Technology giant Google Inc. yesterday introduced the next generation of its virtual reality Jump camera – the Yi Halo – and announced Jump Start, a program to give Jump cameras to more VR filmmakers.

Google launched Jump in 2015 out of a desire to simplify VR video production and the team partners with camera manufacturers to build high-quality VR cameras. To provide end-to-end support for VR filmmakers, Google also developed a system of sophisticated computer vision algorithms that uses the power of Google’s data centers called Jump Assembler that can process 360-degree video produced by its cameras.

The camera is produced by Yi Technologies Inc., maker of high-resolution cameras capable of capturing and streaming high-quality imagery. This next-gen rig is preceded by the Odyssey, a 16-camera assembly built by GoPro Inc.

The Yi Halo is an extremely powerful VR camera built with a ring of 17 unit cameras each recording its own little slice of the visual world. Once the images are stitched together, the camera can deliver up to 8192 x 8192 pixels – called 8K resolution – at 30 frames per second (fairly standard for video games and most movie playback) or 5760 x 5760 pixels at 60 frames per second.

The cameras are arranged so that 16 face outward in a ring to capture a full 360-degree view with the final camera mounted pointing upwards to complete image continuity. Many modern VR cameras that use a ring around an axis must use specialized stitching technology to best approximate the direct-up view, the seventeenth camera on the Yi Halo is designed to help reduce distortion in that region.

Weighing in at eight pounds, the Yi Halo will not weigh much more than the standard filmmaking equipment when lugged around and this also makes it easier to filmmakers to get it where they want to go.

The camera is also equipped it with a battery that for 100 minutes of continuous shooting. Since during normal operation storage devices need to be switched out after takes, Google hopes this will give film crews more than enough time to do multiple takes on a single battery charge.

Banking on the expectation that crews will want to take the Yi Halo out into the world, the camera also comes with what the company calls a “rugged and custom Pelican 1610 case for handling the worst conditions,” and is built with an optimized heat dissipation system allowing it to operate in warm environments up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit without overheating.

Looking to make filming easier, Yi also included an Android app for smartphones that doubles as a remote control for the camera as well as a live preview tool.

Finally, as mentioned above, users of the Yi Halo camera system will have access to Google’s Jump Assembler, a cloud-based production tool that can take raw broadcast data and stitch it together into VR 360-degree video. The system uses powerful computer vision algorithm software to take the multiple camera views and mesh them together as seamlessly as possible looking to reduce what’s called “stitch lines” and other artifacts.

“Stitching might be one of the biggest challenges in immersive media production as it not only adds complexity, time, cost and requires very specific skills,” Dipak Patel, chief executive officer and co-founder of the VR content platform startup Zeality, told SiliconANGLE. “In sports media, turnaround time is key, so I am a big fan of any initiative that makes manual stitching a ghost of the past. I think more big companies need to jump in and look to solve these types of problems.”

The Yi Halo goes on sale late this summer with a price tag expected to be around $17,000, according to CNN.

Alongside the Yi Halo Jump camera, Google also announced its Jump Start program, an initiative by the company to put more VR-ready cameras in the hands of filmmakers across the world. A selected number of filmmakers will be given both access to the Jump cameras and free access to Jump Assembler.

Over the next year, Google says the program will give over 100 creators access to these tools. To apply, filmmakers must visit the Jump Start page between now and May 22.

Photo: Google