Creating audio for the cinematic VR series Delusion: Lies Within
By Jennifer Walden
Delusion: Lies Within is a cinematic VR series from writer/director Jon Braver. It is available on the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go and Rift platforms. The story follows a reclusive writer named Elena Fitzgerald who penned a series of popular fantasy novels, but before the final book in the series was released, the author disappeared. Rumors circulated about the author's insanity and supposed murder, so two avid fans decide to break into her mansion to search for answers. What they find are Elena's nightmares come to life.
Delusion: Lies Within is based on an interactive play written by Braver and Peter Cameron. Interactive theater isn't your traditional butts-in-the-seat passive viewing-type theater. Instead, the audience is incorporated into the story. They interact with the actors, search for objects, solve mysteries, choose paths and make decisions that move the story forward.
Like a film, the theater production is meticulously planned out, from the creature effects and stunts to the score and sound design. With all these components already in place, Delusion seemed like the ideal candidate to become a cinematic VR series. "In terms of the visuals and sound, the VR experience is very similar to the theatrical experience. With Delusion, we are doing 360° theater, and that's what VR is too. It's a 360° format," explains Braver.
While the intent was to make the VR series match the theatrical experience as much as possible, there are some important differences. First, immersive theater allows the audience to interact with the actors and objects in the environment, but that's not the case with the VR series. Second, the live theater show has branching story narratives and an audience member can choose which path he/she would like to follow. But in the VR series there's one set storyline that follows a group who is exploring the author's house together. The viewer feels immersed in the environment but can't manipulate it.
L-R: Hamed_Hokamzadeh and Thomas Ouziel
According to supervising sound editor Thomas Ouziel from Hollywood's MelodyGun Group, "Unlike many VR experiences where you're kind of on rails in the midst of the action, this was much more cinematic and nuanced. You're just sitting in the space with the characters, so it was crucial to bring the characters to life and to design full sonic spaces that felt alive."
In terms of workflow, MelodyGun sound supervisor/studio manager Hamed Hokamzadeh chose to use the Oculus Developers Kit 2 headset with Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation on Avid Pro Tools. "Post supervisor Eric Martin and I decided to keep everything within FB360 because the distribution was to be on a mobile VR platform (although it wasn't yet clear which platform), and FB360 had worked for us marvelously in the past for mobile and Facebook/YouTube," says Hokamzadeh. "We initially concentrated on delivering B-format (2nd Order AmbiX) playing back on Gear VR with a Samsung S8. We tried both the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and Shure SRH840 headphones to make sure it translated. Then we created other deliverables: quad-binaurals, .tbe, 8-channel and a stereo static mix. The non-diegetic music and voiceover was head-locked and delivered in stereo."
From an aesthetic perspective, the MelodyGun team wanted to have a solid understanding of the audience's live theater experience and the characters themselves "to make the VR series follow suit with the world Jon had already built. It was also exciting to cross our sound over into more of a cinematic 'film world' than was possible in the live theatrical experience," says Hokamzadeh.
Hokamzadeh and Ouziel assigned specific tasks to their sound team — Xiaodan Li was focused on sound editorial for the hard effects and Foley, and Kennedy Phillips was asked to design specific sound elements, including the fire monster and the alchemist freezing.
Ouziel, meanwhile, had his own challenges of both creating the soundscape and integrating the sounds into the mix. He had to figure out how to make the series sound natural yet cinematic, and how to use sound to draw the viewer's attention while keeping the surrounding world feeling alive. "You have to cover every movement in VR, so when the characters split up, for example, you want to hear all their footsteps, but we also had to get the audience to focus on a specific character to guide them through. That was one of the biggest challenges we had while mixing it," says Ouziel.
"Chapter Three: Trial By Fire" provides the best example of how Ouziel tackled those challenges. In the episode, Virginia (Britt Adams) finds herself stuck in Marion's chamber. Marion (Michael J. Sielaff) is a nefarious puppet master who is clandestinely controlling a room full of people on puppet strings; some are seated at a long dining table and others are suspended from the ceiling. They're all moving their arms as if dancing to the scratchy song that's coming from the gramophone.
