There is a very innovative process coming to the forefront of animation and that is 360 video. This is of course becoming more popular due to the availability of animation being more affordable than high end 360 cameras. And also the latest updated versions of 3D animation software offer the ability to render 360 video shots to be incorporated in a VR headset such as Google cardboard.
I decided that it would benefit me to try and use Maya to create some 360 work for my own gain. Unfortunately, I found it quite difficult to do so because it is difficult to find a good guide. This is something that I plan on spending some time on learning over the Summer when I have more free time on my hands.
But not only CGI that can benefit from the world of virtual reality, but also stop motion animation due to the availability and affordability of small 360 cameras. There was a small test we did at university on one of the sets I created using my tutors 360 cameras which looked awesome! but unfortunately I don't have the image, but there were a couple of hurdles that I realised would become apparent when doing 360 stop motion animations, that is of course there will be a lot more animation required due to the camera capturing the whole environment. This also brings me onto the second issue, the whole studio will need to be created to accommodate the 360 view of the camera, so a complete green screen or matte painting that engulfs the set, this makes animating a little harder due to not being able to use the angle of the camera to your advantage. I am unaware of any studio that has already used stop motion virtual reality other than USC's Institute of Creative technologies. But what they are doing is animating stop motion using numerous cameras to enable the viewer to walk around the animation, but I am talking about a single point 360 view so you are in the set with the characters.
But not only CGI that can benefit from the world of virtual reality, but also stop motion animation due to the availability and affordability of small 360 cameras. There was a small test we did at university on one of the sets I created using my tutors 360 cameras which looked awesome! but unfortunately I don't have the image, but there were a couple of hurdles that I realised would become apparent when doing 360 stop motion animations, that is of course there will be a lot more animation required due to the camera capturing the whole environment. This also brings me onto the second issue, the whole studio will need to be created to accommodate the 360 view of the camera, so a complete green screen or matte painting that engulfs the set, this makes animating a little harder due to not being able to use the angle of the camera to your advantage. I am unaware of any studio that has already used stop motion virtual reality other than USC's Institute of Creative technologies. But what they are doing is animating stop motion using numerous cameras to enable the viewer to walk around the animation, but I am talking about a single point 360 view so you are in the set with the characters.
But due to my realisation that I do not necessarily like animating in stop motion, I will only continue to investigate this process in 3D where I feel more comfortable.
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