[RELEASED] VR Panorama - render 360 stereo videos

I also get the gray next to color for a still image. Can I get you to send me the updated version?

 

Hi, no problem! just send me your invoice number in private message.

 

Hello! I got this last night and I am very new to this and I am having a few issues that I am sure are operator malfunctions. Firstly how do I make the standard video that once put onto facebook or Youtube you can look around with the mouse. All I am able to produce at the moment is the full image or video(like fish eye)...So how to stitch or if you can send me a link of someone doing that... completing a project with your program, that would be great. Thanks!

 

There is no need to stitch anything. Once you have your video file, you have to inject metadata needed for youtube, and upload it to youtube.

 

Hi OliVR, like Chipp above and others I need the version that has repaired the left channel stereo. I can send you the invoice number but as a Unity forum newbie I'm not sure what private channel you want us to use. I don't see a private message channel around here.
Cool product. Very excited to use it as a way to get stereo for GearVR out of a fairly complex Vive scene.
LW

 

You can always write to a support Email

 

By the way "My opinon on Side by Side video":
-Doing Side by side video isn't always one of the best decisions fro stereoscopic 360 videos. Why? Because it has a half of a vertical resolution. This limit means that we have some more vertical information, but we loose much of a depth information (let's call it depth precision). In some cases you maybe want to show more fine textures, and than you would like to use side by side. But mostly, in VR you want MORE PRESENCE, and a good stereo is more important. From this standpoint, loosing, a half of a stereo precision isn't a good thing to do, because you are loosing information that is essential fro perceprion. The main problem with spherical encoding is that you have actually more resolution in top and down areas of image, parts that aren't mostly of interest.
I'm also thinking of doing my own encoding of 360 videos, where we can use more resolution for frontal (fornt, side or back) resolution than for top and bottom, that aren't actually important (for standard storytelling). But to be able to use this type of encoding, you would need a different standard player. Now that Unity 5.6 will come with 4k video support, I think that it would be plausible to make my own player, and force this standard in some way (at least for those who implement their own players) .

 

OK. But I thought Gear VR only uses side by side? I can't figure out the proper workflow for getting from VRP pro to a great still frame or video. Can you help?

 

Hmm. sorry, but I don't understand where your problem lies
Set VR panoprama to Equidistant stereo, render it, click on "Encode Best quality fro Gear VR" button, and upload this video to Gear VR. It should work right from a box. BTW, check if a file name has an extension like _TB_360.

 

That's GREAT! Worked like a charm. If you take a single frame into GEAR, it will need to be mapped as "3dv" in order to display correctly. Your advice is stellar. I thought it had to look like the images taken using the Samsung 360 camera, which appears to be some sort of spherical mapping. Turns out it doesn't. Thanks again!

 

Hi, just wanted to check if this works well with the new post processing effects that comes with UNITY 5.6. We wish to use this for a project on a urgent basis. Let us know

 

Hi,
Can possible to render z depth pass ?

 

Yes. It works with all effects with an exception of Eye Adaptation effect. This one should be turned off.

 

Not by default. But it should be quite easy to do this by using replace shader that converts depth to grayscale.
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Camera.SetReplacementShader.html

Also, in this case you would have to render your scene two times. Once a standard render, and then a Zdepth render. Or, if you have a plenty of Vram, you could activate two copies of VRPanorama cameras and set destination folders to two different folders.

 

Thanks for getting back with me so quick! Quick question can I make 2d videos?

 

Yes, also with integrated supersampling that gives a better quality graphics than unity.

 

Can you send me in a direction of a tutorial? I am very noobish but nerding out none the less.

 

This is all for my very first game ever! Go big right.
link to 360 vid

RetroMechVr [facebook]
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015063492529

 

Hi,

When I render alpha with PNG it's show black line. & When same render with jpg it's black line not visible.

 

This is normal and correct when you preview image with alpha. You should open your image with professional software (Aftereffects or similar) that uses premultiplied alpha (with black).

