360 Camera test

 As part of the testing process for this unit I used Michaela’s 360 camera and captured some video footage. Michaela then showed me how to use the VR compositing tools in after effects. While this test was successful I have learnt that the production pipeline using this method is not suitable to use for my project. 

The first part of this test was to use the 360 camera to capture the dice tower diorama, as this was only a quick test we set the camera up on the table and then just recorded 2 short videos so that Michaela could show me how to use the cameras app. This part of the test worked well and we found that It would have been good to have a hole in the diorama for the camera to go in, so that it was essentially placed within the world and was only capturing that world, instead of the tower and library like we had to get for this test. 

Then using these videos I looked at how to use the VR compositing tools in after effects. As I already know how to use after effects the process was easy enough to learn and is more a case of me finding the correct settings and tools. Again this section of the test went well and I learnt how to add titles and objects that can be used in a 3D space. 

It was at the compositing stage that I began to realise this production pipeline would not work for my project. In after effects, the project became 2D or 2.5D, meaning that while the viewer would be fully surrounded by the 360 video and that I could add additional elements and move them in a 3D space that they were not 3D. This means that my audience could not look around an object, go towards objects or touch or interact with them. As these are a large part of my idea, I realised that this test was not going to be a method that I used in my production. If I was making stop motion 360 videos to be viewed in VR like Phil Tippett's “Mad God” experience then this production method would work well as it is only meant to be viewed by a stationary audience, and only has the level of movement available in dome spaces (the audience has a defined area in which they can move, within this area the video doesn't move, you can only go so close to an area before you hit a wall of video, if you move beyond this space there is nothing.) as I want my audience to be able to look around and interact with the world and characters I realised that I would need to follow the production pipeline similar to that of VR game production, meaning that I need to look at building my world in software like unreal engine. 

While this test was successful in the fact that it worked it is not of use in my production, but it has allowed me to narrow down my final pipeline further and identified some more software that I need to focus on.