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What is Mixed Reality? And How You Can Leverage It

Leveraging Mixed Reality
by Max Harris, Media Producer at 360dgrees.com
Banner photo by  Maurizio Pesce 

You know what VR is, you think understand AR…but what is MR? As Virtual Reality and related technologies become increasingly widespread and commonplace, they are also developing and evolving at an incredible pace. There is a lot of confusion regarding the differences between the various incarnations of these technologies and the jargon surrounding them. For the most part, understanding these terms is all in the name and is somewhat intuitive if you break down the language. Understanding the phrase Mixed Reality and how you can use it is crucial for anyone who wants to stay on top of the latest waves of innovation, but more importantly in order to understand how a business can use MR to achieve to their greatest capacity. However first we need to understand some other terms.

Reality:

Starting simple, reality refers to our experience of waking life – non-simulated, non-virtual. When you film something with an ordinary camera, you are capturing reality. Any unaltered flat video or film fits into this basic category.

VR:

Virtual Reality – Virtual Reality or Virtuality is completely constructed from computer generated graphics, and contains no real-world elements. It is best experienced using a headset such as the Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus or the Samsung Gear VR, to create the experience of being immersed in a completely virtual world. Though there are many applications for VR, the most obvious and well known being gaming.

360:

360 degree video uses either omnidirectional cameras, or a collection of cameras stitched together in post-production, to create spherical videos. These videos wrap around the viewer so that they can move their point-of-view to look in every direction. 360 degree video can be viewed using a VR headset to create a similar experience to that of Virtual Reality – however the user is immersed in a completely real world. 360 degree video becomes even more exciting when it is augmented to become Mixed Reality, but we aren’t quite there yet.

AR:

Augmented Reality – AR takes the real world and overlays virtual components on top of it. Digital information is added to reality which can be viewed using a sensor-packed wearable device, such as Google Glass, the Daqri Smart Helmet or Epson’s Moverio brand of smart glasses. Augmented Reality was popularised by, and known to most people, the mobile application Pokemon Go. Augmented Reality is a form of Mixed Reality.

AV:

Augmented Virtuality – this is the inverse of AR. Whereas in AR Reality is the base layer with Virtuality overlaid or added on top; AV means Virtuality is the base layer with real life components overlaid. This also qualifies as Mixed Reality.

MR:

Mixed Reality – MR is an umbrella term of sorts because it applies wherever there is a mix of both Virtuality and Reality. In this way both AR and AV can be said to fall under the umbrella of MR, because they are both a combination of virtual elements and real elements.

How Can You Leverage This Information?

Now that we understand these terms, how can we leverage this information for a business or sole trader?

360 Degree Video

falls into the bracket of Mixed Reality when it is augmented with virtuality or/and interactive components. This includes virtual hotspots that allow the user to navigate in the virtual plane or to open links to websites, forms, or videos. It can also include virtual objects such as icons, badges, or computer generated objects or characters.

360dgrees.com is the only end-to-end service for 360 degree video, a platform which empowers anybody, regardless of skill set, to transform their basic 360 degree video with interactivity into a fully functional, highly immersive piece of Mixed Reality Content. As 360 degree video increasingly becomes widely available, the 360dgrees.com platform means that creating Mixed Reality can be done quickly and easily by anyone. 360 degree mixed reality videos have unlimited application, including gaming, entertainment, and training. Visit 360dgrees.com now to find out more – or try it for yourself!

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How 360° Video is Changing the Future of Safety

360 video safety training
By Max Harris, Media Producer at 360dgrees.com

How 360° Video is Changing the Future of Safety

Workplace safety is an essential aspect of every business in every industry.

A lack of proper safety precautions in the workplace impacts not just the individuals who are placed in danger, and their families, but the damages can have financial ramifications at every level of management within a business.
Ensuring employee wellbeing means fostering a comprehensive safety culture.

This is a challenge for employers which is often underestimated. Creating a culture of safety means more than just educating staff on protocol, it means creating a training program which can actual transform the habits of employees. Industries are searching for innovation that can protect the welfare of employees and the prosperity of businesses.

