Posts tagged “virtual reality”

Zwift events, a social ride and a race — Nov 18, 2018
Today I participated in two Zwift events, a social ride and a race. The social ride was one hour of pedalling at a comfortable pace trying to keep to the same speed as the group. Rather than trying to be as fast as the group I was trying to pace myself to be within the peloton rather than riding off....
The World VR Forum - Year 2 - The Conferences — May 15, 2017
I was a volunteer at the World VR Forum again this year. I was in the conference room providing speakers with microphones before they went up on stage. As a result of this I was able to listen to many interesting speakers. They spoke about a diversity of topics of interest to various groups....
The World from a baby's perspective — Jun 9, 2016
How would you feel if you had access to video footage taken with a 360° camera of the world from a baby’s perspective? This is a question I find interesting to answer. I decided to try this experiment a few days ago. The limitation of most cameras is that they only show what is within the field of view. They only show what the photographer or camera operator felt was worth capturing. With a 360° camera placed at the child’s eye level you can see everything from their perspective. You can see the entire room and you can look up to see the grown ups or down to see the hands and other objects on the ground. You can also see the underside of chairs and tables. With VR goggles you would see the world from that perspective. Imagine a birthday or Christmas party from this perspective. You would see the opening of presents, the reaction of the infant but also of the grown ups, of the brothers and sisters and maybe pets if there are any around. I think that this way of documenting the world would be most interesting for the child when she becomes a teenager or grown up. Imagine the pleasure that could be had by seeing how everyone looked at this time. Conventional cameras are always missing at least one person. With 360 cameras everyone would be in the image. The camera operator becomes part of the scene. One advantage of 360° videos is that they cover what is taking place in front and behind the camera so people may behave more naturally than if a standard video or photo camera was pointing at them. I love being behind video cameras rather than in front. With 360 cameras I am forced to be in frame. I believe that people will behave in a more natural manner than if they were filmed by a conventional camera. We see how people enjoy letters and paintings, photographs and conventional videos. Imagine how much enjoyment people would get from taking a step back in time. Imagine looking at the furniture, the gadgets, the architecture from a decade or two ago....
Watching clouds form as a 360 timelapse — Jun 22, 2016
Time-lapse videos are fun because we can see something happen faster or slower than real time. By watching this content we gain a better understanding of the world and how it works. For years I have been filming time-lapses and the results can be fun. In some cases we record time-lapses with video cameras and at other times we set an interval timer to take pictures every so many seconds. In this post you will be watching clouds form as a 360 timelapse. I have chosen to share both the flat image and the spherical image. The reason for sharing both versions is to give you an overview of how objects move in both....
Vlogging on a Via Ferrata with the Theta S — May 15, 2016
Vlogging on a Via Ferrata with the Theta S by Ricoh is not only feasible but interesting. Earlier today I went to the Via Ferrata du Fort L’écluse in the French Region of Ain. This Via Ferrata goes long the nice rock face next to the climb. The purpose of this video is to bring you with me so that you can experience the sounds of Via Ferrata without the climbing experience or a head for heights. The Theta S by Ricoh is a 360° camera with two lenses. One lens is looking at the person taking video and the other lens looks at what the holder of the camera sees. When the two signals are combined you can export the video as a 360 video to be shared. The device has a mini HDMI out, a USB port, enough memory for 45 minutes of video at 1920X1080 with a 30FPS shooting range. It is currently one of the more affordable and intuitive devices to use. You can keep it with you at all times and getting material ready for editing takes seconds. The beauty of such a simple and light solution is that it allows for a very quick turnaround time. [caption id=“attachment_2873” align=“aligncenter”] Reviewing footage is simple and intuitive I was hanging off a cliff when I was taking my videos today but if you’re a normal person you will probably be sitting in a café or some stairs to review the footage. When device wifi is activated and when you download the app you can use your phone as a remote to take videos or pictures and even to watch back the video you have taken in 360° vision. If you’re not happy with the shot then you can repeat it until you are happy. This system is a simple, elegant and all in one solution that is quick and intuitive to use....
