ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 10 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

From experience I would say that the camera set up is a lot easier and cameras far more available than the costs and availability to work with the footage thereafter. Stitching of images and rig removal from plates are just some of the complexities that are still expensive to deal with.

Software manufacturers who are working in this area, like The Foundry and Imagineer System to name just 2, are making big strides in this area. But for example, the software from The Foundry, CaraVR, which needs Nuke to run, sells at over £3,000.

Personally I would look at the ways to manage the footage/plates first and work backwards to see what cameras you will need in an effort to see the bigger picture of affordability. For example, you don't want to go and spend any precious resources shooting with a small cheap rig and then finding out you cant cheaply manage the post process thereafter.

Good luck.

best

Wozy

8 years, 10 months ago - Andy Sowerby

Thanks Wozy. That's very good advice.

Perhaps I can get hold of some raw 360 footage from someone and work out a stitching work flow before

8 years, 10 months ago - Andy Sowerby

Oops sorry hit submit accidentally whilst I'm on the bouncy bus!!

Before I go ahead with any shooting. Get some demo software etc.

If anyone has any space 360 footage on their cutting room floor I'd love to play around with it!

Thanks again!

8 years, 10 months ago - Rafal Kaniewski

Different rigs require different work-flows. So testing with one set up will be very different than using another. If the audience is youTubeVR based, a cheap Ricoh or similar that does not require stitching might be a affordable start. As for clean up, that depends how minimal and disciplined you shoot. If you are both the cameraman and director, with no other crew or visible lighting rigs in shot (i.e. using mostly natural light, and shooting with planned places to hide the rest of the crew ). Then that might allow you to experiment cheaply.

8 years, 10 months ago - Jendra Jarnagin

I've been working in VR & 360 video at the professional end. While Wozy is correct, most of the cameras you mentioned come with software to make them plug & play. And they are only 1 or 2 cameras that auto stitch. Of the cheap options I am familiar with: the best ones in terms of quality in decreasing order are: Gear 360, Kodak PIXPro360 and Ricoh Theta (for video) The Theta is really fun to just carry around with you and takes better quality stills. Bigger professional productions use them for 360 location scouting, and to have a portable camera to play with and learn with to practice thinking in 360. But if I were to buy my own simple solution today, I'd go with the Gear. I'm not familiar with the Bublcam or 360fly.

Jendra Jarnagin, www.floatingcamera.com

8 years, 10 months ago - Andy Sowerby

Thanks for the info Rafal & Jendra!

8 years, 9 months ago - Gary Braun

There are on Udemy.com different excellent courses about this specific subject.