Beyond Adobe’s Skybox, other 360 VR toolsets are worth knowing. Al Caudullo explains how to use VR tools from Boris FX and others to finish 360 video.
As you might already have heard, Adobe has its own 360 Immersive toolset with Skybox. But there are some other VR Tools sets that are quite good from BorisFX. Continuum, Known as The Swiss Army Knife of Plugins features the VR Unit.
Five very powerful VR Plugins in one unit.
And for those of you in Avid World, they bring 360 workflows to Avid Media Composer. Here is the full list of host that support Boris Continuum VR Init.
- Adobe: Creative Cloud, CS5.5- CC 2018 – After Effects and Premiere Pro
- Avid: Media Composer 6.5+
- Blackmagic: DaVinci Resolve 12.5+
- Sony: Vegas Pro 13
- Magix: Vegas Pro 14+
- Apple: FCP X & Motion 5
For graphics cards, it is recommended that you run the latest graphics card driver version supported by your host application. A graphics card with a minimum of 1GB of RAM is required; 2GB of RAM is recommended.
Let’s take a look at how to use each one of these valuable VR Tools.
VR Insert allows users to easily insert a secondary source clip, title, logo, etc. into a 360/VR shot in true 360/VR space in either mono or stereo format in addition to providing a full array of controls to reorient the source in 360/VR space.
When we first place one of these elements into a 360 spherical space, the result is a 2D flat object in a spherical format. The sizing is just not right, and if you look at it in an HMD, it is obvious. By applying the VR Insert tool and selecting the appropriate settings.
There are a few things to keep in mind here.
First, when you apply the VR Insert, you need to select which layer the item is on that you are applying the effect to.
Second, in the Insert Apply mode be sure to select Replace instead of normal. If not, you’ll the corrected spherical tile and the original showing at the same time.
And lastly, in the Insert Anti-aliasing, I like to use “Best.”
Using the Insert Group, you can control various aspects of the title position, scale, opacity, etc. of the clip that is being inserted into the filtered 360 VR shot.
Insert Latitude: Use this to control the position of the insert along the vertical axis.
Insert Longitude: Use this to control the position of the insert along the horizontal axis.
Insert Distance: Use this to control the position of the insert along the Z-axis. the insert along the X-axis (spin). the insert along the Y-axis (tumble). the insert along the Z axis (rotate).
Insert Order: Controls, whether the clip is inserted before or after the Reorient operations, are applied, thus controlling whether the inserted clip maintains its current position in relation to the filtered source as you apply Reorientation. composited before the Reorient, so the insert is affected by Reorientatioin.
After Reorient – The insert is composited after the Reorient, so the insert does not move in response to Reorientation.
Insert Scale: Use to control the transform scale of the insert.
Insert Opacity: Use to control the opacity of the insert.
when the Stereo Input Format is selected and is used to set the stereo convergence of the insert whether the filter source is included in the render. There are two options:
Normal – will composite the selected insert over the filtered source.
Replace – will render the selected insert without the filtered source.
Insert Anti-aliasing: Contains options for smoothing the edges of the insert. Higher values will increase render times slightly.
Insert Repeat: Use to automatically clone the insert along multiple sides of Additionally, in the Reorient and Overlays modes, you can adjust the Orientation and the effect of the Overlay parameters. control offers a quick way to toggle
- Full – displays the full
- Preview – displays the
- Left – displays the left face of
- Front – displays the front face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Right – displays the right face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Back – displays the back face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Top – displays the top face of
- Bottom – displays the bottom face of the reoriented source image as if it were viewed through a headset
Preview FOV – Use this to set the field of view (FOV) for the preview mode. Useful when you want to pull back from the shot. This feature is only available when the View Mode is set to Preview. the view along the horizontal axis, side to side. This feature is only available when the View Mode is set to Preview. the view along the vertical axis, up and down. This feature is only available when the View Mode is set to Preview. Overlays Group
Contains parameters for displaying guides that can assist in setting up the effect. Note that these options should be disabled before rendering the effect or they will be burned into the output.
P.I.P. Mode: When enabled, generates a convenient picture-in-picture effect, which displays the unfiltered source clip in its original format superimposed on top of the filtered result.
- Off – PIP is disabled. This is the default state.
- Top-left – Displays the PIP in the top-left quadrant of the viewer.
- Top-Right – Displays the PIP in the top-right quadrant of the viewer.
- Bottom-left – Displays the PIP in the bottom-left quadrant of the viewer.
PIP in the bottom-right quadrant of the viewer.
- P.I.P Scale: Use this to set the size of the PIP overlay.
displays an outline of the 360 cube map onto which the source clip is mapped. overlays a different color for each face of Overlay Text: When enabled, overlays a text identifier for each face of the cube map.
Overlay Opacity: Use to control the opacity of the color overlay for each face of the cube map.
As you can see this is an immensely powerful effect.
This is an indispensable tool for me. I live most of the time in Asia and 50HZ power land but shoot at 30 or 60fps. When working with native 50Hz lighting sources, the result is a very nasty flicker from the lights. VR Flicker Fixer reduces or eliminates flicker from the live action 360/VR source footage, providing 3 different methods for removing flicker. Apply the Frame Analysis method on clips with uniform flickering throughout the frame – e.g., a flicker that is caused by unintended shutter speed or aperture variations from frame to frame. Apply the two Temporal Smoothing methods on clips where flicker varies from pixel to pixel within the frame – e.g., a scene that is lit partly by natural light and partly by flickering artificial light.
The compare tool is especially helpful to see the before and after results right away. Also, you can use the Limit Sampling controls to isolate the analysis phase to just a sub-portion of the image. Furthermore, you can use the Mask and key controls to isolate non-flickering part of the clip and prevent the average flicker correction from being added.
I could not get by without this tool, VR Reorient enables users to reorient a 360/ VR shot in true 360/VR space in either mono or stereo format. This enables you to place the 360 cameras in the optimum position for exposure and composition for the shoot, then lets you optimize the shot in post to reorient for the subjects. The filter includes a set of intuitive overlay controls that map each section of the 360 source clip to its respective face in the 360 environments, emulating the view that a user would experience when consuming 360 media via a head-mounted display system like Oculus Rift.
Again, this control has a deep set of adjustments available to use, all grouped for easy access.
Contains options for specifying the VR source input to, and output from, the filter.
Input Format: Set the source format:
- Mono
- Stereo Top-Bottom
- Stereo Left-Right
- Stereo Bottom-Top
- Stereo Right-Left
source field of view:
- 360 degrees
- 180 degrees
Output Format: Set the output format:
- Left Eye
- Right Eye
- Stereo Top-Bottom
- Stereo Left-Right
- Stereo Bottom-Top
- Stereo Right-Left
This control offers a quick way to toggle
- Full – displays the full
- Preview – displays the
- Left – displays the left face of
- Front – displays the front face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Right – displays the right face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Back – displays the back face
if it were viewed through a headset
- Top – displays the top face of
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