Virtual Reality Goggles and multicamera Production — Apr 5, 2016
I have worked with video cameras, from hi8 to MiniDV, Beta SP, SX, DVCAM, XDCAM, AVCHD and other formats. Cameras have grown and shrunk, controls have changed from manual to partially automated to fully automated. Television news and Studio camera productions have gone from three or four camera operators to needing a couple and then a single camera operator sitting in a side room with controls for all three cameras. Crane and jib moves are programmed so that the same action is performed at the start of each news program. Virtual Reality technology and Virtual reality headsets are going down in price. Apps provide mobile phone users with 360° videos in normal vision and 3D. The technology we use to watch 360° content and immerse ourselves in the VR world could be adapted and made suitable for multi-camera production. It would be nice for software to be written that moves the camera as we move our heads. This technology is already used by gunners flying in Apache helicopters. The point would be to adapt this technology to camera operating. I would manual controls for zoom and focus and a control to lock off the camera once the desired shot is ready. Imagine how much simpler controlling drone and crane cameras would be. Imagine also how much nicer it will be for conference attendees, concert goers and UN delegates if a smaller remote controlled camera could be used. Camera operators often obscure people’s view. This technology would be less intrusive. Camera operators could sit rather than stand for hours at a time, barely able to move. VR goggles and the technology they contain should not be used just to consume a finished product but should instead be used as a creative/production tool. VR goggles and related tech could be used to simplify people’s work, to make it more intuitive. Multicamera production with VR goggles would reduce costs and make high-quality video coverage achievable even for modest budgets. The excuse for using a single webcam to Livestream an event will be gone making virtual attendance of events more enjoyable....
Virtual Reality Advertising — Apr 8, 2016
At this moment in time Virtual Reality is an abstract notion for most people. It is easy to find news features and documentaries speaking about the potential of the medium. The video above is the most effective demonstration of Virtual Reality that I have seen so far. I like that they use a greenscreen to key in the environment that the guinea pigs are in. We are immersed in to the reality that they are seeing. It demonstrates not only the games and environments you could find yourself in but how it is a communal rather than solitary experience. This advert removes some of the stigma of virtual reality. From the 6th of May to the 8th of May 2016 a meeting will take place in Crans Montana Switzerland. It has the title of World Virtual Reality Forum. “The World VR Forum is dedicated to advancing the virtual reality industry and culture.” Artists, documentary makers, news producers, architects, surgeons and an ever-expanding group of people will benefit from this technology. The video above helps us understand the intricacies of using something as simple as two hand held controllers. In two to three months the Music festival season will start with Caribana, Montreux Jazz, Paléo Festival and many other music festivals. During these events media outlets and artists love to give interviews to journalists to drive interest in their upcoming performance. For now we usually have two or more cameras. In some cases you have one wide shot of the room or the artists and the second camera is a close up of the artist as he speaks. This summer I expect that we will watch interviews in 360° video where we can turn and see the journalist asking questions and turn to face the artist when he answers. When a group of artists are interviewed you will be able to watch the antics whilst listening to what they are saying. You will watch the artists and the journalists smile and laugh. When I think of VR goggles I do not think so much about gaming as I think about documentary and television production. I like to think about how it could provide new opportunities for content producers to create interesting and immersive video content. “Their headsets were connected with the school campus more than 900 miles away in Okinawa, where the school’s headmaster spoke. The students were also treated to a 360 degree view of the campus inside the augmented reality.” (source) Google Streetview could provide live 360° vision of specific squares, St Marco in Venice, Notre Dame in Paris, St Peter’s in Rome or the market Square in Wroclaw. Imagine Google Street view when wearing a VR headset. VR headsets are being offered by a number of brands for all mobile phones and the number of cameras able to provide 360° video are growing in number. As both of these democratise the market so content creators will have more customers and more incentive to produce relevant content....
