Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Creating a 360° stereo photosphere for Daydream

Discussion in 'Daydream' started by Claytonious, Jan 16, 2017.

  1. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    To publish on DayDream, we see that one of the requirements is "PB-P3: App has a 360° stereo photosphere".

    What *specific* exif tagging or other metadata does this PNG image need to have? How can we test it?

    It's murderously difficult to find any serious documentation or tools on how to create a photosphere that's compatible with the Cardboard view app from synthetic images such as from within our Unity games. Everything out there is based on using a camera which is supposed to embed tags on its own, or using links to some Google Streetview utility page that now 404's, etc.

    I have tooling in place now to create high quality Equirectangular-projected screenshots for this purpose. And I think I understand what the docs mean by a "stacked stereo format" (left eye on top, right on bottom, so each eye in 4096x2048 pixels, right?) And how would I test this assumption? How can I see what the user will see here?

    I've wasted a lot of time using exiftools from the command line to try to make the Carboard app believe this is a panoramic photo, but it's never convinced and I don't know if this is time well spent in the first place.

    Thanks!
     
    mat9054 and WendelinReich like this.
  2. WendelinReich

    WendelinReich

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Posts:
    228
    Bump that. Other than references to this tool I haven't found anything...
     
  3. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
  4. mira_leung

    mira_leung

    Official Google Employee

    Joined:
    May 17, 2016
    Posts:
    70
    @Claytonious We are looking for confirmation on the EXIF tags and metadata ATM. In the meantime, could you please specify what the Cardboard view app refers to?
     
  5. mira_leung

    mira_leung

    Official Google Employee

    Joined:
    May 17, 2016
    Posts:
    70
    The PNGs do not need any specific metadata, and should just be over under stereo pairs.
     
    WendelinReich likes this.
  6. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    S
    Sorry, I meant the stock Cardboard Camera app that lets you view 360 photos.
     
  7. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    We
    Thank you so much for following up. That's clear now.

    Any recommendations for how we would test this experience?
     
  8. duncangroberts

    duncangroberts

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2015
    Posts:
    69
    I think I've got this figured now. I took my daydream project and created a new version of it in Unity based on a windows build so I could use one of the assets on the store to take a stereo over under pano picture. I then used paint.net to adjust the size to fir the requirements. It worked and uploaded well. The way I have tested this is to download the image to my phone and then use VRTV to view the image based on a full 360 surround and over under stereoscopy. It works like a charm! Actually feels like you are in a still version of the game. Let me know if you need any help.
    Thanks,
    Duncan
     
    Claytonious likes this.
  9. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
  10. duncangroberts

    duncangroberts

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2015
    Posts:
    69
    That's the one yes. Make sure you sign up for the beta as this is the only version that supports the daydream controller!
     
  11. mira_leung

    mira_leung

    Official Google Employee

    Joined:
    May 17, 2016
    Posts:
    70
    @Claytonious We don't have recommendations at this time, but stay tuned.
     
    WendelinReich likes this.
  12. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    @duncangroberts , which tool did you use to capture the stereo over/under picture? I used this guy: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/35102. This seems to be a bad choice because Google has sent us this message:

    "The stereoscopic image does not render correctly or has the wrong dimensions in your Play Store details page."

    This is surprising because the image looks perfect from the VRTV app on my test daydream headset, and it is definitely the correct dimensions. Hmm. Bugger.
     
  13. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    @mira_leung , when I get the kind of notice described above from Google Play Support, how can I address the problem? The image looks fine to me in a 3rd party app. How can I find out what the problem is? Is there any way for me to see what they're seeing so that I can address whatever the mysterious problem is?

    Thanks!
     
    WendelinReich likes this.
  14. duncangroberts

    duncangroberts

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2015
    Posts:
    69
    @Claytonious i used the following app:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/38755
    I did have to use paint.net to slightly change the format and dimensions of the image but it seemed to work ok when uploading it to the store and I've now been accepted to the daydream store. Good luck and let me know if I can help at all.
     
    Claytonious likes this.
  15. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
    Thanks, @duncangroberts - I had avoided that one because it requires me to switch over to Windows for the compute shaders, but since you've confirmed it worked for you, here we go! Thanks for letting us know what worked - super helpful.
     
    duncangroberts likes this.
  16. TimurB

    TimurB

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2016
    Posts:
    21
    Why nearly every app in daydream store has distortions at the top and bottom of the photosphere?
    Is it some misunderstanding of the format between Google and developers or is it a nature of the photosphere?
     
  17. Claytonious

    Claytonious

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2009
    Posts:
    900
  18. duncangroberts

    duncangroberts

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2015
    Posts:
    69
    Claytonious likes this.
  19. mira_leung

    mira_leung

    Official Google Employee

    Joined:
    May 17, 2016
    Posts:
    70
    Claytonious likes this.
  20. Captain-Awesome

    Captain-Awesome

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2014
    Posts:
    28
    duncangroberts likes this.
  21. lrb

    lrb

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2014
    Posts:
    27
  22. SpaceTrousers

    SpaceTrousers

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2017
    Posts:
    9
    Hello Unity and Google,

    Are there any officially supported Unity tools for creating 360 panoramas for the Play Store when publishing Google Daydream games? Comments from a few months back indicate not - but perhaps something has been developed?

    As the first post says - it is a requirement for publishing, but the suggested tool from the asset store (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/38755) doesn't work on Mac OS (which is the platform I use).

    What is the recommended way to create a 360 panorama from a Unity project, for the purposes of publishing Daydream games in Google Play?

    Many thanks - Unity really is an amazing tool set - this is the first time I have been blocked on anything.
     
    pfreema1 and WendelinReich like this.
  23. SpaceTrousers

    SpaceTrousers

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2017
    Posts:
    9
    For anyone reading this thread - I can confirm that the tool from the asset store (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/38755) works well on PC for capturing 360 panoramas for the app store entry in Google Play.

    It was a bit time consuming to move from Mac to PC, but the Unity project worked after minimal changes and the image that was created, was accepted by the Google Play review team.
    The image was: 4096x4096, over-under.
    I was able to test the image on device using the app "VRTV Free".
     
    pfreema1 and WendelinReich like this.