It appears that the hype of VR today remains beyond the “reality” of VR today. Not only with people I know, but even tech journalists that initially gushed over VR, many have spent tons of money upgrading or building new VR capable PCs, only to find their usage dwindle, or drop off completely.
There are a variety of reasons for this: “good” VR requires having a relatively expensive PC, requires being tethered by a cable to a PC or game console, apps and games are still fairly limited and relativley expensive, and for many, VR today makes them feel dizzy and disoriented.
I recently put a toe in the VR waters by asking for a Google Daydream VR headset ($99)for Christmas and after some initial experimentation, my usage dropped way off when the novelty wore off after the first week or two… until yesterday…
I was playing around in the Daydream VR with the Google Photos app, and suddenly a number of my photos appeared in the “VR Photos” category. I was surprised, I hadn’t (intentionally) taken any VR photos, yet there were several of my photos available to see in surround/VR, and it was amazing.
I’ve been intrigued with idea of taking my own 360/VR photos but assumed I’d need a specialized (expensive) camera along with some specialty software. While you can certainly take that route, turns out you can actually get a pretty cool experience with plain old panoramic photos, which pretty much any modern smartphone can take with the built in Camera app on your phone.
Having been a long time fan of panoramic pictures (anyone remember Panavue???) I have always been bugged by the convex appearance of the bottom of panoramic images. In VR, this goes away, and you just turn your head from side to side and tilt up and down to experience the image… and it feels like you are standing in the middle of your photo.
That panorama above taken at Loup Loup Ski Bowl? The terrain curves around you, you can almost feel the slope of the run, you look left and down to see the lodge down at the bottom of that chute, you look up and right and you’re looking out across the vista of North Central Washington. You feel like you’re there.
And this doesn’t have to be a solo experience. With an Android phone, a Google Daydream headset, and a Chromecast dongle ($35) connected to your TV, everyone in the room can look right along with you.
I’m anxious to see the continued evolution and price-drop of VR but for now, experiencing my personal photos in surround view will be the “app” that will bring me back to the Daydream again and again.
UPDATE: After a couple more hours of uploading old panoramic videos my enthusiasm for viewing these in VR remains high. I will note that as cool as it is, you do begin to long for a true 360deg view where you could look essentially straight up, and straight down in your pictures. These specialized cameras are still semi expensive, and require you to carry an extra camera, but for special or important events, it may well be worth doing.
Samsung owners are in luck however as the Samsung Gear 360 (2017) can be had for around $150 on Amazon. Based on reviews, while it is possible for you use it as a stand alone camera then download and edit the pictures/videos on a PC the Samsung phone app appears to make this a much simpler, faster, and higher quality process.
clarkb... 