Video Editing in a virtual Reality environment — Apr 2, 2016
A few years ago I said that I would upgrade my mac book pro when apple came out with a dual display laptop where the keyboard is a touchscreen display that changes to suit the application in use. Two days ago I had a change of heart. I do not expect Apple to come out with such a device. I have set my sites on a different idea. An edit suite which requires VR goggles to use. The edit suite could be used either by standing people or sitting people. Turn your eyes to the left and you see the rushes. You would have a choice. The rushes could be shown as keyframes on a board or as film strips. Motion feedback gloves would be worn that provide tactile feedback. Double click and the selected clip appears in the player window. With current editing systems keyboard shortcuts are learned and memorised by editors to avoid using the mouse. In this case specific finger positions would be short cuts. You could trim, splice, insert, overwrite, make multiclips and more. Sound and vision could be faded as if using physical controls. Imagine multicamera editing in Final Cut VR. The setup would be like in an OB van except that you’re in an edit suite or in a park. You could even be sitting in the back seat of a car. The beauty of such a setup is that monitors and displays could eventually be removed from the desk to be replaced with goggles and a pair of gloves. This means that the same edit suite could have a virtual 64 channel audio mixing board for sound technicians, colour correction wheels for colour graders, vision mixing console for vision mixers and standard video editing controls for video editors. In theory we could go back to the jug/shuttle controls from linear editing days. I now look forward to seeing whether Avid, Apple or Adobe come out with the first virtual audiovisual creation suite. Imagine how immersive the experience would be. Enjoy the notion that this virtual environment will allow you to stand or sit down....
Understanding Virtual Reality games via Youtube — Jun 8, 2016
Virtual Reality is still an abstract concept for people requiring either a Samsung mobile phone and their VR headset, a mobile phone and a VR headset from a third party provider or dedicated hardware like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Unless you’re in a big city testing this technology is impractical. Vlogging is an effective way to understand the potential of Virtual Reality experiences such as those provided by the HTC Vive. I mention the HTC Vive system because it is one of the first to provide gamers with a fully immersive experience. You move around in space physically and pick up objects thanks to the controllers. In contrast to written articles you see how people react and enjoy new technology in real time. You don’t rely on someone’s writing skills. It gives you a direct and honest appreciation of the experience that you will personally experience if you play the game with that setup. Demonstrations such as this one are fun because they show you how immersive the game is and how physically demanding VR gaming can be. When my generation were gaming we had to sit at a console or computer and use a keyboard and mouse or a controller. We could sit for hours not moving much. With VR systems gaming is no longer an inactive activity. From now on you need space in a room to move around in, you need hand controllers and you need to stand, sit, crouch and more. Gaming is now a physical activity. We are still in the infancy of VR gaming and technology will improve. We will get gloves, surfaces for walking and more. VR experiences will be progressively more immersive and so people’s occasionally negative perception of gaming and gamers may change. I look forward to VR gloves that allow us to see our fingers move and wrap around objects....
Thoughts on the Oculus Quest — Sep 12, 2019
During the World XR Forum I had to carry six or more Oculus Quest devices from a car to the conference centre and then help with setting up at least one of these devices. At first I thought it was like most VR headsets where the phone is the display....
