RICOH THETA is an extremely popular camera that captures 360° images, video, and even live streams. Combined with the OpenCV library for computer vision, this lightweight, low-cost and highly portable device can become the ultimate tool for visual special effects (VFX).

His device, developed during an internship with Blue Robotics, is touted as the world’s first consumer deep-sea dropcam. It’s able to dive to 1,000 meters and capture 360° video, as well as pressure and temperature readings.

https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/9ivhv6/i_just_made_the_worlds_first_amateur_deepsea/

The e-CAM30_HEXCUTX2 is ideal for customer applications where multiple full HD Cameras are required. All six cameras can be synchronized, which is ideal for 360° camera applications that demand high resolution and have to be synchronized for image analytics such as high-end day/night surveillance, autonomous vehicles, robots, drones and more.

Facebook partners with RED to develop a high-end, professional VR camera
We don’t yet know what it looks like, or how much it will cost
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/1/17308694/facebook-oculus-red-camera-partnership-vr-6dof-immersive-film

Facebook is partnering with camera maker RED to develop a professional-grade virtual reality camera system that can capture high-resolution imagery in so-called 6DoF, or six degrees of freedom, which allows it to be viewed and explored in real time within virtual reality. The rig, which doesn’t yet have pricing or release date info available, is a culmination of Facebook’s internal efforts on its Surround 360 platform. RED’s upcoming VR camera will now be the one Facebook suggests to filmmakers and other creators who want to make the most high-fidelity, immersive entertainment and art. The news was announced today at Facebook’s F8 developer conference.

“A year ago we set out to find a hardware partner to help us deliver this technology,”

Facebook also announced an update to its chat app Messenger, which will now allow users to share 360-degree videos and HD quality video (720p). In both cases, you’ll have to capture the photo or video outside the Messenger app, the company notes.

Facebook says if you want to share a 360-degree photo, you’ll need to first snap it with your camera or another 360-photo app before uploading it to Messenger where it will then be converted to an immersive experience that can be navigated through by the recipients via either tapping and dragging on mobile, or clicking and dragging on Messenger.com.

360-degree camera maker Insta360 just released a video that shows off a new feature it’s calling “FlowState,” which stabilizes a ‘flat,’ traditional HD video frame by extracting it from a 360 capture. This might be a familiar technique if you’ve followed what GoPro and Rylo are doing with their own 360 cameras, but Insta360’s take looks powerful and feature-rich, based on this clip.

the stabilization tech not only produces video that looks like it’s shot on a gimbal, even for fast, bumpy action like from a camera mounted on a dog’s back, but also allows for interesting effects like following even very small moving objects (butterflies) and doing dramatic time dilation effects combined with cinematic pans.

The popular cross-platform, open-source video player VLC has received a significant update in 3.0, the first in what will be called the Vetinari branch. It adds support for HDR, including both 10-bit and 12-bit color and 360-degree video.

The update is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and soon, Linux.

Capable of slow-motion video, the AR0430 1/3-in. CMOS digital image sensor from ON Semiconductor captures 120 fps at a resolution of 4 Mpixels. The sensor’s embedded functionality not only allows the capture of a color image, but also simultaneous depth mapping

http://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/product.do?id=AR0430&utm_source=pr&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=AR0430&utm_content=link-AR0430-page%20%20ON%20Semiconductor,%20www.onsemi.com

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Volumetric photogrammetry — big words, bigger impact on VR
Posted yesterday by Ben Bloch

Ben Bloch
CONTRIBUTOR
Ben Bloch is a Los Angeles-based serial entrepreneur. He is best known for his focus on emerging business opportunities at IBM, followed by contributing his leadership in three startup exits, including clean-tech company Econation, which he co-founded in 2009 and sold in 2012.

Virtual reality: By this point, most people have at least a rudimentary understanding of what the term means. Once enjoyed and developed for niche techie and gaming audiences, brands have quickly realized VR’s limitless potential, and, as a result, every interest group from interior design to makeup to apparel is jumping on the immersive content bandwagon.

For consumers, VR generally means strapping on a head-mounted display (HMD), stepping into a new world and enjoying the experience. The enveloping nature of VR allows people to explore environments in 360 degrees, but for most, how these immersive worlds are created is a mystery.

Though VR is still in its infancy, “traditional” methods of capturing and transforming footage have emerged. Typically, to shoot 360-degree VR content, a cameraperson employs several cameras rigged in a spherical formation to capture the scene.

MenuTechCrunch
CRUNCH NETWORK
Volumetric photogrammetry — big words, bigger impact on VR
Posted yesterday by Ben Bloch

Ben Bloch
CONTRIBUTOR
Ben Bloch is a Los Angeles-based serial entrepreneur. He is best known for his focus on emerging business opportunities at IBM, followed by contributing his leadership in three startup exits, including clean-tech company Econation, which he co-founded in 2009 and sold in 2012.

Virtual reality: By this point, most people have at least a rudimentary understanding of what the term means. Once enjoyed and developed for niche techie and gaming audiences, brands have quickly realized VR’s limitless potential, and, as a result, every interest group from interior design to makeup to apparel is jumping on the immersive content bandwagon.

For consumers, VR generally means strapping on a head-mounted display (HMD), stepping into a new world and enjoying the experience. The enveloping nature of VR allows people to explore environments in 360 degrees, but for most, how these immersive worlds are created is a mystery.

Though VR is still in its infancy, “traditional” methods of capturing and transforming footage have emerged. Typically, to shoot 360-degree VR content, a cameraperson employs several cameras rigged in a spherical formation to capture the scene. According to Alicia Millane’s blog entry on The Primacy, “Each camera is mounted at a specific angle so the camera’s field of view will overlap portions of the surrounding cameras’ field of view.” With the overlap, editors should be able to get more seamless footage, without any gaps. Alternatively, professional 360-degree cameras can be purchased, but more or less look and function the same as hand-rigged apparatuses. Once filming is completed, editors stitch together the footage, creating a unified, continuous experience.

In addition to camera formation, camera placement also plays a major role in the end result of a particular piece of immersive content. Depending on what the content creator wants the consumer to experience, camera placement will vary. Are consumers meant to be participants or spectators? Is the scene set low to the ground or up high? Should the rig be set up in the middle of the action or off to the side? Though the creative direction will ultimately determine placement, it is important to note that even with several rigs placed throughout a set, this method creates a more static outcome.

Enter volumetric photogrammetry. A mouthful, for sure, but this method of creating virtual environments could possibly hold the key to the future of VR. Unlike the method mentioned above, there are no takes or shots in volumetric VR that are later edited in post-production. This allows for a much more fluid experience, as the consumer frames the scene and chooses his or her own perspective. Using the volumetric capture method, footage of a real person is recorded from various viewpoints, after which software analyzes, compresses and recreates all the viewpoints of a fully volumetric 3D human.

Immersive experiences utilizing volumetric photogrammetry may convey a much more authentic and realistic environment to the end user.