Google I/O 2015 kicked off this morning with the main keynote that was led by Google’s very own Sundar Pichai. During the keynote, Sundar covered a handful of topics that Google is currently working on improving or entirely new fields that Google will be getting involved in. One of those new fields that Google has announced involvement in is virtual reality. Sure, the search giant released Google Cardboard last year at I/O, but now they will actually be producing virtual reality content.
On stage, one of the talking points discussed was the difficulties with creating 360-degree, immersive videos. So, Google took it upon themselves to create blueprints for camera rigs that are supposedly much easier to build than current rigs for filming 360-degree videos. Using said blueprints, Google said that their team was able to build 360-degree camera rigs out of many cheaper materials including cardboard, of course. But Google didn’t stop there. The company also created software that would make it very easy for content creators to process their 360-degree videos and make them actually viewable.
Google isn’t going down this complicated and difficult road on their own though, they have the help of one of the best names in the action cam industry, GoPro. GoPro is actually the supplier of the cameras that are used on these camera rigs that Google is creating. You can take a look at one of the rigs for yourself in the image at the top of this article. You will notice that the rig contains 16 GoPros in total for maximum viewing angles.
As of now, these impressive camera rigs will only be available to a few handpicked YouTubers. Eventually though, Google says that any content creator will be able to get their hands on one of the rigs. And if you can’t contain your excitement and need to see what videos that are filmed with one of these things looks like, luckily you currently can. You can take a look at the four videos below that do a very well job at showcasing what these rigs are capable of. Even better, if you happen to own Google Cardboard, the videos will work cooperate with the device.