The Theta+ Video app is available — Aug 26, 2016
Yesterday the Theta+ Video app came out for Android. The Theta+ video app allows you to trim video clips and then share them to social networks. This means that you no longer need to wait until you get home to prepare content for sharing. You can do it while you sit and have a post activity hot chocolate or other drink. [caption id=“attachment_3325” align=“aligncenter”] Video options When you select the raw video it is converted to be a spherical video. When that process completes you can choose between creating a 360 degree video or a cropped one. A cropped one is a tinyworld video. [caption id=“attachment_3326” align=“aligncenter”] Filters, Trim and music The next menu gives you three choices, filters, trim or background music. I never bother with filters and the trim option is fiddly on the Sony Xperia Z5 compact with a 13 minute video. With a shorter video I would have found this process easier. Saving is not intuitive. First you trim the video and then you go back and save the changes. While saving you need to keep the app open. The sharing options are to Facebook, youtube and other social networks. This varies according to which apps you have on your phone. I like that the two first options are facebook and youtube as these are the networks that I usually share to. When I tried to upload to youtube it failed twice. When I attempted to upload to Facebook it was stuck at 99 percent twice. This is a great app to trim videos before sharing and add some music when required. What I would like to see in future versions is the ability to compile a number of 360 videos together to create edited sequences. They need to improve uploading so that it works better. At the moment of posting all attempts to share videos failed....
Sea of Tranquility - Snorkeling VR by Pierre Friquet — Sep 10, 2019
During the World XR Forum this year in Crans Montana I helped Pierre Friquet with his Sea of Tranquility VR Experience. This VR experience was unique in that it required you to be either in your swimming clothes, your underwear or other....
Rock Climbing in Virtual Reality — May 13, 2016
Rock Climbing in Virtual Reality has an interesting future because some people are afraid of heights, others don’t have the muscle tone to climb and yet more live too far away from climbing locations to enjoy the sport. Virtual reality is a great way of enabling people to get some of the sensations of rock climbing without the safety concerns. As I watched this video I was curious to see whether it was a passive experience and then noticed the playstation controller. That’s a nice enough way to go "rock climbing but it it was up to me then I would pair this with the HTC Vive and it’s related controllers. Ideally I would go a step further. I would develop a conveyor belt system, place it vertically and program it to put handholds where the climber has somewhere to grip. As he or she climbs they would place their weight on the hand hold and it would slide down as the person climbs. We have seen demonstrations of equipment that can emulate 3d shapes and textures. The challenge would be to take this from being flat on a table to being vertical and strong enough to hold someone’s weight. Tests should be carried out on near vertical and vertical “climbing routes” before being rotated to allow for the climbing of overhanging routes. You would definitely get a workout from such a configuration. Gamers would go from their current physiognomy to being toned and healthy. The next generation of gamers are going to be fit thanks to Virtual reality workouts. This could also be attempted for sports like Via Ferrata, via cordata and others. Via Ferrata is a simplified form of rock climbing and via cordata is walking around a nice landscape where safety gear is available to keep you safe in case of a slip or fall whilst hiking. I really look forward to when this gaming/fitness training experience comes of age....
Rain and the Gear 360 — Jun 13, 2016
Rain and the Gear 360 are well suited to the weather we are currently subjected to in Switzerland. For the past month and a half we have had rain almost every single day. As a result of this it has limited the number of opportunities to go out and get 360 footage. 360 camera rigs are not designed for rain. Most 360 rigs involve at least six non weatherproof cameras and rigs that are designed for dry rather than wet conditions. To go out in this rain would drown the equipment. With additional funds you could film in these conditions with weatherproof gear but the cost increases. Add to this that camera systems like the Ricoh Theta S prefer clear skies and nice weather for taking video and you see that it is not really worth the effort. By the end of September the Samsung Gear 360 should provide us with a simple to carry, weatherproof 360 camera which could be fun to take canyoning (if they make a specialist housing) or hiking for doing other sports activities where weather proofing is a useful feature. The trend to make devices at least splash proof is good. Another nice feature of this camera is the ability to use 200 gigabyte SDHC cards. with these cards you can record for hours. When the card is full or when you’re changing location you can change cards in seconds and continue working on a project. With the Ricoh Theta S you can record for 45 minutes before you need to transfer the footage, clear the memory and start recording again. With 200 gigabytes of storage one concept that I would love to test is 360° time lapse videos. You could fix the camera to your bike, to a canoe or to some other object and set it to take a picture at regular intervals. So far I have not seen a mention of an interval recording mode but with 200 gigabytes you can record for hours without worrying about storage. You could change the speed in post production. This camera records in UHD rather than HD quality. Video recording is at a resolution of 3840x1920. 360 videos taken with this camera should be more pleasant to view as a result. The 360° video eco-system is still in it’s infancy and most 360 video solutions require people to use a number of cameras. Both Samsung and Ricoh provide all in one solutions along with software to stitch the images ready for post production. They are helping to democratise the medium both by making production cheaper but also by enabling people to produce content. This increase in content will encourage more people to get VR goggles which in turn will justify increasing the budget of 360 video production budgets. It will go from being a niche product to being mainstream....
