlUUQxBWtov79Y9YkEgl57LGs4ff2HBJGGnpB8vZh5e0yeLuG1J-vWyFl5qQnQfZ3XJIAR9pg6DzRUnjEMJdm2T991foVKkYUP7LAPMnox8

Zusätzlich zur Veröffentlichung im Oculus Store soll ein neues soziales Feature integriert werden. Im gemeinsamen Zuschauer-Modus können bis zu vier Personen gleichzeitig innerhalb eines virtuellen Raumes ein Video anschauen. Dafür ist ein Klick auf das neue “Watch Together”-Icon nötig, das unter jedem Video vorzufinden sein soll. Das Feature soll sowohl für Daydream wie für Gear VR erscheinen.

(Quellen: Google Blog | Variety)

Der Beitrag [Update]: YouTube VR erscheint in Kürze für Oculus Go zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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YouTube Comes To Facebook’s Oculus Store For Gear VR

YouTube Comes To Facebook’s Oculus Store For Gear VR

YouTube is emerging as one of Google’s highest priorities in VR, and now the service is coming to competitor Facebook’s Oculus Store for Gear VR.

YouTube VR is already available on Google’s own Daydream headsets, and on Sony’s store for PlayStation VR, as well as on Steam with support listed for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The YouTube VR app delivers the vast growing library of YouTube content on a big screen plus hundreds of thousands of videos made in 360- and 180-degree formats. Among these immersive videos there are some high quality productions commissioned specifically for YouTube by Google. The app is expected to be available on the Oculus Store for Gear VR this week.

A Google spokesperson declined to say anything specific about Oculus Go support for YouTube VR, but gave the following statement: “We want everyone with a VR headset to be able to experience YouTube VR, and we’re working to bring it to more VR platforms in the future.” Google previously brought to the Oculus store Google Earth for exploration and both  Tilt Brush and Blocks for creation. Last year, the ad giant acquired Owlchemy Labs,which also sells Job Simulator and Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality for Rift on the Oculus Store.

While many YouTube 360-degree and 180-degree videos available on YouTube might be poorly captured and your Internet connection might stream at low resolutions, the type of immersive content that works well on the service is also getting easier to make. Google’s VR180 format and new cameras which use it could enable a new generation of higher quality content. Also, once YouTube is available on so many platforms, Google might be able to push the boundaries on reactivity by funding new projects that are built to respond to your gaze.

Google is also taking this opportunity to begin rolling out its first true VR social features for YouTube — if you click the on the Watch Together “icon beneath the play controls from your Daydream View or Gear VR” you’ll be able to “watch and discuss videos with others in a communal, virtual space.”

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The post YouTube Comes To Facebook’s Oculus Store For Gear VR appeared first on UploadVR.

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Geek & Sundry Release VR Tabletop Series Now Your Turn

Hollywood-based virtual reality (VR) studio Light Sail VR has teamed up with Geek & Sundry, in collaboration with Google’s Daydream team, to release their debut VR 180 series Now Your Turn.

Now Your Turn Nosh

Every episode of Now Your Turn will transport viewer into the ultimate board game showdown were they will be able to experience unique board games and different Geek & Sundry personalities including Ivan Van Norman and Becca Scott. New episodes of Now You Turn are slated to release every Friday leading up to the day-long celebration of International Tabletop Day on 28th April.

“We wanted to find the best, most creative way to showcase VR 180 and strongly felt that a board gaming show would be a great fit for the medium,” Notes Light Sail VR Co-founder and Executive Producer Robert Watts. “Rather than simply watching a live game, the viewer has the opportunity to sit across their favorite Geek & Sundry hosts and feel like they are playing the games with them!”

ITTD 2018 Feature

The debut episode in the VR series is a five-minute long special titled You Got Crabs, which gives viewers a virtual seat at the table as they take on the perspective of an oversized crab. From here they will be able to jump into the action of Exploding Kittens’ party board game You Got Crabs. Each episode will be available for VR cardboard headsets on Geek & Sundry’s YouTube channel along with being available via the YouTube VR app using Google Daydream View headset. Future episodes will feature games that as a twist on traditional board games including Crafty Games’ Nosh, Gigamic Games’ Yogi and Renegade’s Topiary.

Adds Geek & Sundry’s Ivan Van Norman, Host and Executive Producer of International Tabletop Day 2018, “Each year, our team strives to take the gaming experience to the next level for our community. Partnering with Light Sail VR provides us with the opportunity to connect with fellow gamers in an immersive way and engage with a wider audience.”

International Tabletop Day is the worldwide celebration of tabletop gaming and its community orchestrated by Geek & Sundry. It is the first and only holiday of its kind dedicated to board games and the day-long event brings together plenty of players from around the world through live gaming events, charity fundraising and collaborative online entertainment. All of this will be enjoyable in VR this year as well with products such as Now Your Turn being part of the celebration.

