While traveling for a 360 video production down under, our head of production, Matt Sheils visited one of Australia’s most iconic sites, the Sydney Opera House. Standing on the steps of the Opera House he had the opportunity to capture the architectural marvel and demonstrate our team’s 360 video workflow.

In the video Matt explains how Jorn Utzon’s entry was chosen out of 233 total designs during the 1956 international competition. The educational piece highlights the materials used to build the landmark and covers other interesting facts such as its $102 million dollar final billing.

Workflow

Matt was able to utilize our team’s typical workflow to output a polished spherical piece for 360 video streaming and virtual reality head mounted display (HMD) playback:

1. The first step in this process was capturing the footage itself. Matt utilized a combination of monoscopic and stereoscopic rigs to capture different segments of the piece. This included using a new technique involving shooting monoscopic footage with our Pro12H. Featuring five pairs of cameras on the horizon for capturing stereoscopic footage, the Pro12H can also be used to capture high resolution monoscopic footage with a high degree of frame overlap.

2. The next step was managing the media as quickly and easily as possible with 360CamMan. The fact that Matt was working with multiple rigs (one of them being a 12-camera setup) meant that keeping track of which footage was captured with which camera was critical. Matt utilized this software to import the data from the multiple rigs in the right order and to organize the footage for the stitching process. 360CamMan is a powerful tool for managing VR/360 video media files filmed with multi-camera rigs. This software allowed him to format each card and setup his workflow so 360CamMan would automatically recognize which camera a file was associated with and organize them accordingly.

3. After stitching his footage, Matt used Mettle SkyBox 360/VR Tools for Premiere Pro to add graphics, text and icons. In particular, this Adobe Premiere plugin’s 2D graphics placement tool allowed Matt to place 2D images into the equirectangular file and to present them with the proper degree of warping for the spherical space. This file was then rendered out of Premiere and was fully prepped for uploading to spherical video players such and YouTube 360 and Facebook 360 as well as VR HMDs.

We’re excited to share one of our latest 360 video adventures with you and hope Matt’s workflow offers some tips and insight for your own spherical projects!

From 360Heros

We recently caught up with Experius VR, a virtual reality studio working with top brands to create 360 video experiences. Offering full end-to-end production services, Experius VR recently completed projects for Mercedes-Benz and Bentley Motors.

The Mercedes-Benz 360 video takes viewers on an adventure with Kelly and his canine companion Loki as they explore the mountains in Colorado:

Click below to see Experius VR’s Mercedes-Benz 360 video on YouTube:

Read more about the making of the Mercedes-Benz Loki 360 Experience

Shooting a 360 video for Bentley was another high profile production completed by the Experius VR team. They recorded the action in stereoscopic 360 as two Bentley cars and a helicopter raced through the Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado. Using the 3DPro14H to capture the stereoscopic video and 3D audio technology from Visionics, they were able to create an immersive experience for VR HMDs and monoscopic streaming on the web.  

360Heros is proud to have innovative companies like Experius VR working with our solutions and pushing the limits of 360 video! We’ll be on the lookout for their next big project and we encourage the rest of the VR/ 360 video community to do the same!

360Heros blog We’re proud to announce the launch of our whole new modular product line of virtual reality 360-degree video multi-camera holders.

This new line builds on our current patented 360 Plug-n-Play™ models and its continuation patent utilizing multiple cameras held in a spherical array to capture 360-degree photos and videos.

The redesigned product line features 6, 7, 10 and 24 camera solutions which are now available for pre-order with updated versions of our 3D 360 video holders to be released in the coming weeks.

The new modular system introduces the world’s first interchangeable VR 360 plug-n-play arrays for creating 360 video. Key features of the new holders include:

• Injection molded parts for added strength, durability and modular flexibility
• Hinged camera arms for easy installation and camera protection
• V2 versions of the holders replace existing holders with improvements in design and ease of use
• Electronic versions of each holder feature the Bullet360 control boards for syncing and simultaneously operating cameras
• Anodized aluminum cores provide high strength mounting solutions and make it easy to switch between the Original V2 and the Electronic Bullet360 boards, holders and the assembly

“Not only is this exciting and fulfilling to be introducing a whole new modular lineup of 360 gear, moving from 3D printing to injection mold production was really the next logical step for us,” Michael Kintner, CEO and founder, said. “This goes to show what demand we’ve been facing – we couldn’t 3D print our rigs fast enough to keep our customers satisfied.”

“With this new modular design we can produce more of our holders faster with more robust technology, to help our customers meet their demands for VR content,” he added.

