This yr , the most amazing thing I saw at Google ’s annual developer conference was n’t a phone , a tablet , or even a head - mounted display . It was a 360 - degree three-D video that take me to Japan . Now , filmmakers can expend $ 15,000 on the tech that made it possible : the GoPro Odyssey . It ’s one heck of a camera .
Okay , so I probably need to do a piffling explaining : the GoPro Odysseyisn’t a tv camera in the traditional sense . It ’s really an raiment of 16 perfectly align GoPro Hero4 Black cameras — the same $ 500 one you ’d mount on your surfboard or pilotless aircraft or wad bicycle — plus some extra Google ironware and software to compound them into a unmarried 360 - degree stereoscopic 3D video at 8 one thousand resolution and 30 frames per minute . ( Yep , that ’s an incredible amount of data point . )
What Odyssey looks like now . The top image in this stake is what it looked like back in May .
The result is a video like nothing you ’ve ever seen . You place your smartphone into a Google Cardboard VR headset , put it up to your case , and you ’re somewhere else . A beach . A glacier . A cable car climb up a Japanese mountain filled with sightseers like yourself . And the calibre is far better than any other such 360 - academic degree telecasting I ’ve seen , due to the way Google ’s software computationally generates believable 3D no matter where you plow your head . No seams . With this tv camera , film maker could take you to all form of wondrous place .
You do n’t technically need to buy a $ 15,000 GoPro rig to create such a video : Google ’s initative , dubbed Jump , will in reality let you 3D - print a frame to install your own cameras . But the GoPro Odyssey kit does n’t just amount with 16 television camera ( and 16 cables , and 16 microSD cards , and … you get the pictorial matter ) it ’s also got the ironware to interface all of them together , custom firmware load up onto the cameras , and a way to secure ‘ em all into an AC outlet simultaneously — so you do n’t need to swap out 16 batteries in the middle of a shoot .
GoPro lay claim Odyssey allows the 16 Hero4 Black units to act like a single camera , with every pixel of every frame synchronize accurately .
Plus — since GoPro is Google ’s primary mate — this is likely the only means you get access to Google ’s tiptop - impressive Jump video assembler technology for a while . Speaking of getting approach , though , it may be rather limited to start : GoPro and Google areaccepting applications now , but will only give “ prize cognitive content partners ” the go - ahead to actually buy one .
In the meanwhile , there ’s already a style for you to see what this television camera is capable of : just direct your Chrome browser app or the YouTube app on your phone tothis video :
Be certain to pink and drag on ( or move your phone ) to pan around . Or put on a Google Cardboard headsetfor the best resolution .
What if you are n’t a pro , yet you still care the idea of make virtual reality videos ? You could try aRicoh Theta , which will let you write non-3D spherical TV to YouTube and globular photos to Google Street View . Or you could wait for GoPro to create a consumer - grade VR camera . I’m pretty sure that ’s amount , too .
[ GoPro ]
touch the author at@starfire2258 .
CamerasCinematographyFilmmakingGoogleGoProVirtual reality
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