For more stories like this in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

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Google, Epic Games and More Added to VRDC Line-Up

VRDC, the virtual reality (VR) exclusive spin-off from the Game Developers Conference (GDC), is set to take place in San Francisco, 19th – 20th March 2018. VRFocus has already reported on the appearance of Polyarc, developers of everybody’s favourite virtual rodent, and now another selection of big names can be added to the list.

Moss screenshotDavid Bond and Brian Pullen of Google will host a talk called Designing Human Avatars for Virtual Reality, in which the pair will discuss the lessons they learned designing avatars for YouTube VR, and beyond. The intention of the talk is for attendees to learn about emerging best practices in designing avatars for VR contexts, and come away with an appreciation of what doesn’t work in VR, and why.

Addressing the growing trend of animated VR short stories, Devon Penney of Penrose Studios will lead a session entitled Water Simulation and Rendering in the VR Film, Arden’s Wake. Arden’s Wake is a VR film that takes place in an ocean world where action is both above and below the surface of the water. This lecture will describe volume rendering solutions for murky underwater environments with spotlights shining through water. Also, the film has many interaction effects on the ocean surface, from characters splashing in the water to boats causing wakes across large distances. Penrose Studios developed a shallow water solver that gave them compelling effects with fast simulation times, and this lecture will share the solver architecture, methods for modelling collision objects, and a foam solver that adds detail to the simulation.

Arden's WakeThe final new addition to the line-up comes from Drifter Entertainment and Epic Games, wherein Shen-Ming Spurgeon and Wyeth Johnson, respectively, will offer a tutorial session entitled Visual Effects Bootcamp: How VR is Going to Break All the Rules in VFX. This talk will be an introduction to content development from the point of view of a visual effects artist, exploring what real-time VFX looks like in a VR environment, as well as discussing the limitations, sacrifices, and ultimately, the collaboration necessary to achieve success while working in VR.

VRDC will take place next month and VRFocus will be in attendance. Make sure you stay tuned for all the latest details direct from the show floor.

 

 

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YouTube Finally Gets A Native HTC Vive App

YouTube Finally Gets A Native HTC Vive App

It’s taken nearly two years, but the HTC Vive finally has a native YouTube app to call its own.

Released on Steam for free today, YouTube VR allows users access to the entire catalog of content on the platform, including 2D videos that will appear on a virtual screen and 360 videos to immerse yourself in. Your Vive controller will act as a remote to point and click with.

The app is only in Early Access right now — and will stay there throughout 2018 — but it’s pretty much the full experience. YouTube says it will upgrade controls and features throughout the coming year.

A PC VR YouTube app has been a long time coming; the platform launched on mobile VR with the arrival of Google Daydream last year and also came to Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR) too. While you’ll be able to access this app with the Oculus Rift and Windows VR platforms via OpenVR, native integration for other devices is also planned for latest down the line.

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Google veröffentlicht YouTube VR auf Steam

Es hat etwas länger gedauert: Google hat auf Steam seine App YouTube VR veröffentlicht. Bisher war die Anwendung lediglich für Google Daydream und PSVR erhältlich. Nun dürfen offiziell Besitzer der HTC Vive zugreifen, inoffiziell allerdings auch Besitzer einer Oculus Rift und eines Windows Mixed Reality Headsets. Derzeit befindet sich YouTube VR noch im Early Access und soll dort auch länger bleiben.

YouTube VR

YouTube VR für PC-Headsets auf Steam verfügbar

Bereits 2016 veröffentlichte Google seine YouTube VR App für die Google Daydream, bevor im Januar 2017 PlayStation VR (PSVR) an der Reihe war. Fast ein Jahr später haben nun Besitzer von PC-Headsets Grund zur Freude, denn YouTube VR steht auf Steam bereit und läuft damit auf allen Brillen, die SteamVR unterstützen. Mit der Anwendung lässt sich nun bequem der riesige Katalog an 180- und 360-Grad-Videos direkt genießen, ohne beispielsweise zuvor einen Download starten zu müssen. Ausgeschlossen bleibt derzeit das Headset von Samsung. Auf der Gear VR lässt sich aber der Internet-Browser aufrufen und YouTube-VR-Inhalte darin betrachten.

YouTube VR

Derzeit  befindet sich die Anwendung von Google noch im Early Access. Die Entwickler wollen sich das nächste Jahr die Zeit nehmen, YouTube VR zu verbessern und zu komplettieren – bis Ende 2018 soll die Phase dauern. Derzeit vermisst man noch einiges, so muss man auf Suchfilter, Untertitel, Anmerkungen und Einstellungsmöglichkeiten für die Bildqualität verzichten. Dass man die App lediglich mit dem linken Controller bedienen kann, stößt bei manchem Anwender ebenfalls auf wenig Gegenliebe. Google will noch Anpassungen für andere Headsets veröffentlichen, sodass im Laufe des nächsten Jahres auch andere PC-Brillen offiziell unterstützt werden sollten. Die YouTube VR App steht kostenlos bei Steam bereit und wird es auch bleiben, wie die Entwickler erklären.

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