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.