Binocular Effect or Subtitles in VR

Continuum
1

I’ve been trying to find a way to place a mask to create a Binocular effect thru which a spectator looks around a landscape or to have subtitles which can be read no matter where the spectator is looking at characters spread around a space and are talking. A normal thing in flat space, but how to do this in 360°? I hoped to do this with BCC VR Insert, which has many possibilities, none of them work for me. Does anyone have an idea how to achieve this effect?

2

Hi Carlos,

I’m not quite sure how this might be achieved in VR 360 with our Continuum toolset - there are VR tools in Continuum, of course, but I can’t think of how I would use them to generate the result you describe. Have you tried using Mocha Pro to achieve the result you have in mind?

I’m sure you’ve already thought through this as a possible solution but if you add the binocular or subtitle layer above the VR layer in the timeline, won’t that remain static and in place while the view is rotated in 360?

Thanks,
Peter.

3

Hi Peter,

thanks for your email. I haven’t tried Mocha Pro, but I will try it and let you know if this works for me.

Best regards,
Carlos

4

Hi Peter,

thanks for your email. I hadn’t tried Mocha Pro, but I downloaded a demo version and have fiddled around with Mocha VR (legacy) for a couple of hours, but I haven’t found anything that would separate levels with one level (e.g. a binocular mask or a subtitle text.) remaining fixed and the other the 360° space around which one can look freely. The mask or a logo always in view.

If possible give me a hint as to where I should be tweaking.

Best regards,
Carlos

5

@carlos Hey Carlos,

I figured it out for you. :slight_smile: You need to use the BCC VR Insert filter, which is a part of Continuum. Apply the BCC VR Insert filter to the 360 shot and add the text / logo insert layer in the filter. Then set the Insert Order pop-up in the filter to After Reorient and the insert will remain front and center in the viewer regardless of the camera.

Please let me know how this works for you.

Cheers,
Peter.

6

Hi Peter,
No luck here. I’m using Premiere Pro. I followed your steps carefully, tried several different 360° shots and the insert a text made in Graphic workspace; tried also using a text on a tif file as well as a png graphic that simulated a telescope, but none stayed fixed: they go out of view as soon as I pan the view. Have I overlooked something?

7

Hey Carlos,

What are you using to pan the viewer? You will need to use the controls that are in the BCC VR Insert filter in order for the insert to remain fixed in place.

Thanks,
Peter.

8

Hi Peter,
I should not have written “pan” instead I meant to say: In the premiere program monitor, which I toggle to VR video display, I move around the 360° space by using the mouse or the keyboard arrows or if I render the file and look at it in my VR Headset and look around the 360° shot, the title, the logo, or telescope mask which I had placed in the center of the 360° shot, moves out of the field of view, stuck to the 360° shot where it was originally.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong in the timeline: I place a 360°VR shot in V1 and put the BCC VR Insert filter to it. I then place a graphic on V2 and then set the Insert Order pop-up in the filter to After Reorient. Then I look at the results in the program monitor.

Sorry to be such a nuisance.
Carlos

9

Hey Carlos,

Ahhh … I understand better now what it is that you’re looking for.

The instructions that I provided would help only while moving around in 360 space in the host timeline using the transform tools that are included in the BCC VR Insert plugin - not when moving around in the headset or the Premiere host 360 preview window.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know of a current solution to product the result that you’re looking to create but I know there must be a toolset for that out there. Have you considered posting in some of the channels that are dedicated to VR workflows, like GoPro or Unity?

Here’s a link where a couple of other folks are looking for the very effect that you’ve described:

Thanks,
Peter.

10

Thank you, Peter for taking time to try to solve this problem. No I haven’t tried GoPro nor Unity. If I find an answer I’ll let you know. I’m an old fashioned filmmaker and have only recently started thinking about VR360° and find it full of exciting possibilities. More quiet ones than what I’ve seen on the internet. I’ve been working with dancers and musicians, documenting their improvisations and on video installations. And since I love watching how they express themselves, I’ve been looking for ways to capture this using video. And now have started combining immersive videos and texts. Still at the beginning.
Thanks also to Neal and Marie who forwarded my inquiry.
Best wishes,
Carlos

11

Sounds like a fun and interesting project you’re working on, Carlos.

Wishing you the best of luck with finding a solution and I’m sorry that I was not able to offer you a solution that would work for this.

Another option might be to reach out to the headset manufacturer to see if they have a solution - I know there must be one out there but I don’t know what it is quite yet. If I find time to do some more research on this over the next couple of days I’ll share my results with you.

Cheers,
Peter.

12

I followed the link you sent me and found another link which led to the BBC. They were working on this problem years ago! I’ll follow up on that.

Here is a link to a short video I made before confronting the problem.

password: stille

13

Wow - that was wonderful. And beautiful. Brings to mind the spirit of Laurie Anderson, John Cage, John Cale, Brian Eno etc. Thank you for sharing that!