Rain and the Gear 360 — Jun 13, 2016
zproxy - Sep 4, 2016...
Playing Ingress and Pokemon Go in parallel — Jul 30, 2016
People are playing Ingress and Pokemon Go in Parallel. Both games use the same geo-located points and walk the same routes. They have the same places to farm and combat. I started playing Ingress again, but only a few minutes here and there. As I play I see new faces and new people at Ingress portals. They are no longer my age or older. They are much younger, in their teens. Yesterday as the neighbours were having a party I decided to take advantage of the excuse to go out and play Ingress. I went to the four or five portals in my village. At the village church I saw a youth drive up to it on a scooter, farm via the Pokemon Go layer and then leave. Nothing changed on the Ingress layer. No damaged resonators, no upgrades. I like that people can play two entirely different games at the same location. I see this as the future of geo-located games. I see this as the next wave. The physical world provides the location and then the layer (or game) provides the user interface, the virtual world we interact with. With imagination more and more layers can be added. This will provide people with choice. The next step is smartwatches and augmented reality goggles. Those who have played Ingress intensively know where all the portals are so they can put their phone away when walking from point to point. The same is probably true of Pokemon Go players. One person wrote that he uses his smartwatch to farm when walking around. Imagine if Google Glass had come out now. If it had come out now, with the Pokemon Go craze people would buy them. At the moment to play pokemon Go and Ingress you walk in a position, that given time, will turn us in to hunchbacks. Rather than being from manual work in a field or a coal mine it will be from walking staring at a phone. I write this with a certain sense of humour. The market for Augmented reality goggles is ripe. Device manufacturers should grab this opportunity while it lasts....
The Insta360 Nano and Air - A climbing test — Jun 5, 2017
The Insta 360 Nano and Air are two affordable cameras. The first is designed to work with the new iPhone shape as well as a stand alone device. The Insta360 Air works only when it is plugged into an Android device. Both are good for specific uses....
The Immersive Video Experience — May 9, 2016
I was at the World Virtual Reality Forum in Crans Montana this weekend as a volunteer. During this time I was able to try many of the demonstrations and get a real feel for the potential of 360° and immersive videos. I was also able to listen to people comment on what they appreciated about the experiences and what they did not like....
