Okay, so let's talk about the various hardware and production equipment available for different use cases of virtual reality. As with the previous lesson, we're going to focus more on the film and visual effects industry. Let's start with the obvious hardware VR headsets. Now, be sure to check out the external resources for links to all those hardware and good gifts I will be talking about. But let's start with this list I have right here. So Sony PS VR.

Personally, I've never tried this, but it's supposed to be on par with the HTC Vive and oculus rift in terms of his ability to handle high fidelity games. Now they are definitely used more for gaming than film and I'm not going to mention price points because these will change over time. Some examples of VR games and experiences on Sony psvr include shoe T, fruity, a casual First Person Shooter simulation game. And yes, even Skyrim VR and open world game of adventure and action, where you get to explore terrain and battle ancient beasts. Pretty cool HTC Vive. So I've actually tried the developer kit version when working in a VR startup and it was awesome.

And it was one of the differentiators of this headset. It was because it started out with controllers and was one of the few to do so in the VR industry. They are very immersive and fun that you sometimes forget about in virtual reality. Now, the Vive is used more for gaming and enemy VR films than live action or 360 content, and are also more prevalent in the b2b construction and simulation fields. Some examples of VR games and experiences on the HTC Vive include the infamous tilt Brush originally created by Skillman and Hackett, but acquired by Google in late 2015. And also more casual and laid back experiences like Google Earth VR, developed and published also by Google that allows you to explore the streets of certain cities in the world.

And of course, we have the Oculus Rift. Now I've tried this when developing at multiple VR status back in the day, and also the different developer and consumer versions of oculus and I must say, it is definitely known as the leader in the VR industry for reason. Oculus earlier versions had no controllers, but now they do, as seen right here. So the Oculus Rift is often compared to survive and it really is subjective which one is better, but the clear difference is that the Oculus Rift does not matter. Need the trackers and sensors to be set up. And like the Vive, the rift is mainly used for gaming, but sometimes also for 360 content and interactive film, b2b and simulation work also makes sense for the rift as with the HTC Vive.

So, some examples of VR games and experiences on the Oculus Rift include the Surgeon Simulator, a game that brings er to VR, where you get to choose whether to be a good doctor or a bad doctor. And, of course, the episode famous Job Simulator, which is also available on device by the way, where you get to simulate the ins and outs of the daily grind of various kinds of office life. Google Daydream, I suppose it evolution and advance version of the Google Cardboard which you can see right here. Personally, I've never tried a Google Daydream but it is definitely untethered me not tied to any cables or wires, and most likely for simple games and 360 films. Some examples of VR games and experiences on Google Daydream include a mobile version of this game converted to VR known as hungry shark VR, where you are a shark.

And your goal is to eat your way through the next levels underwater. And also Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. Another exciting title that is also on Steam VR, where you have to talk to the other players in the room to figure out how to disarm a time bomb. It is a very popular game, and though I've never tried it, I would love to get my hands on this title just because it sounds so fun. Alrighty, Samsung Gear VR. Now I've actually developed for this platform at my company sign up, but we will discuss that a little later in this course.

So the Samsung Gear VR is good at handling mid level graphics since it relies on the power of the mobile phones more than anything else. Unfortunately, the mobile phone tends to overheat if use for too long. And usually in order for the device to work with the phone, it needs a compatible mobile phone most commonly in Android. Now the Gear VR initially started out without any controllers, but it's later versions now give you the option of game controllers as separately purchase add ons. This device is used mainly for simple gaming, but very much used notoriously for interactive and 360 films for sure. Some examples of VR games and experiences on the Gear VR platform include dead and buried were using the Gear VR controller you have to fend off hordes of ghouls in an old saloon and also paint VR, an experience similar to Tilt Brush when you get to paint stuff in virtual space using different brushes and stuff like that.

Kind of like the 3d version of Microsoft Paint. Okay, so that's pretty much the gist of all the VR devices. But some of you might be wondering, what about this bad boy right here, that HoloLens, is that a VR device or no? Well, the HoloLens is not VR but actually falls under the other type of xR we talked about called mixed reality Mr. initially released with a very small fob of simply 30 degrees, which is pretty small. The HoloLens is a Microsoft product and personally I've only tried once the first developers edition and it was a right this device is most likely for games and enterprise level applications and less so for 360 Films unless they are interactive or part of augmenting the environment. It may also be good for applications involved in construction and simulations that involves mixing with reality.