The sound for the puppet people needed to have a wiry, uncomfortable feel and the space itself needed to feel eerily quiet but also alive with movement. "We used a grating metallic-type texture for the strings so they'd be subconsciously unnerving, and mixed that with wooden creaks to make it feel like you're surrounded by constant danger," says Ouziel.
The slow wooden creaks in the ambience reinforce the idea that an unseen Marion is controlling everything that's happening. Braver says, "Those creaks in Marion's room make it feel like the space is alive. The house itself is a character in the story. The sound team at MelodyGun did an excellent job of capturing that."
Once the sound elements were created for that scene, Ouziel then had to space each puppet's sound appropriately around the room. He also had to fill the room with music while making sure it still felt like it was coming from the gramophone. Ouziel says, "One of the main sound tools that really saved us on this one was Audio Ease's 360pan suite, specifically the 360reverb function. We used it on the gramophone in Marion's chamber so that it sounded like the music was coming from across the room. We had to make sure that the reflections felt appropriate for the room, so that we felt surrounded by the music but could clearly hear the directionality of its source. The 360pan suite helped us to create all the environmental spaces in the series. We pretty much ran every element through that reverb."
L-R: Thomas Ouziel and Jon Braver.
Hokamzadeh adds, "The session got big quickly! Imagine over 200 AmbiX tracks, each with its own 360 spatializer and reverb sends, plus all the other plug-ins and automation you'd normally have on a regular mix. Because things never go out of frame, you have to group stuff to simplify the session. It's typical to make groups for different layers like footsteps, cloth, etc., but we also made groups for all the sounds coming from a specific direction."
The 360pan suite reverb was also helpful on the fire monster's sounds. The monster, called Ember, was sound designed by Phillips. His organic approach was akin to the bear monster in Annihilation, in that it felt half human/half creature. Phillips edited together various bellowing fire elements that sounded like breathing and then manipulated those to match Ember's tormented movements. Her screams also came from a variety of natural screams mixed with different fire elements so that it felt like there was a scared young girl hidden deep in this walking heap of fire. Ouziel explains, "We gave Ember some loud sounds but we were able to play those in the space using the 360pan suite reverb. That made her feel even bigger and more real."
The opening forest scene was another key moment for sound. The series is set in South Carolina in 1947, and the author's estate needed to feel like it was in a remote area surrounded by lush, dense forest. "With this location comes so many different sonic elements. We had to communicate that right from the beginning and pull the audience in," says Braver.
Genevieve Jones, former director of operations at Skybound Entertainment and producer on Delusion: Lies Within, says, "I love the bed of sound that MelodyGun created for the intro. It felt rich. Jon really wanted to go to the south and shoot that sequence but we weren't able to give that to him. Knowing that I could go to MelodyGun and they could bring that richness was awesome."
Since the viewer can turn his/her head, the sound of the forest needed to change with those movements. A mix of six different winds spaced into different areas created a bed of textures that shifts with the viewer's changing perspective. It makes the forest feel real and alive. Ouziel says, "The creative and technical aspects of this series went hand in hand. The spacing of the VR environment really affects the way that you approach ambiences and world-building. The house interior, too, was done in a similar approach, with low winds and tones for the corners of the rooms and the different spaces. It gives you a sense of a three-dimensional experience while also feeling natural and in accordance to the world that Jon made."
Bringing Live Theater to VR
The sound of the VR series isn't a direct translation of the live theater experience. Instead, it captures the spirit of the live show in a way that feels natural and immersive, but also cinematic. Ouziel points to the sounds that bring puppet master Marion to life. Here, they had the opportunity to go beyond what was possible with the live theater performance. Ouziel says, "I pitched to Jon the idea that Marion should sound like a big, worn wooden ship, so we built various layers from these huge wooden creaks to match all his movements and really give him the size and gravitas that he deserved. His vocalizations were made from a couple elements including a slowed and pitched version of a raccoon chittering that ended up feeling perfectly like a huge creature chuckling from deep within. There was a lot of creative opportunity here and it was a blast to bring to life."
