Hot-air balloons floating hundreds of feet above the ground. A fighter jet soaring through the sky. A rock concert in Rio. And, of course, a paraglider dressed up as Batman, complete with Batmobile. These are just some of the videos that you can dive into with Kolor’s 360° video player Kolor Eyes, now featured on the Leap Motion Developer Gallery.
Kolor’s platform works by stitching together panoramic videos into massive virtual experiences that let you look anywhere within the scene. Kolor Eyes, their video player, is available free from the Kolor website with VR and desktop modes. The company was acquired earlier this year by GoPro, accelerating their mission to bring truly panoramic video to the world.
In March, Kolor and Intel launched a music video with Belgian singer Noa Neal, which quickly went viral with over 400,000 views on YouTube. To explore the video in 360 degrees, you’ll need to watch the video in Google Chrome. Better yet, download the HD videos for Kolor Eyes, which includes VR support for the Oculus Rift.
Kolor Eyes also features Leap Motion support, with several universal gesture interactions, and some special ones for desktop and VR modes:
Universal Gestures
- Play & Pause. Clap your hands once.
- Fast Forward & Rewind. Twirl your index finger in a circle – clockwise to jump forward, counter-clockwise to jump back. The wider the circle, the further you’ll jump.
Desktop Gestures
- Camera Control. Point at any border of the screen to turn the camera.
- Zoom. Point both of your index fingers at the screen. Moving your fingers away from each other will zoom in on the scene, while bringing them closer together will zoom out.
- Little Planet Projection (see below). With both hands out and palms down, curve your hands so that the palms face each other. This will warp the world and curve the horizon. You can also turn the little planet, or change your pitch.
An example of the “little planet” projection effect. Image courtesy of subblue.
VR Gestures
- Next video: Swipe with your hand to move to the next video,if you’ve loaded multiple videos.
Kolor’s documentation wiki has more details about these interactions, including some helpful GIFs. Check out their guide to setting up the Oculus Rift, download HD videos from their video gallery, and grab some popcorn!
Alex Colgan is the senior director of marketing and developer community at Leap Motion. By transforming how we interact with technology, he believes we can make our world feel more human.
