Purple Pill VR Offering 360 Video Production Course & 360 Camera Rig Open Source 3D File
Back in September, the Netherlands VR startup Purple Pill announced the release of the specs of its custom designed and built 360 stereoscopic camera rig. Anyone with a capable 3D printer can instantly download the file and print their own 360 camera rig and start making 360 contents!
Purple Pill VR Offering 360 Video Production Training Course
The most difficult part with making upload-ready 360 video content is the stitching in post-production. With that point in mind, Purple Pill VR also launched a comprehensive training course, instructing and covering the most basic to the post-production.
From what’s is a 360 video, what to know when choosing the proper camera rig, post-production and stitching and so forth. We have taken and completed the course, and we can honestly say, if you are a 360 video newbie, look no further, this is it! You can sign-up for the course on this page.
“You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” – Morpheus, The Matrix
What would you pick if you had the choice between living in an illusion (blue pill) or learning the harsh truth about real life (red pill)? We offer you a middle ground, a purple pill, which lets you experience reality in virtual way.
Purple Pill VR Company Background
Awestruck by the amazing beauty of the Bernini sculptures displayed in Villa Borghese in Rome, Thierry, one of the founders of Purple Pill, decided that everyone should be able to see these magnificent sights at least once in their life. This inspired him to search for ways to transport yourself to a different location and actually feeling present. VR was the answer, but all of the content was aimed at gaming. There were no immersive VR videos.
The main problem was the lack of available hardware to shoot such content, so Thierry started researching how to develop his own stereoscopic 360 camera system. This is when he asked his old friend Nick, who has several years of business experience, to join the team and start taking some serious steps towards the first camera prototype.
After a test shoot on the pitch of the Amsterdam ArenA, which was a great learning experience, some money was needed to take the idea of VR video to the next level. Within a week, two private investors were found who together invested €50.000. Purple Pill VR was officially born!
The 1st version of Purple Pill 360 camera rig, that’s how it got started!
This investment was used to purchase 16 GoPro HERO 4 Black edition cameras, which are capable of shooting 1080p in 120 frames per second, an Ultimaker2 3D printer to produce the camera mount, a fully spec’d out 5K iMac for stitching and video editing, an ambisonic microphone for a realistic sound experience and other essential hardware and software.
On top of that, a cross-platform VR video app was developed by Purple Pill, as well as custom Python scripts to automate file management of the mountain of video data coming from the multitude of cameras. We are now one of the first companies in the world able to produce realistic cinematic VR experiences and are continuously pushing this new medium to its absolute limits.
The Purple Pill VR Team
THIERRY PUL, FOUNDER thierrypul@purplepillvr.com Phone: +31614068650 Thierry never imagined that his radically diverse set of hobby´s would eventually be applicable to Virtual Reality. His technical background in Engineering at the TU Delft allowed him to design and build the camera system, while his photography, music, and video editing skills proved to be highly valuable in later stages of the process.
NICK KRAAKMAN, FOUNDER nickkraakman@purplepillvr.com Phone: +31647844614 With an almost equal variety of know-how, Nick has been running successful businesses since his first year of University, ranging from selling specialty watches and designing websites, to teaching individuals about the stock market. As a self-taught programmer, Nick is used to finding creative solutions to complex problems.