The Problem with Traditional Safety Training

Traditional safety training is usually time consuming, expensive, and struggles to actually change patterns of behaviour in a meaningful way.
In fact it often fails on three key fronts:

A failure to adequately demonstrate the consequences of poor safety protocol.

Seminars, workshops, and tests can only go so far in their demonstration of the personal impact of unsafe procedure. Traditional safety training therefore cannot viscerally convey the consequences of courting danger in the workplace, and so fails to break habits.

A failure to provide training in a way than will translate to experience.

Studies show that the most effective learning is kinaesthetic learning. People learn by doing, and there is a psychological divide between theory and practice.
Learning something which needs to be applied empirically, such as safety procedure, requires more than just a theoretical understanding. Simply being told how and why to be safe will never be fully effective. Furthermore, the stressful reality of a dangerous situation is not adequately prepared for by traditional training.

A failure to engage employees.

Put simply, safety training is often perceived as boring or even frustrating by staff. This means that employees do not commit their full attention to the training, and therefore do not retain the information or its empirical significance.

For these reasons, industries are looking for innovations in the field of safety training that can effectively establish a safety culture and protect employees and businesses as a whole. This is where 360° video steps in.

Read also: 5 WAYS TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE WORK

360° Video

360° video uses either omnidirectional cameras, or a collection of cameras stitched together in post-production, to create spherical videos which can be viewed using a virtual reality headset. With a headset on, the user is in a real world environment where they can look around in every direction. 360° video can also be augmented with interactivity – hotspots which give the user the ability to move between immersive environments, make choices, and more.

So what is the relevance to workplace safety?

360° video means placing the employee in a real environment where they are asked to actually respond to safety scenarios in real time. This can be applied across any industry and in every workplace. 360° solves every problem facing safety training.

Read also: HOW 360 VIDEO CAN MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT EASIER

Consequences

Making mistakes is one of the most effective ways to learn. However making mistakes in a real-life safety scenario can be disastrous, costing millions of dollars, and resulting in injury or even death. 360° safety training empowers learning through mistakes by viscerally simulating the consequences. This leaves a lasting impact on the user and will actually change their patterns of behaviour.

Kinaesthesia

360° caters to many different types of learners because it is an immersive experience that creates an immediate engagement from the user. It instils safety responses as instinct because it teaches through action, and thus develops perceptuo-motor skills and cognitive problem solving. It simulates the pressure and stress of making safety decisions in the moment, which will translate to real scenarios.

Immersive

It is impossible to give half your attention to a lesson in 360° video. It immediately takes full control of your focus by coercing you to interact with your environment, from the first moment you put on the headset and begin to look around. It brings the student to life and is a memorable experience.

360dgrees.com

Factories, distribution centres, mines, and a range of other industries are already having success implementing 360° VR headset training. Revolutionise the way your business approaches safety by using 360° videos.

Get more information at www.360dgrees.com.

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” – Confucius

 (Cover Photo by Nan Palmero, licensed under CC BY 2.0. A woman using a VR headset at SXSW, 2015.)

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The future of content marketing

The future of content marketing

If content marketing wants to remain king, it must evolve

Did you know that the Michelin Restaurant Guide is one of the earliest examples of content marketing? This was developed by the car tyre company back when people were first buying vehicles for personal use. The marketing team at Michelin wanted people to do more driving and wear out their tyres so they created a book rating the very best restaurants. The idea was that people would book tables and then jump in their cars to visit the top dining spots in the world.

Not long after this, Jell-o published a recipe book, a form of content marketing that paid off in the form of not just more jelly mix sales, but profits from the book itself.
Even the term ‘soap opera’ relates to 1930s radio drama series that were sponsored by soap companies.
What a lot has happened since then! Nowadays entire companies and global conferences are dedicated to the subject of content marketing.

Content marketing – looking forward

As the saying goes, content is king. Companies like Coca-Cola, Nike and Mercedes follow this mantra wholeheartedly by producing blogs, promoting Tumblr memes and even publishing magazines.

In 2017, due to the rapid evolution of technology, while content is still king, video content is the ace. 

Marketers are saying that their field has changed more in the past two years than in the last 50. This is all thanks to smartphones, higher data allowances and better wireless internet access. People are consuming content at an incredible rate, including articles, infographics and videos.
You can see this for yourself just by looking around while you are on the bus or train.How many people aren’t looking at a screen nowadays?

