180 VR immersive film-making

[kye]

Great intro video from Seven Dovey about 180 VR film-making.

He talks about the gear, framing and compositions, sound, and touches on editing too.

He's shot a few films in this format and they're coming soon apparently so that will be interesting.  

 

[no_connection]

That was a great introduction to VR180. Would have liked some binaural mic tho. Imagine some high quality ASMR.

[IronFilm]

When I saw the thread's title, I was fully expecting to click on the link and find this thread to be dedicated to porn

[BTM_Pix]

27 minutes ago, no_connection said:

That was a great introduction to VR180. Would have liked some binaural mic tho. Imagine some high quality ASMR.

If you want to dip a toe into binaural recording in a budget self contained unit then I have the Zoom H3-VR which is a pretty good unit.

It records the audio internally in multi channel ambisonic format but also provides a live binaural stereo downmix  to record to your camera.

This gives you the option to post-produce the ambisonic files or just go with a binaural version on the camera as with this example I did here with the OG Pocket camera.

There are links to the original files and the free Zoom Ambisonics player so you can play around with the possibilities here

 

[kye]

1 hour ago, no_connection said:

That was a great introduction to VR180. Would have liked some binaural mic tho. Imagine some high quality ASMR.

I was thinking that too.  Even a stereo pair placed above the camera mixed in would give some sense of space.

56 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

If you want to dip a toe into binaural recording in a budget self contained unit then I have the Zoom H3-VR which is a pretty good unit.

It records the audio internally in multi channel ambisonic format but also provides a live binaural stereo downmix  to record to your camera.

The best solution would be to decode a 3D signal to binaural output based on your viewing angle, but do we know if the platforms support this kind of encoded sound, or if they just pump out a stereo audio track?

I figure that we're in the infancy of this stuff, and it will get there, but not really sure how far the tech is along right now w.r.t audio.  I do know that in terms of adjustability it's normally pretty rubbish.  I have MobileVRStation for iOS and the number of options in it is ridiculous, and the number of options in most online streaming platforms is zero.

[BTM_Pix]

25 minutes ago, kye said:

The best solution would be to decode a 3D signal to binaural output based on your viewing angle, but do we know if the platforms support this kind of encoded sound, or if they just pump out a stereo audio track?

The H3-VR has a six axis motion sensor so it always knows its position relative to the "front" of the camera and encodes internally in Ambix (used for YouTube and Facebook 360 stuff) and FuMa (usually for games) formats so everything remains in sync with viewing angle.

 

25 minutes ago, kye said:

I figure that we're in the infancy of this stuff, and it will get there, but not really sure how far the tech is along right now w.r.t audio. 

Considering how long Ambisonic recording has been with us (I was selling those Soundfield microphones almost 30 years ago now and even then it wasn't new), it is the video tech that is in its infancy really.

[BTM_Pix]

37 minutes ago, kye said:

I do know that in terms of adjustability it's normally pretty rubbish.  

If you have some time, you should download the free Zoom Ambisonics player and the original files from that thread and have a play with those to see how you can move the listening position when set to Binaural.

If you have a 5.1 system connected to your Mac then so much the better when you set it to that but unrealistic for how people will be consuming VR on headphones obviously.

The 190526_001.WAV file has the constant source of the fountain so is a good example of how far you can shift things.

 

[IronFilm]

6 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

If you want to dip a toe into binaural recording in a budget self contained unit then I have the Zoom H3-VR which is a pretty good unit.

I'd give a recommendation for the Zoom H3-VR as well, is crazy insanely cheap. Every VR hobbyist should have it. 

Although if you want to take it more seriously at a semi professional level, then get a Rode NT-SF1 / Zoom F8n kit instead, which is itself insanely good value for money as well, and will be another level above the H3-VR

5 hours ago, kye said:

The best solution would be to decode a 3D signal to binaural output based on your viewing angle, but do we know if the platforms support this kind of encoded sound, or if they just pump out a stereo audio track?

Yes, the usual platforms (Facebook / YouTube / etc) all support ambisonics

 

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Considering how long Ambisonic recording has been with us (I was selling those Soundfield microphones almost 30 years ago now and even then it wasn't new), it is the video tech that is in its infancy really.

For decades ambisonics was "a solution looking for a problem" 

Well it has found its problem, VR! Perfect match.