Facebook has pushed out a stunning 360-degree video of the Grand Central Terminal in New York captured by its Surround 360 camera rig.
Mark Zuckerberg has published this video, providing a glimpse of what people can expect from virtual reality movies.
"Check out this 360 video of Grand Central Terminal in New York City," says Zuckerberg. "It's the first 360 video that we produced and filmed ourselves using our new Surround 360 camera."
One can watch the video without a VR headset, and it is also viewable on Web browsers, but using a smartphone is recommended.
"You can tilt your phone to experience different moments happening around you in the terminal. Turn up the sound to know where to look," explains Zuckerberg. "It's a preview of what a full-length virtual reality movie will feel like. Instead of watching the action, you'll be right in the middle of it."
The Verge reports that The Factory, Facebook's internal creative team, created this short film entitled Here and Now. It also says that while this 360-degree video can be watched on a phone or in a Web browser, this video was produced with the Samsung and Oculus Gear VR headset in mind.
Facebook's another goal in releasing this short movie is to show manufacturers and filmmakers across the globe what can be achieved using a high-end 360-degree camera such as Surround 360.
In April, Facebook introduced the Surround 360 and described it as a "high-quality production-ready 3D-360 hardware and software video camera system."
Beginning this summer, Facebook is going to provide the design for the camera hardware along with the stitching code that manufacturers can use in building their very own 360-degree video cameras.
The rig is crammed with 17 shooters: 14 wide-angle cameras placed on the flying saucer, two at the bottom of the rig and one fisheye snapper on top.
Manufacturers will have to fork out $30,000 to purchase the materials needed in making their own Surround 360. The social network notes that it does not plan to be a manufacturer of the camera rig.
If you are curious how does this 360-degree video look like, check it out below:
