So, although there are a lot of VERY lengthy videos explaining this, here is the “short basic version”.
(credit to Hugh Hou who has made MANY youtube tutorials explaining stuff, and Mike Swanson for creating the free ‘spatial’ tool)
Setup:
(only have to do this once).
- Get your hands on a Canon EOS R5 / R5c, and the canon dual-fisheye VR lens.
- Install Adobe Premiere and the Canon VR plugin, OR install the Canon VR Utility.
- Activate the Canon HEVC codec by installing it.
- Install the Spatial tool (mac only). Open the Terminal app and run:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install spatial
Shoot your Video:
- Shoot in 8K using MP4 (not raw if you want to use the Premiere plugin).
- Usual tips on 180 3D videos apply
Edit In Premiere
Import your footage. Note if it the video looks like two circular images, then the plugin is not fully installed/activated, go back to setup and repeat. I have not figured out how to make ambisonic sound work yet, so stick with stereo audio. Also, if you want to use HDR, you will need to shoot RAW and convert it in the VR Utility instead of using the plugin.
- Import the shot footage files, and start with a sequence.
- Right click on your sequence, go to “Sequence Settings…” and select the VR tab, making sure it’s set to equirectangular, side-by-side, 180
- Edit the clips as you like, and finally export the sequence:
- Encoder: HEVC (h265)
- select a high bitrate
- make sure “Video is VR” is selected, stereoscopic side-by-side, 180
- Export
Convert to Spatial
This has to be done in the Terminal.app. Assuming the file you exported above is named:
/path/to/file/myvideo.mp4
spatial make -i /path/to/file/myvideo.mp4 -f sbs -o /path/to/file/spatial.mov --cdist 60 --hfov 180 --hadjust 0.02 --primary right --projection rect
Place it somewhere
Photos App: Right click on the file, and select “Open With…” and pick the photos app (if you want it included as one of your Spatial Videos in Photos).
File Share: If you would rather access it as a video file, either put in in a location such as iCloud, or copy it directly to your Apple Vision headset, and open it with the Files app.
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up!
Thank you for writing this article. I appreciate the subject too.