Jennifer Walden is a New Jersey-based audio engineer and writer. Follow her on Twitter @audiojeney.
This entry was posted in 360, Audio, Audio Mixing, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, audio for 360, audio mixing, MelodyGun Group, VR on April 24, 2019 by Randi Altman.
Behind the Title: Light Sail VR MD/EP Robert Watts
This creative knew as early as middle school that he wanted to tell stories. Now he gets to immerse people in those stories.
NAME: Robert Watts
COMPANY: LA-based Light Sail VR (@lightsailvr)
We're an immersive media production company. We craft projects end-to-end in the VR360, VR180 and interactive content space, which starts from bespoke creative development all the way through post and distribution. We produce both commercial work and our own original IP — our first of which is called Speak of the Devil VR, which is an interactive, live-action horror experience where you're a main character in your own horror movie.
Managing Partner and Executive Producer
A ton. As a startup, we wear many hats. I oversee all production elements, acting as producer. I run operations, business development and the financials for the company. Then Matt Celia, my business partner and creative director, collaborates on the overall creative for each project to ensure the quality of the experience, as well as making sure it works natively (i.e.: is the best in) the immersive medium.
I'm very hands-on on set, almost to a fault. So I've ended up with some weird (fake) credits, such as fog team, stand-in, underwater videographer, sometimes even assistant director. I do whatever it takes to get the job done — that's a producer's job.
Excluding all the VR headsets and tech, on the producing side Google Drive and Dropbox are a producer's lifeblood, as well as Showbiz Budgeting from Media Services.
I love being on set watching the days and weeks of pre-production and development coalesce. There's an energy on set that's both fun and professional, and that truly shows the crew's dedication and focus to get the job done. As the exec producer, it's nice being able to strike a balance between being on set and being in the office.
Light Sail VR partners (L-R): Matt Celia and Robert Watts
Tech hurdles. They always seem to pop up. We're a production company working on the edge of the latest technology, so something always breaks, and there's not always a YouTube tutorial on how to fix it. It can really set back one's day.
We do "Light Sail Sandwich Club" at lunch and cater a smorgasbord of sandwich fixings and crafty services for our teams, contractors and interns. It's great to take a break from the day and sit down and connect with our colleagues in a personal way. It's relaxed and fun, and I really enjoy it.
I love what I do, but I also like giving back. I think I'd be using my project management skills in a way that would be a force for good, perhaps at an NGO or entity working on tackling climate change.
Middle school. My family watched a lot of television and films. I wanted to be an archaeologist after watching Indiana Jones, a paleontologist after Jurassic Park, a submarine commander after Crimson Tide and I fancied being a doctor after watching ER. I got into theater and video productions in high school, and I realized I could be in entertainment and make all those stories I loved as a kid.
At the tail end of 2018, we produced 10 360-degree episodes for Refinery29 (Sweet Digs 360), 10 VR180 episodes (Get Glam, Hauliday) and VR180 spots for Bon Appetit and Glamour. We also wrapped on a music video that's releasing this year.
On top of it all, we've been hard at work developing our next original, which we will reveal more details about soon. We've been busy! I'm extremely thankful for the wonderful teams that helped us make it all happen.
Now Your Turn
I am very proud of the diversity project we did with Google, Google: Immerse, as well as our first original, Speak of the Devil. But I think our first original series Now Your Turn is the one I'm going to pick. It's a five-episode VR180 series that features Geek & Sundry talent showcasing some amazing board games. It's silly and fun, and we put in a number of easter eggs that make it even better when you're watching in a headset. I'm proud of it because it's an example of where the VR medium is going — series that folks tune into week to week.
My Mac for work and music — I'm constantly listening to music while I work. My Xbox One is where I watch all my content and, lastly, my VIVE set up at home. I like to check out all the latest in VR, from experiences to gaming, and I even work out with it playing BoxVR or Beat Saber.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO AT WORK?
