谷歌与GoPro合作进军虚拟现实领域

Google has teamed up with GoPro to make its first big push into virtual reality, in the hope of turning the technology into a mass market product.

谷歌已跟GoPro达成合作关系，这是为进军虚拟现实(VR)领域采取的第一项重大措施，希望把这项技术变成一种大众市场产品。

Jump, a “spherical-video” project, was unveiled at Thursday’s Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco and marks the first step of what the company promises will become a sustained investment in a sector that analysts predict could become the next battleground for large internet groups.

周四在旧金山举行的谷歌 I/O开发者大会上，谷歌公布了Jump“环绕式视频拍摄”工具，这也是这家公司承诺对虚拟现实部门投资的第一步，分析师们预测，虚拟现实领域将变成各大互联网巨头的下一个战场。

GoPro is developing a rig of 16 cameras, arranged in an outward-facing circle that ensures the video is synchronised and combined in such a way that it can be processed into VR-ready media.

GoPro正在开发一种16个摄像头的相机阵列，摄像头面向外面排成一个圆圈，以确保录像内容的同步和拼接，再通过处理后进入具备VR功能的媒体。

Once the footage from those cameras is uploaded to the cloud, Google will use its algorithms to stitch together the sound and images into 360-degree, 3D films.

片段镜头上传到云后，谷歌将使用其算法把声音和图像整合成为360度的3D影像。

This will allow the company to deliver the videos to users of its Cardboard viewer, a low-cost headset it launched in January. Any recent smartphone can be inserted into the kit and used as the screen.

这让该公司可以把录像内容发送给Cardboard观察镜——一款今年1月推出的低价头戴式视图器。任何一部近来的智能手机都可以接入该设备，充当屏幕。

Analysts say that along with its close cousin, augmented reality, VR has the potential to broaden beyond gaming and entertainment to include communication and commerce.

分析师表示，与其最相近的增强现实技术一道，虚拟现实技术有潜力把应用范围从游戏与娱乐延伸到通信与商业。