Virtual Reality the Next Generation: Watch Movies and Play Games in Immersive 3-D
Consider The Possibility of Experiencing a Movie or a Game as if You Are in It.
Facebook acquired Oculus VR, the headset manufacturing company for $2 billion to use the technology to create games around virtual reality.
Not too much attention was given to virtual reality until recently in a video. Consider the possibility of watching a movie where one is not detached from it but able to experience in a 360 degree angle.
It has nothing to do with the 360 degree images of street view in Google Maps but live action in motion pictures in immersive 3-D on virtual reality headsets.
To make this a reality industries like Flipboard, Google and others formed a company called Jaunt to bring cinematic virtual reality to life.
To make this project a reality initially Jaunt was able to raised $ 7 million and now they have collect almost $28 million more. Google Ventures is also contributing to the project. Highland Capital Partners is the main investor. This money will be used to develop software and hardware to make this vision possible.
The company will create a camera that will be spherical with 30 lenses pointing in all directions. This video camera will capture 360 degree field of view around it. To recreate 3-D sound effect, a microphone will be crafted that will make a viewer experience the sound from the direction that is coming from.
To make a seamless 3-D motion picture the company uses software to stitch together separate overlapping images into one. The software that will play virtual reality videos through different devices including the Oculus headset and a low variation designed by Google will be released later this year.
"The effect is of you being transported to wherever the camera was", Jens Christensen, the chief executive of Jaunt, said in an interview to CNBC. "We think it really sets this medium apart from television and movies".
The application's for this technology includes news broadcast so that viewers could get a 360 degree view of what is happening. This also includes virtual tourism, music concert or even a view into a volcano or a jungle or Mt. Everest.
"It gives you the ticket you can't buy", he said.
There is a difference between how virtual reality cinema can be viewed and gaming. In the cinema the person moves his head towards the location of camera or cameras. However, in a virtual reality game the player is transported into the environment of the game and can move their perspective anywhere within the game.
This technology will make television, cinema and gaming more interesting and interactive, but there are many questions that are unanswered as to how an individual will perceive it. Will he enjoy the environment he is in or will it make his stomach sick. These questions have to be answered by the creators of this technology. At this stage nothing can be said as to how gripping the content will be until it is made a reality.
