We just completed our first serious 360′ VR Video project. The goal was to capture a group of cyclists riding a section of the Tour of Alberta route through Mountain View County and into Olds Alberta. The final video will be used to promote the event. At the finish line festival of September 2nd, the video will be viewed by spectators via a Samsung VR headset while riding spinner bikes.

The Ricoh Theta S camera was mounted on the handlebars of a riders bike and captured most of the 47.5Km ride. Due to the internal memory storage limitations of the Theta camera we needed to stop occasionally and download the video to clean off the card.

In the final video we added in graphics and some drone footage.

We demo’d the final video at a meeting of the local organizing committee and it went over well. Some of the viewers felt unbalanced, which is normal for first time VR viewers. Just like 3D video, not all people can view this type of video.

You can watch the 360′ VR Video on YouTube here:

You will need to have the latest YouTube app on your mobile device (phone or tablet). Don’t forget to look around – either by scrolling or physically moving your mobile device.

Conclusion:

We had to learn a lot as we worked through this. Since this is a fairly new technology many elements are experimental. Workflows, viewing and publishing are still being worked out. Thanks to the VR community on the web who share a lot of their findings, 360′ VR Video producers are making some progress in taking this new format to the market.

We have a list of ideas we want to follow-up with including live streaming of 360 VR Videos. And of course a nest of GoPros to take the quality of the video into 4K.