goproarray
The new GoPro rig for Google Jump.

Google is making a bigger move into virtual reality, announcing a new initiative called Jump that offers new ways to create and view VR experiences.

As part of the initiative, the search giant and action cam maker GoPro debuted a special 16-camera rig that takes perfectly aligned, 360-degree photos and video. GoPro’s stock is up nearly 7 percent on the news. Pricing and the specific timeframe for availability have yet to be announced.

The design and geometry for the camera array will also be made available openly, so people can create their own.

At the Google I/O conference, Google Clay Bavor also introduced assembler technology that can take 16 different video feeds and recreate the scene from thousands of different viewpoints, to create stereoscopic virtual-reality video. It will be available starting this summer to selected Google creators worldwide.

Google’s YouTube will also support viewing of Jump videos starting this summer. The moves promise to make Google a more formidable rival to Facebook’s Oculus.

Also at the event, Google introduced an updated Google Cardboard VR viewer that can handle phones up to six inches.

Meanwhile, at the Code Conference, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman showed the company’s new six-camera spherical array and talked about GoPro’s ambitions in drones.

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