CES 2018: Giroptic invites you to capture your world in 6DOF VR! Plus: 360 video call integration and more

Giroptic had three interesting announcements at CES 2018 about 360 video calling, its 6DOF VR camera beta launch, and one more interesting piece of news!

Giroptic is one of the pioneers of the 360 camera industry, with one of the first consumer 360 cameras, the Giroptic 360 Cam, and the first 360 camera with a 360 video calling capability. At CES 2018, I interviewed Giroptic CEO Richard Ollier and CPO Matthieu Grosselin, and they shared with me three big announcements from Giroptic.

360 VIDEO CALL INTEGRATION; ANDROID

Giroptic was the first company to add 360 video calling capability to their 360 camera, the Giroptic iO.  360 video calls are exactly what they sound like: similar to FaceTime or video calling on Skype and other apps, but the person you’re calling can see a 360 view.  See here.

Previously, 360 video calls were made through a separate app called iO Ping.  Now 360 video calls have been integrated into their camera app, so there’s no need to use a separate app.   360 video calls are now a new mode in the Giroptic iO app.

What’s more, Giroptic is very soon going to make 360 calling available for Giroptic iO for Android as well as the affordable iO Pop for Android, making them the first and thus far the only 360 cameras for Android with 360 video calling capability.

6DOF VR CAMERA BETA LAUNCH

Deserted House – Giroptic
by giroptic
on Sketchfab

You may recall that a month ago, Giroptic demonstrated the ability to capture a space in 3D with 6 degrees of freedom using the Giroptic iO, as in the model above (use your mouse’s scroll wheel to move forward or backward).  Now they are launching the beta program for the software that will enable the Giroptic iO to capture spaces in true 3D with 6DOF.

To use this feature, the users will activate a special intervalometer mode in the Giroptic iO app.   The camera will then automatically take photos while prompting the user to move around.  After capturing the photos, the user will upload the photos into the cloud for processing.  After processing, the 3D model will be made available to the user for downloading.  This feature will be available for both Giroptic iO and iO Pop.  To apply for the beta program, click here and let Giroptic know how you plan to use this feature!

NEW GIROPTIC CAMERA!

Finally, Richard and Matthieu revealed that there will be a new higher-spec Giroptic camera later this year!  Richard showed it to me and while I couldn’t take photos or tell you the specs, it checks many boxes and looks like it will be an attractive camera for enthusiasts (not just beginners)!

What do you think of these announcements?  Let me know in the comments!  I still have plenty of news from CES and outside of CES.  Did you know that you can get my posts automatically e-mailed to you?  All you have to do is subscribe for free!