Z Cam – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

May 25, 2018

Life In 360°: Home On The Range

As I always say with Life In 360°, people are more than welcome to submit items to me that we can perhaps turn to at a later date. As it happens that’s exactly what happened with today’s example of 360 degree videos – which seems to have some fans in the 360 video community.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree Video

The submission comes from filmmaker Gary Yost from the blog 360filmmaking.com, who has been working on a four part series of videos for the University of California. The University of California, Berkeley was the recipient of a new virtual reality (VR) lab last year courtesy of Immerex which also offered scholarships for augmented reality (AR) and VR studies – so it sounds like something they’d be pretty interested in there.

In this particular series, you’d best set to saddling up partner, because we’re going to be seeing the world through the eyes of a cowboy. And when I say cowboy, I don’t mean something from a John Wayne movie. An actual cowboy, managing a SoCal rangeland conservancy property. Billy Freeman introduces us all to the McKenzie Ranch at the Sierra Foothill Reserve in Clovis, California and goes through just some of the tasks he has to concern himself with over the course of a day as well as the sights and sounds of the Reserve itself. All recorded by Yost with the aid of the Z CAM V1.

“One thing I love about shooting 360 video is that the amount of gear is minimal compared to a traditional video shoot.” Explains Yost on the accompanying blog for this video. “Everything fit into the Polaris ATV with plenty of room to spare and the shoot itself was incredibly fun, driving through herds of cows up and down the side of a mountain.”

You can check out the video below and you can also find more from Yost on his YouTube channel – click here for that. VRFocus will be back next week when we’ll be checking out more videos from creators all around the world.

March 26, 2018

NVIDIA Reveal VRWorks 360 Degree Video 1.5 Release, Partners Comment On SDK’s Inclusion

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.

NVIDIA VRWorks - 360 Video 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.

May 3, 2017

Z Cam and Assimilate Join Forces with new Bundle

Makers of 360-degree capture devices Z Cam have teamed up with post-production software vendors Assimilate to launch a new bundle designed to make workflow for 360-degree projects from start to finish much easier.

The new workflow uses the Z Cam S1 camera to capture footage. Assimilate’s Scratch VR Z software can be used for live previews and what the film industry refer to as ‘dailies’, the data for which can be managed via an ethernet connection. Scratch VR Z uses the WonderStitch technology that stitches the footage together into a spherical image so post-production work such as editing and audio mixing can take place. After editing, the finished product that then be published online or pushed to several different 360-degree content platforms using the Assimilate software. The two companies said the workflow bundle will also support 360-degree live streaming to platforms such as Facebook Live 360.

“By partnering with Z CAM to develop and deliver the first integrated VR workflow, we’ve eliminated the hassles of working in a new technology,” said Assimilate CEO Jeff Edson in a statement. “Ease-of-use and affordability are now factors in the VR equation, which will drive the growth of VR productions, making VR/360 content a ubiquitous way to experience the world.”

The complete bundle includes the Z Cam S1 camera with lens protector, battery unit, power adaptor and cables, one licence for Z Cam WonderStich software, and an unlimited licence for Scratch VR Z, complete with support and updates. The total bundle costs $4,999 USD and is available from the Assimilate website.

VRFocus will continue to bring you news on VR and 360-degree software and hardware.