GoPro is getting serious about virtual reality.
The camera-maker has agreed to acquire French company Kolor, a startup that specializes in immersive 360-degree videos. Kolor takes multiple photos and videos and pieces them together to form an interactive virtual experience. GoPro calls it “spherical video”.
From GoPro:
Spherical media enables a range of immersive viewing experiences and is an essential building block of virtual reality (VR), a technology poised to transform entertainment, education and other industries. Kolor’s solutions enable users to combine multiple photographs or videos to produce high-resolution panoramic or spherical content that can be enjoyed on mobile devices, the web or in a virtual reality environment.
According to GoPro, videos made with its new acquisition will soon start popping up on the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear.
“We are excited to welcome Kolor to GoPro,” said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro’s founder and CEO. “GoPro’s capture devices and Kolor’s software will combine to deliver exciting and highly accessible solutions for capturing, creating and sharing spherical content.”
If you want a taste of what GoPro and Kolor can do together, check out the video below:
In order to capture video suitable for producing a 360-degree experience, you’ll currently need multiple GoPros and one of their special spherical rigs. But that’s probably not the end game for GoPro. Think consumer-grade virtual reality cameras.
“I think we’re well poised to be a leader in that area,” said GoPro during Tuesday’s earnings call.
If you’re itching to take out your GoPro and shoot your own immersive, spherical videos of all your crazy antics – it looks like GoPro wants to make that a happen in the near future.
