360-Degree Video -- Notes and Sample Videos

    by Douglas Dixon

The VR Experience - Vivitar VR Glasses

Sample 360 Videos - YouTube

• Hamilton: An American Musical - "Wait For It" - 360°
• Wellington Orchestra - "Ode to Joy" - Beethoven Symphony No 9 - 360° Video

• Ole Miss Football vs Georgia (9-24-16) - On Field 360 Video
• Exiting Blarney Castle - 360°
• Walking New York | 360 VR Video | The New York Times

• The Narrows - Zion National Park - 360 Video
• 360° Timelapse of Storm over Coastline of Sian Ka'an Reserve, Mexico
• Surrounded by Wild Elephants in 4k 360
• 360º Climbing a 75 Meter Tree with No Rope - Pemberton - Australia 4K

• Journey To The Edge Of Space (360 Video)
• 360° Cockpit View From An US Fighter Jet: Northrop F-5E Tiger II Fighter

Sample 360 Video Sources

• YouTube 360° Videos Channel - https://www.youtube.com/360
• Facebook 360 - https://facebook360.fb.com - Mobile https://m.facebook.com/Facebook360
• Reddit 360 videos - https://www.reddit.com/r/360video
• New York Times - NYTVR - http://www.nytimes.com/vr
• VR Gorilla - Amsterdam - http://www.vr-gorilla.com

    Full 360 degree video - HumanEyes Vuze

      360 degree video displayed by VR app for viewing with headset - Google VR

About 360-Degree Video

• aka Immersive or Spherical or VR videos
• Capture - Camera
  • Typically shot with multiple cameras (e.g., back to back hemispheres)
  • or Omnidirectional camera
  • 360 cams, Action cams, Drones, ...
  • Live streaming
  • Videos & photos - 2D / 3D
• Processing
  • Stitched into single frames - Distorted 360-degree view in rectangular frame
  • Formats - Projection / Geometry - Dome, sphere, etc.
• Playback - Headset
  • Unwrapped / flattened on playback into "standard" video frame
  • Single frame
    • DIsplay in browser - Click/drag to pan in 360 view
    • Display on smartphone - Drag to pan
      • or Use as virtual headset - Hold in front of eyes as move head
  • Pair of frames (one for each eye) - Side by side
    • Headset with two lenses - Stereoscopic (3D) effect with wide field of view
    • e.g. Google Cardboard - https://vr.google.com/cardboard

Projection Geometries

• Plane - Regular movies projected on a virtual screen
• Dome - Action cameras like the GoPro or Kodak 360
• Sphere - Spherical 360° videos and photos
• Full dome - MAX and planetarium styled videos
• Cylinder - Panoramic photos and videos
• Cube - Cube maps like in video games

About 3-D Video

• See 3D - The Next Dimension (2010) - Technology & Products
• See Augmented Reality Goes Mobile (2010)

VR Headsets and Cameras

• See Virtual Reality Video - VR headsets and cameras, 360 and 3-D (Holiday 2016)

VR Viewing Apps

• New York Times - NYT VR - http://www.nytimes.com/vr
• Homido VR Player - Watch 360° spherical videos - http://www.homido.com/en/apps/homido-apps
• Homido Center app - Catalog of compatible apps for VR headsets
• SpherePlay VR Player Pro - /www.vrplayer.com

VR Video Editing Software

• Stitch, edit, add 3D titles/effects, export
• See CyberLink PowerDirector 15 (Blog)
• See Pinnacle Studio 20 Ultimate (Blog)

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