Condition One has spent the last few years trying to find ways to make video more like real life. With the Oculus Rift, it might have found just the device to bring its vision of immersive experiences to life. Using the virtual reality glasses, the company is hoping to unleash a whole new way of engaging with video experiences.
The last time we checked in with Condition One, the company had built a video rendering engine for the iPad and other mobile devices that would allow filmmakers to capture and display video in 180 degrees of vision. That experience connected with the sensors in the tablet and used them to shift the video that viewers were tuning into. By doing so, users were granted a new way of watching video on the device.
But the company decided it could do more. And so, it began working on a pure, 360-degree immersive video experience. Thanks to the power of the Oculus Rift, it will be able to bring that vision to life. With that in mind, Condition One is releasing the trailer to “Zero Point,” the first in what it hopes will be a series of films that leverage the virtual reality technology.
To give viewers some idea of what’s in store, Condition One has released an interactive trailer. But the truth is, that’s a poor substitute for seeing what the company can do using the Oculus glasses. I got a demo last week to check out the experience, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen.
If you’re a believer that the Oculus virtual reality glasses will be perfect not just for gaming, but also for media, then Condition One’s content could be pretty appealing. The company has created a video engine, paired up with a video capture array and editing suite, that allows it to create and play back 360-degree videos.
Condition One plans to make the full-length version of Zero Point available on the Oculus SDK later this year, to be viewed on PCs connected to the VR goggles. But it hopes that the film is just the first piece of content it releases for the device.
According to Condition One founder Danfung Dennis, the company plans to continue making movies that are meant for viewing through Oculus glasses. While pricing and release date are still up in the air, Dennis said he expects that the films will cost a premium to most video content today.
Of course, it’ll take some time to see how the content world develops for VR glasses. But Condition One plans to be right at the forefront of that movement.