YouTube's revealed the secret to making an engaging virtual reality video: put the best parts right in front of the audience so they don't have to move their heads.
Google's video vault offers that advice on the basis of heat maps it's created based on analysis of where VR viewers point their heads while wearing VR goggles. There's just such a heat map at the top of this story (or here for m.reg readers) and a bigger one here.
The many heat maps YouTube has made lead it to suggest that VR video creators "Focus on what's in front of you: The defining feature of a 360-degree video is that it allows you to freely look around in any direction, but surprisingly, people spent 75% of their time within the front 90 degrees of a video. So don't forget to spend significant time on what's in front of the viewer."
YouTube also advises that "for many of the most popular VR videos, people viewed more of the full 360-degree space with almost 20% of views actually being behind them." Which sounds to El Reg like VR viewers are either staring straight ahead, or looking over their shoulders with very little time being devoted to sideways glances.
A video channel wants people to treat VR like video. Hmmm. Perhaps the answer to their question is in the question: people should be considered "participants" instead of an "audience."
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday June 19 2017, @05:04PM (8 children)
The best way to design a VR experience is to minimize the part that actually makes VR unique?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:07PM
Perhaps if there were audio clues to get the user looking in that direction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:17PM
no. according to MARKETING the best VR experience is the one that fleeces the buyers pocket.
imagine:
nice brown fertil dirt. it just rained and if you look closely you see a small two leaf sprout (w/ a nice rain drop that covers half a leaf).
along jumps a merry market-guru and happens upon this new life in the world.
in astonishment, he grabs his mobile phone and snaps picture from all sides and sends it off for the whole world to see.
not long after, people show up to have a look too.
the market-guru, thus, sticks some branches into the ground and proceeds to collect "entrance fees". photos cost extra.
after doing this for a while, he stops because he made so much money that any penny more would not allow him to walk because of the weight.
nevermind that on his exit he happens to step onto the sprout, crushing it.
this is VR on android. it totally works, but IT wasn't the main goal. the main goal was to hype it (maybe we'll get a version 2.0 this time with "deep learning") and to fleece the pockets of ... well .. consumers. consumers, not supporters!
(Score: 2) by rigrig on Monday June 19 2017, @05:17PM (4 children)
The advantage of VR is the immersion you get because you can look anywhere and still see the virtual world.
Having the action move around you is at best annoying because you need to keep turning around to watch what is happening, and at worst really detrimental to the experience because you are constantly reminded that things are only zipping all around you because the content creator felt the need to use the possibilities of VR to the fullest.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 19 2017, @07:15PM (1 child)
I'm split between the need to point out people dwindling attention spans, with the need to always look around rather than focus on something, and the need to point out that people's lives and ficus now seem to fit on 5 degrees of their visual space, or whatever less than 6 inches resolves to at arms' length (crotch location optional).
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:38AM
I'd call that low-hanging fruit!
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday June 19 2017, @08:28PM (1 child)
On the other hand something like "very full field of vision with few distractions" would work well for games like minecraft.
As a gaming related topic I'd say based on the flight lessons I took in meatspace that 75% of the time looking forward is not a problem for a flight simulator.
"Gaming" as defined in the popular press as FPS sequels probably works 75% looking forward. I can't imagine turning physically in circles IRL to play a game so glancing left and right is for situational awareness not bodily rotation. I don't rotate my neck to turn my body anyway, seems unnatural.
Probably a separate problem WRT people not being used to being passive observers who can turn around. So you're playing the FPS or whatever and the something is sneaking up on you while you don't turn around, or something.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 19 2017, @08:47PM
Even a minuscule amount of head rotation while mostly looking straight forward is going to feel immersive in VR. Think of something like the opening of TES V: Skyrim.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday June 20 2017, @06:22AM
Wait, you yourself spend 75 percent of your time looking in that same 90 degree cone straight in front of you.
All people do. We have periferal vision to warn us to take a quick peek, then we go right back to the task at hand looking pretty much straight ahead. That's how we operate. If something requires much attention to the left or right we turn our bodies.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.