My taste spans from classic rock to techno/EDM to Spanish guitar.
I try to have a work-life balance. I don't set my email notifications to "push." Instead, I make the choice of when I check my emails. I do it frequently enough I don't ever feel I'm out of the loop, but that small choice helps me feel in control of all the hundreds of things that happen on a day-to-day basis.
I make time every night and on the weekends to spend time with my lovely wife, Jessica. When we're not watching stuff, we're seeing friends and playing board games — we're big nerds. It's important to have fun!
This entry was posted in 360, Behind the Title, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, Behind The Title, interactive, Light Sail VR, Robert Watts, VR on March 26, 2019 by Randi Altman.
Lucid and Eys3D partner on VR180 depth camera module
EYS3D Microelectronics Technology, the company behind embedded camera modules in some top-tier AR/VR headsets, has partnered with that AI startup Lucid. Lucid will power their next-generation depth-sensing camera module, Axis. This means that a single, small, handheld device can capture accurate 3D depth maps with up to a 180-degree field of view at high resolution, allowing content creators to scan, reconstruct and output precise 3D point clouds.
This new camera module, which was demoed for the first time at CES, will allow developers, animators and game designers a way to transform the physical world into a virtual one, ramping up content for 3D, VR and AR all with superior performance in resolution and field of view at a lower cost than some technologies currently available.
A device capturing the environment exactly as you perceive it, but enhanced with capabilities of precise depth, distance and understanding could help eliminate the boundaries between what you see in the real world and what you can create in the VR and AR world. This is what the Lucid-powered EYS3D's Axis camera module aims to bring to content creators, as they gain the "super power" of transforming anything in their vision into a 3D object or scene which others can experience, interact with and walk in.
What was only previously possible with eight to 16 high-end DSLR cameras, and expensive software or depth sensors is now combined into one tiny camera module with stereo lenses paired with IR sensors. Axis will cover up to a 180-degree field of view while providing millimeter-accurate 3D in point cloud or depth map format. This device provides a simple plug-and-play experience through USB 3.1 Gen1/2 and supported Windows and Linux software suites, allowing users to further develop their own depth applications such as 3D reconstructing an entire scene, scanning faces into 3D models or just determining how far away an object is.
Lucid's AI-enhanced 3D/depth solution, known as 3D Fusion Technology, is currently deployed in many devices, such as 3D cameras, robots and mobile phones, including the Red Hydrogen One, which just launched through AT&T and Verizon nationwide.
EYS3D's new depth camera module powered by Lucid will be available in Q3 2019.
This entry was posted in 360, Cameras, News, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, depth camera, eYs3D, Lucid, VR on January 17, 2019 by Randi Altman.
Combining 3D and 360 VR for The Cabiri: Anubis film
Whether you are using 360 VR or 3D, both allow audiences to feel in on the action and emotion of a film narrative or performance, but combine the two together and you can create a highly immersive experience that brings the audience directly into the "reality" of the scenes.
This is exactly what film producers and directors Fred Beahm and Bogdan Darev have done in The Cabiri: Anubis, a 3D/360VR performance art film showing at the Seattle International Film Festival's (SIFF) VR Zone on May 18 through June 10.
The Cabiri is a Seattle-based performance art group that creates stylistic and athletic dance and entertainment routines at theater venues throughout North America. The 3D/360VR film can now be streamed from the Pixvana app to the new Oculus Go headset, which is specifically designed for 3D and 360 streaming and viewing.
"As a director working in cinema to create worlds where reality is presented in highly stylized stories, VR seemed the perfect medium to explore. What took me by complete surprise was the emotional impact, the intimacy and immediacy the immersive experience allows," says Darev. "VR is truly a medium that highlights our collective responsibility to create original and diverse content through the power of emerging technologies that foster curiosity and the imagination."
