You spend hours filming your VR content only to have it appear pixelated, freeze or, worse yet, fail to load at all.

With our VR optimisation feature, you no longer have to worry about formatting your VR media before upload as we’ll do it for you, which means that the chances of your content failing to load and play are significantly reduced.

With Near-Life, you can create one experience to share across multiple devices. However, to ensure that the VR experience works best for each device, we’ve created a new feature that allows you to optimise media for different device types.

Mobile

Because we use WebVR technology, this means you can launch interactive VR experiences from a mobile phone without installing a special app. WebVR makes it possible to experience VR in a browser, no matter what device you have. This means that your end users can navigate a VR space using their finger on the screen or by placing the device (phone) in an affordable cardboard headset. However, unlike dedicated VR headsets, mobile devices have limited processing power, which means that playing 4k media will be almost impossible.

Desktop

Again, because the VR experience is launched via a browser, learners can explore VR spaces via desktop. The experience is less immersive than using a headset, but users are able to drag the image around and make selections using a mouse. A desktop has more processing power so will be be able to handle richer media. A wired connection also helps in terms of speed and loading.

VR Headset

A dedicated VR headset, like the Meta Quest 2 or 3 (formerly Oculus Quest), will give learners the immersive experience and is able to cope with 4k media.  However, speed and loading times can be affected by the quality of the WIFI connection.

Creating aVR experience for different device types is now easier than ever with Near-Life.

All you have to do is upload your VR media, set it’s format (180/360), build, publish and share your scenario.

We’ll optimise the media for you while you build your scenario, so that when you come to publish and share the VR experience, all you have to do is select the output version most appropriate for your audience.

You’ll now be asked to set your media format at upload. You can still upload mixed media formats, 2D and VR, images and video, just be sure to select the correct format for your media file.

Build your scenario as usual and after you’ve published, select the version that you’d like to share. The embed code and links in the share window will automatically update based on the device type that you select.

To optimise media for existing scenarios, you’ll need to re-upload your media, replace the node media and re-publish. You’ll also need to replace URLs and embed code on your website to ensure that you’re displaying the best media version possible.

Please note that the VR media optimisation feature will not improve the quality of your media. It only improves the playability of your media for the output you select and share.

If you want to create a single experience for multiple devices, then you should opt for the version that will work with the most devices. In this case, select mobile. This will ensure that your mobile device users can see your interactive VR video. The picture may be a little fuzzy on the edges when viewed on a VR headset, especially if there is a lot of movement or fine detail, but perfectly usable.

The final thing to remember is that even though Near-Life is delivering optimised media, the final picture quality and performance will depend on the end user’s bandwidth and device.

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data a connection can handle at any moment. 360 and 180 media is more data-heavy so if a learner’s streaming connection is poor, then the picture quality will degrade and playback may lag or even fail.

Luckily, our VR media optimisation feature will certainly help address these issues and reduce these challenges.