360 rumors

At WWDC 2017, Apple demonstrated augmented reality on the upcoming iOS 11 using existing iOS hardware. UPDATE :  Apple has announced 360 video editing in Final Cut Pro; Apple will support Steam VR and HTC Vive; Apple has announced Metal API for VR. 1. AUGMENTED REALITY At WWDC 2017, Apple announced several things including a new iPad Pro variant.  For readers of this site, the highlight was Apple's demonstration of augmented reality on an iPad and an iPhone on the new iOS 11.  Your iPhone or iPad would be like a 'window' that shows AR objects, similar to how Pokemon Go is played for example, except now your iPad or iPhone will be able to estimate the three dimensional surfaces within its view and place AR objects on it more realistically.  For Pokemon Go for example, Pikachu would not just be floating in space, but would appear to be standing on a sidewalk that you are pointing at.  A missed Pokeball would seem to hit the ground and roll off, following its conto...

360 videos need to be stabilized to avoid making viewers dizzy (especially if viewed in a headset).  However, not all 360 cameras include image stabilization, and the ones that do don't always have effective stabilization.  Fortunately, it's easy to add image stabilization to your 360 videos simply by uploading them to Facebook. Facebook will automatically attempt to stabilize a 360 video when you upload it.  That's part of the reason it takes a while before the 360 video shows up on your post. To test this capability, I took a test video using an Insta360 Nano and Freeline Skates. In the first part of the video, I skated on concrete.  In the second part of the video, I was skating on asphalt. This was a very difficult video test for several reasons: first, the asphalt was little bumpy.  Second, I was turning a lot, not just going straight.  Third, I was holding the camera at various positions and sometimes inverted (to get closer to the skates).  Four...

Facebook and Oculus previewed React VR , its cross-platform VR language that allows developers to create simple VR apps that can be viewed on any VR device.  React VR allows developers to create one web app that can be used across VR devices, from browsers to mobile headsets to desktop VR headsets, making it unnecessary to create separate apps for each device. Facebook has been very bullish about VR and 360.  Recently, it announced the launch of 360 Live, which will enable 360 livestreaming on Facebook .

Mark Zuckerberg captured their baby Max's first steps in a 360 video. 360 videos make the viewer feel as if they are present at a scene, especially when viewed with a VR headset.  That's precisely why Mark had the foresight to be ready to record his daughter's first steps in a 360 video, and he did exactly that. Mark wrote: When I was a baby and took my first steps, my mom wrote the date in a baby book. When my sister's children took their first steps, she recorded it with photos and videos. When Max started walking, I wanted to capture the whole scene with a 360 video so our friends and family can feel like they're right there with us. Here it is! Here's the adorable video: Fortunately, 360 cameras are no longer accessible just for tech billionaires but have become affordable even to average consumers.  For example, Insta360 Nano is a 360 camera for the iPhone, with near-4k resolution and costs just $199, while the soon-to-be-released Insta360 Air can record ...

You can now create Facebook albums with more than one 360 photo or video, and they will each be presented in 360. Previously, you could upload 360 photos or videos to Facebook but you had to do it one at a time by posting to your timeline.  If you posted more than one 360 photo in an album, only one of them would be displayed as 360 while the others would be shown as an equirectangular photo. Now, you can upload several 360 photos or videos to an album and they can each be shown in 360.  Simply create an album and add photos or videos to it as you normally would.  If any of them are 360, they should be recognized as such.  This is much more convenient than uploading 360 photos one at a time to your timeline, besides seeming like you are spamming your friends. Facebook has been very proactive in supporting 360 photos and videos.  Recently, they also announced 360 Live , which will enable 360 livestreaming, and which will be rolled out to all Pages and Profiles in...

Facebook announced that it would add 360 livestreaming capability.  This would enable you to broadcast a livestream in 360, giving your friends and followers a view of what it's like to be where you are at the moment.  But which devices are compatible? Facebook will begin its new 360 livestreaming called Live 360 tomorrow with a 360 livestream from National Geographic tomorrow from the Mars Desert Research Station facility in Utah at 12pm PST.  Eventually, the capability will be rolled out to all Pages and Profiles "in 2017." The next question you're wondering is, which cameras would you be able to use?  There are livestreaming cameras such as the Nokia OZO , LivePlanet , or Orah 4i but they are not intended for consumers. For consumer 360 cameras, there are very few with 360 livestreaming capability.  Fortunately, the consumer 360 camera with the best livestreaming capability also happens to be among the most affordable 360 cameras (with or without livest...

Facebook added two powerful new tools for 360 video creators: a Guide to direct the viewer's attention, and a Heatmap to identify the points of greatest interest. Guide Guide allows the video author to add points of interest in the video.  The perspective will automatically pan to these points of interest, although the viewer will still be able to look at another direction if they so choose.  The viewer can also resume the Guide by clicking or tapping on the compass. The Guide is one way of solving the issue of a viewer getting "lost" in the 360 video and missing the important part of the video. Here are the instructions Facebook posted for using the Guide: • When you upload your video to Facebook, check "This video was recorded in 360° format" • Head to the new "360 Controls" tab • Check the box that says "Enable Guide" • Play through your video to identify the points of interest that you don't want your followers to miss • To add a poin...

​ Facebook posted the instructions for its Surround 360 camera , an open-source 3D 360 camera with up to 8k resolution. The parts cost around $30,000, and took an engineer 4 hours to build.  Is it worth it?  Here is a sample video from the Surround . Meanwhile you may also be interested in: Live Planet , a 3D 360 camera with 4k livestreaming, available for preorder now ($4,995 preorder, MSRP $9,995, due Q4 2016). Orb VR , a 3D 360 camera with livestreaming, available late 2017 (price TBD). Vuze , an affordable fully spherical 3D 360 camera with 4k resolution, available for preorder now ($799; due October 2016). LucidCam , an affordable hemispherical 3D 360 camera with 4k 2k video resolution (4k photo resolution), available for preorder now ($429; due December 2016).

Vuze (previewed here) , the first fully spherical 360 3D camera for consumers, just uploaded another sample on Facebook. I was very impressed with the stitching, which looked perfectly seamless.  I don't know if the stitching in this case was automatic, or was customized (and if it was customized, I don't know if the included software would allow customization).  I do know that one of their recent videos, of an Austrian concert , had excellent stitching as well. Separate from the stitching, the image quality was also quite good.  I watched the video on the phone and also on the Gear VR.  There was excellent level of detail for the singer.  The piano and the other instruments had less detail because they were farther, but there was still a reasonable level of detail. The color for this sample video was much better and more realistic than the color in the Austrian concert video. There was some glare, which I expected due to the very strong light sources.  (No...

Facebook recently began supporting 360-degree photos. However, the upload process was rather quirky and required dragging and dropping on the desktop . Fortunately, with the Facebook update on July 7, you can now upload 360-degree photos via the mobile app. Just create a new post and tap on the photo icon, and choose a 360-degree photo. When you upload the photo, it will automatically be recognized as a 360-degree photo. I've tested it successfully on Facebook for iOS (version 59.0) with the iPhone 6, and Facebook for Android (version 84.0.0.20.70) with a Samsung S6 running on Android 6.0.1.