"Other than a live show, 3D/360VR is the ideal medium for viewers to experience the rhythmic movement in The Cabiri's performances. Because they have the feeling of being within the scene, the viewers become so engaged in the experience that they feel the emotional and dramatic impact," explains Beahm, who is also the cinematographer, editor and post talent for The Cabiri film.
Beahm has a long list of credits to his name, and a strong affinity for the post process that requires a keen sense of the look and feel a director or producer is striving to achieve in a film. "The artistic and technical functions of the post process take a film from raw footage to a good result, and with the right post artist and software tools to a great film," he says. "This is why I put a strong emphasis on the post process, because along with a great story and cinematography, it's a key component of creating a noteworthy film. VR and 3D require several complex steps, and you want to use tools that simplify the process so you can save time, create high-quality results and stay within budget."
For The Cabiri film, he used the Kandao Obsidian S camera, filming in 6K 3D360, then SGO's Mistika VR for their stereo 3D optical-flow stitching. He edited in Adobe's Premiere Pro CC 2018 and finished in Assimilate's Scratch VR, using their 3D/360VR painting, tracking and color grading tools. He then delivered in 4K 3D360 to Pixvana's Spin Studio."
"Scratch VR is fast. For example, with the VR transform-and-vector paint tools I can quickly paint out the nadir, or easily delete unwanted artifacts like portions of a camera rig and wires, or even a person. It's also easy to add in graphics and visual effects with the built-in tracker and compositing tools. It's also the only software I use that renders content in the background while you continue working on your project. Another advantage is that Scratch VR will automatically connect to an Oculus headset for viewing 3D and 360," he continues. "During our color grading session, Bogdan would wear an Oculus Rift headset and give me suggestions about changes I should make, such as saturation and hues, and I could quickly do these on the fly and save the versions for comparison."
This entry was posted in 360, 3D, Editing, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, 3D, Bogdan Darev, Fred Beahm, The Cabri, VR on May 30, 2018 by Randi Altman.
VR at NAB 2018: A Parisian's perspective
By Alexandre Regeffe
Even though my cab driver from the airport to my hotel offered these words of wisdom — "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" — I've decided not to listen to him and instead share with you the things that impressed for the VR world at NAB 2018.
Back in September of 2017, I shared with you my thoughts on the VR offerings at the IBC show in Amsterdam. In case you don't remember my story, I'm a French guy who jumped into the VR stuff three years ago and started a cinematic VR production company called Neotopy with a friend. Three years is like a century in VR. Indeed, this medium is constantly evolving, both technically and financially.
So what has become of VR today? Lots of different things. VR is a big bag where people throw AR, MR, 360, LBE, 180 and 3D. And from all of that, XR (Extended Reality) was born, which means everything.
But if this blurred concept leads to some misunderstanding, is it really good for consumers? Even us pros are finding it difficult to explain what exactly VR is, currently.
While at NAB, I saw a presentation from Nick Bicanic during which he used the term "frameless media." And, thank you, Nick, because I think that is exactly what's in this big bag called VR… or XR. Today, we consume a lot of content through a frame, which is our TV, computer, smartphone or cinema screen. VR allows us to go beyond the frame, and this is a very important shift for cinematographers and content creators.
But enough concepts and ideas, let us start this journey on the NAB show floor! My first stop was the VR pavilion, also called the "immersive storytelling pavilion" this year.
My next stop was to see SGO Mistika. For over a year, the SGO team has been delivering an incredible stitching software with its Mistika VR. In my opinion, there is a "before" and an "after" this tool. Thanks to its optical flow capacities, you can achieve a seamless stitching 99% of the time, even with very difficult shooting situations. The last version of the software provided additional features like stabilization, keyframe capabilities, more cameras presets and easy integration with Kandao and Insta360 camera profiles. VR pros used Mistika's booth as sort of a base camp, meeting the development team directly.
A few steps from Misitka was Insta360, with a large, yellow booth. This Chinese company is a success story with the consumer product Insta360 One, a small 360 camera for the masses. But I was more interested in the Insta360 Pro, their 8K stereoscopic 3D360 flagship camera used by many content creators.