In another move to meet customers’ demand, starting in May we will offer monthly 360 video creation training sessions, alternating between sites in Boston and our office in Los Angeles.

“There’s so much demand for training in this field that sessions we’ve offered in the past, including one through VRLA School, sold out in record time,” Mike said. “Ultimately our goal is to help 360-creators produce amazing content, and training is another component we’re happy to help with.”

The first training session is slated for Saturday, May 7, at the Village Workspaces in Los Angeles, CA. Come see these new solutions in person – visit our booth N8619 at NAB Show in Las Vegas!

from PRWeb.com

360Heros Inc., a company specializing in 360 video technology, will debut a line of spherical solutions utilizing Blackmagic Design cameras at the 2016 NAB Show. These solutions leverage the professional quality of Blackmagic Design’s camera systems to create cinematic 360 video content. Coined 360 Helios, 360Heros’ new products are compatible with both the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera and the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K and are available in three, four, five, six and seven camera arrays. The 360 Plug-n-Play™ design allows users to easily install and remove cameras as well as offering the option to add additional cameras to achieve greater frame overlap and resolutions.

“Creating professional and cinematic 360 video content is not only a reality, but it’s also an in-demand medium, and delivering on it starts with investing in the right technology,” said Dan May, President, Blackmagic Design. “360Heros is answering the call for high quality 360 rigs with essential features, such as remote control and syncing, and we are thrilled that Blackmagic Design’s Micro Cinema Cameras and Micro Studio Camera 4Ks are a part of that, helping to capture and deliver cinematic 360 video.”

“In creating 360 video systems, syncing cameras has been a huge challenge,” noted 360Heros CEO Michael Kintner. “With Blackmagic Design technology, we’re answering content creators’ demand for higher quality spherical content and genlocked remote controlled solutions,” he added. “This year’s virtual reality head mounted display (HMD) releases, and the growth of YouTube and Facebook’s 360 video platforms have led to massive demand for professional content creation tools.” “Our goal with this new product line is to support content creators and we’re proud to partner with a manufacturer like Blackmagic Design to create these solutions,” Mr. Kintner said. The 360 Helios rigs feature a new version of the Bullet360 control board system already being utilized in the 360Abyss. Coupled with Blackmagic Design’s Mini Converter Sync Generator for genlocking, these boards have the ability to control and sync an unlimited number of Blackmagic Micro Cinema Cameras and Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4Ks. With the Bullet360 control boards, producers can remotely operate all cameras in sync via the cameras’ expansion ports. The 360 Helios systems are capable of outputting 4K (4,000 x 2,000 pixels) resolution content for virtual reality HMDs and can create content upwards of 6K (6,000 x 3,000 pixels) depending upon different lens and camera arrays. These new systems will be on display at 360Heros booth N8619 and B&H Photo booth C11016 at the NAB show in Las Vegas, NV, and will be available for pre-order in early May. Key features:

• Utilizes Blackmagic Micro Cinema Cameras and Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4Ks
• Output up to 6K resolution cinematic 360 video content for VR HMDs and web streaming
• Multi camera arrays can be controlled in sync via the cameras’ expansion ports
• Compatible with the industry’s leading 3rd party stitching solutions

(S. Melbourne, Australia–April 13, 2016) Bluefish444, manufacturer of the industry’s highest-quality uncompressed 4K/2K/HD/SD SDI video cards, announced it has brought together some of the industry’s best VR tools from camera right through to VR headset.

Bluefish444 will demonstrate a complete VR workflow at the Bluefish444 NAB 2016 booth SL9021, featuring live 360 SDI video camera recordings from five IO industries Flare 2KSDI cameras in a custom VR rig from Inter Video.

SDI video cameras will be integrated into the custom camera rig to capture and create a 360 degree video of the NAB Show floor. Live multi-channel SDI capture with Bluefish444 Epoch | 4K Neutron Turbo and an all new version of Bluefish444’s ingeSTore software. Captured media will be accessible from Studio Network Solutions EVO shared storage network and can be made available to compatible content creation tools while media is still being recorded through the new ingeSTore feature “Edit-While-Record”. .

“Bluefish444 is proud to join with experts of the industry to provide an end to end VR 360 degree video production and post production workflow, live on the NAB 2016 show floor,” said Tom Lithgow Bluefish444 Product Manager “VR tools are making their way into the content creation applications that Bluefish444 users rely on for editing, VFX, colour and finishing all enhanced by Bluefish444 SDI and HDMI video cards.”

[Click Here To Continue to Full Article]