Examples of games and experiences on the HoloLens platform include action gram, an app that allows you to move, resize, rotate and record holograms in your home. And also a first person shooter game called Robo raid, which allows you to target enemies coming at you from all directions in mixed reality. Now, there are definitely new devices coming out every day. But since technology changes so rapidly and we've already covered a lot of headsets thus far, covering any newer or more novel devices today would be out of the scope of this course. Okay, Whoa, that was long. So let's finally move on from headsets to cameras starting with GoPro and GoPro camera race.

Ever since the VR hype began GoPros have become very commonplace and will use everywhere for live action virtual reality. Footage now though the GoPro trend has sort of faded out a little but yeah still usable today or at least at the time of this recording personally I don't own them but have worked with them before and I do have to say though they are cheap and affordable in comparison to the other VR cameras and rigs out there yeah definitely not too easy to work with during ingest and post production importing and mainly due to the filenames created an input in addition and last I recall the GoPro batteries are only able to last for about two hours or so. So not that reliable after shooting a few takes on set for sure. The Ricoh Theta is also very affordable and for casual users, but likewise short battery and capture spend even shorter then the GoPro actually we've captured footage last thing a maximum of only five minutes unless I did my math wrong.

So just like a GoPro the Ricoh Theta is very possible and comes with its own software. For ingest, and it's actually much easier to set up and use because the device is designed more for vacation use rather than professional live action VR development. So if you like, you can find out more information in this link here and even compare the different subtypes of the Ricoh Theta. So next up, we have the Google jump. One word about this expansive. Even though I've personally never used the Google jump camera rig, my guess is that it is basically a combination of different GoPros in a ring like rig, but since I did not dismantle the rig, I actually cannot confirm that.

Now, this camera rig is truly for the serious professionals and big players mainly because it claims to have a sophisticated system designed to capture less seams and also an inbuilt automated stitching algorithm all while still capturing footage in stereo 3d. That kind of Do sounds very complex for the newbie filmmaker. Anyway, to find out more information, you may head over to this site here. So moving on, we have d jaunt one VR, basically anything that has a company name and a product name, safe to assume they are expensive and trying to get their first dibs on becoming the brand of VR camera hardware. The Jon's one VR camera also captures in stereo 3d, and is mainly designed for serious filmmakers, professionals and studios. That camera includes data wrangling software, but don't take my word for it.

Read about it in this link right here. So lytro emerge. So since recently, in 2018, Google acquired and bought out lytro. So they are now stopping production of their VR services. But because I was going to cover them anyway before they sold themselves to Google Chagos lytro image is a light Field Camera. And it's actually surprisingly affordable for that kind of technology.

They are used more for live action film, but the data could also possibly be used for gaming. Now, it captures not 3d, but depth images. And they also have their own software for reading that depth data, which is the reason why this is a VR tool because it captures volumetric data, which in VR is key in the creation of a realistic immersive environment. I was actually planning on buying one and I've personally never used it but since they stopped production oil, so if you'd like to find out more, you can read about it here. Lastly, we'll talk about Mehta port, a company focused on creating scanning tools to capture real world data and then import them during post production to form the VR world digitally. I have used it at a VR startup before and it was fun when we projecting And he's attempting to to capture data similar to the way light fields work.

But note that they are not unlike Field Camera. The meta port scanner captures color and depth, and is more for the serious and advanced users who know how to use and apply the data. Now, this data can be used for games, cinematic, interactive films, tourism and real estate, all sorts of things. And as usual, if you'd like to find out more about what are the purposes it could be used for, you can definitely check out their website right here. Of course, technology changes so rapidly. So it is possible that by the time this lecture is done, somebody else somewhere in the world had just built the next VR hardware.

But anyway, that's how it works. You've got to say very up to date and keep your eyes peeled on the industry news for this one, unless you have the benefits of being an industry Insider. Whoa. Okay. Now That wasn't too hard was it? Get It On our way.

Carolyn. Anyway, now that you know of the soft and hard tools, our next lesson brings them all together as we talk about the kind of work you can do with these tools available in industry. so confused, have something to add to the list or just something you want me to look into evette post your thoughts on the q&a board.