SDCC 2016: Radiant Images Brings 360 Video & VR To The Big Screen

Today marks the first (unofficial) day of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. Preview night is usually relegated to damaging your liver and scoping out all the sick deals before you try to wait in line for Hall H.

I got to check out the VR Convention, just across the street from the convention center. There were multiple vendors there all showing off their great VR products and innovations. The group that caught my eye the most was Radiant Images.

They’re a manufacturing and rental house out of LA that focuses on 360 cameras. We were able to check out a few of their products.

The one that most of you will be able to check out, is the Mobius POV VR. A head mounted full 360 head shell that captures the wearers entire view.

The device was INCREDIBLY light, and has a brace that runs down the wearers back. Keeping the device very still. The directors/editors can choose how to stitch together the footage, so that you can get the feeling of being on the shoulders of the character. It’s not just going to be the cheesy First Person Shooter footage feeling.

There will be an upcoming scene in Suicide Squad that will feature footage shot on this rig.

The other very compelling camera setup they offer is the Jaunt One, code named Viper (after the probe droids from Star Wars). It features 24 cameras that all output at either 8 or 4K resolution.

The thing that piqued my interest the most about this rig, was its portability. This can be hooked up to a wire mobile rig or even a drone. It can be used for high speed environments, like sporting events.

The last setup we were demoed was the Nokia OZO. A handheld unit that is designed for mimicking the human eye.

Each of the OZO’s 8 sensors are 64 millimeters apart. The perfect focal distance to mimic the human eye. The handle of the unit features a 500 GB SSD quick swap drive. So that when one hard drive is full, you can swap them out for an empty one and keep on shooting. These cameras were used to film all the VR and 360 footage at the Euro 2016 football tournament.

Radiant Images is an incredible team of people that really want to push the future of 360 and VR footage. Designing and renting out their own, in house made camera rigs. They have those that fly and they have those that zip across the sand at incredible speed.

Be sure to check out their official website for look at some of their other incredible products.