As I continue to work on the world of Chibimals, a story has developed. The basic outline so far is: Piggy finds a MacGuffin, maybe a 3D model in parts so I can release one part at a time as the story progresses, that leads him to a new area, where he gathers a friend and goes to the next area, gathers the next part, goes to the next area and so on. Gathering friends and having adventures along the way, until they find the ultimate reward, which may be super powers.
What should the MacGuffin be? And which area should we visit next; Farm, Forest, River, Mountain, Desert, Savannah, Jungle, Arctic, Ocean, Asia, or Australia?
This idea of using a 360 camera like this, running it on a spherical track and filming a world in 360, has been an idea I’ve had for a while. In particular taking this to a live events where multiple people can watch the same video, each from their own angle on their phone, is something I’ve been chomping at the bit to do. But there have already been disappointments in the realization of this idea because near as I can find there is not a single 360 camera that is capable of creating spherical picture for consumption in real time. The best I can do is record one pass, then let people view it from their phones afterwards. This isn’t too bad, in the end, but it’s not exactly what I was hoping for, either. I’ve even looked into making my own camera, maybe using a raspberry pi that can broadcast the processed image in real time, but that’s a lot of work that no one can provide much groundwork for.
But if I can pull this off, I’ll have my big project that will give me an excuse to have a booth at fairs and conventions any time of the year. And that’s what I really want. I’m going to take it a step at a time, maybe setup a test with the Low Poly Dinos first, then figure out how to translate that into a 360 degree world.