Getting an audience to film screenings — Apr 17, 2016
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC recently made a generation of cinema non-goers angry with him when he said that he would allow texting to take place during projects. My generation, previous generations and the generations of the future complained on social media. Getting an audience to film screenings requires an understanding of what they prefer to do instead. In the “Golden Age” of my cinema going life I would go to the cinema up to three times a week. I went this frequently because I lived close to the cinema, because we had two GBP Tuesdays and because it was something to do when other people were not available. Over a period of months I went to see more than 90 films. A consequence of this habit was over-familiarity with the codes and conventions of mainstream cinema. Since that “golden age” I have seldom been back to the cinema. When you know everything that will happen in a film within the first 15 minutes you get bored. I know AMC through its television Series of which the Walking Dead is one. This is a series that I did binge watch when it was fresh and again when it was made available via netflix. Television series have better writers and better storylines than films. They also don’t overdo it with super hero rubbish and special effects. As these productions have storylines we care enough to watch one episode after another. Films fail to engage us in this manner. When I was in London I went to a few screenings. The screenings I usually went to in London were at the Front Line Club. You would watch a documentary about current affairs and there would be a panel to discussion to discuss what you had just seen. In Geneva I found that the graduate Institute has started to do the same thing. I regularly go to such events because I like to complement what I already know by watching interesting productions and then listening to questions and answers sessions and learning something new. Montagne en Scène is an example of what AMC should think of doing. They need to find and fund the production of films for niche markets. Montagne en Scène is an event where four mountain related films are projected to a specialist audience of mountain and sports enthusiasts. This niche usually relies on youtube and vimeo to find and share footage of their passions. By organising a special day these enthusiasts are encouraged to come to film screenings. AMC is competing against mobile phones, televisions, Virtual reality goggles, tablets and Video on Demand via the World Wide Web. what they need to do is lower the price and make it more convenient for people in contemporary culture. Having panel discussions at the end of a screening is one way of attracting people. Lowering the ticket price would be another way. If they stopped making CGI films with no story then I would start going to the cinema again. This complain extends to the crappy films currently available, at least in Switzerland on Netflix. If Netflix did not have television series I would have stopped paying for their service months ago. If you treat your customers/viewers like mature adults then there is a good chance that you will attract them to film screenings on a more regular basis....
Experimenting with Spherical photographs — May 25, 2016
I was in Spain with the Ricoh Theta S last week so I took the opportunity to experiment with the Ricoh Theta S in a number of locations. What I like about such a device is that it takes a click to get pictures. I experimented with a manfrotto monopod and a smaller monopod. The Manfrotto base was clearly visible in shots so the immersive experience is degraded. With the smaller monopod the base is the same width as that of the camera. This means that at least the support was hidden....
Experimenting with Spherical photographs — May 25, 2016
Tony Tremblay - 28th of Nov, 2016...
Cosmic Trip - Physical Video gaming - Throw it like a frisbee — Jun 21, 2016
Physical Video Gaming...
Climbing Virtual Reality, Uniform and Grip — Aug 17, 2016
Climbing Virtual Reality tuition is an interesting idea. Learning to climb is fun because it is a physical and intellectual challenge. The first step is to familiarise yourself with the sensations of climbing and learning to see where foot holds are and where hand holds are. When you begin the hand holds are easy to find and hold on to but as you progress and attempt more challenging routes you need to develop finger strength to hold on to those holds. Climbing Virtual Reality tuition is an interesting idea. In some cases though finger strength is not the only challenge. You also need to learn to read the route and to know which hand to hold a hand hold with, which foot to use on a foot hold and how to reach the next hold. You can learn through trial and error which is fun or you can climb other routes and wait until someone who knows the route that has you flummoxed decides to climb that route. Virtual reality Goggles are an alternative way of learning how to climb a route. In the example provided in the video above Grip by Uniform provides climbers with an alternative. In their example they speak about Shauna coxsey participating in the project and allowing people to film her as she is coached on how to climb a route. In other locations it could just as easily be the route setters. It’s interesting to see such a project because the question we often hear people ask is “How did you climb that route” and the answer is often “I don’t remember”. With this technology it would be easy to provide people with guidance for the routes they find more challenging. It is a new and immersive form of tuition which could help people progress and learn climbing skills more efficiently and within a shorter amount of time....
