YouTube has recently taken up the technology of virtual reality by introducing 360-degree videos. However, the craze of the full view has declined significantly over the last few months.
The video-sharing website announced on Thursday at its I/O developer conference that viewers would now be able to watch full view videos on their new VR app. The app enables the site to meet its most crucial challenge against VR – isolation. It functions just like old school chat rooms. You could have a small group of friends and chat and watch videos together. At the bottom of the screen, users will see a cartoonish avatar of the logged-in users and his or her friends who are also in the room.
Apart from this, YouTube also revealed another new feature for video creators – heat analytics. This tool helps analyze the hotspots on the screen that keep the attention of the viewers in the 360 degree video. As more and more VR headsets integrate eye-tracking, Google’s acquisition of Eyefluence indicates these insights are going to be quite precise.
YouTube also announced that it is taking applications for its VR video creation workshop and select applicants would be considered for a reward $30K to $40K in order to fund the creation of high quality videos.
Virtual reality is a competitive space among Silicon Valley firms and this is not about to change anytime soon. Facebook announced a similar structure for its VR Oculus headset called Facebook Spaces. Here, too, users will be able to join with their friends’, watch videos and draw together.
Megha Shah for TechFunnel.com
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