 

Hey,

I firstly capture audio for Spatial audio and after this render panorama but there is a problem with spatial audio.
Audio file isnt synchronized with video frame rate.It is delayed.How can i capture lossless spatial audio?

Thanks..

 

What you mean by delayed? Is it slower (has lower pitch than original) or just delayed?
Also, how do you start your audio?

 

My animation is 120 sec.
Firstly i capture audio as you said in guide.And i have "VR_Sequence.wav" file in 123 sec.Also after this i render panorama and i have a 120 sec video.So VRpanorama is merging "VR_Sequence.wav" with "VR_Sequence_360.mp4" but there is no sync frame.Audio file must be 120 sec as video file.

 

This is because you are starting audio with Awake function. Awake happens much earlier than a scene rendering (as unity rendering doesn't start immediately - some scenes require long loading times, but actually, when audio starts on Awake (by default) it starts before unity has initialized completely. In a Assets/VRPanorama/Scripts folder, you can find a script named AudioSyncWithVRCapture.cs. Turn off Play on Awake, and use this script to start your audio. This is important only when playing audio files from scene start.
Also, it is possible that sometimes unity glitches and actually plays a scene longer (misses some frames). Those glitches can lead to wrong rendering duration. In this case you could end with a longer audio file. If this happens, try to re-run audio capture. Unfortunately, Unity audio engines isn't always reliable and isn't quite precise - it is meant for realtime audio, and for this reason it can sometimes fluctuate.

 

You are right i understand now.I did it there is no problem for now.
You are very helpfull.Thank u for your support..

Best regards..

 

I had the audio issue also....Did you change the frame rate by chance? Any who I find it best to just not record sound to with the video...that way if you want to add the the audio you just swap audio files!

 

Hi,
I am using VR Panorama in Unity 5.6.0b10 (beta release). I am unable to render movie file as it is throwing an error in VRAA2 shader. It is showing msg: Display 1 No cameras for rendering. It will be great if you can give me solution for the same. Thanks!

 

There are some changes in a new Unity version. Just open VRAA2 shader and remove this linesa, and it should work again:

Code (CSharp):

1. #if UNITY_COLORSPACE_GAMMA
2.     _Col = LinearToGammaSpace(_Col.rgb);
3. #endif

 

Hey,
For best result,do what he said(play awake script) and disable all heavy models and fog etc in your scene.Let only sounds in scene.And capture audio.when u do it,audio duration will be like duration which VR panorama's estimated time(by render frames)After this render your scene.This worked good for me.

 

Hey Oli, Im interested in purchasing your app, i wanted to see if you knew the answer to this question. Im making 360 video and will use your plugin, but then i need to take that 360 video and put it in an app I'm developing using unity. (the app will basically hold 5-6 360 videos that you can watch.) that being said, does the cardboard icon pop up at the bottom if i play a 360 video in a unity3d app, do you have an suggestions on ways to do it or does it come with the cardboard sdk? (sorry I'm just starting research for this project now)

 

@olix4242 : we are planning to use your asset for a client, it seems to match our requirements.
The google team released a post about using Equiangular mapping (https://blog.google/products/google-vr/bringing-pixels-front-and-center-vr-video/) instead of the more classical equirectangular. Did you saw that (and planning to add it ) ?

 

360 videos are just video, and they require a 360 player. VR Panorama is made for making those videos, and not form playing them i don't know if there is a player samplee for Cardboard, as I must that I'm not too much into mobile developement

 

Interesting read. But as I immagine, it hasn't anything to do with uploading videos to google. In this case i think it's an approach that they will use for streaming (after a conversion from equirectangular, on their side ) and rendering. We will see if they release this uploading feature in a future. In that case i will try to implement this. But I think they won't be doing it soon. Without having a specs, and having a injection tool, it would be useless.

 

@olix4242 : in fact, I'm planning to use the rendered video inside another Unity project. That means that I can be pretty free about the way the pixels are saved and/or displayed onscreen.
So here's the workflow I imagine :
1) have a very high-res scene on PC
2) create a flythrough, and save everything to video with your asset, with the image "saved" with the right image deformation
3) load the mp4 inside another Unity project, put it on a sphere (or stereo sphere), and play the video. A pixel shader on the sphere will correct the way the sphere are read and displayed (since they aren't true equirectangular anymore).

