I am so ******* confused, how the hell does this even work? And in youtube no less? How do you take a video and make it's view change on all three axis?
If you look all the way down, dude's holdin' a stick with a camera on it which records near 360 degrees. Then I suppose Chrome does some super internet magic and makes you able to rotate it.
As an enormous aviation geek.. This brought me incredible joy. I've seen similar works done by folks I've worked besides and I've been dying to do something similar. Maybe in the next few years you'll see more, and maybe.. just maybe... Something from the perspective of a Blue Angel.
Check out the CAF Snowbirds tankcam footage too. Incredible stuff going on in the airshow world.
Also, I can explain exactly how they do this because I looked it up after being amazed by it too:
The 360 camera is a special camera pointed upwards with a reflective surface to ensure it gets everything around it.
The raw form of 360 footage is similar to a Mercator map projection or a panoramic image- it's warped and way too wide.
The real amazing part is how they get it to look 3D. It's simple trickery- by only showing you part of the bigger picture, then allowing you to move your focus around; it creates the appearance of moving in a 3D space. This is also why you can look around even when the video is paused- because your screen is zoomed in to part of the big panoramic picture.
As for how your phone knows which way is up or down or whatever; it doesn't really beyond the normal window into fullscreen video function when you hold your phone sideways. It simply has the camera perspective in a set middle spot when the video starts, and since most people watch videos with their screen perpendicular to the ground, it works like magic most of the time.
You can also click and grab to move the camera both on mobile and on a computer, so if you're really lazy or if you started the video the wrong way on your phone, you can move/adjust the camera without physically getting up. It's much more fun to do it physically though, and even better in a dark room with enough pacing room, so I heartily recommend anyone with a smart phone to try it at least once.
Seriously- make all ads 360. I got one a couple nights ago on my phone and watched it the whole way through just because I could look around.
Also, here's a warning for anyone trying this on a mobile device- you will stand up, and start to spin around in a circle to check it's working. Just make sure not to spin too fast or get dizzy, okay?
Anyone know why the guy on the comes keeps "tok"ing. Is that confirmation of something, the conclusion of their message or do they really have a thing for clocks?