Today, different visual media technologies seem
to be all converging towards 3D capture or recreation of sceneries with
technologies such as LightField cameras, but by far, the most immersive and
realistic creations are those that use real physical simulation of lights,
physics or materials found in CGI (computer generated graphics). Such method is
demanding in processing power and is still bound to pre-rendering tools and
technics.
Fortunately with Virtual Reality a variety of
methods, software and technologies have emerged to enable the experience of
very realistic sceneries. One such methods is the creation of synthetic stereo
cube-maps consisting in the creation of 360° CG scenes rendered from two
points-of-view in which assets are arranged spatially then treated with
focusing, reflection or parallax effect to give a the impressions of depth and
presence sought after in VR.
Recently, Otoy (Octane Render) CEO Jules Urbach alongside John Carmack from Oculus/Epic and CG artist Alex Ross launch their Render the Metaverse contest
to let creative put together the best stereo cube-maps sceneries to be experience in with a Virtual Headset. Here is our selection of the some of the
most impressive ones (to be experiences on Gear Vr or Oculus Rift with the Oculus
360° photos apps or the Virtual
Desktop app):
Cathedral of Woods par Visualimpression
Education Channel par Simmono
Black Salt par _ZOa_
The Metaverse Club par Zaptruder
Bathtub Paranoia par Johnteddy
Toy Story par Ramone163
Next Step for Mankind par Ben_kidd
VR Invaders par Ramone163
Imaged Reality par California_Ben
The Meta par Seriks
Neo Shinjuku Crossing par Johnteddy
130 ARRRGH! par Reaver000
Mini Metaverse par Javierleon
Otoy Pilgrim par Ramone163
Colonial Wars par Chersterfield
Click on the images to access the full stereo cube-maps to be downloaded, to be added in your OculusPhoto folder or any folder accessible from your 360° player.