One of the most
under-emphasized areas in the booming field of virtual reality involves
user-generated content. I’ve noticed at many tech conferences that a keen
interest for student-created content options is resonating at an all-time high,
especially for folks in higher education.
Enter WhooshVR. Having exhibited in the past
at CES and other events, these folks are chiefly known for Whoosh3D, a
3D-enabled 9H tempered glass screen protector which comes with its own
app. Whoosh3D enables a conventional smartphone or tablet device to
create, convert, stream, and display 2D and stereo 3D content, in a
glasses-free format. But WhooshVR is a pleasant addition to their
platform, something I see as having high potential in the education market.
Basically, WhooshVR
is an app that enables a conventional phone to capture a 2D photo with a single
click, convert it to 3D VR format, and create tilt-view VR photos and video,
whereby the edges of the frame expand beyond one’s peripheral vision. Its
current photo capture constraint is 140 degree FOV with a phone’s camera and
180 degrees with a fisheye lens. Interestingly, all photo capture is via
a single photo shot; I do not need to rotate the phone or exhibit socially
awkward photo capture behaviors, thank goodness. According to Simon Gemayel,
CEO of 3DVT: “We're changing the face of VR content by shifting people
from being content consumers to “content creators” simply by using their phone
– the camera we all carry around in our pocket – and using it in a way which is
natural to human behavior; photo capture with a single click.” He gleams: “This is a powerful change in
paradigm. Never before has 3D and VR3D been so simple, so affordable, and
so accessible. “
The introductory app
is free, yet basic. (In the basic version of Whoosh VR, photos are captured through the
app and viewed on the app’s library.) The upsell version will also allow users
to access VR and 3D content on YouTube.
I have been playing with the WhooshVR app at work and home, experimenting with
both fish hook and other lenses. From the perspective of the
consumer, I see this as a low-cost and non-complicated way to capture 3D
pictures (and soon, video), enjoying the ability to click through a mass of
images using my VR headgear or the auto-stereo display. I can print what I see
on a either a color printer or 3D printer and can email or post my images from
the app. From an educator’s perspective, I like the hands-free use, enabled
through gaze control on an onscreen dashboard. The intuitive dashboard allows
immediate depth editing, zooming, and quick visual tweaking. In my way of
thinking, it provides an easy way for the youngest children, or beginning
students at higher levels, to jump right into the fray, using a tool I consider
a valuable precursor to more sophisticated and time-consuming content
generation tools. It’s pretty slick.
