TogetherVR: A Framework for Photorealistic Shared Media Experiences in 360-Degree VR

Virtual Reality (VR) and 360-degree video are reshaping the media landscape, creating a fertile business environment. In 2016 many new 360-degree cameras and VR headsets entered the consumer market. Distribution platforms are being established and new production studios are emerging. VR is a hot topic in research and industry, and many new and exciting interactive VR content and experiences are emerging. The biggest gap we see in these experiences is the lack of social and shared aspects of VR usage, as today’s VR applications tend to be an isolated endeavour. In this paper, we present TogetherVR, a web-based framework for the creation and evaluation of social and shared VR experiences in which users can communicate with a high degree of presence and in photo-realistic video quality. We further elaborate on three multi-user VR cases: watching TV together in VR, social collaboration in VR, and social VR conferencing in a mixed reality setting