Quality over quantity

The problem with an influx of content is that as well as wanting more of it, people are becoming more savvy.
The stats about video are quite staggering. The medium is predicted to make up 74% of all online content consumed this year and an increasing number of buyers say they would be more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it.
There’s no doubt video is a winning content marketing strategy, but if your video is uninteresting or too obviously advertising it is not going to get a look in.

This is why many companies are investing in more top level strategies that are designed to not just entertain and inform, but to truly engage. An example is KitKat’s Virtual break campaign, which combined 360 degree video with Google Cardboard to provide a completely immersive view of what it’s like to parachute off a cliff.

Video’s big role

Video is contributing to the fast evolution of content marketing in a major way. Consider that the GoPro was launched only a few years ago. So much incredible, high action content has been produced by then, in unbelievably clear quality. Products like Red Bull often use GoPro footage from athletes and adventurers to promote their brand. The next step is for 360 video to hit the mainstream. Since the launch of Nikon’s ‘Keymission 360’, the first action camera with HD 4K video resolution, this technology has been catching on fast. From where we see it, the format’s popularity on platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo will see action-capturing camera will incorporate 360 degree capability within the next two to three years.

May the best brand win

As mentioned recently by the New York Times, those who dare win in the new world of content marketing. A virtual reality campaign that is clever and truly engaging has the potential for millions of views and an incredible jump in customer engagement. Video has the power to open up a whole new world for the marketing industry – so long as it is done right, is creative and inventive and always has the customer in mind.

Is video part of your future content marketing strategy?
Contact the team at 360dgrees.com to find out how to use it to better connect with your audience.

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5 steps to perfect 360 video

Steps to perfect 360 video

Learn the skills required to create a great 360 video

360dgrees video is growing in popularity, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to get right.
Filming in every single direction and creating a clip that people will enjoy watching requires patience, experience and talent. When done well a 360dgrees video is a powerful tool for boosting your marketing and increasing your revenue.
Here are five steps to pull together a great looking 360degree video and leveraging it to boost profits.

1. Work out your ‘story’

Planning makes perfect in video production. For 360 video, make sure that you work out your storyboard in advance so that you know all the shots you want to get.
Do some location scouting and make sure the light will be in your favour. It’s also important to check that you have the necessary permission if you are filming in a public place.

2. Engage a professional team

Like drone footage, 360degree video is best shot by someone who knows exactly what they are doing. There are certain techniques that are important to make sure that every angle is captured property and that the viewer gets the most out of every shot.
If your video has a presenter, make sure they are well briefed and experienced so that you can minimise the number of retakes on the day.
Having a qualified team add voice overs, music and effects will put the finishing touches on your footage.

3. Distribution

Once you have your video edited and ready to go, the next thing is to get people to watch it!
Fortunately youtube and facebook both allow for 360 video so you can upload to these platforms and share to social media if you have a B2C product with a broad audience. Invite your users to check out your clip using their phone so that they can play around and look at all the different angles.

4. Call to action

There’s not much point in creating a beautiful 360 video without any purpose. You should design it with an action in mind, be it booking tickets to a show, shopping in an online retail outlet or planning a holiday.
Decide early on what the plan is for your video and make sure that the call to action message is included in the content.

5. Point of sales

Consider using your video to generate sales. How?
For example, a restaurant with a 360degree video experience can allow customers to click to book the exact table they’d like to sit at.
A retail store could have ‘click to buy’ over popular items.

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How 360 Video Can Make Public Transport Easier

How 360 video can make public transport safer?

New technology has the potential to make catching public transport a more convenient experience

360degree video is already revolutionizing the entertainment and gaming industries, but it has some much more practical applications as well.

The busy team at 360dgrees is constantly looking for new ways to leverage this technology to make people’s everyday lives more convenient. This is why it has made perfect sense for us to throw our hat into the ring as an entrant into Transport NSW’s Future Transport Beacon Innovation Challenge.

This challenge came about after Transport for NSW began working with Sydney Trains to trial the use of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons. These beacons enable vision-impaired customers to find their way around Sydney’s train stations. Working on this project inspired TfNSW to look for other ways that BLE beacons can benefit travelers.

