After shooting footage with a multi-camera system, you end up with multiple video files which need to be combined — stitched and blended — to get a final fully spherical video.
360° Video Stitching Workflow
The process of managing multiple video files can be complicated – so you need a structured approach. You would typically start by copying the files from the cameras or SD cards to your computer, and sort them into folders for each take/scene. We recommend renaming each file in each folder to something that identifies, the scene and the camera.
The stitching process itself, will vary, depending on what software you use, but at the moment there are two main contenders – Kolor’s Autopano Video/Pro (which requires the use of Autopano Pro/Giga) and VideoStitch Pro/Extended version (requires PTGui Pro as a calibration tool).
Kolor – Autopano Video
Autopano Video is video-stitching software that lets you assemble multiple videos into a single one that covers up to 360×180°.
Kolor (owned by GoPro) recommend (obviously) the use of multiple GoPro Cameras arranged in a special mount (called a Rig) to record a scene and create multiple video files.
They also offer a proprietary 360° Video player called “Kolor Eyes Player” (which is free). You can then use it to view published videos and turn at 360 degrees, zoom in and out, to look at what is taking place in the whole 360 scene.
You can Download a Demo version of Autopano.
Here is some sample footage (you will need to download and install their Free viewer)
VideoStitch Studio
VideoStitch Studio is post-production video stitching software that enables you to create immersive 360 VR videos. It takes video files and convert them into a standard 360 video file automatically.
VideoStitch recommend PTGui as calibration software as a part of the workflow.
Get a FREE Trial Version of VideoStitch Studio.