23 days left to complete my Oculus Launch Pad project! Week #6

Week 6 marks the halfway point of the Oculus Launch Pad program. The cohort of 100 participants to this 2017 edition has until September 10, 2017, to deliver their prototype to compete for scholarships. In my case, things are slightly different, since I am no longer eligible for funding (check out Week 5’s blog post to find out why). So technically, I am not tied by this deadline. But I still want to make the most of the program and welcome a deadline to help me move things along. I even decided to move my own deadline forward! Well, I am going on vacation on August 23 and realistically I won’t be able to do any work during my travels. This means that my own personal deadline is August 22 and I only have 23 days left to complete and submit my prototype! That’s tight, but doable.

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This past week

Stitching and editing video files using Cyberlink Action Director (and yes, that’s Mestre Acordeon on the right hand side image!)

1. I have captured a lot of footage at a couple of capoeira events (catch up with Week 4’s blog post if you missed the shooting story) and it is now time to edit it. I have started by transferring all the files from my 360 camera onto my laptop. Between the 2 events, I have captured 33 GB of videos! Yes, 360 videos are heavy, particularly in 4K. Then I started stitching the videos. I used the Cyberlink Action Director software, which comes with the Samsung Gear 360 camera. My fear was that my laptop would not be capable of stitching the 4k videos. I started with a 2-minute video then managed to stitch videos up to 6 minutes so far. It is a slow process and would certainly work better with a high-end laptop, but it looks like I may be able to get away with my current machine for now. I should be able to upgrade once I start my new job, but for now I’m trying to do everything with my limited budget. If I bought a new laptop, I’d invest in a high-end model good for video editing as well as VR, so I’d be looking at around $1,200–2,000. Definitely a cost I’d like to avoid for now.
2. Through this process, I now have a bunch of videos to review, to decide which ones I will keep in the final edited pieces. This is great! Well, sort of. This is also the step that highlights what went wrong during the shooting and what I could have done better. Video issues. Sound issues. Shaking issues. Dirty lenses, etc. I have started writing a list of all the mistakes I made so you don’t have to do them yourself (you are welcome!). I will publish the list in a few weeks, once I have made ALL the mistakes ;-) Seriously, this is a very humbling process. But hey, I’ve been transparent all along, I consider myself a beginner and I’m going through the learning curve, one step at a time. So I am bound to make mistakes. This week I also stumbled upon this article, which I found very comforting. It encourages ‘everyday people’ to build VR. ‘You gotta try DIY Virtual Reality, even if you make hideous things.’ Ok, sir — I’m on it.
3. Finally, I have found more meaning for my project. You may be wondering why I picked capoeira as a topic for my first VR experience. I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about my grand vision for the end product and I will write more on that in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I have spotted the video below, illustrating how capoeira can unite people who may otherwise be divided. Capoeira is about peace, togetherness, love, respect for others, self control and, ultimately, unity. I’d like to raise awareness of this tradition, as I believe everyone could become a better version of themselves by joining the capoeira community and practicing capoeira.

Capoeira is about peace, togetherness, love, respect for others, self control and unity

The week ahead

1. More stitching! I think it may take me several weeks to be done with all the stitching. I’ll do a little bit every day (and night!)
2. Editing. I aim to start learning Adobe Premiere Pro, as I’d like to use it with the Mettle plugin to edit my 360 video. Another steep learning curve ahead. I can do it!
3. Starting the creation of the app using Unity. My fantastic Unity teacher at the Launch Pad boot camp, Sarah Stumbo, has just shared this article with us: How to integrate 360 video with Unity. Perfect timing!

More updates next week! Thanks for reading!