Google Debuts Interactive VR Photography App 'Cardboard Camera' on iOS

[Malarkey]

Cardboard Camera is nothing short of magical in terms of what it can do, and has generated the most "wow" moments with people I've shown the images to since I installed it a few months ago on my Galaxy S6.

Glad to see it on iOS now, with the added sharing feature. Looking forward to putting it on my iOS devices.

It IS true stereo/3-D and there is some kind of algorithm being used to generate a stereo effect from a single camera. The panning creates a series of images from which the software senses depth. It would be nice if consumers were educated in the discernable differences between stereoscopic imagery and (to me) "fake" VR that is only flat 2-D 360 imagery. I won't touch any app or media with my Gear that's not "3-D"/stereoscopic.

It would be nice if more devices had glasses-free 3-D along the lines of HTC's Evo 3D display, for instance. Everyone who looked at it was blown away and would comment on how futuristic is was. Not perfect, but an added enhancement that could be switched off when not needed.

Now I don't need to carry around my old HTC Evo 3D or my Fuji W3 3D camera in order to generate some cool 3-D. It's a shame tech and consumers abandoned 3D. I think it's a necessary stepping stone to full acceptance of VR. After all, 2-D is only half the image.

 

[nognome]

Been really blown away with this app. It's the 3D from a 2D camera that is the most impressive.

For those asking above about the "3D": To explain a bit, (i think using the highest level terms?) it's using a photogrammetric process to pull depth as you rotate.

The way it works with more obvious apps is that you "move the camera all around" and it captures something with 3d depth, like a face or an object sitting on a table. There's a bunch of iOS apps that do this right now, and let you spin around the "object" in limited 3D afterwards while viewing.

With this, there's subtle variations in the distances between objects as you rotate, in relation to what the lens is capturing. Those small differences get calculated into depth data, and it uses that to simulate a 3D image. It look like it get tripped up on really complicated plant life or other super close/detailed things that are moving (like waves), but for what it's worth, it works pretty damned well and gives an impressive result.

If you view a scene with a cardboard, try closing one eye and then the other on some of the more obvious "3D" objects. You'll notice slight differences – one object overlapping another slightly more in one than the other. That's where the depth is created.

 

[windowpain]

Wow, what a great app!

I just took a 360 degree photo while stood in my kitchen, and looked at it while stood in my living room... and it felt like I was in my kitchen! The future is here folks.

Nah, when I get out to more interesting places I think I will definitely be using this.
Has a way to go, but still has that wow feeling when using it for the first time.

I just tried it. It does the same thing as Apple's panorama feature in the iPhone, but instead it goes all the way around 360° instead of 180°.

You need a VR goggle holder thing (like google cardboard) to get the most from it (from about 10 dollars or so.)
Otherwise, yes, it is just a 360 panorama. That's not the point of it though.

Also..... You can just save it to your camera roll.... but if you want to share it as a continuously connected spinning panorama, it gets uploaded to god knows where Google servers to be kept by them for eternity, with no option to allow you to delete it.

Tap on the photo, then tap delete..
The data mining is no different from the regular google photos I think.. nothing that they haven't already done.

 

[pilotavery]

I just tried it. It does the same thing as Apple's panorama feature in the iPhone, but instead it goes all the way around 360° instead of 180°.
Also..... You can just save it to your camera roll.... but if you want to share it as a continuously connected spinning panorama, it gets uploaded to god knows where Google servers to be kept by them for eternity, with no option to allow you to delete it.
So in typical Google fashion, they're data mining the hell out of you.

Deleted

But this is actually 3D, not just 360 degrees.
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I only see it as 2 dimensions, you still can look up-down and left/right, but each eye gets the same image, so your brain can't guess what's closer/further.

They are slightly different images. If you overlap them, they don't line up. It's a slight effect, but it's there. In general, if you only rotate the phone, it will be flat. If you have your arms out at least 2 feet when you take them, the 3D effect is stronger.