Google looks towards Virtual Reality: Launches Jump

Virtual reality or VR is a dimension where all the big companies are redirecting their researches to. Companies like Microsoft, Sony and Google have also been involved in extensive researches related to VR. Virtual reality has enormous applications in almost every field. It replicates an environment that simulates physical presence in places in the real world of imaginative worlds. It is used in Education, Defence forces exercises to help the soldiers get a feel of the real war and be prepared for it in a better way, gaming, arts etc. The recent involvement of Google in VR has led to the inception of the VR platform, Jump. At the recent I/O developer’s conference, Google, unveiled Jump. Mostly, whenever such a product is launched, it becomes a hot topic of discussion and after a while it loses the touch because people lose interest in them.

Jump consists of 16 cameras to capture a 360 degrees view and turn it into 3D for the user. The camera system has been provided by GoPro and it allows the creators to capture high quality videos effectively and easily. For this to work, Jump has to make sure all the 16 cameras are synced perfectly and are working together.  As soon as Jump is activated it takes images from all the angles and switches the 2D view to 3D view which makes watching the surroundings much more fun.

Another interesting tidbit that Google revealed regarding this product is that YouTube will start supporting Jump videos from this summer. Google thinks VR should not be limited and people should be able to use it on their phones too. Keeping that in mind it has created a cardboard headset just for phones so that the users don’t have any issues handling the device while experiencing 3D. Initial issues suggested that the Cardboard headset might not be compatible with iPhone, but after the release of the new and cheap Cardboard viewer, Google removed the compatibility issues for iPhone users. Jump will hit the markets in the early 2016 which is still before the launch of Facebook’s Oculus rift.

Apart from Jump, Google also launched Expeditions. This new idea from Google is aimed at educating young minds through the use of virtual reality. Students will be able to create 3D models and interact with their environment in an entirely new way. This can be a great asset for schools as teachers can now conduct virtual field trips for their students. This is likely to be a very interesting concept for imaginative children.