 

Hey,
I have a problem again.I have a 5160 rendered frame with VR panorama and "VR_Sequence.wav" file.I want to encode it with "encode h.264 video from existing sequence" option but there is nothing to click it.FFmpeg console doesnt work.How can i encode my sequence with 3d spatial sound file.

 

Is there a trial version available? I'd like to do a quick test and make sure it works properly with my project before I purchase.

 

Hi Oliver @olix4242 ,

Does the capturing work in runtime?
Is it possible to set custom saving paths through code?
When saving to an image through code, is it possible to get a bitmap without saving it into a file?

Thanks.

 

No, there is no trial version for now

 

Only single image capturing. I don't think it's a good idea to capture videos in runtime - mostly because it's a intensive task, depends a lot on a machine on what it's running, and it could block a final user application (or fill completely it's hard disk). You could export small resolution videos, but than 360 video loose it's sense.
For custom saving path, you can write on a support mail with your invoice number, and I can send you a version that has this function.

Not from a script (as it uses temporary and non exposed textures). Easy way could be to use RT module, and render screen to texture.

 

Sorry, but I don't understand what is happening. There is no button?

 

Would be nice if we can render between a range of frames.
Start in 5s to 12s for example.

 

You can do this in easy way: set vr capture to deactivated state, and then, in your mecanim
animation set it to activated state on a frame that you want to be a first frame of your animation. It will capture from that frame.

 

Hello, I'm having problems to login in the forum, so weird 'cause i have no problem to loging in asset store (nick Alienochoavo). I'm in a kind of urgency, that's whay I write to you with my brother's account.

I bought VR Panorama 360 PRO Renderer because I need to render a standard video (1920x1080) of my project, and thought that by activating the options of Animation Capture and Video Capture I could get a series of frames with the animation of my camera.
While it is true that using the options Equidistant is no problem, when enabled the Video Capture option renders the frames and video in pink.
I think what I intend is possible to get with VR Panorama, but I do not understand what is happening.
I would appreciate urgent help.

 

There are some changes in a new Unity version. Just open VRAA2 shader and remove this lines, and it should work again:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. #if UNITY_COLORSPACE_GAMMA
3.     _Col = LinearToGammaSpace(_Col.rgb);
4. #endif

 

Hi, I have purchased the plugin on a Mac OS X machine. Does the video capture works on a OS X platform?

 

I am little bit confused with the explanation of your plugin. I was planning to make whole environment in Unity and then record it while moving my player using Character Controller and parallaly recording the whole Game View in 360 VR to get the MP4 file. Can it be done via you plugin? Or do I need to make a animation for this? Or do I need to do something with your VR Capture component or is it something else?
Can you please explain it a little bit.

 

Yes, it works

 

It all depends on what computer you are running and what quality do you need - there are two modes, one for offline capturing (you have to make animations before captureing). Another is RT (real-time) but it requires extremely fast computer and GFX card (Titan in SLI) and a hardware accelerated video capture card.
You should read help file, there are explanations about most common workflows.

 

Is there any way to capture the user's actions with this program? I'd like to record the user interacting with Touch controllers. I understand that it is not a real time renderer, but maybe this is possible with the RT module? Any advice would be extremely appreciated!

Edit: Looks like my computer can handle the real time rendering... but is there any way to view the project in the headset at the same time as recording? Thanks!

 

VR Panorama requires at least 6 times more power than a standard VR rendering (where you can see only 90 degrees). If your application can render at 90 FPS in headset, it is improabale that it can render 90FPS of 3600 degrees of yourscene in headset X6 (actually 7). No, a VR panorama can do any magic and calculate more than your GFX card can calculate, and you can't use it directly in VR with a headset on. Well, probaly you could, in tree years from now.
What you can do is, use some plugins as this one (free)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/19622
and capture your movement. this could probably require somechanges to your scripts, and it's all application dependent.
hope this helps to lead you in a right direction...