Apart from Virtual Reality cameras becoming high end and affording great many features, there are specialized VR waterproof action cameras that one can use Underwater and return with high quality Virtual Reality footage. They shoot videos and photos in 360 degrees thus imparting an astounding sense of view. The possibilities of going underwater and hobnobbing with whales and colourful sea life is affordable now, VR has transformed significantly from being land based technological wonder to an underwater based discovery. From exploring submerged ships, caves and sea bed strewn with treasures all of this can be experienced with a VR headset.

Pro underwater stereoscopic 360 systems like the ‘VRTUL 1’ has incorporated the Blackmagic Microstudio 4K cameras to give an extensive new dimension to underwater Virtual Reality.

However, there are quite a few challenges of post-processing the output from underwater cameras, such as:

• Unlike the output obtained through a VR gear in land, there is no proper texture reference to stitch the footage.Since everything under water is moving there is no reference point to use for overlapping or stitch binding.
• In Stereo shots, there is a slight deviation in milliseconds on how the left and right view appears, which involves manual stitching.
• Apart from the normal changes in VR post production, the underwater shots have an effect created by waves which adds to an additional effort in post -production.
• Lack of sync information in the underwater VR leads to issues while stitching.

Our Head of VR Production, Mr. Venugopalan says; “Manual stitching is necessary to overcome the challenges in underwater VR and SBL proves to be the right candidate in this arena. We are one of the pioneers to have undergone VR post production challenges in an early stage and have developed a steady pipeline with Nuke and CARA which enables to produce seamless output. “

So getting onto the VR bandwagon requires careful analysis of the VR ecosystem which involves scrutinizing – hardware, content, accessories, distribution channels, and the existing user base. Hence choosing the right vendor for post-production would be key to a successful VR underwater FPS product. The vendor should be able to ensure proper stitching pipeline, artefacts removal and provide quality of seamless output.