At the show, Insta360's big announcement was Titan, a premium version of the Insta360 Pro offering better lenses and sensors. It's available later this year. Oh, and there was the lightfield camera prototype, the company's first step into the volumetric capture world.
Another interesting camera manufacturer at the show was Human Eyes Technology, presenting their Vuze+. With this affordable 3D360 camera you can dive into stereoscopic 360 content and learn the basics about this technology. Side note: The Vuze+ was chosen by National Geographic to shoot some stunning sequences in the International Space Station.
Kandao Obsidian
My favorite VR camera company, Kandao, was at NAB showing new features for its Obsidian R and S cameras. One of the best is the 6DoF capabilities. With this technology, you can generate a depth map from the camera directly in Kandao Studio, the stitching software, which comes free when you buy an Obsidian. With the combination of a 360 stitched image and depth map, you can "walk" into your movie. It's an awesome technique for better immersion. For me this was by far the best innovation in VR technology presented on the show floor
The live capabilities of Obsidian cameras have been improved, with a dedicated Kandao Live software, which allows you to live stream 4K stereoscopic 360 with optical flow stitching on the fly! And, of course, do not forget their new Qoocam camera. With its three-lens-equipped little stick, you can either do VR 180 stereoscopic or 360 monoscopic, while using depth map technology to refocus or replace the background in post — all with a simple click. Thanks to all these innovations, Kandao is now a top player in the cinematic VR industry.
One Kandao competitor is ZCam. They were there with a couple of new products: the ZCam V1, a 3D360 camera with a tiny form factor. It's very interesting for shooting scenes where things are very close to the camera. It keeps a good stereoscopy even on nearby objects, which is a major issue with most of VR cameras and rigs. The second one is the small E2 – while it's not really a VR camera, it can be used as an underwater rig, for example.
ZCam K1 Pro
The ZCam product range is really impressive and completely targeting professionals, from ZCam S1 to ZCam V1 Pro. Important note: take a look at their K1 Pro, a VR 180 camera, if you want to produce high-end content for the Google VR180 ecosystem.
Another VR camera at NAB was Samsung's Round, offering stereoscopic capabilities. This relatively compact device comes with a proprietary software suite for stitching and viewing 360 shots. Thanks to IP65 normalization, you can use this camera outdoors in difficult weather conditions, like rain, dust or snow. It was great to see the live streaming 4K 3D360 operating on the show floor, using several Round cameras combined with powerful Next Computing hardware.
VR Post
Adobe Creative Cloud 2018 remains the must-have tool to achieve VR post production without losing your mind. Numerous 360-specific functionalities have been added during the last year, after Adobe bought the Mettle Skybox suite. The most impressive feature is that you can now stay in your 360 environment for editing. You just put your Oculus rift headset on and manipulate your Premiere timeline with touch controllers and proceed to edit your shots. Think of it as a Minority Report-style editing interface! I am sure we can expect more amazing VR tools from Adobe this year.
Google's Lightfield technology
Mettle was at the Dell booth showing their new Adobe CC 360 plugin, called Flux. After an impressive Mantra release last year, Flux is now available for VR artists, allowing them to do 3D volumetric fractals and to create entire futuristic worlds. It was awesome to see the results in a headset!
Distributing VR
So once you have produced your cinematic VR content, how can you distribute it? One option is to use the Liquid Cinema platform. They were at NAB with a major update and some new features, including seamless transitions between a "flat" video and a 360 video. As a content creator you can also manage your 360 movies in a very smart CMS linked to your app and instantly add language versions, thumbnails, geoblocking, etc. Another exciting thing is built-in 6DoF capability right in the editor with a compatible headset — allowing you to walk through your titles, graphics and more!
I can't leave without mentioning Voysys for live-streaming VR; Kodak PixPro and its new cameras ; Google's next move into lightfield technology ; Bonsai's launch of a new version of the Excalibur rig ; and many other great manufacturers, software editors and partners.
See you next time, Sin City.
