The VR industry is dynamic and OZO users are leading the experimentation with this new medium. We rely on them to inform what we do and, after listening to feedback from our partners and customers, we’ve added a host of valuable new features to both the OZO Camera and the OZO Software suite, which comes bundled with the camera.
Most significantly, OZO Software suite is now available for both the Mac and PC platforms, starting today. For Mac users, a full release is available immediately. For PC users, a beta version — OZO SOFTWARE SUITE 1.3.0 FOR WINDOWS – BETA RELEASE — is available starting today and running through November. We’re excited to offer multi-platform support for OZO Software suite as this greatly increases the number of people who can use OZO to tell amazing stories and to create immersive experiences.
OZO Creator has once again dramatically increased its stitching speed, saving valuable post-production time by greatly reducing the time it takes to stitch content. Stitching your 3D 360 files is now 25 percent faster on MacOS than it was when we released our last OZO update in June. Similarly, using our recommended hardware specs for the new Windows version of OZO Creator, we’re seeing nearly 50 percent faster stitching times than with the same June release.
We’ve recapped some of the most important updates for you below:
Firmware Updates to the OZO Camera
- Assisted Exposure Mode: Creators can trigger the exposure on and off during recording and it can auto-adjust in reaction to lighting changes. Creators can – automatically, with a single click – find the optimal exposure time using OZO Remote or by holding down the “Capture” button on the camera for four seconds.
- OZO Remote Web interface: Using a standard web browser, the OZO camera and settings can now be controlled via a mobile device or tablet. Creators can connect a mobile device to the Wi-Fi access point of OZO and remotely start, stop, capture and control all other settings anywhere within Wi-Fi range.
OZO Software Suite Updates
- Cross-Platform OS Support: OZO now supports both Windows 10 and MacOS Yosemite and El Capitan. We’ve added Windows 10 versions of all three OZO Software suite applications: OZO Remote, OZO Creator, and OZO Preview. This brings access to more affordable and powerful hardware and also introduces support for the Oculus Rift CV-1.
- Even Faster Stitching: OZO can now output stitched files significantly faster than version 1.2.0, which was released in June.
- Rotated Monitoring: OZO Remote’s Real-Time Monitoring feature now supports the ability to mount the OZO camera upside-down and retain a right-side up monitoring view.
- Improved White Balance: The illuminants we have predefined will produce a more accurate gray axis and even more accurate color tones resulting in brilliant whites in various lighting conditions.
- Lossless Audio Export for OZO Audio workflow: A new format enables lossless audio for OZO. A new Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) based audio export from OZO Creator to Steinberg Nuendo DAW environment in lossless 24-bit PCM audio format.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the enhancements we’ve made to OZO – which also includes a UX upgrade and improvements to the command-line interface – but these are the VR features our users ask for most frequently. Together, they make OZO and OZO Software suite faster, easier and more versatile for a variety of professional uses.
Both the full release of the OZO SOFTWARE SUITE 1.3.0 FOR MacOS – OFFICIAL RELEASE, as well as the OZO SOFTWARE SUITE 1.3.0 FOR WINDOWS – BETA RELEASE are available immediately.
Launched in November 2015, OZO isn’t quite a year old but we’ve already released several major updates, many feature enhancements and OZO has quickly become the preferred choice for professional VR worldwide. Our goal remains to empower the world’s most creative people with the tools they need to easily create immersive VR experiences that are accessible to everyone.
* NOTE: In order to ensure proper testing of our new Windows version of OZO Software suite, we expect the OZO SOFTWARE SUITE 1.3.0 FOR WINDOWS – BETA RELEASE to remain in open beta through November.