Facebook first launched its
open-source, “Surround” 360 camera at last year’s F8 developer conference in a
push to propel the 360 video ecosystem, giving other companies a blueprint
to build the camera for around $30,000.
On Tuesday, the company
unveiled two smaller, more portable versions of its Surround 360 camera
that can capture three-dimensional content that can be viewed in virtual
reality, as well as 360 video. The cameras enable an advanced level of
immersion known as “six degrees of freedom” (6Dof), which means viewers can
move up and down, forward and back, and left and right to see content from
different angles. The new cameras capture more life-like footage, whether or
not viewers are consuming content in virtual reality.
Facebook prototyped the x24 and x6
cameras on-site in its Area 404 lab over the past year, from concept to
hardware. While Facebook doesn't plan to sell the cameras directly, it is
licensing the designs to a select group of commercial partners with the
goal of launching a product to market this year. Initial customers of the
camera are expected to be Hollywood studios and filmmakers. However, the
social network's long-term vision, according to Facebook's CTO Mike
Schroepfer, is to help make 360 cameras affordable and simple enough to
bring to people's homes.
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| Facebook's new x24 and x6 Surround 360 cameras |
The new cameras are designed to be
highly portable and don’t require cumbersome set up or installations. The x6
camera is a smaller, less expensive version of the x24. Schroepfer noted
that the x6 is intended to be just as easy to transport as a DSLR
camera. Schroepfer said in a briefing last week that the new cameras are
step toward bringing people “up the immersion curve.” The more Facebook
can support filmmakers in creating high quality VR content, the more likely
consumers will be to buy VR headsets.
“Video and gaming are ways to create
experiences you would never otherwise have,” said Schroepfer, noting that much
of the content that has been captured in 360 is “experiential,” for example,
giving viewers an experience of a landscape or the Northern Lights.
The x24 and x6, are named
after the number of cameras built into each device. The cameras are
substantially better at estimating depth than previous Surround cameras. They
collect advanced depth information from every frame in a video and
capture objects in 3D.
“We want to develop the gold
standard first, then less expensive versions for the home over time,”
Schroepfer said, noting that eventually Facebook wants the camera to support
live footage. “We want the experience to be immersive when you put on the
headset.”
“There’s been a lot of demand,”
Schroepfer added.
The x24 and x6 are designed to work
easily with essentially any post-production tools. Some of the companies
building software to process Surround footage include Adobe, Otoy,
Foundry, Mettle, DXO, Here Be Dragons and The Mill. The depth information
collected by the new cameras make it easy for editors to swap out backgrounds
in live action shots, essentially giving producers a virtual green screen.
Facebook’s engineering director Brian Cabral said in a briefing that the data
the cameras collect is “highly compressible.” Cabral said that technically, the
cameras are advanced enough to capture a production like the musical “Hamilton”
and long-form narrative pieces.
“Nothing technological is holding us
back,” Cabral said.
Facebook has not yet shared the
estimated cost of the cameras.
"We don’t necessarily want to
be in the camera business, we just want creative people to be able to create
content,” Schroepfer said.
Source: Forbes
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