This entry was posted in 360, 3D, NAB, Virtual Reality and tagged 360, Alexandre Regeffe, AR, NAB 2018, virtual reality, VR, XR on May 10, 2018 by Randi Altman.
Samsung's 360 Round for 3D video
Samsung showed an enhanced Samsung 360 Round camera solution at NAB, with updates to its live streaming and post production software. The new solution gives professional video creators the tools they need — from capture to post — to tell immersive 360-degree and 3D stories for film and broadcast.
"At Samsung, we've been innovating in the VR technology space for many years, including introducing the 360 Round camera with its ruggedized design, superior low light and live streaming capabilities late last year," says Eric McCarty of Samsung Electronics America.
The Samsung 360 Round offers realtime 3D video to PCs using the 360 Round's bundled software so video creators can now view live video on their mobile devices using the 360 Round live preview app. In addition, the 360 Round live preview app allows creators to remotely control the camera settings, via Wi-Fi router, from afar. The updated 360 Round PC software now provides dual monitor support, which allows the editor to make adjustments and show the results on a separate monitor dedicated to the director.
Limiting luminance levels to 16-135, noise reduction and sharpness adjustments, as well as a hardware IR filter make it possible to get a clear shot in almost no light. The 360 Round also offers advanced stabilization software and the ability to color-correct on the fly, with an intuitive, easy-to-use histogram. In addition, users can set up profiles for each shot and save the camera settings, cutting down on the time required to prep each shot.
The 360 Round comes with Samsung's advanced Stitching software, which weaves together video from each of the 360 Round's 17 lenses. Creators can stitch, preview and broadcast in one step on a PC without the need for additional software. The 360 Round also enables fine-tuning of seamlines during a live production, such as moving them away from objects in realtime and calibrating individual stitchlines to fix misalignments. In addition, a new local warping feature allows for individual seamline calibrations in post, without requiring a global adjustment to all seamlines, giving creators quick and easy, fine-grain control of the final visuals.
The 360 Round delivers realtime 4K x 4K (3D) streaming with minimal latency. SDI capture card support enables live streaming through multiple cameras and broadcasting equipment with no additional encoding/decoding required. The newest update further streamlines the switching workflow for live productions with audio over SDI, giving producers less complex events (one producer managing audio and video switching) and a single switching source as the production transitions from camera to camera.
Additional new features:
Ability to record, stream and save RAW files simultaneously, making the process of creating dailies and managing live productions easier. Creators can now save the RAW files to make further improvements to live production recordings and create a higher quality post version to distribute as VOD.
Live streaming support for HLS over HTTP, which adds another transport streaming protocol in addition to the RTMP and RTSP protocols. HLS over HTTP eliminates the need to modify some restrictive enterprise firewall policies and is a more resilient protocol in unreliable networks.
Ability to upload direct (via 360 Round software) to Samsung VR creator account, as well as Facebook and YouTube, once the files are exported.
This entry was posted in 360, NAB, News and tagged 360, NAB 2018, Samsung, VR on April 12, 2018 by Amy.
NextComputing, Z Cam, Assimilate team on turnkey VR studio
NextComputing, Z Cam and Assimilate have teamed up to create a complete turnkey VR studio. Foundation VR Studio is designed to provide all aspects of the immersive production process and help the creatives be more creative.
According to Assimilate CEO Jeff Edson, "Partnering with Z Cam last year was an obvious opportunity to bring together the best of integrated 360 cameras with a seamless workflow for both live and post productions. The key is to continue to move the market from a technology focus to a creative focus. Integrated cameras took the discussions up a level of integration away from the pieces. There have been endless discussions regarding capable platforms for 360; the advantage we have is we work with just about every computer maker as well as the component companies, like CPU and GPU manufacturers. These are companies that are willing to create solutions. Again, this is all about trying to help the market focus on the creative as opposed to debates about the technology, and letting creative people create great experiences and content. Getting the technology out of their way and providing solutions that just work helps with this."
These companies are offering a few options with their Power VR Studio.
