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In May at Google’s developers conference, Google I/O, the search giant unveiled Jump, its three-piece platform to help filmmakers start creating 360-degree virtual-reality videos to be uploaded to YouTube and viewed on Google’s Cardboard VR headset.
Capturing VR video requires cameras, of course, and Google teamed with GoPro to develop Odyssey, a camera rig for shooting immersive, 3D, 360-degree content. Odyssey holds 16 GoPro Hero4 cameras and allows all of them to act as one, keeping the cameras recording in sync as well as maintaining common settings across them.
Video recorded with Odyssey can then be upload straight to Google’s Jump Assembler (piece No. 2) that uses advanced computer vision and the computing power of the Google cloud to process the footage. From there it goes on to the final stage of being uploaded to YouTube for playback.
James Martin/CNET
Not just anyone can pick up an Odyssey just yet, though. Potential content creators in the US, Canada, UK, EU, Japan and Brazil need to sign up for a limited-access program (LAP) on GoPro’s site. From there, GoPro and Google will select partners and give them the chance to buy the limited-quantity Odyssey at $15,000 or about £9,900 or AU$21,650 converted.
Buyers who pass muster will receive their rigs starting in November, which will include the Odyssey and 16 Hero4 Black cameras, a support, cables, a microphone and a Pelican case for storage. If that doesn’t sound like $15,000 worth of gear to you, GoPro says the price also reflects research and development costs and the camera-syncing technology, and removing battery-life constraints since Odyssey can be plugged into an outlet for power.
If you have some thoughts on what you’d like to showcase with Odyssey, you can sign up for the LAP from now to the end of the year.
