Apps
All of the apps currently available feel to me like they could be combined into one overarching app to eliminate confusion. Right now there’s four apps for viewing photos and videos. Two of them are for viewing non-VR content and two are for viewing VR content:
- VR Gallery: for viewing non-VR photos
- Oculus Cinema: for watching non-VR videos
- Oculus 360 Photos: for viewing VR photos
- Oculus 360 Videos: for viewing VR videos
The cool thing about the first two is that you can easily see your own content in a VR space. Just connect your Gear VR to your computer and drop videos or photos into the appropriate folders.
Oculus 360 Photos
I’m going to start with Oculus 360 Photos because it absolutely blew me away. I did not expect 360 photos to be one of the killer pieces of content at Gear VR’s launch, and I was dead wrong. Thanks to some spectacular photography by providers like 360cities, the 360 photos included in the app show off the Galaxy Note 4’s 1440p display like nothing else in the entire arsenal of Gear VR content.
I never expected I’d feel Presence (the VR research field’s term for psychological immersion) from a non-3D panoramic photo, but there was a brief moment when viewing an amazing scene of the Mars Curiosity rover that struck me as undeniably present. Here’s the shot I was looking at, though seeing it on a flat screen does not do it justice:
The resolution apparent in many of these panoramas is striking. The rover stands out in intricate detail, and the fineness of the Martian soil is instantly visible. That’s probably thanks to the photo’s native 30,000×15,000 resolution. Whenever VR videos hit this level of detail it will become frighteningly easy to virtually and convincingly transport yourself anywhere in the world.
The 62 pre-loaded panoramic photos are impressive and their content varied. The photos are broken down into categories: Cities, Landscapes, Space, Underwater, and an ‘Unusual’ category, among others, which has a photo right at the entrance to a bee hive; you can see what appear to be massive bees all around you—it’s really quite interesting. You can mark photos as favorites which puts them into their own category, great for saving those which you want to be able to quickly show others.
Thanks to their incredible simplicity (just… look), I’ve showed 360 photos to pretty much anyone who has come my way. Each person seems to have a different category of photo that speaks to them (its definitely the Space category for me), but regardless of which, a wow is elicited from all.
There’s never been a better way to view panoramic photography. I could absolutely see this inspiring a generation of 360 photographers.
Oculus 360 Videos
Oculus 360 Videos allows you to play back spherical videos which can be 2D or 3D. Eight videos come pre-loaded. Some are live-action and some are pre-rendered CGI. All appeared to run at 60 FPS.
The videos were hit or miss for me. Some, like 360 Tours Iceland, had breathtaking moments, like running alongside a herd of wild horses (the camera suspended from a low-flying helicopter), hearing their mass as they galloped at full speed along an open field. Others, like the Avengers VR experience seemed dull.
You’ll notice a range of the quality of footage, even between clips from the same experience. 360 videos in VR are still begging for more resolution from camera equipment and recording techniques. This will improve over time, and when it does, it’s going to get way better. For a taste of what’s to come, just look at the amazing stills that come with Oculus 360 Photos.
See Also: First Impressions of Project Beyond, Samsung’s 360 3D Camera for VR
Innerspace VR’s Fifth Sleep and The Cave, pre-rendered 3D CGI scenes created in CryEngine, were interesting and quite beautiful at times. I still think better resolution in the footage itself would make the experience much better, but Innerspace’s experimentation in immersive storytelling is something to be watched carefully. I’m really looking forward to more from these folks.
And a shoutout to The Dive, an underwater live-action experience which, despite the uncomfortably swaying camera, had a cool moment at the end which is worth sticking around for (I won’t ruin it here).
Oculus Cinema
Oculus Cinema lets you view non-VR 2D and 3D video content and it does a great job at that. There’s four theaters to choose from: Home Theater, Cinema, Moon, and Void (which is just a black space). The detail that Oculus has managed to build into these theaters is amazing, and graphics that look this realistic are a very clear driver for immersion. I was blown away by how real the Home Theater looked the first time I put my head inside. If you look at your feet on the Moon, you’ll see footprints in the dust that look photorealistic.
Watching films inside is great, especially in Cinema which feels like it has a massive screen. The resolution is good enough that it feels like you could really watch videos in here to enjoy them, not just for the novelty of watching in VR.
