First Use of John Carmack's (Oculus) Groundbreaking 360 Encoding Tools

Who has not admired the virtual reality experience "Henry" by Oculus studios, but have you noticed this was never available on the GearVR or other mobile platforms? John Carmack explains that it was rendered in real-time using Epic's Unreal Engine and sadly mobile VR platforms like GearVR, Daydream and the Oculus Go just don't have CPU/GPU power to render the frames without latency and visual lag when you move your head. Of course one could simplify the geometry and subtle shading & color textures, but frankly as I have learned, this leads to an inferior experience.

John who has a history of making existing technology do the impossible , has again done something that will provide a groundbreaking process allowing the full resolution of the Oculus Go to be used to enjoy stereo 360 video with 3D immersive audio. That means twice the resolution & frame-rate you are currently experiencing with your Daydream or GearVR. In fact this is higher than what you can obtain on YouTube, which tops out at 4320 x 4320 60fps and unless you have ample bandwidth or download directly, you will be hard pressed to view it on your desktop and impossible on mobile.

Oculus released "Henry" for the Oculus Go and John released the opensource encoding tools as source files on 6/19, so I will be able to discuss what you will need to build the player and use the Windows encoding tool which also needs to be built before use. I will also go through the steps of using the Unreal Engine to capture stereo 360 video at 60 fps at 5120 x 5120 and the process of using FFMPEG to create the base MP4 file to be used with the Windows encoder tool.

Update: Sadly John requires Facebook approval for any external speaking engagements, and I have not heard back from my request to Oculus.

Finally let's discuss the latest batch of AMRs (Augmented Mixed Reality) headsets announced recently with one available by the end of June (for less than $500).

A lot of exciting things to talk about & show and look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Mike Balzer
Owl Creek Technologies

I also want to thank Megan and WACOM for hosting "VR/AR Nuts & Bolts" in their Wacom Experience Center* this month and the coming months.

Also, there will be few door prizes to be raffled off at the end. My own NEODiVR poKet & a couple of Vufine AR cardboard viewers.

NOTE: We will provide coffee, tea, water and snacks, but you are happy to bring whatever you like.

• The Wacom Experience Center is Wacom’s first and only public creative space; a hidden gem in the heart of Portland’s creative Pearl District and a hub for all things creativity. The Wacom Experience Center is equal parts creative work space, showroom and event space, open 6 days a week for those looking to take their creativity to the next level. Check out the FaceBook events calendar for an upcoming list of workshops and events - or just stop by during business hours to test out and try the latest Cintiq Pro or Intuos Pro tablets.

Public Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am -6pm Sunday 12pm - 5pm