First Underwater 360 Video with GoPros

[briand123 3]

I've completed my first 360 underwater video using multiple GoPro Hero2 cameras in a custom designed and built housing specific to this purpose. I made the first full test run with running cameras in October and unfortunately the vis was only 20 ft and I was at 70-80 fsw with fairly low light. So reds are absent even after an attempt at color correction in post. Here are links to two presentation formats:

 

Interactive 360 video version

 

 

This is only a start. I plan to add radial lighting to the housing over the winter.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Thanks,

Brian

[SPP 16]

Wow, very exotic. Thank u for sharing.

[loftus 42]

Pretty cool; I was a little disappointed that it was not a full sphere view - and the up and down buttons did not work.

[briand123 3]

I won't say shooting a full sphere *video* underwater is impossible but it's close to impossible. Still photos are much easier because the azimuth and nadir shots can be done afterward. The video has to be done in real-time.

 

The reason the up-down buttons don't do anything by default is the video is already at full field of view vertically. If you zoom in, you'll see the buttons then have an effect. This was shot at 720 vertical and I've increased it to 960 for some more recent projects which has given me more range. I have a modification in the works that will expand the vertical range by another 33% on top of that.

 

-Brian

[uwxplorer 4]

I guess you are aware your 360 does not work on Android?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[briand123 3]

I guess you are aware your 360 does not work on Android? Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Yes, nor iPhone. The reason is you need a web browser that supports the free Adobe Flash plugin to play 360 videos.

 

The deal is Adobe Flash is the only prominent technology capable of playing 360 *video* in a browser. Apple was mistakenly hasty to thumb it's nose at Flash and ditched it for HTML5 before HTML was even close to accomplishing what could be done in Flash regarding video. Android followed suit about 6 months ago. HTML5 browsers need to support OpenGL before they can support 360 videos.

[briand123 3]

Here's a new underwater 360 video using my second iteration design allowing for more vertical field of view. We shot from six vantages points on the wreck. This first one is the shot from the bow deck. Vis was 30 ft.

First 360 underwater video from bow of the USS Mohawk

 

Regards,

Brian D.

[andy_deitsch 17]

that is very cool, thanks for sharing!

[briand123 3]

I have a new 360 video of USS Mohawk from the starboard deck with some cudas and AJs swimming through. Some minor wrinkles in two seams but i understand the issues and how I will work through them in the future. This is 1min 30 seconds and only 20MB in size for web. I think the quality for the file size is pretty decent trade off. The full quality and res file is over 4GB.

New 360 video from starboard deck of USS Mohawk

 

Regards,

Brian

[uwxplorer 4]

Very impressive technology. I noticed a few "glitches"occasionally. If you follow the front diver (pretty much the only action going on in this one!), you'll see some "jumps" from one frame to the next, like if the image stitching between two camera views was bogus (as Google map has accustomed us to :-).

Also quite demanding on my old CoreDuo MBP!

Can we get details on the technology (rig, software)? Is there any chance you can have a portable device like the Google Treckcam, or whatever they call it? That we be fantastic to document websites on Google map!

Keep up the bleeding edge work!

 

PS: this is just me, but I am much more convinced by this than "true" 3D videos. Those just strain my eyes too much. This, is just plain fun (and you have to watch the video over and over to fully explore it!).

 

PS2: I was referring to the "first video of the USS Mohawk" post. On the second one, artifacts are visible on the fish too. I love the fact that there is action in "front"and "back" of the initial viewing direction...

Edited March 30, 2013 by uwxplorer

[briand123 3]

There are glitches at the seams for several technical reasons. Parallax error being one at close distances to subjects, and the need for more overlap in frames from the various cameras. It's a work in progress, but it is progressing to better results as I throw time and money at it. Some folks have asked for 'sphere' views but if you have ever tried navigating one of those, they usually get abandoned by viewers in frustration as the viewer gets lost.

 

There will be new videos with a lot more action and color as the water warms here in FL and i tweak the system configuration some.

 

At this time, I'm not prepared to disclose details on my custom setup and workflow just yet. My goal is producing content for the next few months.

 

Thanks,

-Brian

[Panda 3]

Fantastic. I'm sitting here shaking my head in awe.