Google opens VR video and photo format VR180, promises new publishing tools

Google posted in a blog post outlining how to publish videos to in the new VR180 format, including support for VR Photo Format.

 

For VR180 video, we simply extended the Spherical Video Metadata V2 standard. Spherical V2 supports the mesh-based projection needed to allow consumer cameras to output raw fisheye footage. We then created the Camera Motion Metadata Track so that you’re able to stabilize the video according to the camera motion after video capture. This results in a more comfortable VR experience for viewers. The photos that are generated by the cameras are written in the existing VR Photo Format pioneered by Cardboard Camera.

When you use a Cardboard or Daydream View to look back on photos and videos captured using VR180, you’ll feel like you’re stepping back into your memory. And you can share the footage with others using Google Photos or YouTube, on your phone or the web. We hope that this makes it simple for anyone to shoot VR content, and watch it too.