GoPro Archives - VR Playhouse Immersive Content for VR and AR

Jun 13

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Our Technology Upgrade

By jordanh | News, Technology | No Comments

Christmas came early for the good little boys and girls of VR Playhouse! We got the fancy toys!!! First up, the GoPro Odyssey: 16 synchronized HERO4 Black cameras, all controlled from one remote, for high-resolution capture. And it is, of course, compatible with… The Google Jump Assembler: This bad boy stitches in a matter of hours to create perfect stereoscopic 360-degree video. This means no more audio sync worries. No more color matching worries. No more mismatched settings. No more days spent cleaning all that stuff up. It potentially saves our clients thousands of dollars in post-production costs and saves us thousands of dollars in Red Bull and aspirin costs. Finally, Sennheiser’s virtual reality microphone, which allows for simultaneous high quality capture of ambisonic audio via four-channel, XLR output and plugs into any existing four-channel recorder. Audio tracks can be brought into audio software seamlessly. So sweet! I should…

Oct 26

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How Not To Suck At VR (and other fun things)

By jordanh | 360 Video, Technology | No Comments

This is a guest post from VR Playhouse’s beloved Head of Production, Derin Turner. Sometimes he gets frustrated. Over the past year, we have been hard at work here at VR Playhouse, experimenting with virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, astral-projecto-realities. Some things have worked, others not so much. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve gone on spiritual journeys to rediscover ourselves and the meaning of life. We’ve broken a lot of things. All thanks to the wondrous world of VR. And through all of this, we have learned a lot. Things that we now want to pass on to you, so that we may spare you some of the pain that this gloriously sadistic medium inflicts. The first thing we’ve learned is this: At it’s core, the idea of VR is to transport your brain-noggin to alternate planes of existence. It is an illusion. And an illusion must be flawless….

May 27

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The Great American West in VR

By jordanh | 360 Video | No Comments

There are rare and beautiful places in this country, places filled with an inimitable natural majesty and grandeur, places that people come from all over the world to see and experience. These places are so special, in fact, that they have been set aside and protected as our national parks. Within the boundaries of those parks, the world moves at a different speed, unhindered by the pressures and stresses of modern living. If you’ve ever spent time wandering through one, away from all the lights and sounds and tumult of daily life, you’ll recall the distinct sense of peace and relaxation that washes over you. There is a stillness and a tranquility there that cannot be found anywhere else. VR Playhouse, along with experienced outdoorsman and spherical filmmaker Jay Whittaker, has set out to capture that amazing diversity in a series of short, virtual experiences. Jay has traveled across the…

Jul 29

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Making High-Concept 360° Video

By jordanh | Technology | No Comments

The learning curve has been sharp, but we’re getting a better grasp of 360 video creation every day. First, let’s recap: We began our efforts in 360 video from scratch. Initial challenges: What gear do you use? How do you stitch the videos together? WHY WON’T THESE VIDEOS LINE UP? (If you’ve tried your hand at stitching, you know what I’m talking about). We began with the 6 camera 360Hero setup. It worked. Both the Beach Day Video and El Matador Cliffs video were shot using six GoPros. However, there were what we call “glitches in the matrix.” More cameras = more coverage, we decide. We up our game and settle on the 10-camera 360Hero setup for shooting and Kolor’s AutoPano programs for editing. Our latest video, Dreaming Downtown, uses this 10 camera set up. We also up the production value on this video. Like most experimenting with 360 video, the beach videos allow you to…