Archery with the HTC Vive — May 11, 2016
Virtual Reality is a great opportunity to practice skills and keep fit at the same time. It’s fun to watch people play these immersive games and get carried away. In Holopoint you’re an archer shooting at targets and they shoot back at you. You need to dodge out of the way to avoid being hit. At first you’re given enough time to shoot and avoid the arrows but as you progress in the game you need to react faster and dodge more arrows. From level 10 onwards you’re shooting at Samurai warriors and dodging arrows from boxes. The game looks both fun and physical. This game looks as though it could be addictive. If I had an HTC Vive I think I would pull the cable so that it is hanging from the ceiling rather than from the headset down my back and on to the floor. From my experience of the HTC Vive in Crans Montana and from the comments he makes during the video it seems logical to get the cable out of the way. It would be a shame to trip and break the device or injure yourself. The beauty of VR is that the graphics don’t need to be photo realistic for the application to be fun. As with Altspace you’re immersed in an environment and you know that you can interact with objects and talk with people in other programs. At first I was unsure about socialising via Virtual reality but after experiencing it I changed my mind. You are in a virtual environment and you can play with objects and move towards and away from groups. A friend was playing basketball in Altspace and I had fun piling mugs of beer until they fell to the floor. Virtual reality is as much about the environment as it is about having fun. The ability to play in a virtual environment is entertaining. I look forward to seeing how these environments progress and become more realistic. I was thinking about how sailing and other simulators would be possible with such technology. That would be a lot of fun. It would make a change from car driving and flying games....
Apple Pure Vision and the Immersive Experience Opportunity — Jun 6, 2023
Memorable VR experiences...
360 timelpase videos — Jun 16, 2016
360 timelapse videos provide us with interesting new opportunities. Imagine for example placing the camera out to see near Weymouth beach and watching as the tide comes towards the camera and then beyond it towards the city. Imagine watching as the sun rises on one side of the Leukerbad Valley and sets on the other. Imagine that BBC Natural history unit sequence of sand dunes moving across the landscape one day at a time for a year....
A 360° cooking Show would be interesting to watch. — Sep 5, 2016
For a few weeks now I have been thinking about how you could make a 360° cooking show. For this video I would like to be able to see the process from an angle where I see the person cooking. I would also like to see all of the ingredients and the preparation of various stages of the recipe. For this you would need an open plan kitchen where preparation takes place in the middle of the room. If it was to be filmed with just one camera then the camera should be lower than eye level but not by much. I would want to look straight ahead in to the eyes of the person preparing the meal and talking. As the person speaks about ingredients I would like to be able to look down and see all of the ingredients. You would need enough room for chopping and marinating. I would think about having a camera above the cooking surfaces so that we can see how the textures change from the start of cooking to when the mix becomes “saucy”. That’s how they describe it in recipes. I want the 360 approach to be justified. I want to make it so that the viewer has a reason to wear VR goggles. The video above justifies a 360° video whereas the video below does not. The camera needs to be placed as close to the action as possible. It should be designed so that the viewer has to turn his head to see what is happening. This video does not justify the 360 approach because the action happens in front of the camera and although you can look around the background is not relevant. The action is too small on screen. You can’t see what they are doing. The camera operator and the producer should learn the recipe and identify what the stages of preparation are. They should have a shot list of every thing that is relevant and place the camera accordingly. Is an oven or a grill used? is sauce prepared? Is something timelapse friendly? A few years ago we were up in a swiss chalet with a friend and we decided to cook a pizza with a log fire rather than an oven. We started the log fire and then we placed the pizza next to the fire. As the fire was only on one side we rotated the pizza to get it to cook in full. In watching the playback you see the pizza cook as well as the logs go from being logs to embers and “melt” downwards as they burn. If the camera can safely be placed close enough to the fire then you could look down at the pizza as the ingredients change appearance and look up to see the logs decrease in size. I believe that 360° cooking shows have a future. In theory you need just one well placed camera and editing is cut down to a minimum. Instead of editing and vision mixing from two or three cameras you need just one. I believe that the programme should not be more than 5-10 minutes. People, for now, are still getting used to VR headsets and may find extended periods of time more tiring to watch. How long will it take before someone like Jamie Oliver uses VR cooking simulations to teach people to cook in the real world. With enough time they could emulate real cooking times at different heats so that when you transition from VR to reality you have the right intuition to successfully cook for yourself and others....
Apple Vision Pro Stagnation — Feb 5, 2024
People want us to see the Apple Vision Pro VR kit as revolutionary but it isn’t, for a simple reason. Several years ago I was going to the World VR conference and loved playing with various VR kits but they almost all had the same problem. They cost an arm and a leg to buy....