The screenshots above are not concepts, those are the real graphics of the experience as you’re sitting in it. It would appear that Oculus has used a number of imaging tricks to bring this level of detail into these spaces. I’m fairly certain it’s the fact that you don’t move within the theater (you’re always in the same chair) that allows them to lavish every surface with such detail while maintaining performance. Pre-baked lightning, for instance, means they can save big on resources while still providing highly realistic lightning, which is one of the most important things for realism in graphics. If you can’t move, they can also strip away all unseen surfaces to save on polygon counts.
VR Gallery
VR Gallery lets you view 2D photos in a VR space. Confusingly, you can also watch videos through it, but that seems oddly redundant given Oculus Cinema (another reason I think the four apps currently available should be collapsed into one). VR Gallery’s functionality doesn’t seem that compelling to me, but like Oculus Cinema, it’s nice to be able to easily bring your own content into a VR space. If you want to immerse someone in a slideshow of your vacation to Paris, you certainly can.
Inside the app, the interface is pretty bare bones. You’ll see a list of folders presented in a grid, which you can drill down into to select individual photos or videos. You can zoom by swiping up on the touchpad, and this can also be used to pan, if you zoom in and out as you put the cursor over different parts of the photo.
Experiences
Experiences can be live-action or CGI, but they are generally less interactive than what Oculus puts into the Games category. At Gear VR launch, there’s five available. The always-wonderful Titans of Space makes an appearance, but I shouldn’t need to tell you once again that it’s worth seeing (it’s got some nice upgrades and the planetary imagery looks better than ever with the Note 4’s 1440p display). I’ll focus instead on some new experiences.
Strangers with Patrick Watson
This is a live-action 3D video recording of a candid moment in the studio of musician Patrick Watson. It was produced by Felix & Paul Studios, and it’s one of my favorite experiences on Gear VR. It’s actually been around for a little while, but hasn’t made its public VR debut until Gear VR.
You’re inside Watson’s studio. Through the open windows you can hear the sound of a busy street. Watson is at his piano, around him you can see a fantastic mess of instruments, recording equipment, and much more. The 3D and 360 recording imbues the place with a distinct character, as you feel very present in the room.
Watson begins meandering on the piano as he starts into a song with some accompanying instruments played through a computer. He stops mid-intro to make some adjustments, addressing both his big black dog laying behind you. He begins again, launching into a superbly beautiful piece that will make you appreciate his unaided skill in both vocals and the piano.
The video quality is pretty good, but it’s the audio quality—and Watson’s beautiful song, Strangers—that really shines. The sound is captured in 360 degrees, and you can hear the recorded instruments coming from the speakers flanking Watson’s desk. If you turn around to look at the rest of the space, the audio will clearly be coming from behind you. I appreciate that the surround effect is not overdone. With some 3D audio demos, the veritable nobs are turned up to 11 to really sell the effect. In this experience it is properly subtle.
By the end of the engrossing song, you’ve all but forgotten about the noisy street outside which fades back in, returning you from a world of musical immersion. The immersive performance won the 2014 Proto Award for Best Live Action Experience.
I’ve returned to Strangers with Patrick Watson time and again. Even now as I write this, I’d like to jump in there and not just watch Watson play, but feel like he’s playing for me, sitting right there next to him. In fact, I think I will.
I’m back—that’s not even the kind of music I usually listen to.
theBlu
theBlu is an in-engine ocean experience. You are toured underwater in a somewhat cartoonish, but ultimately well art-directed, underwater environment. With a theme of nature-appreciation, a narrator tells you about the various sea creatures that swim by: whales, stingrays, sharks, etc.
The underwater environments feel sparse, but the little tours are entertaining enough. There’s about 10 minutes worth of experience currently, and it looks like more are due to be added.
It’s clear that developer WemoLab has spent time learning how to effectively direct the attention of the player; as you follow one creature off into the depths, others often enter the scene from the same area. What takes me a bit out of the experience are the not-so-realistic animations. They’re not bad—animating sea-creatures realistically is something you could spend a lifetime mastering—but creatures in theBlu sometimes feel like they’re being pulled around like marionettes rather than moving themselves through liquid.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this compares the forthcoming Ocean Rift, whose developer, Llyr ap Cenydd, has been working on a procedural animation system that looks mighty impressive.
