Published On: November 7th, 2023
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The Webby Award-winning series Sanctuaries 360 : Explore the Blue brings the underwater treasures of the US to people of all ages. Post-produced in Mistika VR, the eight immersive episodes offer different experiences such as the conservation of coral reefs in the Florida Keys, swimming with sea lions in the Channel Islands along with many other adventures designed to inspire ocean stewardship and bring people closer to the underwater world. (Photo by Matt McIntosh/NOAA)
Creating the first episode: Sea Lion Encounter
The Sanctuaries 360 : Explore the Blue series originated from the creative vision of Kate Thompson, Director of the Communications and Engagement Division for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Its core mission is to provide wider access to the underwater world and create immersive content for audiences.
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Nickolas Zachar, Filmmaker and VR Specialist at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation supporting NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, shared The goal was to enable the public to fully experience America's underwater parks through this medium.
To create the first episode, Nick and his team embarked on a journey to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Southern California. While on a dive they came across a playful sea lion that felt curious about the underwater 360 camera and its captivating lights. This incredible creature dazzled the team with stunning acrobatics, taking center stage in the pilot episode, aptly titled Sea Lion Encounter.
Discovering the potential of Immersive Storytelling and Mistika VR
As a traditional documentary filmmaker and storyteller, Nick was sceptical about VR at first, but as the project evolved, he saw its huge potential. However, everything changed when we took these experiences into a local fifth-grade classroom and showed them in an Oculus headset. Seeing the kids' reactions shifted my understanding of VR. I immediately went from sceptic to proponent of the technology as an innovative tool to transport people to a place and build empathy in the process.
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Creating immersive content with 360 images without prior experience was a significant challenge. Nonetheless, the team had good ideas, did extensive research and planning, and started designing a workflow. We were excited to have unique and engaging content, even though we hadn't worked with stitching 360 images before, Nick recalled. This is when we discovered Mistika VR and started learning the software through tutorials and online resources. Mistika VR allowed us to streamline our stitching workflow, which became integral to creating the series.
Tackling underwater challenges with Mistika VR
One of the most difficult challenges was creating a comprehensive workflow for the entire Sanctuaries 360 : Explore the Blue VR series. Our most significant obstacle was establishing a process for stitching scenes, especially those with numerous moving animals captured by different cameras. The trickiest part involved fine-tuning the parameters within Mistika VR to ensure smooth stitch lines that wouldn't disrupt the viewer's experience, Nick detailed.
The NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries team works closely with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and other partners to create the series episodes. Recently, they collaborated with Bay Area Underwater Explorers (BAUE), a group of technical divers who ventured down with the camera to depths exceeding 150 feet at Cordell Bank an astonishing location rarely witnessed by the human eye. Cordell Bank is tough to get to. It requires technical dive training and adequate ocean conditions. One remarkable sight at Cordell Bank is the vast schools of Rockfish near the top of the bank, Nick explained. It is an incredible spectacle to see in VR after the BAUE team successfully shot the footage, but posed significant challenges for stitching, particularly with the movement of the fish and high-detail reefs.
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To address the challenges, they made extensive use of Mistika VR's advanced stitching parameters. The custom templates have been crucial for us. We also used Optical Flow for adjustments, stitch feathering, refining offsets and angles, adding edge points, and the stabilization feature for free-swimming shots, which was a game changer for ensuring our footage was as stable as possible. Without Mistika VR it would have been impossible to deliver such accurate results, Nick emphasized.
Applying VR Technology Beyond Entertainment
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Published On: November 7th, 2023
