Virtual Reality Upload/Hosting
6 Best Places Online to Share Your VR 360° Content
27 Mar , 2018 Others Mark Metry, Veer VR Blog
So, you’ve purchased a 360° camera and you captured some interesting footage worthy of sharing on social media. But, how do you publish 360-degree content for your friends, family, and colleagues to see.
Right now is the best time to get into this field, as VR 360° cameras are quickly becoming the best devices for filmmakers and content creators.
Today we will cover the best platforms on the internet to share your virtual reality photos and videos to the world!
VeeR is one of the largest VR content distribution platforms worldwide, VeeR VR has aggregated 10mm+ unique users across 180 countries within ten-month after the initial launch.
Brands that have published with us include Warner Bros, CNBC, World of Tanks, World Bank, Associated Press, Bill Gates Foundation, United Nation, HuffPost ROYT, Conde Nast and many others.
YouTube implemented 360 support several years ago and isn’t considered a new feature by any means. You might’ve seen some 360 videos on YouTube and wondered how to get your own video from your 360 panoramic camera. YouTube currently supports 360° videos with 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, or 60 frames per second. YouTube recommends uploading your videos in equirectangular format with a 2:1 aspect ratio at a resolution of 7168×3584 or higher, and up to 8192×4096.
Here’s the catch. Your file needs to include 360-enabling metadata in order for playback to be enabled.
How to Upload 360 Enabled Videos to YouTube
Un-zip the file, then open the 360 Video Metadata app. If you’re on a Mac, you may need to right-click the app and then click Open.
Select the video file and the checkbox for Spherical and click Save as. Do not select the “3D Top-bottom” checkbox. For more information, refer to upload instructions for virtual reality videos.
Enter a name for the file and save the file. A new file will be created automatically in the same location as the original file.
Upload the new file to YouTube.
Wait for the 360° effect to process. This may take up to an hour.
YouTube is an excellent platform to post your 360 videos on because of the large scale audience. However, this can be a big challenge for many content creators due to people not seeing their videos. Continue scrolling down to read more on different platforms that may be best suited for you and your 360 degree content creation needs.
Similar to YouTube all of the 360 footage uploaded to Vimeo should be equirectangular. Vimeo360 embraces 360 content creators as the world’s next great filmmaking community.
According to Vimeo’s company statement, the community has over 240 million monthly viewers and fans. Vimeo includes a curated 360 channel & staff picks as well as the ability to sell your 360 videos on their open global marketplace.
Vimeo takes the next step and offers 360 video school lens with a library of tips and advice for beginners, pros, and everyone in between.
Upload in up to 8K
4K Ultra HD player
Two-pass transcoding
Monoscopic & stereoscopic support
Downloadable HD video files
Facebook’s built in 360 video footage takes an advantage of your large following of friends and family on their social network.
Desktop & Web
Click Photo/Video at the top of News Feed or your Timeline
Select a photo and hare it to your desired audience
Look around in your photo by clicking and dragging
Mobile Phone
Tap on the What’s on your mind? box at the top of News Feed or your Timelime
Select Photo/Video
Select a photo
Share it to your desired audience
Look around in your photo by moving your phone or by dragging your finger
Tap on the photo to view it in fullscreen
Facebook even features a group for 360 creators called Facebook 360. It’s a place to come hear about updates directly from Facebook, and share thoughts & ideas around cool 360 experiences, and engage with the rapidly growing community of creators.
4. Flickr VR
Explore photos on Flickr in 360° with the Flickr VR app and Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus. Even if you don’t have a Gear VR or Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can still view 360-degree photos on the web, too.
Supported photos will rotate when you visit them. You can use your mouse to click and drag around the photo.
According to Flickr’s team, users have uploaded “tens of thousands” of 360° photo experiences. Flickr is also working towards Auto-Tagging and Uploading support for VR images.
Flickr will automatically detect equirectangular photos on upload and enable the VR viewer on the photo page.
Kuula is easy to use for providing high picture quality for any 360 panoramic photo sharing tool.
According to Kuula’s site “the leading 360/VR photo sharing site in the world and a premium tool for creating engaging and interactive 360 content.”
Kuula offers Virtual Tours which are composed of several 360 panoramas photos. Users can move between images using the assigned hotspots located within the image and/or thumbnails located in the bar at the bottom, like on the video below. Images in virtual tours can also have interactive elements like links to text or video elements.
Using Kuula you can edit and enhance your VR photos with elements called Addons. 3 kinds of addons – stickers, text and hotspots.
6. Instagram – Tinyplanet
Instagram does not currently support immersive 360 photos or videos. However, that doesn’t stop anyone because you can still post content on IG using a 360 Camera.
The best method to approach social posting on Instagram is by turning a 360 photo into a flat “Tiny Planet” image. Tiny Planets are a special medium for project 360° images that offer a fresh perspective. There are dozens of mobile apps that can help you create Tiny Planet images including the previously covered Kuula editor.
Do you post your 360 photos & videos on any of these platforms?
Let us know in the comments section below or on any social media channel! For more information on virtual reality stay up to date here at VeeR.Tv. If you are looking for VR devices, please visit VeeR Store.
Mark Metry is the Founder of VU Dream, an agency dedicated to helping virtual and augmented reality startups market their innovative products into reality.
Mark is also the Host of the Humans 2.0 podcast, a top charts iTunes podcast that features talented and impactful people in the new 21st century world. Mark has been featured in publications like the Huffington Post and VRScout.