GoPro has announced that they are building a 360° camera array for stereoscopic, spherical content captured at Google I/O 2015. Google also features their new VR technology platform known as Jump.
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GoPro has went public about the development of a ball-shaped mount that can hold six to sixteen Hero4 cameras systematically positioned in various directions to capture hi-res footage for virtual reality (VR). Since the company acquired Kolor in April 2015, users recording video and pictures can then stitch together the content using VR software. Ultimately, the experience of watching the final product will be a singular unified 6K spherical image.
According to GoPro’s research team, only a select few will have access to the new 360°array, sporting a total of sixteen cameras that work together as one. GoPro has gone as far as tackling the bigger technical issues surrounding professional rigs. After reaching out to the pro community, the company was able to identify the biggest challenges when it comes to spherical content capture:
- Camera syncing
- Multi-camera control
- Extended battery life
At Google I/O, the 2-day conference in San Francisco, GoPro helps to improve Google’s Jump platform by capturing and sharing immersive 3D content so that everyone can experience things right in the moment like they’re actually there.
In conjunction with today’s announcement at I/O, GoPro released an immersive, 3D video that demonstrates what’s possible when 16 GoPros work together as one. Together, we’ve created an integrated solution that enables the ultimate immersive experience.
– GoPro
According to Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro, his company has been building new tech with VR for some time, but watching other companies start to invest in the space provided a definitive opportunity that VR has a future as a platform. Nick believes that the Spherical Array technology probably won’t be a big hit with the consumers on day one, however, the pros will take notice for sure.
Currently, VR solutions available today are not-so-simple and cost a lot of money, but the six-camera GoPro rig can serve as a proving example to show everyone a different way to work with video content. GoPro expects to have their compiled videos to be viewable on VR headsets like Google Cardboard, Oculus, and Microsoft HoloLens. Users will also have the option to export the videos your smartphone or PC using the Kolor app or YouTube 360.
The Kolor interactive video
https://eyes.kolor.com/video/531be9d2b1d6458662713c13693206c9
The non-interactive YouTube video
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Featured Image: Google I/O 2015
