360 cameras use multiple cameras to film, so once you have shot your footage it is likely you will need to stitch it. Stitching is the process in which various videos are combined with overlapping fields. Different makes of cameras will have their own companies stitching software available to download from the manufacturers website.
GoPro 360 Cameras
Download and Install the GoPro Player Software.
Select 'Open Media' and Browse for your Footage
Trim your clip as necessary, using the scissors icon and dragging out your start, and end points. There are plenty of guides online for this step, if you get stuck!
Preview Stabilisation Options:
The padlock icon on the right side of the screen is World Lock, this uses the camera's gyroscope data to rotate the footage and keep the world in one place. It can be really useful if your camera is stationary, but can produce disorientating results in certain situations. Turning this feature off means that the camera will rotate naturally, exactly as filmed.
Example: If you're filming in a car, turning world lock on will lock the world outside the window in place, but the car will appear to rotate around the camera as it turns. This is disorientating, and leaving world lock off is a better bet for this example.
The square icon beneath world lock is the Horizon Level tool, which rotates the footage to level out the horizon. In 90% of cases, leaving this turned on is recommended. If the footage does go awry, you can manually re-level your footage with the re-level tool beneath it!
To export 360 footage, make sure you've selected 360 mode in the top-centre of the screen.
Navigate to File > Export
Export Settings
Select a Resolution, a Codec, and make sure any tools you need, that you previewed in step 4, are checked in the Options panel.
For the Virti Platform, we'd recommend exporting the highest possible resolution, with the H.264 codec - this will keep your quality high, but your file size low!
Higher quality originals will produce better results and future proof your content in expectation of VR headsets increasing their screen resolution in the future. Most current headsets only support 4K total.
If you have a mid- to high-end graphics card, checking Hardware Encoding will speed up your export!
Export
Press 'Next...' and browse to where you want your file to drop. Choose 'Save', and wait for the export to finish. You can now drag and drop this file into Virti, and begin adding interactions!
Upload the stitched files into the media area at
https://app.virti.com