Inspired by the apparantly untrue tale that eBay was invented to let founder Pierre Omidyar’s then fiancée trade Pez dispensers, one of the first things I used the site for was to track down a beloved toy from my youth: the View-Master. And despite how the world and technology had changed in the intervening *cough* couple of years *cough*, it was still a bit magical to look at those 3D images again.
Roll on another *cough* couple of years *cough* (it’s very dusty in here, isn’t it?), and View-Master has arrived in the 21st century with a virtual reality (VR) compatible version of their iconic viewer – complete with a little clicky lever on the side for interaction/navigation. 🙂 You’ll need an iPhone/Android phone and apps to do anything with it: it’s pretty much a plastic version of Google Cardboard, but has springs and latches and a wriststrap to keep your phone that little bit more protected (though they do call out that the View-Master is not designed to be a protective case).
To get started:
- Download one of the View-Master apps to your iPhone/Android device.
- Launch the app.
- You’ll be prompted to scan the QR code inside your View-Master the first time you use it. This lets the app know what viewer you’re using so that it can optimise its display.
- Turn your phone’s sound up or you’ll miss some of the experience.
- Load your phone into the viewer (using the iPhone 5* adapter if appropriate) and clip it shut.
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Look through the eyepieces and turn your head to look around, and click to interact (there’s a pointer in the centre of your field of vision, which determines what it is you’re clicking). You’ll be prompted to look at the printed side of the Preview Reel that came with the viewer: some kind of augmented reality object will magically appear hovering above it – what appears depends on which app you’re running. Click it, and try out the sample content for that app.
Note: If nothing happens, check that you haven’t locked screen rotation on your phone. If you have, turn it off and try again.
Visually, the VR reels are an homage to the original cardboard ViewMaster reels, but they’re plastic and somewhat thicker and more solid. You can buy Experience Packs with more reels to unlock more content.
Watch some terminally photogenic Americans explain it:
Stuff to look at!
Any Google Cardboard compatible apps, and 360 videos on YouTube will play nicely with the viewer. Some nice ones I’ve found:
- A roller coaster ride app for iPhone – free, CGI
- Google Street View – I’ve tried this app for iPhone and it works, I presume the Android version will too
- The Google Cardboard app – for iPhone and Android
- The London New Year’s Eve fireworks on YouTube in 360 – this is awesome – crank up the volume. There’s placeholder CGI looking stuff for the first 4 mins, and it doesn’t really get going till around 10 mins in, but once it does, it’s glorious. You can look down into the crew and crowd at points.
- There are a variety of skydives and free jumps on YouTube in 360, which make great viewing – have a dig around for a particular location you’re interested in.
- This is a journey in the opposite direction taken from a weather balloon going to “the edge of space”. There’s a nice narative track explaining what’s going on at various heights, and an animated altimeter showing your height and speed.
If you’ve found something particularly nice to look at using a VR headset, please comment with details!