The Foundation VR Studio, which costs $8,999 and is available now includes:
• NextComputing Edge T100 workstation
o CPU: 6-core Intel core i7-8700K 3.7GHz processor
o Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
• Z Cam S1 6K professional VR camera
• Z Cam WonderStitch software for offline stitching and profile creation
• Assimilate Scratch VR Z post software and live streaming for Z Cam
Then there is the Power VR Studio, for $10,999, which is also available now. It includes:
o CPU: 10-core Intel core i9-7900K 3.3GHz processor
These companies will be at NAB demoing the systems.
This entry was posted in 360, NAB, News, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, Assimilate, Next Computing, VR, Workstations, Z Cam on April 2, 2018 by Randi Altman.
Hobo's Howard Bowler and Jon Mackey on embracing full-service VR
By Randi Altman
New York-based audio post house Hobo, which offers sound design, original music composition and audio mixing, recently embraced virtual reality by launching a 360 VR division. Wanting to offer clients a full-service solution, they partnered with New York production/post production studios East Coast Digital and Hidden Content, allowing them to provide concepting through production, post, music and final audio mix in an immersive 360 format.
The studio is already working on some VR projects, using their "object-oriented audio mix" skills to enhance the 360 viewing experience.
We touched base with Hobo's founder/president, Howard Bowler, and post production producer Jon Mackey to get more info on their foray into VR.
Why was now the right time to embrace 360 VR?
Bowler: We saw the opportunity stemming from the advancement of the technology not only in the headsets but also in the tools necessary to mix and sound design in a 360-degree environment. The great thing about VR is that we have many innovative companies trying to establish what the workflow norm will be in the years to come. We want to be on the cusp of those discoveries to test and deploy these tools as the ecosystem of VR expands.
As an audio shop you could have just offered audio-for-VR services only, but instead aligned with two other companies to provide a full-service experience. Why was that important?
Bowler: This partnership provides our clients with added security when venturing out into VR production. Since the medium is relatively new in the advertising and film world, partnering with experienced production companies gives us the opportunity to better understand the nuances of filming in VR.
How does that relationship work? Will you be collaborating remotely? Same location?
Bowler: Thankfully, we are all based in West Midtown, so the collaboration will be seamless.
Can you talk a bit about object-based audio mixing and its challenges?
Mackey: The challenge of object-based mixing is not only mixing based in a 360-degree environment or converting traditional audio into something that moves with the viewer but determining which objects will lead the viewer, with its sound cue, into another part of the environment.
Bowler: It's the creative challenge that inspires us in our sound design. With traditional 2D film, the editor controls what you see with their cuts. With VR, the partnership between sight and sound becomes much more important.
Howard Bowler pictured embracing VR.
How different is your workflow — traditional broadcast or spot work versus VR/360?
Mackey: The VR/360 workflow isn't much different than traditional spot work. It's the testing and review that is a game changer. Things generally can't be reviewed live unless you have a custom rig that runs its own headset. It's a lot of trial and error in checking the mixes, sound design, and spacial mixes. You also have to take into account the extra time and instruction for your clients to review a project.
What has surprised you the most about working in this new realm?
Bowler: The great thing about the VR/360 space is the amount of opportunity there is. What surprised us the most is the passion of all the companies that are venturing into this area. It's different than talking about conventional film or advertising; there's a new spark and its fueling the rise of the industry and allowing larger companies to connect with smaller ones to create an atmosphere where passion is the only thing that counts.
What tools are you using for this type of work?
Mackey: The audio tools we use are the ones that best fit into our Avid ProTools workflow. This includes plug-ins from G-Audio and others that we are experimenting with.
Can you talk about some recent projects?
Bowler: We've completed projects for Samsung with East Coast Digital, and there are more on the way.
Main Image: Howard Bowler and Jon Mackey
This entry was posted in 360, AR, Audio, Audio Mixing, Sound Design, Virtual Reality, VR and tagged 360, audio post production, Hobo Audio, Howard Bowler, Jon Mackey, virtual reality, VR on April 14, 2017 by Randi Altman.