Holotour

Title description author ms.author ms.date ms.topic keywords Case study - Spatial sound design for HoloTour To create a truly immersive 3D virtual tour for Microsoft HoloLens, the panoramic videos and holographic scenery are only part of the formula. jsyltebo jsylte 03/21/2018 article Windows Mixed Reality, HoloLens, HoloTour, spatial sound, case study, mixed reality headset, windows mixed reality headset, virtual reality headset, HoloLens, MRTK, Mixed Reality Toolkit, audio Panoramic videos and holographic scenery are only part of the formula for an immersive Microsoft HoloLens tour. This article describes how sound was used to make you feel like you're actually in each HoloTour location.The techThe beautiful imagery and holographic scenes that you see in HoloTour are only one part of a believable mixed-reality experience. While holograms only appear in front of a user, HoloLens can deliver spatial sound from all directions, which provides a more-complete sensory experience.Spatial sound provides cues to indicate a direction the user should turn or to let the user know there are more holograms to see within their space. We can also attach a sound directly to a hologram and continually update the direction and distance that the hologram is from the user. This technique makes it seem as if the sound is coming directly from that object.For HoloTour, we wanted to take advantage of the spatial sound capabilities of HoloLens, so we created a 360-degree ambient environment that's synchronized with the video to reveal the sonic highlights of specific locations.Behind the scenesWe created HoloTour experiences of two different locations: Rome and Machu Picchu. To make these tours feel authentic and compelling, we wanted to capture audio from the locations where we filmed instead of using generic sounds.Capturing the audioIn our case study about capturing the visual content for HoloTour, we talk about the design of our camera

Title description author ms.author ms.date ms.topic keywords Case study - HoloTour Explore the HoloTour application case study and walk through the process of capturing and creating its content. dannyaskew daaske 03/21/2018 article HoloTour, HoloLens, Windows Mixed Reality HoloTour for Microsoft HoloLens provides immersive 3D personal tours of iconic locations around the world. As the designers, artists, producers, audio designers, and developers working on this project found out, creating a convincingly real 3D rendering of a well-known location takes a unique blend of creative and technological wizardry. This case study will walk through the process of capturing and creating the content used for HoloTour.The techWith HoloTour, we wanted to make it possible for people to visit some of the world’s most amazing destinations—like the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru or the modern day Piazza Navona in Italy—right from their own living rooms. Our team made it the goal of HoloTour to “make you feel like you’re really there.” The experience needed to be more than just pictures or videos. By leveraging the unique display, tracking, and audio technology of HoloLens we believed we could virtually transport you to another place. We would need to capture the sights, sounds, and three-dimensional geometry of every location we visited and then recreate that within our app.In order to do this, we needed a 360° camera rig with directional audio capture. It needed to capture at extremely high resolution, so that the footage would look crisp when played back on a HoloLens and the

And experience it like they are really there. You see high-resolution 360-degree panoramic displays of places like Rome and Machu Picchu. HoloTour highlights two unique capabilities of HoloLens. Being untethered, HoloLens allows you to enjoy a virtual trip by actually walking around the location. While immersive, the experience still embraces mixed reality, as it allows you to physically walk around spaces and get up close to objects while remaining untethered from a PC, phone or other device. HoloTour is also a showcase for the spatial sound capabilities of this platform. When you are walking around Rome, the sounds of the city surround you – just like you were actually there.The the HoloLens Development Edition also includes 3 unique examples of mixed reality games that demonstrate the elements of holographic gameplay that no other platform can deliver. Read about them in detail here.Finally, starting this summer, developers will be able to experience a completely new holographic storytelling medium for the Development Edition that Microsoft call Actiongram. This experience was designed for creative coders and content creators, providing what we think is the most amazing way to tell digital stories that might otherwise be impractical or impossible. Actiongram uses mixed reality capture (MRC) to blend holographic content into real world settings, allowing anybody to create emotionally compelling and humorous videos. Microsoft will be delivering new content for Actiongram regularly so that users can continually express themselves in the holographic medium.Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition starts shipping in the US and Canada on March 30th at a price of $3,000. Additional development tools that include Visual Studio projects and a HoloLens emulator will be released when HoloLens devices start shipping to customers on March 30. The emulator will allow developers to test holographic apps on their PC without a physical HoloLens and comes with a HoloLens development toolset.Prospective developers can visit www.hololens.com/developmentedition to apply now for the kit. If you already have the invite, you can order it here from Microsoft Store. Surur Davids Smartphone Expert Surur Davids is the founder of WMPoweruser which later became MSPoweruser.com. He's a smartphone expert with over a decade of experience.

Rig set up for filming outside the Pantheon.We tested out our homemade rig by taking it up to Rattlesnake Ridge near Seattle, capturing the scenery at the top of the hike. The result, though significantly less polished than the locations you see in HoloTour today, gave us confidence that our rig design was good enough to make you feel like you’re really there.We upgraded our rig from Velcro and cardboard to a 3D-printed camera housing and bought external battery packs for the GoPro cameras to simplify battery management. We then did a more extensive test, traveling down to San Francisco to create a miniature tour of the city’s coast and the iconic Golden Gate bridge. This camera rig is what we used for most of our captures of the locations you visit in HoloTour.The 360° camera rig filming in Machu Picchu.Behind the scenesBefore filming, we needed to figure out which locations we wanted to include on our virtual tour. Rome was the first location we intended to ship and we wanted to get it right, so we decided to do a scouting trip in advance. We sent a team of six people—including artists, designers, and producers—for an in-person visit to the sites we were considering. The trip took about 9 days – 2.5 for travel, the rest for filming. (For Machu Picchu we opted not to do a scout trip, researching in advance and booking a few days of buffer for filming.)While in Rome, the team took photos of each