01/09/2022
I use Mistika VR in my 3d360 VR video stitching workflow, currently with Jaunt One 8K 3d360 cameras. I have been stitching 3D stereoscopic panoramic images from various camera systems for most of a decade now, and the workflow with Mistika VR for Jaunt One cameras is by far the easiest and best results I've ever gotten!
Roman Dudek from SGO Mistika provided me with a custom stitching preset based on the "properties.txt" calibration file that the Jaunt One camera generates with it's footage. This file is a precise mapping of the optical properties of each individual camera based on extensive testing when the cameras were first built at Jaunt's now-defunct camera labs. With this extremely accurate calibration data, Mistika VR is able to provide a perfect stitch with very minimal user effort.
In most cases, my current Mistika VR stitching workflow is as simple as this: import files, apply custom properties.txt based preset, hit improve angles button once, render. That's it, for a perfect stitch! For somebody who has been doing this for so long, this is an amazing breakthrough.
By comparison, the stitching workflow for my early 3d360 piece "Trejo Eats Tacos" (shot with my own custom Canon camera rig and named "Best Use of VR So Far" by Engadget at the time) was a laborious weeks-long process involving hundreds of layers in a composting program - and it still didn't look nearly as good!
The 360 image you see here is a still frame grab from a shoot inside the "Infinity Cube", a mindblowing kinetic video art installation that was visiting downtown Los Angeles for a short time. This VR capture project would have been a stitching torture test with any other method, due to both extreme proximity of people to the camera (well within 1 foot/0.3 meters at some points and constantly moving across stitch seams) as well as the multiple simultaneous layers of reflected depth in every direction - but Mistika VR made it painless. So far I can only share this single image of me about to stop the camera recording, but I will hopefully be able to share the entire incredible experience soon.
I've been told that the next major version of Mistika VR may support direct import of the Jaunt One's "properties.txt" file, which would be a great boon for users of this camera. In the meantime, SGO can provide you with a custom stitching preset that achieves the same result if you send them the calibration file from an individual Jaunt One.
-Simon Miya, InFilm 360VR infilms.org