Facebook has disclosed about its latest video camera design that is a high quality 3D-360 video capture system, named Facebook Surround 360. The design of the camera will hopefully be available to developers or manufacturers by summer on Github. The company aims to accelerate the technology of 3D capture and virtual reality. Designs will be distributed for free.
The high tech camera would come with 17 camera lens supported by web-based software that can automatically make the video in 3D. The camera would be better than anything currently available in the market. It would also consist of 14 wide-angle cameras and three fish-eye cameras positioned at strategic locations in the design. It could operate for hours without overheating.
The camera would take virtual reality to new heights as it produces 4K, 6K and 8K video for each eye and its 8K video will only be compatible with the Gear VR. The design would include the software that would work in unison with the hardware.
Facebook will disclose its design this summer that would include camera hardware design and stitching code on GitHub. The stitching code will significantly reduce post-production. It would be done overnight rather in weeks by hands.
Facebook revealed the new 3D camera at its developer conference F8 in San Francisco on April 12, 2016 and is also planning to make better designs in future. The company is inspiring other manufacturers who can afford manufacturing such high quality virtual reality camera.
"We do not have ambitions of getting into the camera business. With any good open source project, you don't always take the whole thing. Usually, there's a piece in there that solves a problem so that you don't have to go solve it," said Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer for Facebook. The company does not want to sell the camera itself but want developers to create something new with its help.
"Eager to raise the stakes of 360-degree and 3D video shooting landscape in the global market, Facebook recently uncovered its design for a "durable, high-quality 3D-360 video capture system" called Facebook Surround 360. Promising to release the open-source designs "by summer" on Github, the company is expected to accelerate the technology of 3D capture and virtual reality," according to a news report published by TheBitbag.
Featuring 17 camera lenses backed with a web-based software that can automatically render the video in 3D, the high-end camera is "better than anything now on the market," according to a report by The Verge. The 17-camera build consists of 14 wide-angle cameras and three fish-eye cameras positioned at strategic locations in the design.
According to a report in TheVerge by Casey Newton, "Hoping to dramatically increase the amount of 360-degree video on its platform, Facebook today unveiled a reference design for a high-end video capture system and announced plans to release it as an open-source project on GitHub. Shaped like a flying saucer, Facebook Surround 360 uses a 17-camera array and accompanying web-based software to capture images in 360 degrees and render them automatically."
The rig includes 14 wide-angle cameras bolted onto the flying saucer, plus one fish-eye camera on top and two more on the bottom. This allows the device to capture the surroundings without showing the pole holding up the camera, a common problem here in the early days of 360-degree video. The cameras use what is known as a global shutter instead of a rolling one, which ensures the resulting footage does not display artifacts from the closing of individual shutters.
In a report published by the FastCompany, "One of the highlights of Facebook's F8 conference on Tuesday was its unveiling of a 360-degree video camera and software system. The camera, which will cost at least $25,000 to build, includes 17 different capture devices that are synchronized, and can record two hours of 360-degree video at up to 60 frames per second, as much as 8k per eye."
Both the hardware and software, as well as the stitching code, are open source projects. Developers will have access to the system on GitHub starting this summer. Facebook is open-sourcing the camera to "accelerate the growth of the 3-D-360 ecosystem—developers can leverage the designs and code, and content creators can use the camera in their productions," said Chris Cox, Facebook's chief product officer.
Source: Facebook will disclose 3D-360 video camera design by summer
No comments:
Post a Comment