360-Degree Video of the Historical Monuments of Kazakhstan

United 3D Labs takes an active part in the cultural heritage preservation program of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including "Sacred Kazakhstan", a project to digitize historical monuments and structures. The digitized sites serve as the basis for virtual tours, as well as for websites where 3D models and 360° panoramic films can be viewed.

360° video is a great way to show three-dimensional objects, provided, of course, that no interaction with them is needed. Showing panoramic video requires far less computing power: unlike virtual tours, there is no need for high-performance (and expensive) gaming computers, and the VR headsets themselves can be simpler, down to Google Cardboard for mobile phones.

Of course, 360° video can be made not only from 3D scenes built by modelers but also shot with specialized cameras (for example, the Insta360 PRO). It is worth noting, though, that in the latter case the director is in for quite a few unpleasant surprises. They start with the camera's narrow dynamic range: you cannot do much shooting in the evening, and you cannot add extra light sources, because the entire space around the camera gets into the frame and they would be visible. And they end with the unpleasant discovery that the camera captures absolutely everything around it: in conventional shooting you can position the camera so that only what was intended ends up in the frame, but with 360° shooting, all the unwanted clutter behind the camera suddenly becomes visible to viewers as well.

But these annoying quirks cannot stop people from making 360-degree films: the idea of showing viewers a story exactly as the filmmakers themselves see it is just too tempting. And, of course, the ability to watch 360° video on inexpensive VR headsets is very attractive.