Contributors including 360dgrees were invited to come up with an innovative product that uses BLE beacons on trains and at stations to benefit the commuter experience.

Rising to the challenge, what we came up with was a way to help customers to find their way around train stations, to better connect them with the commercial providers at the station and to improve their overall experience of catching trains in NSW.

“These beacons enable vision-impaired customers to find their way around Sydney’s train stations”

Thanks to 360 degree video technology, we were able to respond to the Future Transport Beacon Innovation Challenge by putting forward the use of 360 degree video as a way for travellers to familiarise themselves with a train station using an app or website before they leave home.

Our proposal shared how commuters would be able to view the different platforms of any train station and look all around to see where the ticket machines are and what food is available for sale. They will also be able to see exactly where the train arrives and departs so that they can be comfortable that they are in the right place.

By helping commuters to plan their trips from home using complete 360degree footage, or to navigate their way around a train station they are already at, traveling will become less stressful and more convenient.

There is also a hidden benefit: data tracking and analysis that gives Transport for NSW deeper insights into consumer behaviour and activities.

Transport for NSW would be able to integrate helpful updates, timetable changes and advertisements to make travelling on Sydney and NSW’s rail system a breeze.

The winners of the  Future Transport Beacon Innovation Challenge will be announced later this week – we have our fingers crossed that we will be able to share some good news very soon!

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5 ways technology is changing the work

5 ways 360 video is changing work

All around the world, jobs are evolving thanks to technology such as virtual reality

Technology is all around us. So much so that some people are fearing for their jobs. The perception is that their skills will be replaced by robots and they’ll find themselves out of work.

While many jobs are now relics from days-gone-by (think the ice delivery man, the vinyl record manufacturer and the switchboard operator), what technology does do is create opportunities for new jobs. For example, the aforementioned jobs have given way to the refrigerator repair man, the digital sound engineer and the online customer care consultant.

An article recently published by Forbes about whether or not technology will be responsible for economic turmoil caused by job loss concludes that “Technology doesn’t create new jobs for people to do. It frees people to go off and invent new jobs to do, ones which meet some other human desire or want.”

So what kind of jobs will technology allow us to have in the future? These are some professions that will increasingly be in high demand.

Aerial Drone Technician

With the use of drones on the rise, the people who service and operate them will also increase. Drones are useful for a lot more than fancy wedding photography… they are already being used to survey disaster areas, to help with insurance claims and even to transport human organs high above the busy streets of a city.

As the concept of self-flying, passenger carrying dronesinches towards reality (prototypes have already gone on show at tech conferences), a career in drone supply, management or maintenance is well worth considering.

Artificial Intelligence Developer

With the influx of Siri, her pals Alexa and Cortana as well as countless chatbots, artificial intelligence is quickly integrating with our lives. But as smart as these systems appear to be, right now someone does have to be at the wheel.
Artificial Intelligence offers a range of employment opportunities, including software developer, trend researcher, and data analyst. These jobs will be in high demand in the near future until we figure out a way to automate the automation process!

Virtual Reality Designer

While we’re preparing to step into virtual worlds via our fancy Oculus Rift headsets, somebody has to create these worlds for us to step into. These designers don’t just have to understand technology, but also interiors and vast outdoor landscapes. They will have to have a deep knowledge of how humans interact with their environment in order to create believable, compelling virtual worlds that will completely surround us.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is being described as the ultimate disrupter. In a nutshell, it creates a complex system that is able to process exponentially more information than the computers we use now. A basic explanation of this technology is that today’s computers have to solve problems in sequence, whereas in the future they will be able to solve countless problems at once.
Quantum Computing is fledgling right now, with labs being set up around the world to investigate the possibilities that this new science can contribute. The more minds that are on deck, the faster we will be able to develop and test new drugs, accelerate space exploration and even more accurately forecast the weather.

360 Degree Videographer

Filming in one direction at a time? How turn of the century?
Modern videographers are adding 360degree cameras to their equipment swags, making the most of this latest way of capturing all the action. 360 video can be used for tourism videos, museum and educational tours, shopping experiences and immersive gaming. The best videographers will be experts at capturing everything in intricate detail and in a way that feels as realistic as possible.