virtual reality camera with IMAX

IMAX plans to bring virtual reality into theatersAnd it's tapping Starbreeze's VR headsets to make it happen.

Devindra Hardawar , @devindra

In a move that we should have seen coming, IMAX announced that it'll be rolling out virtual reality experiences in multiplex theaters, malls and similar locations later this year. The news comes on the heels of Google's announcement yesterday that it's building a cinema-quality virtual reality camera with IMAX. Given that it's been delivering immersive theatrical experiences with giant screens for decades, it makes sense for IMAX to do something similar with smaller VR displays.

IMAX is tapping Swedish developer Starbreeze (who made the The Chronicles of Riddick and Payday games) to use its software platform and StarVR headset, which is notable for offering a 210-degree field of view (twice as much as the Oculus Rift). Earlier this week, Starbreeze also announced that Acer will be helping it build those VR headsets.

Naturally, IMAX also hopes to tap into its Hollywood connections to create VR experiences tied to major films. Richard Gelfond, the company's CEO, tells the WSJ that he could see charging around $7 to $10 for a 10-minute long VR experience. That might sound a bit much, but given all the hardware and maintenance that VR requires, I wouldn't be surprised if the final pricing ends up close to that range.

IMAX plans to launch its VR experiences in six locations globally by the end of the year. Ultimately, it will license the technology similar to how it handles screens today: Theater owners will license the VR experiences and pay IMAX a part of the revenue.

Source: IMAX (PR)

Google is working with IMAX on a cinema-quality 3D cameraAll because Hollywood came knocking.Chris Velazco , @chrisvelazco

 

Remember last year's I/O, when Google revealed JUMP? It was a VR content creation system consisting of a camera rig made from 16 GoPros and some incredibly smart cloud-based processing and sharing software. Fast forward a year later. Google's Clay Bavor revealed today at the company's developer conference that Hollywood was fascinated by JUMP too, and that Google is now working on a cinema-quality 3D camera rig in partnership with IMAX.

"IMAX, of course, is known for incredibly immersive capture and audio," Bavor said. "And they're going to be bringing their decades of experience with camera design, optics, sensors and more to JUMP."

It's unclear when the fruit of Google's and IMAX's efforts will see the light of day, or even how far along the device is. Still, it's hard not to get excited about what this partnership could mean. Bavor rightfully pointed out how good at audio and video capture IMAX can be, and that expertise should propel mobile VR experiences (like the ones Google is building as part of its Daydream project) further than we've seen.

That's not to say VR video efforts have been altogether lacking; we've seen cinematic, 360-degree projects before. The Fast and the Furious and Star Trek director Justin Lin tried his hand at one of Google's Spotlight Stories last year, for instance, and with any luck, Google and IMAX's work could make that sort of high production value the rule, not the exception.

If you find this post interesting, do share it on Facebook & Google plus.